Rentals of the Warren City Hall atrium are suspended after City Council approved what acting city attorney Mary Michaels called a “collaborative resolution” with city administration that calls for the space to be used only for city events.

No new rental applications will be accepted and current rental agreements. Existing deals for the prayer station and the reason station will also be terminated.

The moratorium is to be in place for six months to allow time for the city’s Downtown Development Authority, which oversees rental of the atrium, to review and revise its current rental policy.

“This resolution is meant to keep the atrium generic and is not meant to target any group,” said Michaels. “This is an effort to avoid arbitrary rental.”

In August, the City Council discussed disparities between what various individuals and groups were charged to rent the atrium space for events.

According to documents given to the Warren City Council by the city attorney’s office and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, organizers of the Bangladeshi Association of Michigan festival at City Square paid $1,500 per day to rent space at City Square Park and a stage while organizers of the Asian American Heritage Festival did not pay a rental fee.

Members of the City Council said they were not comfortable with the language of the resolution and called for various edits.

Councilman Jonathan Lafferty cited a paragraph from the resolution that states “the Council seeks to have the atrium reserved for city affairs.”

“I don’t ever recall that being a request of the City Council,” Lafferty said. “I think the resolution goes beyond what the intent is.

“I’m not trying to be overly critical, but the language is too subjective.”

The original resolution submitted to the City Council did not have a deadline for the DDA to establish a new rental policy, but Michaels and the Council agreed six months was a reasonable amount of time to allow for revisions.

The rental suspension does not apply to meeting rooms that adjoin the atrium.