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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZBA MEETING 2015-06-09 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS CITY OF LIVONIA MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING HELD JUNE 9, 2015 A Regular Meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Livonia was held in the Gallery of the Livonia City Hall on Tuesday, June 9, 2015. MEMBERS PRESENT: Matthew Henzi, Chairman Sam Caramagno, Secretary Craig Pastor Robert Bowling Ben Schepis MEMBERS ABSENT: Robert Sills Gregory Coppola OTHERS PRESENT: Mike Fisher, City Attorney Craig Hanosh, City Inspector Patricia C. Burklow, CER-8225 The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Chairman Henzi then explained the Rules of Procedure to those interested parties. Each petitioner must give their name and address and declare hardship for appeal. Appeals of the Zoning Board's decisions are made to the Wayne County Circuit Court. The Chairman advised the audience that appeals can be filed within 21 days of the date tonight’s minutes are approved. The decision of the Zoning Board shall become final within five (5) calendar days following the hearing and the applicant shall be mailed a copy of the decision. There are four decisions the Board can make: to deny, to grant, to grant as modified by the Board, or to table for further information. Each petitioner may ask to be heard by a full seven (7) member Board. Five (5) members were present this evening. The Chairman asked if anyone wishedto be heard by a full Board and no one wished to do so. The Secretary then read the Agenda and Legal Notice to each appeal, and each petitioner indicated their presence. Appeals came up for hearing after due legal notice was given to all interested parties within 300 feet, petitioners and City Departments. There were 17 people present in the audience. (7:05) City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 1 of 41 June 9, 2015 APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-04-15 (Tabled on April 28, 2015): An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by Mark Miller, 45920 Ashford Circle, Novi, MI 48374, seeking to construct a single family dwelling upon property, resulting in deficient lot width and lot area. Lot Width: Lot Area: Required: 60 ft. Required: 7200 sq. ft. Proposed/Existing 40 ft. Proposed/Existing: 5400 sq. ft. Deficient: 20 ft. Deficient: 1800 sq. ft. The property is located on the east side of Hugh (9082), between Dover and Grandon, Lot. No. 140-01-0149-000, R-1 Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under Zoning Ordinance 543, Section 4.04, “Schedule of Minimum Lot Sizes in R-1 through R-5 Districts.” Henzi: Is there a motion to remove from the table? Caramagno: I’ll make that motion, Mr. Chair. Bowling: Support. Henzi: Moved and supported, all in favor say aye. Board Members: Aye. Henzi: This is removed. Mr. Hanosh, do you have anything to add? Hanosh: Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Henzi: Will the representative please come forward? Can you state your name and address? Fitzgerald: Dan Fitzgerald, 19235 Smock. Henzi: Mr. Fitzgerald, were you here last time? Fitzgerald: Yes, sir. Henzi: Okay. And you want to go forward? We’re missing two, do you want to go forward tonight? Fitzgerald: Yeah, I might as well. Henzi: All right. You were here once before and we remember your speech. If there is anything new you want to talk, you can talk about both cases, 9082 and 9092. We’ll probably make two different resolutions but to save time for everyone it might make sense City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 2 of 41 June 9, 2015 to talk about each. So is there anything you want to add from what you talked about last time? Fitzgerald: Well the concerns that the neighbors had were the drainage I believe. We created engineered drawings. I don’t think you have these, I don’t think they made it in the packet on time. What we designed here was a 24 inch catch basin in each yard connecting into the front sewer line. Also the discharges for the sump pumps will be into the catch basins also. So we shouldn’t have any problem with any water any more there. But as we said before the properties were never--were never developed anyways. So that is probably why they are holding water now. But after talking to the head engineer here in Livonia and the Outsource engineer, this is the solution they came up with and I don’t see how water would sit in this lot with this. This is a pretty big drain field here. Henzi: Is this something that the City’s engineering department would have required anyway? Fitzgerald: No, they would not have. But it was brought to their attention about a couple of the things that happened at the meeting so Dave required it and I said I don’t have really a problem with it Dave. It’s going to cost us more money, we’re starting to lose interest in the project though. After cultivating a little bit more I was a little concerned of the neighborhood myself. And it wasn’t water it was a couple of the houses around across the street and stuff you know I don’t know. We--they’re not looking too good. It’s foreclosures and a few things like that. So I’m not sure what the intentions were at the last meeting but to spend three hundred and some thousand on this street, I don’t understand why they would have concerns. From what I saw when I went out there and made a field inspection myself on this lot, I had some concerns about the resale. And I build in Livonia everywhere but we already did this engineering drawing so I figured I’d come here and present the case anyway. I know through Livonia engineering and my building and Outsource Engineering there ain’t going to be no water on this lot not with a 24 inch catch basin on a 40 foot lot. There’s two of them, one on each lot so--I mean this is--this is pretty big stuff here sucking water out. Henzi: Okay. Any questions for the representative? Caramagno: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: Have you reviewed this--or has anybody reviewed this with some of the neighbors that had concerns from the last meeting or is just between you and the City engineering and this is a new plan? Would this--in other words, would this be something- -new information to the people around you that were complaining? I’m assuming the foreclosed did not? Fitzgerald: I’m not sure if this went to any of the neighbors. I took care of what was addressed to me from the engineering department--Dave. We were just in the hallway-- I mean I didn’t have to do this, I just did it anyway because that’s just the way we do things. Caramagno: Okay. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 3 of 41 June 9, 2015 Fitzgerald: You know they want something we give it to them. Caramagno: So what I am asking is there’s been no outreach to the neighbors that have complained about the water problems? You didn’t reach out to any of them and say “hey, I’m fixing this problem.” That didn’t happen, right? Fitzgerald: No, we never did anything like that. No we didn’t know that we should do that I thought they would be here at another meeting again, I don’t know. Caramagno: They may be I’m not saying that you should, I’m just asking if you did? Fitzgerald: No, we didn’t do that. Caramagno: Does this property get--these drains are toward the back of the property obviously? Fitzgerald: Yeah, they’re rear catch basins. Caramagno: Does--does or will this solve any of their problems anyhow or no? Or will it just catch the water coming off of your property? Fitzgerald: Well they were concerned about the flooding that is there now. Caramagno: Right. Fitzgerald: It--it seems to me that some people--you know when you build they don’t have a knowledge of building. Being undeveloped property anyway, of course it is going to hold water because the house to the right and the left have already been set to grades. But to see their issues and their concerns you know we went to the extreme. This is the extreme here. I mean there would be no water in the yard and there wouldn’t have been probably any water in the yard anyway without this but-- Caramagno: So this takes care of any water on that property? Fitzgerald: Absolutely. Caramagno: It is not going to migrate to neighboring property? Fitzgerald: Not--not-- Caramagno: Your-- Fitzgerald: Absolutely. Caramagno: Your build here is not going to impact other people-- Fitzgerald: No, it’s just going--like I said it’s getting risky for us. I mean our interest is diminishing but because we spent engineered drawings now. We’ve got more time into to but I think that when our product is done and over with they will be happy. I mean usually they are when we are done. Caramagno: Thank you. Henzi: Any other questions? Bowling: Mr. Chair. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 4 of 41 June 9, 2015 Henzi: Mr. Bowling. Bowling: Can you give a ball park idea of how much more this has added to your project cost wise? Fitzgerald: This--this is probably going to be about ten grand. Bowling: So it’s a pretty big-- Fitzgerald: Hoping that there’s--we’re taking a gamble on this property anyway because of the--the plot plans in Livonia are old so it is stating that there’s a--I don’t want to get too technical here--200 feet off the north manhole is where the lead is which is a sewer lead. And then it says and 216. So we’re anticipating that maybe there was another lead there on the 40 foot lot because be reminded that this 40 foot lot already has an address. Like Pastor said last time, it’s just by chance somebody didn’t build on this property over the 40 years. And I’m stunned that they didn’t. I think somebody bought the property, had it, and was going to build and never did. That’s it. And he even said on the record “What are we even doing here?” But we have to take care of our neighborhood too and our neighbors. I think there might be a lead here but if there’s not we’ve got to bore under the street and that’s 25 to 30 thousand. So that would throw a wrench right into this whole project for us. We would building houses for nothing. But that’s not nobody’s problem but ours. We’re anticipating talking with the engineering department, Rick and I on-- there’s a 50--50 chance there’s another lead there. So if there is it’s going to be a beautiful looking street and we will take care of the house across the street if we have to do it ourselves on a non-profit. Bowling: Thanks. Henzi: Anything else? Fisher: Mr. Chair, can I just ask did you see this drawing that the--I guess this is-- engineering did showing this easement? Have you seen this? It looks like an easement for drainage down to the street. Fitzgerald: I think he is just indicating where these catch basins should go. Fisher: Oh, because right up here it says-- Fitzgerald: I can’t see that, I’m old. Fisher: Okay. Fitzgerald: You’re younger than me. Fisher: Right there it says it eight foot wide private storm easement. That’s what that text says. Fitzgerald: Right. Yeah, but there was a house right on that lot before-- Fisher: Okay, I guess my question is-- Fitzgerald: That’s probably a setback on that. Fisher: --does this easement exist? Is this something that you are agreeing to as part of this deal? Or what is the story with the easement? City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 5 of 41 June 9, 2015 Fitzgerald: Well the easement was there and there was a house there before it was tore down. Fisher: Okay. Fitzgerald: So it’s irrelevant to the--to the purchase. It wouldn’t affect anything because it was already approved a house, they just demoed one there a couple years ago. So I’m sure the setbacks are not going to fall into the easement. Fisher: Okay. Well that wasn’t I was asking. I was just asking is this an existing easement or is this something that you were going to do as part of this project? Fitzgerald: No, we’re not doing that. We are going to put sewer in there though. Fisher: Okay. Fitzgerald: To the back yard we have to run it for this catch basin. Fisher: So as far as you know this is already existing? Fitzgerald: Is existing. Fisher: Okay. Henzi: Any other questions? Pastor: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: You’ve got a storm sewer in the backyard do you not? Fitzgerald: What’s the question? Pastor: You’ve got sewers in the backyard? You’re putting storms in the backyard? Fitzgerald: Yeah. Pastor: Thank you. Henzi: Any other questions? Is there anyone in the audience who wants to speak for or against the project? If so, come on up to the table. Sandy Smythe: Hello, Sandy Smythe, address 9117 Fremont Street, Livonia, Michigan. And Joel Rochon. Rochon: Yeah, Sandy and I were the ones who probably had the biggest concern about the flooding. And our next door neighbor who couldn’t make it today, she also had a problem. Our biggest concern was any kind of raising the grade would have affected us. It sounds like he’s taken care of it. If he is willing to put that catch basin in I can’t see that giving us a problem. But he is kind of flip flopping on why is he even building two homes here then if he is thinking I’m going to put $300,000.00 into this area. You can’t have that much into that property. Demolition I’m sure wasn’t cheap but if you were to build a single family home you get a hundred and a half and you know a hundred seventy five, now you’ve got a nice lot and it actually improves our neighborhood with a beautiful single family home instead of two small homes jammed into these 40 foot lots. Which is--even City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 6 of 41 June 9, 2015 though the block like he says and I can’t dispute it there are some homes on there that aren’t--not the nicest but if we end up with two small homes on two small lots, that doesn’t do anything for our property value, not really. Build a nice single family home across the two lots which was originally was there--one home. I don’t know which lot it was built on I believe it was built across both of them I thought. It seemed to be centered in that area. Sandy Smythe: It was up front, it sat in front-- Rochon: You know and then--you know-- Sandy Smythe: --next the front of the street. Rochon: --he’s saying that were going to spend a lot of money in sewer development and blah--blah--blah, puts one home, he’s got one catch basin, one deal. So if he--you know I’m not sure--I’m not finding the point where he’s spending a bunch of money and he’s not going to make money, it doesn’t seem to add up in my mind. So in our-- everybody here in the neighborhood agrees that they would love to see a single home on that lot. It’s only 80 feet. It’s not like it is a 100 and he is dividing into 50, it’s only 80 feet. And it’s--I see his point everybody--you’re trying to make money, you’ve got to make a living but you know what is he really gaining? And it doesn’t really do anything for our property value to put two small homes there. Henzi: Thank you. Pastor: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: Have you seen the building plan? Rochon: No I have not. Pastor: Here’s a picture of the front of the house. Rochon: I think--I think around the corner--oh, it’s a two story. Pastor: Yes. Rochon: Similar homes--are those two stories? But then how much easement or you know extra space does he have on either side of the home? They’re like right on top of each other aren’t they. You’ve got the minimum-- Pastor: Just like other homes in the neighborhood. Fitzgerald: Yeah, almost every house on that whole three blocks is 40 foot lots. Rochon: So he’s going to be the minimum on either side of the house to each property. Pastor: Yes. Rochon: It think that’s a-- Sandy Smythe: Is this the minimum? Rochon: Six feet? Eight feet? Pastor: Six on one side, eight on the other I believe it said. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 7 of 41 June 9, 2015 Hanosh: A total of 14. Pastor: And you’ve got 5 there. Let me see here. Rochon: So there’s one home, the second one is here, and then Tom’s home. How much easement does he have at Tom’s home, does it show another plan? Pastor: So he won’t be very close at all. Smythe: It would be one of my questions. How much-- Henzi: Can you say your name please? Sandy Smythe: Well we’re done. Are you done talking to us? Pastor: I do have one question. Mary Smythe: Are you done? Sandy Smythe: No, they have one more question. Pastor: Now that you’ve seen what they plan on doing, how do you feel about that? You’re talking a very small house, and it’s not a very small house. Sandy Smythe: No. Rochon: Right, they are not small homes but they look like they’re going to be--you know- -on small lots. Pastor: But they will increase--they will increase the value of your neighborhood. Rochon: Yeah, I guess now that I see it, it won’t hurt the value. Sandy Smythe: Correct. Pastor: Okay, thank you. Fitzgerald: Can I say one thing? Henzi: Wait--wait to the end. Fitzgerald: I’m sorry. Henzi: Come on up. Fitzgerald: The way that was-- Henzi: There’s more speakers. Fitzgerald: I’m sorry. Henzi: We’ll save you to the end, Mr. Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald: They’re coming out of the woodwork. Mary Smythe: Yes, and the reason I’m coming out of the woodwork--I am Mary Smythe, S-m-y-t-h-e. I live at 9101 Fremont. My house backs up directly to this property. The reason I am coming out of the woodwork is because the last meeting I could not attend last minute. I submitted an objection which was signed, hand delivered downstairs to the area office I guess you would say, but it was read into record. Do you have that? City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 8 of 41 June 9, 2015 Fisher: Yeah. Mary Smythe: Oh, actually you do. But it was not read because my neighbors said it was not read into the record. So my--you know--again, my boys had hockey games that night, my husband had an emergency for work. He is in the building trades. So I do-- Henzi: We may have thought because of the last name that you were a speaker. Mary Smythe: Okay. Henzi: If you speak we do not read it. Mary Smythe: And it is only a couple--yes-- Henzi: We don’t read it out loud we read it to ourselves. If you speak we read it to ourselves. If you don’t speak we read it out loud. Does that make sense? Mary Smythe: Yes. So I’m here tonight missing also my son is lettering in golf, and I’m missing his banquet for this because I feel very strongly that our neighborhood--I’ve lived there for almost twenty years. And I understand that people need to make a living. I do understand and appreciate that somebody wants to come in and improve our neighborhood and make things better. But I don’t agree with the--the background of Livonia and what it says when you first read your opening statement and said that the--in order for a variance to be granted for this the petitioner has to prove a hardship. And a hardship more than just a financial gain. Plus whatever else it said, I don’t have it memorized. So that is my first question, what hardship does the builder have for this property that is 60 foot wide and he is trying to build two homes on it with needing a variance of a deficiency of 20 feet per property? That’s my first question. Henzi: Go ahead. Pastor: These are plotted--these are plotted lots. These are lots that were plotted when the subdivision was built. The City has changed their ordinances but they are still lots. They are still buildable lots. Mary Smythe: Okay. Pastor: So his hardship is is that he has two lots that he can’t build two homes on unless he gets a variance. That is his hardship because they are legally lots, this is a plotted subdivision. There are other houses in the subdivision that are on 40 or 50 whatever size lots these are--40 foot lots. There are several of them in there. I counted seven or eight of them on the same block. Henzi: So more technically he is saying I want to build a house with the dimensions of every other house on the block but your new zoning rules won’t let me and that is not fair. And forget if he was a builder this could be two families ten years apart making the same request. Mary Smythe: Mm-hmm. Henzi: And they would have the exact same argument in favor of building. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 9 of 41 June 9, 2015 Pastor: Or if your house burns down and you’re on a 40 foot lot, if you have to rebuild you have to come in front of us because you’re no longer within our ordinances. Mary Smythe: Okay. Pastor: So if all those houses on a 40 foot lot burned down they couldn’t rebuild unless they came in front of us. Mary Smythe: Okay. Henzi: Did you want to look at the plans, I know you came over. We’ve got some pictures of the model and the plans if you would like to see it. Mary Smythe: Sure. One of my questions was I saw that the homes are very tall, shall we say with the garage in the front so the rest of the home is very tall. Again, my house- -this--this is what I’m going to look at, I’m going to look at two of these. When I’m enjoying my backyard I’m going to be looking at two very tall homes. I’m just saying. So one of my questions is, because you--you did state that there’s eight foot on one side of the home on the side and then there’s the home and then there’s six feet and then a driveway. Is that accurate or not? Pastor: No. Mary Smythe: No? Show me. Pastor: The driveway is right here. Mary Smythe: Okay, oh so the drive -- Pastor: From the house-- Mary Smythe: Mm-hmm-- Pastor: From the house to the property line is eight feet on this side and from the house to property line on that side is six feet. Mary Smythe: Okay. Pastor: The driveway is out in front of the house. Mary Smythe: Okay. Pastor: Just as you would see in this picture here. Mary Smythe: All right, my question--my main question is how much room is there between the end of the home--the back end of the home and the fence line keeping in mind that eight feet is City--you know--easement, just like it is at my home? It’s an alley. Pastor: Sixty-five feet. Mary Smythe: Sixty-five feet. Okay. That is more acceptable than I thought it would be. I mean it is, I mean--you know-- Pastor: And both plot plans are very similar. Mary Smythe: It’s not--it’s not what I thought. And that includes--and that includes the eight feet correct? City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 10 of 41 June 9, 2015 Pastor: Yeah. You said to the property line--to the-- Mary Smythe: To the fence line. Pastor: --that’s a vacated alley. Mary Smythe: Yeah, between the fence and--yeah, eight feet okay. Pastor: Right. Mary Smythe: Of course the flooding--I mean my property--I do sit the highest on our street. I can go sit down for a second. I do sit the highest on our block so I rarely flood in general like my neighbors do. However, I do have pieces of my land that do flood so I would be concerned that when he builds that it would raise any grade that it is currently at and would cause my yard to flood. I understand he is doing the catch basin and he did explain that it would catch it but that was one of my concerns as well. Sorry, I was at school all day so I did not bring like my note notes that I wrote. I am trying to think of anything else that I specifically wanted to bring up. Henzi: I’m going to have to cut it short we’ve got a full docket tonight-- Mary Smythe: Okay, that’s fine. Henzi: --unless you had anything else? Thank you. Mary Smythe: I’m good, thanks. Henzi: Anybody else? Rochon: Can I just ask one quick question? Would be--are these homes going to be built as owner occupied homes or as an income property? Henzi: I don’t know. Rochon: You don’t know? That’s not part of--there’s no-- Pastor: We have no jurisdiction over that. Rochon: --stipulation on that? Henzi: No. Rochon: That’s what I was hoping they would be sold as owner occupied single family homes. Pastor: You’d have to ask the builder. Henzi: Go ahead. Good evening. Tom Ford: Good evening. Tom Ford, 9110 Hugh. I brought a couple of pictures I’ve taken over the years of the existing empty lot with it being flooded if you want to just thumb through those. And I just say I object to them over riding the current zoning as it is. Pastor: What was your address again, please? Ford: 9110, I’m right next door. Pastor: So you’re on a smaller lot? City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 11 of 41 June 9, 2015 Ford: No. All the lots around this empty lots are all double lots. Both sides, behind, all around. So it would be kind of funny looking to have a bunch of double lots and then two houses shoehorned into one lot. Henzi: I’m going to ask you about that. I count 23 lots on the street, 13 of them are 40 feet. Ford: Those are at the south end of the street. Henzi: Nine out of twelve on your side of the street I counted as single lots, 40 feet. Ford: I know I’m a double lot, behind me, the other half of that lot, and on the other side of the empty lot is a double lot. So currently both sides right and left of me are double lots and all of them behind me. Henzi: What’s your address one more time? Ford: 9110. Henzi: Yeah, you’re double. Ford: Yep. Henzi: Your neighbor to the north is double, 9054. When I say double greater than 40 would be more of a precise term. Ford: Okay. Henzi: 9054 is greater than 40, the other nine are 40. Fisher: Well when you’re saying 9, though, you’re counting the two that are before us? Henzi: Yes. Fisher: So, okay. Henzi: True, seven others. Fisher: Right. Henzi: Anything else? Ford: That’s it. Henzi: Okay. Anybody else want to speak for or against the project? If so, come on up to the table. I see no one else. Mr. Fitzgerald, you have the opportunity for a closing statement. Fitzgerald: Sure. There was a lot of talk about the flooding again. And just to clarify what happened here, we have the engineered drawings here that will take care of the flooding situation that’s been addressed. The letters I do believe there was a letter from another guy next door that said he would love to see the house built and he’s all for it. I remember that letter being read. In the 40 foot lot streets I believe that the--there’s plenty of 40 foot lots on this particular street and this particular house here as I said in the last meeting, has been built on several 40 foot lots in Livonia. It’s a very--very excellent looking house on a 40 foot lot and this is why we brought it to the table again. It offers a three bedroom, City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 12 of 41 June 9, 2015 two bath--two and a half bath, it offers a basement, an attached garage. Not a ranch with a detached garage which would really hurt both the neighbors here. Because if she had a detached garage she would be not only looking at the back of a garage. Because with a ten foot easement that’s what she would be seeing. This is going to give her plenty of yard to look at. Garage in the front of the house, it’s just--I know how this house works in 40 foot lots. It’s very roomy. It’s just a perfect house for a 40 foot lot, it’s only 25 feet wide this house. It meets the setbacks. We even brought in a foot less than the setbacks require. I think we are allowed 15, I think we went 14. I think we’re allowed 16, I don’t remember--Craig, went over with me but it’s been a while now. Hanosh: Fifteen. Fitzgerald: We kept it a foot in, if I believe. I just think that familiarity with the property over there now and they are comfortable with it, but once the houses are in there it will make a great improvement to the neighborhood. And the neighbor that wants it would be happy and I--their house values would go up and in the long run they are going to be happy. Henzi: Okay, thank you. I’ll close the public portion of the case and begin the Board’s comments with Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: Well on both of these cases I felt that these are buildable lots basically been plotted before. And I don’t think these houses hurt that neighborhood as much as they will help it. Some of the advantages I see here in building these houses is that it fills these vacant lots. It allows a home in a neighborhood that is made up of a variety of structures to have a nice brick home in this neighborhood. It’s an updated style and with every tick of the clock style changes and things get updated. And this allows updated style with a garage. Many homes in that area have no garage and cars and equipment are forced to park outside. I think that is another advantage. This water problem--pictures were passed around, this man has taken care of those water problems by putting sewers on that lot. It looks like those other lots drain to the vacant lot and that water is going to go away and won’t contribute to the problem that is for sure. Now from what I’ve heard here today if the engineering department believes so I’ve got to believe it. So I’m in support of building lots (sic) on both case 15 and case--building homes on both case 15 and case 16. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: Yes, I agree with Sam. This will be an improvement of the area. I examined those pictures and it is very clear to me that everybody else is draining their water on that lot. So the builder has taken responsibility to help--getting rid of the water from other people’s lots. I don’t why some of the neighbors think that is a bad thing, I think it is a good thing. So I will be in full support of this. Henzi: Mr. Schepis. Schepis: I would echo what Sam said. I think that also the fact that you’ve taken the time and the expenses to really solve you know now just sort of--you know kind of--excuse the pun wash away the water problem you’ve come up with a solution to that which is a concern of the neighbors. I think that counts for something and I would support it too. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 13 of 41 June 9, 2015 Henzi: Mr. Bowling. Bowling: I’m in agreement and echo the Board’s comments. I think you’ve spent the money to do what the neighbors asked you to do to take care of the water problem which was the main heartburn I had last time. Make sure that is done and I’m in full support. Henzi: I too will support it. I think that there is a hardship unlike even what we normally see. There is a petitioner who owns two pieces of property and wants to build exactly what other lots on that street have and our zoning ordinances don’t allow him to do it and it is not fair. So I think there is certainly a hardship and I appreciate the efforts to design and install the catch basins. I have nothing else to add so the floor is open for a motion. Schepis: Mr. Chairman. Henzi: Mr. Schepis. Upon Motion by Schepis supported by Pastor, it was: RESOLVED: APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-04-15 (Tabled on April 28, 2015): An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by Mark Miller, 45920 Ashford Circle, Novi, MI 48374, seeking to construct a single family dwelling upon property, resulting in deficient lot width and lot area. Lot Width: Lot Area: Required: 60 ft. Required: 7200 sq. ft. Proposed/Existing 40 ft. Proposed/Existing: 5400 sq. ft. Deficient: 20 ft. Deficient: 1800 sq. ft. The property is located on the east side of Hugh (9082), between Dover and Grandon, Lot. No. 140-01-0149-000, R-1 Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under Zoning Ordinance 543, Section 4.04, “Schedule of Minimum Lot Sizes in R-1 be granted for the following reasons and findings of fact: through R-5 Districts,” 1. The uniqueness requirement is met because this is a platted lot that is now deficient in size due to change in zoning ordinances. 2. Denial of the variance would have severe consequences for the Petitioner because he would be unable to build a home on the lot. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 14 of 41 June 9, 2015 3. The variance is fair in light of its effect on neighboring properties and in the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance because the lot is consistent with the size of lots in the neighborhood. 4. The Board received no letters of approval or objection from neighboring property owners. 5. The property is classified as “low density residential” in the Master Plan and the proposed variance is not inconsistent with that classification. FURTHER, This variance is granted with the following conditions: 1. That the lot be developed as presented to the Zoning Board of Appeals including installation of catch basins. 2. That Petitioner must commence building within six (6) months of approval of this petition. 3. That Petitioner must enclose the house within ninety (90) days of commencement of building. ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Schepis, Pastor, Bowling, Caramagno, Henzi NAYS: ABSENT: Sills, Coppola City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 15 of 41 June 9, 2015 RESOLVED: APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-04-16 (Tabled on April 28, 2015): An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by Mark Miller, 45920 Ashford Circle, Novi, MI 48374, seeking to construct a single family dwelling upon property, resulting in deficient lot width and lot area. Lot Width: Lot Area: Required: 60 ft. Required: 7200 sq. ft. Proposed/Existing 40 ft. Proposed/Existing: 5400 sq. ft. Deficient: 20 ft. Deficient: 1800 sq. ft. The property is located on the east side of Hugh (9092), between Dover and Grandon, Lot. No. 140-01-0150-000, R-1 Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under Zoning Ordinance 543, Section 4.04, “Schedule of Minimum Lot Sizes in R-1 be granted for the following reasons and findings of fact: through R-5 Districts,” 1. The uniqueness requirement is met because this is a platted lot that is now deficient in size due to change in zoning ordinances. 2. Denial of the variance would have severe consequences for the Petitioner because he would be unable to build a home on the lot. 3. The variance is fair in light of its effect on neighboring properties and in the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance because the lot is consistent with the size of lots in the neighborhood. 4. The Board received no letters of approval or objection from neighboring property owners. 5. The property is classified as “low density residential” in the Master Plan and the proposed variance is not inconsistent with that classification. FURTHER, This variance is granted with the following conditions: City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 16 of 41 June 9, 2015 1. That the lot be developed as presented to the Zoning Board of Appeals including installation of catch basins. 2. That Petitioner must commence building within six (6) months of approval of this petition. 3. That Petitioner must enclose the house within ninety (90) days of commencement of building. ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Schepis, Pastor, Bowling, Caramagno, Henzi NAYS: ABSENT: Sills, Coppola Henzi: So Mr. Fitzgerald, both variances are granted. I will read--summarize the conditions one more time. You have to develop them according to the plans you presented including catch basin drawings you brought tonight. You’ve got six months in which to commence construction and 90 days from the date of commencement in which to enclose the properties. Good luck. Fitzgerald: Thank you. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 17 of 41 June 9, 2015 APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-06-25: An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by Tom Rollo, 17550 Fairfield, Livonia, MI 48152, seeking to construct a detached garage while maintaining an attached garage, resulting in excess number of garages and garage area. Number of Garages: Garage Area: Allowed: One Allowed: 720 sq. ft. Proposed Two Proposed: 906 sq. ft. Excess: One Existing: 546 sq. ft. Excess: 186 sq. ft. The property is located on the east side of Fairfield (17550), between Six Mile and Curtis, Lot. No. 039-01-0025-000, RUF-C Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under Zoning Ordinance 543, Section 2.10(5), “Definition of Miscellaneous Terms; Garage, Private.” Henzi: Mr. Hanosh, anything to add: Hanosh: Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Henzi: Any questions for the Inspection Department? Hearing none, good evening. Rollo: Hello. Henzi: Can you tell us your-- Rollo: I’m Susan Rollo at 17550 Fairfield and I believe we sent a little form to you of what our area looks like and our measurements and why we would like this she din our backyard. Right now we have a single garage, 10 by 25 that isn’t even sufficient enough to hold our lawn equipment and tables, etcetera so we are asking to build a shed in our back yard. We have deep--deep yards and most of my neighbors have sheds in the back also. And it’s a--the shed that we had chosen shows it with a garage door but that is not a--we can work around that. We don’t have to have the up--the uplifting garage door we can have an open--some other type of door. We have--so that equipment can in and out easily. And we are making two sheds then are 10 by 12’s and then we’re going to have a cement slab between the two that is another 10 by 12. So the whole shed area is only going to be 10 by 30--or 12 by 30. But we want to put a connecting roof on so that we can store lawn furniture etcetera on that. We’ve lived at this house--Tom’s parents built it in 1949--1950 so we’ve lived there all of our lives. We have a lot of trees, we have a lot of yard equipment we need and so we are asking if we can have a shed to store everything and that’s where we are at this time. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 18 of 41 June 9, 2015 Henzi: Just a couple questions. Do you have a basement? Rollo: No we are on a cement slab. Henzi: Would you prefer the overhead doors? The garage style doors? Rollo: Sure if we can get them if that is not going to hold us up. Henzi: Did someone explain to you that that was it was classified as a garage because of the door style? Rollo: Well, yes, they said that’s what caused the question in accepting it. So I think they are only eight foot doors but they are in a garage style in that they pull up. So whether we have something that opens up--I think my husband would prefer the garage type door but if that’s the only thing holding up your okay with this we could go to another mode. Henzi: Would you use it to store vehicles? Rollo: No, a motorcycle would be the only vehicle and a lawn mower. We don’t have a lawn mower at this time. Henzi: And then you or your builder can talk about the building materials? Explain what is going to be used? Bongero: Hi guys, I’m Dave Bongero., Bongero Construction, 33346 Glendale here in Livonia. The garages are going to be basically--they are kind gingerbreaded up a little bit with dental molding around the top, vinyl siding. I don’t know if Tom, Sue’s husband, he couldn’t be here tonight, but he might elect to go with hardy siding painted. Basically just like the picture. I don’t know if you guys have one attached, but it’s basically--it’s an expensive little structure. And he is going to put a lot of money into and make it look really nice. It is set so far back in the yard you know you’re really never ever going to see it. Rollo: Yeah, you won’t see it just a little bit. That’s our back yard, that’s our neighbor’s barn or shed and then that’s our neighbor to the north. They have a couple sheds and play equipment. And this is our existing yard. We lost a big tree in the back so we are going to put the shed back there. And then our front yard you can see it’s just a single garage. Henzi: Can you send those pictures around, I don’t have one of the structure. Bongero: They only have a one car garage now and it is filled. They have no--they have nowhere to put anything. Rollo: We have no storage at all. Henzi: Just like it was built in 1949? Rollo: Yeah. Henzi: Everyone was a one car if that. Bongero: That’s it. Henzi: If that. Rollo: Yeah, I could bring you pictures. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 19 of 41 June 9, 2015 Pastor: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: This is quite a unique design. Are you planning on putting the motorcycle on one side, the lawn mower in the other? What else? Rollo: Just yard equipment so that basically the garage that we have now will have--that will become more my storage things--my overflow. It’s not big enough to hold cars any more with the way the cars are. I mean we could get it in but I don’t know about getting it out. So, that’s--it’s basically so he has a work shop area he has room for his tools and lawn equipment and then we are hoping to have lawn furniture--we had to leave our lawn furniture out all winter on our patio with a tarp over it and it would be nice to have grown up furniture that you can put away and save and then take it out in the spring. So that is basically our goal. Pastor: Thank you. Rollo: You’re welcome. Henzi: Any other questions? Is there anyone in the audience that wants to speak for or against the project? If so, come on up to the table. Pat Murphy: Yeah, I want to speak for it. You know it’s our next door neighbor and we’ve known them for years. My wife’s parents owned our house since 1950 and she lived there all that time. And the Rollo’s have just totally redone the house and redid the whole yard. They just make it beautiful so whatever you want to do is fine with us. So we are perfectly fine with that so. Henzi: Can you say your name and address? Pat Murphy: Pat Murphy, 17530 Fairfield Street. We’re in the house right to the south of theirs. Its fine with us, go right ahead. Rollo: Thank you. Pat Murphy: Sure. And Dave is a good builder, he did our house for us. Mrs. Murphy: We are all excited. Henzi: Seeing no one else coming forward, are there letters? Caramagno: Letters of approval from Keith Fulton, 17731 Fairfield (letter read), Robert Tacoma, Jr. 17710 Fairfield (letter read), Patrick Murphy, 17530 Fairfield (letter read), and Thomas Rollo, 17550 Fairfield (letter read). Henzi: Mrs. Rollo anything you would like to say in closing? Rollo: No, I would just like you to grant us permission to build this shed please for my sanity and my husband’s. Henzi: I’ll close the public portion of the case and begin the Board’s comments with Mr. Pastor. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 20 of 41 June 9, 2015 Pastor: Well, excuse me, I’ll be in full support of this. This is a very unique garage. I won’t call it a garage it is a shed. Rollo: Thank you. Pastor: Very well done. You have a large lot, one car garage, no basement, I am actually surprised you didn’t ask for something bigger. So I will be in full support. Henzi: Mr. Schepis. Schepis: I agree. This isn’t--compared to some we have seen, really large excess and I think what you presented is really nice. Rollo: Thank you. Schepis: And I can certainly see your need for additional space. Henzi: Mr. Bowling. Bowling: I think it looks great. As I drove down the street I think I counted three or four houses that had bigger garages or sheds in the back yard without trying to look real hard. Rollo: Oh, yes. Bowling: I love the his and her sheds, it’s great. Rollo: Thank you. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: These gentleman have summed up my thoughts as well and it is very tasteful design. I like it and I will be in support. Rollo: Thank you. Henzi: I too will echo the comments of the other Board members and also add that part of the square footage is that uncovered breezeway which could have otherwise been used. I think it is a very unique design and it is beautiful really so I am in full support. Rollo: Thank you. Henzi: So the floor is open for a motion. Pastor: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Upon Motion by Pastor supported by Caramagno, it was: RESOLVED: APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-06-25: An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by Tom Rollo, 17550 Fairfield, Livonia, MI 48152, seeking to construct a detached garage while maintaining an attached garage, resulting in excess number of garages and garage area. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 21 of 41 June 9, 2015 Number of Garages: Garage Area: Allowed: One Allowed: 720 sq. ft. Proposed Two Proposed: 906 sq. ft. Excess: One Existing: 546 sq. ft. Excess: 186 sq. ft. The property is located on the east side of Fairfield (17550), between Six Mile and Curtis, Lot. No. 039-01-0025-000, RUF-C Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under Zoning Ordinance 543, Section 2.10(5), “Definition of Miscellaneous Terms; be granted for the following reasons and findings of fact: Garage, Private,” 1. The uniqueness requirement is met because this property only has a one car garage and no basement and needs additional storage room. 2. Denial of the variance would have severe consequences for the Petitioner because of the lack of storage space for lawn equipment and patio furniture. 3. The variance is fair in light of its effect on neighboring properties and in the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance because the neighboring property owners are in support and many neighbors have similar out buildings. 4. The Board received four letters of approval and no objection letters from neighboring property owners. 5. The property is classified as “low density residential” in the Master Plan and the proposed variance is not inconsistent with that classification. FURTHER, This variance is granted with the following conditions: 1. That the storage shed be constructed as presented to the Zoning Board of Appeals. 2. That Petitioner must commence building within six (6) months of approval of this petition. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 22 of 41 June 9, 2015 3. That Petitioner must enclose the building within ninety (90) days of commencing construction of the storage shed. ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Pastor, Caramagno, Bowling, Schepis, Henzi NAYS: None ABSENT: Sills, Coppola Henzi: The variance is granted with three conditions. You’ve got to start within six months. You’ve got to enclose it within 90 days of commencing construction. And then you’ve got to build it as you presented. Rollo: Yes, sir. Henzi: Good luck. Rollo: Thank you so very much. Bongero: Thanks everybody. Rollo: I appreciate it. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 23 of 41 June 9, 2015 APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-06-27: An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by Jacob Emerick, 16581 Henry Ruff, Livonia, MI 48154, seeking to maintain a four (4) foot tall chain-link fence, erected without a permit, within the front yard, which is not allowed. The property is located on the west side of Henry Ruff (16581), between Greenland and Munger, Lot. No. 054-99-0019-002, RUF-C Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under City of Livonia Fence Ordinance, Section 15.44.090 A,(2) “Residential District Regulations,” Henzi: Mr. Hanosh, anything to add to this case? Hanosh: Nothing at this time, Mr. Chair. Henzi: Any questions for the Inspection Department? Hearing none, good evening. Jacob Emerick: Hi. Henzi: Can you tell us your name and address? Jeanine Emerick: Jeanine Emerick. Jacob Emerick: Jacob Emerick, 16581 Henry Ruff. Henzi: Okay, go ahead and tell us about the fence you want to maintain. Jacob Emerick: There’s a four foot black, vinyl chain link fence on the side of our house. It was erected in that location because we really don’t have a back yard behind our house. Behind our house is runoff of the Bell Creek and it’s very--there’s a large hill back there and a lot of trees. That was really the only spot on our two and a half acres that we saw that we could really put a fence up. We put the fence up for our dogs. There’s a lot of wild life there. It’s not only to protect the wild life but also protect our dogs and kids too when they go in there and play. Henzi: How much of the back yard is your property? Jacob Emerick: Behind our house? Henzi: In the rear of the house, yeah. Jacob Emerick: Approximately 30--40 feet behind our house. My wife printed off some other pictures she wanted to give. Pastor: Thank you. Henzi: So the lot that contains a lot of your back yard is a house that fronts Greenland? Jacob Emerick: Greenland, yes, sir. Henzi: 30440 Greenland? City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 24 of 41 June 9, 2015 Jacob Emerick: Yes. Dennis Nemcek owns that and I think he has four acres--about four acres. And you can’t even see his house from our house. It’s a vacant lot. He owns two lots on Greenland and they all--they go directly back behind our house. Henzi: When I went to the property I noticed that there’s a steep drop-off especially on the--this would be the northwest corner. Jacob Emerick: Yes. Henzi: And you can even see how the fence kind of rises. How steep is the drop-off, do you have any idea? In terms of feet from house grade on the northwest corner to the lowest grade in the back yard? Jacob Emerick: I’d say 20 feet. I mean when you’re down--if you were to walk down there it is well above your head. Henzi: And then can you tell us or add to anything about the fence, whether you have kids, dogs, etcetera you want to enclose that area for? Jeanine Emerick: We have three large dogs and we have two school aged children that regularly play out there. Unfortunately the only real access to the house and to a cleared area of land to have the fence is that corner side of the house. I mean there’s a clearing on the other side of the house which would be south side but there would be no access to the house if we were to put a fence there. But again still the back yard would not be an option it would be such a narrow--it would really just be a ten foot if that width before you hit the drop-off. Jacob Emerick: Yeah, not even--yeah maybe ten feet before the drop-off. It’s very unique piece of property. Jeanine Emerick: And with eroding and with the amount of water and flooding that we get too, I mean again you just--it’s--we’re on the highest most secure piece of the property with the fence. Henzi: Yeah, what’s the back yard like in the spring water wise? Jeanine Emerick: Well this is our first spring we just moved in in November but it’s been flooded you know consistently. After every rain it is flooded for a good three to four days. Henzi: And can you tell us did you hire a company to put the fence up? Or did you do it yourself? Jacob Emerick: I didn’t do it myself, but it wasn’t a licensed--it was a fence company and I don’t--it was somebody on Craigslist. Henzi: Mr. Hanosh, do you know how this came to the attention of the Inspection Department? Hanosh: I’m not sure if it came through a complaint to the department and we sent out an inspector and that is what brought this up to you. You got a notice about the fence? Jacob Emerick: Yes, I believe so, somebody called because the fence was there. Hanosh: It was erected without a permit or zoning compliance. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 25 of 41 June 9, 2015 Henzi: Why did you erect the fence without a permit? Did you know that was required? Jacob Emerick: I actually did do the research. I looked through all the ordinances. We are zoned rural urban farmland and I didn’t see anything that applied and upon reading further after we got the violation there is something from the residential aspect that falls onto the rural urban farmland. Because we actually contemplated getting farm animals. We thought about getting a horse and it was one of the unique things we were able to do at that piece of property. And there’s a split rail fence that has been there for a number of years, you can’t even see it, it is tucked in the woods. I honestly didn’t know. It was my ignorance of the ordinance. I didn’t do it intentionally. I did like I said I looked through the ordinances and I didn’t see anything in the rural urban farmland that pertained to the fences. Henzi: Any questions? Pastor: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: How high is this flooding? I’ve seen one of the pictures, you’ve got some flooding going on in the backyard. I know you haven’t been there long but do you know how high that comes up? Jeanine Emerick: If you look on the top left picture you can see the stairs that go down. Pastor: Mm-hmm. Jeanine Emerick: They come--that bottom right picture is actually you can see it coming right to the bottom of those wooden stairs that are there. Pastor: Does it come up any higher than that? Jeanine Emerick: It hasn’t yet but-- Pastor: You’ve only been there a short period of time right? Jeanine Emerick: Right. But as far as we know because those stairs higher than that bottom one haven’t really buckled like that bottom one is. That kind of tells me that it really must not come up that high or at least not often enough to really damage the stairs beyond that bottom one. Pastor: What kind of dogs do you have? Jeanine Emerick: Dobermans. Pastor: Dobermans? Pastor: Only you only built a four foot fence? Jacob Emerick: They are actually very friendly. Jeanine Emerick: That was to protect them, they are quite wimpy. Pastor: They see one of those deer in the yard they might want to get over that fence. Jeanine Emerick: Oh no, they like them. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 26 of 41 June 9, 2015 Pastor: That’s all I have right now. Henzi: Any other questions? Caramagno: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: Now there were two notices of violations, one for the fence obviously, and one for the dogs being licensed. I see the second notice of violation the dogs being licensed is no longer an issue, did you-- Jacob Emerick: They are all licensed, yes, sir. Jeanine Emerick: Correct, that has been taken care of. Caramagno: Thank you. Henzi: Any other questions? Hearing none, is there anyone in the audience who wants to speak for or against the project? If so, come up to the table. Martin: I just have a question. Christopher Martin, 11037 Hubbard, Livonia. How much- -it says within the front yard, how much is within the front yard? How many feet? Pastor: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: When I went there this evening, it looked like about 40 feet of the fence was in front of their house. Martin: Well here’s the point I am trying to make after the 40 foot is that a number of years ago I actually went and looked at houses of people that were on the--currently on the Zoning Board at the time and some of them still are. And Sam Caramagno has a four foot cyclone in the front of his property on Merriman that--what is that frontage there Sam? Is it 200 feet? Caramagno: Probably. Martin: Yeah, and you know what I could never find a permit. When I looked in your paperwork down in the Inspection Department I couldn’t find it. Caramagno: Crazy isn’t it? Martin: Why it might magically appear. But it was wasn’t there. Caramagno: Crazy. Henzi: Is there anything you want to talk about this case? Martin: I just feel if you want to be fair with people that this guy should be approved no problem. So I would be in favor of it. Henzi: Thank you. Martin: Sure. Henzi: Anybody else? Are there letters on this case? City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 27 of 41 June 9, 2015 Caramagno: There’s two both from the same person. A letter of approval from Dennis Nemcek, 30460 and 30460-1 Greenland (letters read). Henzi: Mr. and Mrs. Emerick, is there anything you want to say in closing? Jeanine Emerick: Just our neighbors--our neighbors on Munger also expressed that they could write something and we told them we didn’t think it was necessary but-- Jacob Emerick; The two--if everybody has been out to our house, both neighbors on Munger there at Henry Ruff, I know they are not here, but they--take my word for it, they both said they didn’t have a problem with our fence and we have emails from them. I guess I should have printed them out. They asked if there was anything they could do to support us and I told them I didn’t think it was necessary because we are so secluded back there. We love it here in Livonia and we plan on staying here forever. We love our little piece of property there. Henzi: I’ll close the public portion of the case and begin the Board’s comments with Mr. Schepis. Schepis: To me this is a pretty unique piece of property. I guess that is really it. You’ve articulated a need for it, you don’t have a back yard. You’ve got dogs, it’s secluded. I don’t have a problem with this. Jacob Emerick: Thank you. Henzi: Mr. Bowling. Bowling: I’d agree. It’s unique. I thought I was up north as soon as I drove down Henry Ruff up there. It’s a neat piece of property and I think it is the only place you could put the fence to keep the dogs. It makes sense. Jacob Emerick: Thank you. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: Yeah, I agree that it is unique. It’s one of the few places that you could put a fence without doing major construction there. I’d like to see a permit pulled after the fact, I think it should have been pulled but that’s it. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: Yes, this is definitely a unique piece of property. I’m driving down what I am thinking is a driveway and it is actually Henry Ruff. I’m still--I don’t understand how that could be Henry Ruff other than it lines up with Henry Ruff because I doubt the City actually maintains that property--that driveway. Jeanine Emerick: They don’t, because we have been doing a lot of maintaining. Pastor: But this is such a unique piece of property I am actually stunned it came in front of us so I will be in full support. Henzi: I too would support it for the same reasons. When I pulled up I saw the dogs. I think you’ve demonstrated good reason for requiring the fence. There is really a steep drop-off, I mean I wouldn’t want to see my kid chasing a basketball towards that one area City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 28 of 41 June 9, 2015 because that could get dangerous. You can’t put it anywhere else. And it would be unfair not to grant this. I would recommend the permit and I would suggest just the single fee. I don’t think there was any ill will in erecting the fence. Sometimes we make people pay double if we think they did to try and be--to try and hide it. I don’t sense any of that. And you made your application almost immediately after getting the notice of violation. And so that is it and the floor is open for a motion. Bowling: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Bowling. Upon Motion by Bowling supported by Pastor, it was: RESOLVED: APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-06-27: An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by Jacob Emerick, 16581 Henry Ruff, Livonia, MI 48154, seeking to maintain a four (4) foot tall chain-link fence, erected without a permit, within the front yard, which is not allowed. The property is located on the west side of Henry Ruff (16581), between Greenland and Munger, Lot. No. 054-99-0019-002, RUF-C Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under City of Livonia Fence Ordinance, Section 15.44.090 A,(2) “Residential be granted for the following reasons and findings of fact: District Regulations,” 1. The uniqueness requirement is met because of the unusual layout of this lot and rural nature. 2. Denial of the variance would have severe consequences for the Petitioner because he would be unable to provide a safe area for his children and dogs. 3. The variance is fair in light of its effect on neighboring properties and in the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance because of the unique property and neighboring property owners’ support. 4. The Board received two letters of approval and no objection letters from neighboring property owners. 5. The property is classified as “low density residential” in the Master Plan and the proposed variance is not inconsistent with that classification. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 29 of 41 June 9, 2015 FURTHER, This variance is granted with the following conditions: 1. That Petitioner pull the proper permit and pay the single fee within sixty (60) days ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Bowling, Pastor, Schepis, Caramagno, Henzi NAYS: None ABSENT: Sills, Coppola Henzi: So this is granted you’ve just got to go pull the permit and pay the fee. Jacob Emerick: We will do it Friday. Jeanine Emerick: Thank you. Henzi: Good luck. Jacob Emerick: Can we get a pool too? Bowling: You already have one in your back yard. Jacob Emerick: Thank you for your time. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 30 of 41 June 9, 2015 APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-06-28: An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by Bill Saad, 37921 Ann Arbor Trail, LLC/Michigan Fuels, Inc., 20755 West Road, Woodhaven, MI 48183, on behalf of Lessee, Mobil Oil Corp, 37921 Ann Arbor Trail, Livonia, MI 48150, seeking to remove an existing building and one (1) pump island to construct a new convenience store associated with gasoline sales, resulting in the building being at a deficient setback from the Ann Arbor Trail right-of-way, also, the existing pump canopy adjacent to the Ann Arbor Road right-of-way is at a deficient setback of seven (7) feet where ten (10) feet is required and the gasoline pumps under this canopy are at sixteen (16) feet where twenty (20) feet is required. Building Setback: Required: 60 ft. Proposed: 32 ft. Deficient: 28 ft. The property is located on the west side of Ann Arbor Trail (37921), between Ann Arbor Road and Newburgh, Lot. No. 121-99-0015-001, C-2 Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under Zoning Ordinance 543, Section 11.03(a),2, “Waiver Uses; Gasoline Service Station.” Caramagno: I called this case earlier. Bill Saad from Mobil Oil. (No one appeared) City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 31 of 41 June 9, 2015 APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-06-29: An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by MKO Real Estate, LLC, 27472 Schoenherr, Ste. 140, Warren, MI 48088, seeking to erect two (2) ground signs and three (3) wall signs, resulting in excess number of ground signs, ground sign area and excess number of wall signs. Number of Ground Signs: Ground Sign Area: Number of Wall Signs: Allowed: One Allowed: 30 sq. ft. Allowed: One Proposed: Two Proposed: 44 sq. ft. Proposed: Three Excess: One Excess: Two (One sign at 29 sq. ft.; one at 15 sq. ft.) Excess: 14 sq. ft. As revised by the Petitioner with the Board’s concurrence: Number of Ground Signs: Ground Sign Area: Allowed: One Allowed: 30 sq. ft. Proposed: Two Proposed: 44 sq. ft. Excess: One (One sign at 29 sq. ft.; one at 15 sq. ft.) Excess: 14 sq. ft. The property is located on the north side of Five Mile (36622), between Levan and Williams, Lot. No. 067-01-0110-003, C-1 Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under Zoning Ordinance 543, Section 18.50H,(a),1,2, “Sign Regulations in C-1, C-2, C-3 and C-4 Districts,” Henzi: Mr. Hanosh, anything to add? Hanosh: Nothing at this time, Mr. Chair. Henzi: Any questions for the Inspection Department? Mike Beaubien: Can I make a comment? I’m Mike Beaubien, I’m the chief--I’m the President for MKO Real Estate. Thanks for letting me come tonight. We are modifying our presentation tonight. I only want to talk about two ground signs. We’ve got final renderings of our walls signs and we don’t have our tenant lined up for the second floor. So what I would like to do is come back and do the wall signs at another time. We are doing construction as you know and we want to make sure we get everything done in time for our opening. We hope to--knock on wood--start seeing patients the first of August so I really want to today just talk about the two monument signs. Henzi: I don’t have a problem with that but I will ask you this. Are you going to be asking for the same number of wall signs? Beaubien: Yes. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 32 of 41 June 9, 2015 Henzi: So is this--I guess what I am wondering is-- Beaubien: I willing to talk about anything you want to talk about so that is fine. Henzi: I mean how different will the package be because a lot of times we may horse trade and say why do you need two ground signs, why don’t you take the three walls signs? Beaubien: Right. Henzi: Or vice-versa. Beaubien: Okay. Henzi: So if this is a matter that we just don’t know who are tenants are and it might look a little bit different, that’s fine. But if you are going to say no we want to completely change it to get a variance tonight and then come back with six wall signs later. Beaubien: Right. So if you mind can I just do a little presentation on the monument signs and then you guys can-- Henzi: Absolutely. Beaubien: --talk about the walls signs. Henzi: Sounds good. Beaubien: The original wall signs--the original monument sign on Five Mile is the existing monument that was there with the Frank’s Nursery. And all we’ve done is basically replaced the guts of that sign with the plan. I’ve got a better rendering than perhaps what you have. I don’t have--I do have enough copies for everybody. So that is now being changed. And during the site plan approval process we did get an approval for the ground sign for the Levan Road entrance. But it did require me to come back to the Zoning for zoning approval today. So it is in the I think September rdrd 23 minutes of--let’s see--yes, September 23, 2013 minutes where that ground sign was discussed and it did say to come back here today. So right now from my perspective we’re going to be having a--we will be moving in the middle of July. First patient is in August. I have to some ground signs--some signs in place. When we got the renderings back for the signs that I submitted for approval it just--it just didn’t look nice with that building. The building is beautiful, it is a modern building. To be honest with you we didn’t hire a sign contractor to do this because I thought our architect was going to do that. And it turns out it wasn’t in my contract so I put something together with a group of people. What we will be coming back for is hopefully and for approval a sign for us, one for our physical therapy on the Levan side. And we are very close--this close to finishing our lease agreement with the hospital. So the hospital will have signage on that building. Only the main tenants--the two main tenants would have any signage on the building. We’ve got three other tenants there but that is not included in their lease package. But the amount of money invested both on my part as well as the hospitals, signage is important for us because patients coming from the hospital need to know where we are at and it is really going to be seen as a continuous part of the hospital campus. So their signage there will be important as well. So I guess just as of City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 33 of 41 June 9, 2015 today, if--I’ll answer any other questions that you might have. I can’t answer about exactly what those signs are going to look like today because I was so disappointed with the way the wall signs looked before. Henzi: Okay, if you want to just talk about the ground signs. Beaubien: Sure. Henzi: You’ve got a picture-- Beaubien: Yep. Henzi: --is it going to be the same ground sign, one on Levan, one on Five? Beaubien: The one on--if you look at your package I may have something here for you. Levan Road is much smaller. It is half that size. Henzi: That’s just for the physical therapy right? Beaubien: No, the hospital--I’m going to give the background sign to the hospital for their surgery center that is going to go in there. And knowing that the patients will come from the hospital down Levan Road and they won’t have to turn onto Five Mile, it’s just-- most of the parking as you know is on the east side of that campus--that four acre parcel. And so I believe that there will--we expect a lot of traffic from the hospital over there and rather than turning onto Five Mile we believe that this would be a safer alternative to have them go to the Levan entrance. So we want to designate that. Henzi: Okay. Pastor: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: So what is the square footage for the second sign? Beaubien: Fifteen square feet. Pastor: Fifteen square feet, okay. Beaubien: For the Five Mile monument it is 29 square feet and the one on Levan Road is 15 square feet. Pastor: Okay. It will be built similar to the Levan Road? Beaubien: Yes, it is going to have a brick foundation and then an aluminum box with a panel in there. Pastor: Back lit? Beaubien: Yep. Pastor: Okay. How high off the ground is your second sign going to be because I can’t tell how high this one is? Beaubien: Can you wait just a second, I can dig through my papers here and find that for you. Here we go. It is--I don’t have the total--it is three foot high--the panel and it City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 34 of 41 June 9, 2015 looks like it is maybe a foot--foot and a half of foundation--of a foundation. I’ll send that around. Pastor: So this doesn’t tell us exactly how high the brick is off the ground? Beaubien: I’m just using it--I’m reckon ordering from the foot how wide it is to how deep that foundation is. Pastor: Okay. Thank you. Henzi: Any other questions? Bowling: That second sign did you tell us already the one on Levan would that be lighted? Beaubien: Yes, that would be lighted. Bowling: Okay. Fisher: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Fisher. Fisher: Will the wall signs when you do bring them, be bigger than the ones that were proposed for tonight? Beaubien: I can’t--I don’t know. I don’t know, I’m sorry. I do know what the variance-- what we would be allowed without a variance, I think it is a 183 square feet. We did check that out. The total that was originally submitted to you was a 183 square feet and we’ve got--we have to do something. We’ve got to minimize the print on one of the signs in order to be visible on the road. It’s just too busy. We want to fit in with the architecture of the building. I mean the signage is used for two reasons. Obviously it is a way of finding but also for safety purposes. For us for the--for my patients who are coming into the orthopedic practice over 50 percent of them are sixty-five or older. So we have a lot of older patients coming in there. We need to be able to see where it is at. Obviously one they are there, they will migrate back there. I’m not worried about that. But I think having that signage there where they are not just looking for the ground sign, it’s a safety issue. You’ve got a busy intersection and I think it will be helpful there. So we’ve got to figure out what the right way is to do this. And for it to look nice for us. If I have to I will tell you this now, I mean if we have to give up the sign that is on the Levan Road side which was just for our physical therapy site, I would rather do that than give up space--I would rather make our signs in the front bigger. So--I’m sorry, I didn’t hear-- Pastor: When are you--when are you planning on building these signs? Beaubien: Well the Frank’s--the old sign is there we would just be doing the construction on that right away. Pastor: So the Levan Road sign, when do you plan on building that? Beaubien: Pretty quick because it’s--we are in the midst of construction. We’ve got-- you know we put our black top down already. I know we drew electrical out there. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 35 of 41 June 9, 2015 We’re doing some voluntary pavement repair on the sidewalks along Levan Road there. I know you know there is construction going on there. We are trying to be good citizens on some of that stuff. And so we are just trying to make sense for us to do it all at the right time. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: Mr. Chair, just for clarification for me. When you talk about larger wall signs on the Five Mile frontage-- Beaubien: Then what I submitted. Caramagno: --and if you had to give something back, you’re talking about reducing the building sign on the Levan Road side, is that right? Not the monument sign? Beaubien: No the building sign. Caramagno: The building sign. Beaubien: Because if you look the three signs together equal a 183 square feet. Caramagno: So if you had to reduce something for square footage-- Beaubien: You see--let me send me the rendering I got after we submitted all this and then you can tell what I am saying. Caramagno: Let me ask you this. Beaubien: When you look at this you’ll say for that building this is not the right signage for that building. Caramagno: Let me ask you another question. The monument sign on Levan Road, I see clearly where the Five Mile one is and I saw it as I drove out. Where exactly is it on this-- Beaubien: I believe it is on the site plan that we submitted. Caramagno: Do I have the smaller plan? Pastor: You’ve got a different site plan. Caramagno: Maybe there’s a better one here. So it’s just--it’s just after the first driveway then? Beaubien: Correct. Caramagno: So it’s not back here by the residential? Beaubien: You’ve got the dental-you have the dental place and you have a berm and some bushes and then there is a drive right there. So it is closer to Five Mile then it is to the suburb--the others. And we were--we actually talked with our neighbors about that during the site planning time and they didn’t have any problem with this. They were so excited to have something going in there. Caramagno: Much better. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 36 of 41 June 9, 2015 Henzi: Any other questions? I think it is very prudent to take a step back because there is another new professional building at that corner that I wish they would have done it instead of coming back piece meal and I think he regrets it. Pastor: Yes, and he still has to come back. Beaubien: Our Company is called MKO Real Estate but this is our only building so I actually run their operations. This has all been a learning process for me but I’m very proud of what is going on over there and I hope the City and all of you like what you th see. So you will be invited to our open house August 9, free hot dogs. Henzi: Music to my ears. Any other questions? Anyone in the audience want to speak for or against the project? I see no one coming forward, are there letters? Caramagno: Letters of approval from Sandra Orsucci, 36509 Kingsbury (letter read), Carol Stepelton, 36136 Roycroft (letter read), Martha Gardner, 36512 Roycroft (letter read), and a letter of objection from Beverly Jovan, 36411 Roycroft (letter read). Henzi: Anything you want to say in closing? Beaubien: No, I would just appreciate--first of all I thank you for allowing me to modify my presentation tonight. And second of all I hope you will see the value in doing this both again from a way finding standpoint but also for a safety standpoint for the patients that will be coming to that facility. Henzi: Thank you. I’ll close the public case--the public portion of the case and begin the Board’s comments with Mr. Bowling. Bowling: Well first of all thank you for building this beautiful building. It is nice after the Frank’s building falling down around us. I live just down the street from this. I think what you are doing here is great. I want to hear what the other Board members say about sizes and the signs but I tend to be in support of businesses bringing value to the City. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: Well I think the ground signs that you proposed tonight are necessary. I like the idea and the thinking by coming up Levan Road and having the ability to know where to turn in instead of making a left hand turn and clogging up that intersection. I think they are both good ideas. I don’t find the excess of the signage to be a problem at all. It’s a big piece of land right there and you are going to have a lot of activity. Beaubien: Right. Caramagno: I tend to like what you proposed in the ground sign piece. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: I actually think this is a fairly good presentation. And I’m probably one of the hardest people on signs on this Board. I think you’ve thought this out very well. Having two road accesses I believe needs two signs. It’s a large piece of property so I will be in support. Henzi: Mr. Schepis. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 37 of 41 June 9, 2015 Schepis: I too like what you’ve brought here. I live near there and I am just really happy to see something there. I think that the two ground signs look good. I think they make sense and I guess part of me also appreciates the fact that you--that you looked at the renderings of the wall sign and kind of took a step back and wanted to get it right. So I would support these signs. Henzi: I too will support the signs. I think there is a hardship. To me this is a corner building and like Mr. Pastor said with two points of access it makes sense to have two ground signs. Especially since you have a similar looking--it’s another professional building, you’ve got the dental office in the front so you are going to differentiate between driveways and I think that makes a lot of sense. And on the whole I am thrilled, I like the site plan approval. We should probably condition approval on any requirements of the City Council. I remember going to a meeting in the then mayor’s office maybe ten years ago over a potential replacement tenant and it didn’t happen obviously. This has been a long time coming. It looks fantastic and I drive by there a lot. And what I really like is it blends--the buildings are starting to blend in. And it does look like one big campus and that was very thoughtful of your company. I thank you for that. Beaubien: Yep. If you look at the brick--even the brick work we picked brick that kind of matched the hospital even though we are not part of the hospital. But we wanted to be- -make that corner exciting and I think it is going to be that way so. Henzi: Thank you very much. The floor is open for a motion. Caramagno: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Upon Motion by Caramagno supported by Pastor, it was: RESOLVED: APPEAL CASE NO. 2015-06-29: An appeal has been made to the Zoning Board of Appeals by MKO Real Estate, LLC, 27472 Schoenherr, Ste. 140, Warren, MI 48088, seeking to erect two (2) ground signs and three (3) wall signs, resulting in excess number of ground signs, ground sign area and excess number of wall signs. Number of Ground Signs: Ground Sign Area: Number of Wall Signs: Allowed: One Allowed: 30 sq. ft. Allowed: One Proposed: Two Proposed: 44 sq. ft. Proposed: Three Excess: One (One sign at 29 sq. ft.; one at 15 sq. ft.) Excess: Two Excess: 14 sq. ft. As revised by the Petitioner with the Board’s concurrence: Number of Ground Signs: Ground Sign Area: Allowed: One Allowed: 30 sq. ft. Proposed: Two Proposed: 44 sq. ft. Excess: One (One sign at 29 sq. ft.; one at 15 sq. ft.) Excess: 14 sq. ft. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 38 of 41 June 9, 2015 The property is located on the north side of Five Mile (36622), between Levan and Williams, Lot. No. 067-01-0110-003, C-1 Zoning District. Rejected by the Inspection Department under Zoning Ordinance 543, Section 18.50H,(a),1,2, “Sign Regulations in be granted as modified for the following reasons and C-1, C-2, C-3 and C-4 Districts,” findings of fact: 1. The uniqueness requirement is met because this new office building sits on a major intersection with two entrances on two separate streets, with a building on the corner that blocks the view. 2. Denial of the variance would have severe consequences for the Petitioner because his elderly clients need to find the entrance on Five Mile Road and Levan Road. 3. The variance is fair in light of its effect on neighboring properties and in the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance because it replaced a run-down dilapidated building, and there are similar signs in the area. 4. The Board received three letters of approval and one objection letter from neighboring property owners. 5. The property is classified as “low density residential” in the Master Plan and the proposed variance is not inconsistent with that classification. FURTHER, This variance is granted with the following conditions: 1. That the monument signs be constructed as presented. 2. That the petitioner comply with the conditions in the Council Resolution adopted October 21, 2013. ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Caramagno, Pastor, Bowling, Schepis, Henzi NAYS: None ABSENT: Sills, Coppola City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 39 of 41 June 9, 2015 Henzi: So the variance was granted for the monument signs--variances were granted. The monument signs as presented and consistent with the City Councils’ resolution. Beaubien: Okay, thank you very much. Henzi: Thank you. Fisher: Just for the record, the date on that resolution is October 21, 2013. Caramagno: What did I say 2019? th Beaubien: My letter is dated the 13. Henzi: You said 6-29-15. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 40 of 41 June 9, 2015 Henzi: Is there a motion to adjourn? Pastor: Motion to adjourn. Bowling: Support. Henzi: All in favor? Board Members: Aye. Henzi: We are adjourned. There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. _______________________________ Matthew Henzi, Chairman ______________________________ Sam Caramagno, Secretary /pcb City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 41 of 41 June 9, 2015