HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2015-07-14 MINUTES OF THE 1,073rd PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING
HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA
On Tuesday, July 14, 2015, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia
held its 1,073rd Public Hearings and Regular Meeting in the Livonia City Hall,
33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan
Mr Lee Morrow, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7.00 p m
Members present Kathleen McIntyre R Lee Morrow Carol A Smiley
Gerald Taylor Ian Wilshaw
Members absent Scott Bahr
Mr Mark Taormina, Planning Director, and Ms Margie Watson, Program
Supervisor, were also present
Chairman Morrow informed the audience that if a petition on tonight's agenda
involves a rezoning request, this Commission makes a recommendation to the
City Council who, in turn, will hold its own public hearing and make the final
determination as to whether a petition is approved or denied The Planning
Commission holds the only public hearing on a request for preliminary plat and/or
vacating petition The Commission's recommendation is forwarded to the City
Council for the final determination as to whether a plat is accepted or rejected If
a petition requesting a waiver of use or site plan approval is denied tonight, the
petitioner has ten days in which to appeal the decision, in writing, to the City
Council Resolutions adopted by the City Planning Commission become effective
seven (7) days after the date of adoption The Planning Commission and the
professional staff have reviewed each of these petitions upon their filing The
staff has furnished the Commission with both approving and denying resolutions,
which the Commission may, or may not, use depending on the outcome of the
proceedings tonight
ITEM #1 PETITION 2015-06-01-05 SUNSET OFFICE BLDG.
Ms Smiley, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2015-06-
• N 01-05 submitted by Grenn & Grenn, P C , on behalf of C&L
Development Corporation, pursuant to Section 23 01 of the City
of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting to
rezone the property at 28911 - 29010 Seven Mile Road (Sunset
_=- o Office Building), located on the south side of Seven Mile Road
between Middlebelt Road and Maplewood Avenue in the
Er w -a Northwest 1/4 of Section 12, from OS (Office Services) to C-1,
=' (Local Business)
N
Q
July 14, 2015
26947
Mr Taormina This is a request to rezone property from OS, Office Services, to
the C-1, Local Business category. This property is located on
the south side of Seven Mile Road one block east of Middlebelt
Road The property is roughly .84 acre in area with 273 feet of
frontage along Seven Mile Road and 133 feet along the
residential side street, Maplewood. The site presently contains a
commercial building, one-story in height It includes a total of
roughly 8,370 square feet of floor area and it's subdivided into
roughly ten store front units Located immediately to the west of
the subject property is the House of Leon family restaurant. The
zoning of that property is C-2, General Business Looking east
across Maplewood is the Sri Shirdi temple which is zoned RUF
but it is an institutional use To the north across Seven Mile
Road are a mix of commercial as well as residential uses,
including another restaurant called Leon's Family Dining as well
as the Shandong food market Immediately to the south of the
property are residential lots zoned RUF The purpose of the
rezoning is to enable the use of the building for either office or
retail purposes The petitioner has no current plans to redevelop
or modify the site The current mix of tenants within the building
include cleaning services, a cemetery memorial business, a
chiropractor, jewelry services, Phoenix Personnel, #1 Tax
Solution, Farmers Insurance Agency and then three of the 10
units are currently vacate A little bit about the history of the site
It was in 1981 that the site was originally rezoned from RUF,
Rural Urban Farm, to PS, Professional Services Five years
later in 1986, the site was approved for construction of an office
This is the second request to rezone the property In 1991 the
owners at that time requested that the site be rezoned to C-1,
but the case was denied on the basis (1) That the proposed
change of zoning was contrary to the Future Land Use Plan
which designates the subject property as "Office", (2) That the
proposed change of zoning would encourage commercial uses
to locate in the existing building thereby causing a substantial
deficiency in off-street parking, (3) That the proposed change of
zoning would encourage further easterly expansion of
commercial zoning along Seven Mile Road in the subject area,
which expansion would be in conflict with the Future Land Use
Plan and the Commission's policy of eliminating strip
commercial zoning along the Mile Road corridors, and (4) That
the proposed change of zoning is incompatible to the adjacent
residential uses to the south In terms of parking, there are 33
parking spaces provided on the site This is the exact number of
spaces needed to satisfy the parking requirements for the office
use based on the application of one space for every 200 square
July 14, 2015
26948
feet of useable floor area The introduction of retail uses would
ultimately result in a parking deficiency Most general retail uses
require parking at a ratio of one space for every 150 square feet
of floor area Applying that ratio to this site would yield a parking
requirement of 45 spaces and thus a deficiency ultimately of 12
spaces should the building convert to retail purposes. With that,
Mr Chairman, I can read out the single item of correspondence
that we have on this item
Mr Morrow Yes, please
Mr. Taormina There is one item of correspondence from the Engineering
Division, dated June 23, 2015, which reads as follows "In In
accordance with your request, the Engineenng Division has
reviewed the above referenced rezoning petition We have no
objections to the proposed rezoning at this time The existing
parcel is assigned an address of#28911 Seven Mile Road, with
a range of addresses from 28911 to 29010 for the individual
units within the building The legal description shown on the
plan submitted with the petition appears to be correct and
should be used in conjunction with this petition The existing
building is currently serviced by public utilities which are not
indicated for alterations under the proposed rezoning Should
the owner need to alter the existing service leads to the building,
plans will need to be submitted to this department to determine
if Engineering permits will be required " The letter is signed by
David W Lear, P E , Assistant City Engineer That is the extent
of the correspondence
Mr Morrow. Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Mark, I have
one I'm assuming that the uses within the office building all
come within the Office Services zoning
Mr Taormina To the best of my knowledge, there are valid Certificates of
Occupancy and Zoning Compliance permits for each one of
these uses
Mr Morrow Thank you Is the petitioner here this evening? We will need
your name and address for the record please You've heard the
presentation You can add whatever you'd like
Joseph Grenn, Grenn & Grenn, P C , 5736 Chase Road, Dearborn, Michigan
48126 Good afternoon, Mr President I'm here on behalf of
C&L Construction I have the principle, Aldo Liberatore, and his
partner with me today I've received no objections I've gone out
and looked, and business has expanded down Seven Mile since
July 14, 2015
26949
1991 It's in compliance I agree with Engineering to approve it
because everything is in compliance The building right next
door is C-2 Your map shows C-1 but really it's a C-2, which
would be Leon's restaurant I believe your Engineer said it was
C-2 but your picture showed C-1 There is some confusion there
but it's a C-2 and we're asking to go to C-1
Mr Morrow Are you talking about Leon's restaurant or House of Leon?
Mr Grenn. The one next door
Mr. Morrow That's designated C-2 as near as I can tell.
Mr. Grenn Yes, that's correct So we would be in compliance We would
actually be up a step from Leon's, the neighbors So I would ask
that you approve a C-1 variance.
Mr Morrow. Are there any questions from the Commission?
Ms Smiley You would be deficient in parking Right now, it's at 33 and you
would be required to have 45 Is that correct, through the Chair
to Mr Taormina?
Mr Morrow. Forty five is correct
Mr. Grenn You're correct That's what he said As for parking, all of them
aren't business anyway Unless there would be a massive
turnover of everything, you're not going to have a parking
problem
Ms Smiley You're saying it's not a parking problem but it's deficient. So,
Mark, would he have to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals'?
Mr Taormina Yes This would result in a parking deficiency and would
necessitate Zoning Board of Appeals approval should the
rezoning be approved. The problem with the parking is that
while there may not be a deficiency currently, you have three
vacant units, and like you said, with the changeover of the
current tenants, if you start introducing uses such as dry
cleaners or possibly hair salons, uses that do require additional
parking, then that could result in a deficiency of parking That's
the primary concern with having a shortage of parking on this
site Depending on the mix of tenants that would be located in
the building, you could find yourself with a parking problem
July 14, 2015
26950
Mr Wilshaw Mr Grenn, you stated that this property is in compliance In
what was are you saying it's in compliance? If the parking is not
going to be in compliance if this is rezoned, then what
compliance are you speaking about'?
Mr Grenn I'm saying in general it wouldn't be out of compliance with the
neighborhood, with the character of the neighborhood, because
it's C-2 next door, and we're only asking to go to C-1.
Mr Wilshaw Okay
Mr Grenn So it's not as much of a use of the property
Mr Wilshaw. What is the reason that you're seeking the rezoning?
Mr Grenn Nobody is looking for office space There have been vacancies
for years
Mr Wilshaw So you have seven of the ten units currently occupied'?
Mr Grenn I think Mr Liberatore can answer some of those questions
better than I for occupancy rates
Mr Wilshaw That's what I heard during the preamble and it sounds like you
have seven units occupied So you essentially have somewhere
in the order of a 70 percent occupancy rate right now It's one
thing if you came to me and said you have a building that's
empty and I can't get anybody to lease any space in it, but when
you have a fairly occupied building and the hardship is that you
can't find any occupants, it's harder for me to want to increase
or encroach commercial zoning closer to residential areas than
it currently is Office Services is generally considered a less
intense zoning use when it comes to how we look at how it
abuts residential areas or even the other uses in that area
That's kind of where I'm at right now Thank you
Mr Taylor Through the Chair to Mr Taormina Mark, do you know what the
percentage of vacancy is in C-1 right now?
Mr Taormina No I don't have the answer to that question
Mr Taylor The last I heard it was about 25 percent throughout the City
What the city planners planned on doing was have C-2, C-1,
OS, residential That was a step down we wanted to do to
make everything work with the city, and that's what we've done
here. Because you have a couple vacancies doesn't mean that
July 14, 2015
26951
we have to change the zoning because if everybody had that,
why they would come back to us all the time and say, wait a
minute We have three vacancies We have to change the
zoning
Mr Liberatore The problem is they never told me when I was building it
Mr Morrow Excuse me sir, before you can address the Board, you have to
be recognized and we'll need your name and address for the
record Are you through, Mr Taylor'?
Mr. Taylor. Yes
Mr. Morrow. Yes, sir
Aldo Liberatore, C&L Development Corp , 16052 Houghton Drive, Livonia,
Michigan 48154 I'm part owner We had a driving school that
used to take a lot of parking It used to take 20 parking spaces
Nobody complained and after 20 years they moved out because
they need more students I had a dog groomer, he wanted to
move You can't do it I had a nail salon, can't do it Beauty
shop And my taxes keep going up every year I pay for water
that I don't use, $700 00 every two months My tax almost
double what it used to be. The only reason why I only got three
vacancies is because I'm giving them away just to rent them Just
to get something out of it I don't have any complaints from
anybody renting from me You know, a beauty shop, how many
parking spaces are they going to take'? Two or three If they
have two or three all the time, they're making money
Mr Morrow Any questions of the petitioner'? Is there anybody in the
audience that wishes to speak for or against the granting of this
petition'? Seeing no one coming forward, I will close the public
hearing and ask for a motion.
On a motion by Wilshaw, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was
#07-41-2015 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on July 14, 2015, on
Petition 2015-06-01-05 submitted by Grenn & Grenn, P C , on
behalf of C & L Development Corporation, pursuant to Section
23 01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as
amended, requesting to rezone the property at 28911 - 29010
Seven Mile Road (Sunset Office Building), located on the south
side of Seven Mile Road between Middlebelt Road and
Maplewood Avenue in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 12, from OS
July 14, 2015
26952
(Office Services) to C-1, (Local Business), the Planning
Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that
Petition 2015-06-01-05 be denied for the following.
1 That the proposed change of zoning is contrary to the
Future Land Use Plan which designates the subject
property as "Office",
2 That the proposed change of zoning will encourage
commercial uses to locate in the existing building thereby
causing a substantial deficiency in off-street parking,
3 That the proposed change of zoning will encourage further
easterly expansion of commercial zoning along Seven Mile
Road in the subject area, which expansion would be in
conflict with the Future Land Use Plan and the
Commission's policy of eliminating strip commercial zoning
along the Mile Road corridors, and
4 That the proposed change of zoning is incompatible to the
adjacent residential uses to the south
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 23 05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended
Mr Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing denying
resolution adopted. As I said in my earlier remarks, this will be
forwarded to the City Council who will ultimately make the final
determination as to whether your request is approved for
denied Thank you for coming
ITEM #2 PETITION 2015-06-01-06 LIVONIA STORAGE UNITS
Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2015-
06-01-06 submitted by Charter Real Estate, on behalf of Livonia
Storage Units, pursuant to Section 23 01 of the City of Livonia
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting to rezone a
portion of the property at 28153 Eight Mile Road, located on the
south side of Eight Mile Road between Grand River Avenue and
Angling Road in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 1, from C-2
(General Business) to M-L (Manufacturing Limited)
July 14, 2015
26953
Mr Taormina. This is a request to rezone portions of properties from C-2,
General Business, to ML, Manufacturing Limited. This property
is near the southwest corner of Eight Mile and Grand River
Avenue It's located just east of Angling Street The area to be
rezoned measures roughly 3.23 acres It's identified on the
aerial photograph as the area highlighted in yellow The
southwest portion of the property was formerly the Weirton
Plaza shopping center The east half of the former plaza was
recently redeveloped as Grand River Academy, which is a
public charter school Looking just east of the school property,
there are a variety of retail and commercial uses To the west
across Angling Road, there are a mix of offices as well as
residential homes under the RUF zoning Immediately to the
north, there is an O'Reilly's auto parts store, which is zoned C-2,
General Business To the south of the subject area are
residential homes under the R-1 zoning classification The
purpose of the rezoning is to ultimately develop the site as a
self-storage facility or mini-warehouse There is no provision
under the current C-2 zoning that would authorize use of the
development of the property for self-storage This type of use
falls under the category of warehouse, which is treated as a
permitted use under the ML zoning and is the reason the
petitioner is seeking to rezone the property Because the ML
and the residential zones could be viewed as incompatible, the
petitioner will be voluntarily offering to limit the use of the
property to self-storage and in accordance with the plan that
would be found acceptable by the community This zoning
technique is commonly referred to as Conditional Rezoning and
it's authorized by a special provision in the Michigan Enabling
Zoning Act. A conceptual plan was submitted with the filing of
the rezoning application It shows multiple rows of buildings that
would be separated by drive aisles that would provide access to
the individual storage units So it's very typical of this type of
land use. This diagram represents the overall site The area that
we're considering this evening is actually shaded in gray on the
bottom left hand portion of the drawing The next drawing will
show that area zoomed in This is what I was referring to in
terms of the parallel rows of buildings The plan also shows a
larger two story building that would provide interior climate
controlled storage space Customer access to the site would be
controlled via a gated entrance. Of course, these are details that
would have to come back to the Commission for formal site plan
review and consideration should the zoning move forward The
development concept includes creating a third parcel, which is
identified on the plans as Parcel A, that would remain under the
C-2 zoning It would be developed separately Parcel A is
July 14, 2015
26954
located immediately north of the proposed storage facility and
east of the existing auto parts store at the southeast corner of
Eight Mile and Angling The future use for Parcel A has not yet
been identified The Future Land Use Plan does show this site
as general commercial I'll just show you some additional
renderings This site plan identifies a little more clearly the
outline of the buildings which are shaded in brown These are
the storage units You can see the L-shaped storage unit which
is on the westerly side of the property and also bordering a
portion of the north These are aerial views/renderings of what
the development might look like Looking more closely at the
front of the buildings, one of the design features that would be
included would be making the façade of the buildings that face
outward toward Angling and towards the retail center more
along the lines of a traditional store front appearance as
opposed to just the mini-storage that you're typically used to
seeing This gives you an idea from the rendering of the type of
construction that would be proposed But with that, I'll read out
the correspondence
Mr Morrow Yes, please
Mr Taormina There is one item of correspondence from the Engineering
Division, dated June 25, 2015, which reads as follows. "In
accordance with your request, the Engineenng Division has reviewed
the above referenced planning petition We have no objections to the
proposed rezoning at this time The address of #28153 Eight Mile
Road is correct for the subject parcel and should be used for this
petition The legal descnption for the proposed rezoning does close
and is acceptable to this office, although it should be noted that the
rezoning description does not match the property descnption and
encroaches on the neighbonng school property The submitted plans
indicate future property line adjustments, but a split and combination
request has not been submitted as of yet This department has been
in contact with the developer regarding the utilities for the site, and
what they are showing on the submitted plans is acceptable to this
department They have indicated in the submittal that they will be
vacating the existing storm sewer easements and providing new
easements which will be a requirement for the proposed development
They will need to provide detailed plans to this office which include all
necessary calculations pnor to permitting " The letter is signed by
David W. Lear, P E , Assistant City Engineer Thank you
Mr. Morrow Are there any questions of the Planning Director?
Ms Smiley What you're saying from the Engineering Department is that the
lines that we have for the rezoning are not accurate, that they
July 14, 2015
26955
actually go into the school property? It encroaches on the
neighboring school property
Mr Taormina That is correct There was a previous split between the parcel
identified here as 28153 Eight Mile, that's the area proposed to
be rezoned But you can see in the northeast or the upper right
hand side of that, it extends beyond the parcel line that was
created between this site and Grand River Charter Academy
The reason for that I really don't know. It's somewhat immaterial
and probably captures a portion of the site that will be used for
access and maybe a corner of the building So there might have
to be a subsequent parcel division in order to account for that
difference, but that's really just a technical matter
Ms Smiley Okay Thank you
Mr Morrow Anyone else'? Mr McCann, I know you're not used to these
meeting so we'll do whatever we can to help you along.
Mr McCann, 32437 Five Mile, Livonia, Michigan 48154 Actually, I'm a little
nervous being on this side of the podium for once. Good
evening, honorable members of the Livonia Planning
Commission It's my honor to be here tonight on behalf of
Charter Real Estate My client, Mr Bill Davis, is here with me
this evening We know about this parcel up on Grand River near
Eight Mile that has been an issue for the community for a long
time Grand River Academy, a charter school, took one of the
buildings and has made a very successful school out of that
property It appears, because of enrollment, future plans for
development, that they are going to be there for a long time
This property has been looked at over the years for many
different types of uses, but nobody's ever decided they wanted
it Now with the Grand River Academy, a school being in the
central location, it makes it more difficult to plan appropriate
zoning and appropriate businesses around it As the Planning
Commission is well aware, different people have looked at this
over the years but it's determined not to be an appropriate use
for Botsford Hospital and a number of other uses. My client is
proposing a self-storage facility It will be a two-story interior
facility with one entrance area where the cars will be able to go
right up to their drive-up lockers as well The nice thing about
doing a self-storage facility at this location is, it's a very low
intensity of use I did provide to the Planning Commission a
proposed traffic study with "Average Trips Per Day Forecast "
The first number you see is 30 trips per day That's from the
United States Self Storage Association That a national storage
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26956
association The 28 just below that is actually my client's other
facility They did a test of how many vehicles come and go each
day The bottom numbers are from the Traffic Engineers Study
Now they show 133 uses for a mini-warehouse, general office is
584, medical office is 1,915, and a shopping center at 2,276.
It's a very low intensive use with very few cars coming and
going during the day This is very appealing to the Grand River
Academy who actually owns the property They are in
agreement with this proposal They've been involved in the
design of the proposal, the traffic layout, and this particular use
and are supportive of it because with having so many children
around, they feel this would be the best use This project does
provide for one out lot for commercial It's currently zoned C-2
That out lot next to the auto store would remain commercial and
eventually be developed My client's theme in this was to try and
put a nice exterior on it as the photograph showed From Eight
Mile, you'll see more of an office effect look to the buildings It
blocks it There's no garage doors showing There's only one
entrance There will be landscaping to buffer it, and it will be an
appealing use Without this type of using going in there, this
property may stay vacant for quite a long time not producing any
tax revenue This is something that is needed in the area
There's been a study done to determine that this is appropriate
for the area and will be filled and will be a valuable use to the
community and surrounding neighbors My client, Mr Davis, did
meet with the local neighbors to try and resolve any issues We
know of no one at this point who is objecting to this type of use
Mr Chairman, you stated that tonight this is just a rezoning
request This isn't a site plan development, however, because
it's going to be Conditional Zoning, we want to give a good
indication of what we're trying to do The site plan is in the
process of being of prepared and will be filed shortly to catch up
with the zoning process I think it's a good use for the city There
will be money there to help make that area of the city look
better, to do some more landscaping around the area and to
improve the site I'm certainly willing to take any questions that
the Commission may have.
Mr Morrow Does the Commission have any questions'?
Mr Taylor You didn't give us the hours of operation I know it's a gated
situation, but do they close at a certain time of night where you
can't get into the facility?
July 14, 2015
26957
Mr McCann I'm going to let Mr Davis answer that He actually owns another
one of these facilities lt,s a family business and he can explain
it
Bill Davis, Charter Real Estate, Ltd , 417 North Maple Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan
48103 Good evening So the operation hours for only tenants
that have a current account would be 7 00 a m to 10 00 p m ,
and there would be approximately 400 tenants when it's
completely rented and built out So those people would have
access during those hours, but as we say, our experience is that
we get about 30 trips per day So of the 400 tenants, maybe 30
throughout the entire day are accessing the facility, so very few
in those evening hours
Mr Taylor As Mr McCann said, the property has been vacant for a good
many years I think the key point here is the charter school
thinks it is a good use for it with all the children that they have
there So I see it as being a good use for the property and a
good use for Livonia. Thank you
Ms Smiley Can you talk about the security in that area?
Mr Davis Sure The intention for the property itself is that it will have video
cameras that are for monitoring activity There will probably be a
dozen cameras throughout the site, and those will go to a
recording device So if there are any problems, we can then go
back and investigate who was there, what occurred It's a real
useful tool Also, the entire facility will be enclosed with buildings
on several sides and a protective wall to the south between the
neighborhood that's already existing and then some addition of
fencing along the fire lane to the south That will keep people
out of the facility who don't otherwise have an account or are
associated with the business
Ms Smiley So they would have keypad access?
Mr Davis Right Computer controlled keypad and only tenants whose
accounts are current can access the property too It turns off
10 00 p m They are not able to access the property at all It's
closed for the night
Ms Smiley And what kind of personnel do you have on campus?
Mr Davis. The office hours are not the same as the operating hours They
tend to run from about 8.00 a m until 5 00 or 6 00 p m. during
the week and the weekend hours are most of the day Saturday
July 14, 2015
26958
and part of the day Sunday So there will be a manager on site
every day of the week, but not for the entire operating hours All
the tenants will have information about how to reach the
manager by pager or by cell phone if they have a problem, and
we'll certainly share that information with the neighbors so
should there be an incident or some question after office hours,
people will be able to reach an official from the company
immediately to determine what's going on We also hope to
have employees who are very local to the site so there would be
a minimum amount of time for them to get to the property Some
storage properties do have apartments involved on site, but in
this case for C-2 zoning, you're not allowed to have residents
associated with it, and that's a direction the industry is going
away from. There aren't that many people who are interested in
living in an apartment in a more retail site on a property like this
Ms Smiley Okay Thank you
Ms McIntyre I assume you'll have in place and I think this is quite common
with storage places, a rental agreement that states very clearly
what activities are not permitted there and what kinds of
hazardous materials are not permitted to be stored here
Mr Davis Absolutely That's an important part of our business We limit a
lot of things they can bring in and certainly they have to take out
everything they bring in The industry tried having dumpsters in
the past and those tend to get overloaded So the new way to
approach it is to have just curb carts for the office use and
require the tenants to take everything out They'll either leave a
deposit or agree to a fee if they haven't taken their things out,
but the operating company has the ability to pick things up and
take them to the dump or what have you should we have items
that are left
Ms McIntyre So no on-site dumpster?
Mr Davis Right
Ms McIntyre Okay Thank you
Mr Wilshaw Mr Davis, I have some questions that are probably best suited
for the site plan about lighting and so on that I'll ask when we
get to that point, but since we're talking about zoning tonight, I
wanted to ask a couple questions just about the site overall I
wanted to understand your experience running these facilities It
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26959
sounds like you're very experienced but tell us a little bit about
yourself and why you want this facility there
Mr Davis I've owned a storage facility It's in its 13th year of operation. I
developed it in the City of Ann Arbor It's actually in the
backyard of a retail property. It's called Maple Village shopping
center at Jackson Road and 1-94 on the northwest side of Ann
Arbor For that facility, I've got between two and three
employees over that span that operate the property, a general
manager and then an assistant manager The property that
we're proposing will probably have a full time manager and two
assistant managers to fill out the scheduling for the week The
industry is an interesting one to me. I think it's a valuable use for
a community, particularly when homes may be smaller, maybe
homes without a garage or a basement, or people that finish
their basements, they do have need for additional storage So it
is a valuable use for the community What we've determined is
that people prefer drive-up units because they are so easy to
access, but those are kind of hard to find and hard to get zoning
for in a given area The industry has kind of turned to multi-story
facilities, but those aren't as compatible with the customers'
uses so we find that people aren't as interested in renting on the
second floor or the third floor What we want to bring to the
market and to this site is the drive-up units We think that will be
innovation for the market where people will really be able to
conveniently access their units
Mr Wilshaw Based on your extensive experience with operating these types
of facilities, you've studied the general area and decided that
this is an area that's not oversaturated and would be
appropriate for this type of business Correct?
Mr Davis I have There's a methodology for it, studying the market area
It's a three mile radius and there's a certain amount of square
feet per person that's considered a saturated amount In this
particular market area, there's about 25 percent less square
footage than would be considered saturated. So that works out
to over 120,000 square feet of available demand. So we're
proposing between 50,000 and 65,000 square feet We're
looking at that climate controlled building as either a one-story
or two-story So we're asking in the rezoning that certainly
would be allowed as a two-story By the time we bring the site
plan petition we'll have determined what the right mix is for the
market, but it may be a one-story building there that's most
appropriate
July 14, 2015
26960
Mr Wilshaw Okay It sounds like you understand the market need and are
very prepared to explain that to Council if they wish to know that
as well I appreciate that You do have a lot of hardscape on this
site Obviously, it's going to be all paved and a lot of buildings
and so on Have you prepared for the drainage that would be
necessary to satisfy the county and the city'?
Mr Davis We have We met with the City Engineering Department and our
engineer is Wade Trim They studied the problem from a
conceptual point of view for stormwater and they are able to
retain all the required stormwater on the site in an underground
structure that will be built as part of the development It will also
retain the water for the parcel on Eight Mile Road so they don't
need to have a pond They'll be able to utilize the entire area of
the lot without reserving a space for a stormwater pond
Mr. Wilshaw It sounds good I appreciate all your insight Thank you very
much
Ms Smiley This is probably for Mr McCann With the conditional
contracting for this
Mr McCann Conditioning Rezoning, yes
Ms Smiley If they decide to leave, is it going to still have storage units'?
Mr McCann The use could continue He could sell the property with that use,
but they can't change the use without coming back to the City
Council Nobody can use the property for any other use until
they come back and redo the zoning
Ms Smiley Thank you
Ms McIntyre So you couldn't put a manufacturing facility in there'?
Mr McCann Absolutely not
Mr Morrow Are there any other remarks before I go to the audience'?
Mr McCann No Thank you very much
Mr Morrow Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
against the granting of this petition'? Seeing no one coming
forward, I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion.
On a motion by McIntyre, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was
July 14, 2015
26961
#07-42-2015 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on July 14, 2015, on
Petition 2015-06-01-06 submitted by Charter Real Estate, on
behalf of Livonia Storage Units, pursuant to Section 23 01 of the
City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting
to rezone a portion of the property at 28153 Eight Mile Road,
located on the south side of Eight Mile Road between Grand
River Avenue and Angling Road in the Northeast 1/4 of Section
1, from C-2 (General Business) to M-L (Manufacturing Limited),
the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City
Council that Petition 2015-06-01-06 be approved for the
following reasons.
1 That the petitioner has voluntarily offered to enter into a
conditional rezoning agreement with the City,
2 That the proposed change of zoning is compatible to and in
harmony with the surrounding zoning districts and land
uses in the area,
3 That the proposed change of zoning would provide
opportunities for a greater variety of uses to serve the area
as well as the City as a whole, and
4 That the proposed change of zoning would provide for the
development of the subject property in a manner that is
consistent with its size and location
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 23 05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended
Mr Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution
ITEM #3 PETITION 2015-06-02-11 UNITED LAWNSCAPE
Ms Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2015-
06-02-11 submitted by United Lawnscape, Inc requesting
waiver use approval pursuant to Section 16 11(b) of the City of
Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to operate a
contractor's yard for the outdoor storage of landscaping
July 14, 2015
26962
equipment and materials at 12240 Merriman Road, located on
the east side of Merriman Road between Plymouth Road and
the CSX Railroad right-of-way in the Southwest 1/4 of Section
26
Mr Taormina This is a request to operate a contractor's yard for outside
storage and landscaping equipment and materials The site is
located on the east side of Merriman Road, south of the CSX
Railroad and north of Plymouth Road This property is roughly
1 2 acres in area Its dimensions are roughly 100 feet in width
by 533 feet in depth The zoning of the property, as well as all
the surrounding properties, is M-1, Light Manufacturing The site
presently contains an 8,575 square foot industrial building The
back portion of the property remains undeveloped and is
covered mostly in gravel and enclosed by a chain link fence A
landscape contractor is allowed only with waiver use approval
under Section 16.11(b) of the Zoning Ordinance This provision
actually applies to a number of special trade contractors that
have to rely on outside storage of their vehicles, equipment and
materials The outside storage part of the request would occupy
the rear portion of the property which is about 32,300 square
feet in total area It's the east half of the property Where
needed, the existing fencing, that is already around the
perimeter of this site, would be repaired and/or replaced with
privacy slats installed throughout Access to the site would be
provided by means of two gates, one which would be on the
north side of the building where there is an existing 16 foot wide
concrete drive that provides access to the rear portion of the
site, and then a second access gate which is located on the
south side of the building where there is a 26 foot wide concrete
drive between the building and the south property line The
outside storage area would be completely graded and paved A
drainage plan was submitted with the application showing the
collection of the stormwater in new catch basins that would be
installed and an underground drainage system that would
discharge ultimately into an existing storm system that is located
on the property to the south This is going to require the
petitioner to coordinate and maybe obtain the necessary
easements from the adjoining property owners, but it is my
understanding that they are currently working on that aspect of
the development The materials that are commonly associated
with a landscape contractor business would be stored in bins
These bins would be created in the easterly part of the site
along the fence line There is a large mulch bin identified on the
plans as well as three other smaller bins that are facing south
with access from the paved portion of the lot They are identified
July 14, 2015
26963
with mulch and then a 30 yard dump bin All of that would be on
a paved portion of the site An area in the back of the property
is identified for the storage of 10 trailers In terms of employee
parking, they have identified the need for 13 spaces Those are
shown as spaces along the front of the building where they
show five spaces and then eight parallel spaces along the south
side of the building So parking should not be an issue
especially in consideration of the size of available storage area
in the rear portion of the building As far as landscaping, there is
only one area on the site that's landscaped, that's the front
portion of the site where there are some existing shrubs With
that, Mr Chairman, I can read out the departmental
correspondence
Mr Morrow Please
Mr. Taormina There are four items of correspondence The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated June 23, 2015, which reads as
follows "In accordance with your request, the Engineenng
Division has reviewed the above referenced waiver use petition
We have no objections to the proposed waiver use at this time
The existing parcel is assigned an address of#12240 Merriman
Road The legal description provided with the petition appears
to be correct and is acceptable to this office The existing
building is currently serviced by public sanitary sewer and water
main Since the City of Livonia does not have a container of
public storm sewer available to the subject parcel, the owner will be
required to show a suitable outflow for the storm drainage on the site
On the submitted plans, the owner indicates they will connect to
an existing storm sewer on the abutting property to the south
The owner will need to show proof of easements between the
two parcels for the proposed storm sewer prior to any
construction or storage of equipment on the site " The letter is
signed by David W Lear, P E , Assistant City Engineer The
second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated
July 7, 2015, which reads as follows "This office has reviewed
the site plan submitted in connection with a request to operate a
contractor's yard for the outdoor storage of landscaping
equipment and matenals at the above-referenced addressed.
We have no objections to this proposal " The letter is signed by
Daniel Lee, Fire Marshal The third letter is from the Division of
Police, dated June 16, 2015, which reads as follows "I have
reviewed the plans in connection with the petition I have no
objections to the proposal " The letter is signed by Joseph
Boitos, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau The fourth letter is from the
Inspection Department, dated July 13, 2015, which reads as
follows "Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced
July 14, 2015
26964
petition has been reviewed. This Department has no further
objections to this petition " The letter is signed by Jerome
Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection That is the extent of
the correspondence.
Mr Morrow Are there any questions of the Planning Director'? Seeing none,
would the petitioner come forward'? We will need your name and
address for the record please
Alan Cruz, Project Manager, Hennessey Engineers, Inc , 13500 Reeck Road,
Southgate, Michigan 48195 I'm here on behalf of John Wernis
for United Landscape I'm the design engineer that prepared the
plans The current property is M-1, Light Manufacturing, and it's
a permitted use We went through the right steps We met with
the City Engineer to make sure all the engineering aspects were
taken care of The one item that the Engineering Department
requested is that we pave the lot and provide a storm drainage
system so it will basically clean up that whole back portion. So
it's a significant improvement to the property I provided the
storm design and we've already talked to Ron Guthrie and we
have a formal agreement in place Our surveyors are drafting up
the easement agreement which will be turned into the
Engineering Department for final approval
Mr Morrow Thank you very much Does the Commission have any
questions of the engineer? It looks like no questions, but you did
present a very informative plan, which I think saved a few
questions. So if you have no questions, I'm going to the
audience Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak
for or against the granting of this petition'?
Mr Wilshaw I do have one question, Mr Chair
Mr Morrow Yes.
Mr Wilshaw Is your client currently using the building'?
Mr Cruz No It's vacant right now We're going to occupy the building, but
there's going to be no major work inside the building The
offices are set up and they are ready to go basically as they are
Mr Wilshaw Is it going to be used mostly for storage of equipment?
Mr Cruz The inside'?
Mr Wilshaw Yes
July 14, 2015
26965
Mr Cruz. No There's an office space that we designated and then the
back portion is kind of like a large garage storage space
Mr Wilshaw So are you going to store equipment in that large storage area?
Mr Cruz There may be some equipment that's stored in there It's a very
large industrial type building and has many uses inside
Mr Wilshaw Okay The building isn't in the best of condition as far as
appearance goes Is there any intention on your client's behalf
to maybe someone wants to come up here and answer that
as far as painting the building or altering the appearance'?
John Wernis, United Landscape, 62170 Van Dyke, Washington Twp , Michigan
48094 In regards to your question as far as improvements to
the building, I think over time we'll end up painting the building
and doing different things so that the building is aesthetically
pleasing Something that we have going for us now is we have
multiple locations This would be more of like a second
headquarters building for us where we're going to take great
pride in, and definitely we're going to keep the property up and
keep it looking good
Mr Wilshaw Okay If you're not really using this building initially, the reason
why you want this space and the storage yard is so that you
have some of your material in this area of town Is that what
your intention is?
Mr Wernis Correct We currently operate nearby in Westland in a facility
that we're going to move to this location, which we're in due
diligence now We don't actually own or occupy the building as
of right now
Mr Wilshaw Okay That makes a lot more sense Thank you
Mr Taormina Mr Chairman, if I may ask a question of Mr Wernis? Do you
have any plans for a salt dome'?
Mr Wernis As of right now, there is no plan for a salt dome If we have salt
on site, we would tarp it, tarp the salt in the bins
Mr Taormina Is that how you do it currently'?
Mr Wernis Currently, yes
July 14, 2015
26966
Mr Taormina Is that in full compliance with the DEQ or DNR regulations as far
as tarping7
Mr Wernis. Yes But in general, to put a structure above like a raised
canopy-type structure, that would not be an issue to provide
that
Mr Morrow Thank you
Mr Wilshaw Just a question to Mr Taormina based on his discussion Do we
know if they put salt on site or any other chemical materials in
bulk form, are there any issues when it comes to drainage of
those materials?
Mr Taormina They have to be covered to prevent just that They have to be
properly contained and covered We run into that issue with
some of the other contractor yards where the Inspection
Department has to review and inspect those domes to make
sure that they are done in accordance with all the codes and
regulations
Mr Wilshaw That make sense because obviously there's more concern
about phosphates and other materials getting to the water
system and causing algae and whatever Thank you
Mr. Cruz If I could add to that just a quick comment We won't be holding
bulk salt through what we consider the growing season Outside
the winter season, there won't be any salt stored on site
Through the growing season, through the summer months with
rain and stuff like that, that's where you run into more of an
issue with leaching and stuff like that If there were to ever be
any salt left over, it would be removed from the property
between the months of like April and October
Ms McIntyre Just a point of information Mark, does Livonia have
requirements that exceed . . . I assume it's the State, DEQ, who
has
Mr Taormina I can't answer that question
Ms McIntyre I was just curious
Mr Taormina I do know at a minimum in terms of the stormwater
management that there will be a requirement for some degree
of water treatment, probably a structural treatment system on
this site in the form of a stormceptor I think the engineer has
July 14, 2015
26967
already been in discussion with our Engineering Division that
provides some measure of protection for certain solid materials
The problem is when it becomes soluble. Those treatment
structures really don't do anything to prevent the outflow into the
storm system and to the river So that's why I know it's tightly
regulated by the DEQ and I know our Inspection Department
does a very good job trying to manage those things in
accordance with those laws
Ms McIntyre Okay Thank you
Mr Morrow So if they decide to bring salt on site, it will trigger
Mr Taormina Absolutely Yes Any kind of structure would have to be
reviewed If it's just being tarped, I don't know I'd have to check
with what our Inspection Department does to make sure that it's
being done appropriately
Mr Morrow We'll cross that bridge if and when you bring salt on site
Mr Wernis We do provide, like Mark said, a treatment structure that
conforms to Wayne County regulations There's actually a
safety factor built into that I think we have a 3CFS peak flow
exiting the site through drainage It's actually designed for a
5CFS So that's in place and on our plans That was requested
by the Engineering Department
Mr Morrow Okay
Mr Taormina This site has a history of poor drainage problems Its previous
use was Advanced Recycling and they used the area in back for
outside storage of materials and they graded the lot with asphalt
road millings that created quite a drainage problem Actually, if
you go back there and look today, you'll see where some of the
ponding has been done What they're proposing here with the
additional drainage structures and the proper grading of the lot
and making sure that the drainage works, that's going to be a
vast improvement over what currently exists in terms of
drainage in this area I know the neighbors are going to be
happy too because some of the neighbors have experienced
problems as a result of the poor grading on this property and the
poor management of this property
Mr Wernis And that's why Ron Guthrie was eager to work with us on that
joint easement.
July 14, 2015
26968
Mr Morrow That explains it then Okay Anything else'? Is there anyone in
the audience wishing to speak for or against the granting of this
petition'? Seeing no one coming forward, I'm going to close the
public hearing and ask for a motion
On a motion by McIntyre, seconded by Wilshaw, and unanimously adopted, it
was
#07-43-2015 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on July 14, 2015, on
Petition 2015-06-02-11 submitted by United Lawnscape, Inc
requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 16 11(b) of
the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to
operate a contractor's yard for the outdoor storage of
landscaping equipment and materials at 12240 Merriman Road,
located on the east side of Merriman Road between Plymouth
Road and the CSX Railroad right-of-way in the Southwest 1/4 of
Section 26, which property is zoned M-1, the Planning
Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that
Petition 2015-06-02-11 be approved subject to the following
conditions
1 That the Site Plan marked Sheet CE2 dated June 1, 2015,
prepared by Hennessey Engineers, Inc , is hereby
approved and shall be adhered to,
2 That the outdoor storage of materials and equipment shall
be limited to the fenced-in hard surface area behind the
building, and said storage area shall be properly graded
and drained to dispose of all surface water in a manner as
approved by the Engineering Division as designated on the
above referenced Site Plan and shall be maintained in an
orderly manner,
3 That there shall be no outdoor storage of disabled or
inoperative equipment and vehicles, scrap material, debris
or other similar items,
4 That there shall be no outdoor storage on the side of the
building;
5 That the outdoor stacking or stockpiling of materials shall
not exceed eight feet (8') in height above ground level,
July 14, 2015
26969
6 That any facilities for the outdoor storage of refuse shall be
screened by means of an enclosure constructed of
masonry walls which shall be properly maintained,
7 That all landscaped and sodded areas shall be
permanently maintained in a healthy condition, and,
8 That the plan referenced in this approving resolution shall
be submitted to the Inspection Department at the time of
application for the Certificate of Occupancy
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons
1 That the proposed use is in compliance with all of the
special and general waiver use standards and
requirements as set forth in sections 16 11 and 19 06 of
the Zoning Ordinance #543,
2 That the subject property has the capacity to accommodate
the proposed use, and,
3 That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony
with the surrounding uses in the area
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 19 05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended
Mr Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution
ITEM #4 PETITION 2015-06-02-12 ARBOR TRAIL ESTATES
Ms Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2015-
06-02-12 submitted by Crosswinds Court Sub Inc requesting
special waiver use approval pursuant to Sections 20 01 and
20 02A of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as
amended, to develop a Planned Residential Development under
the Single Family Clustering option (Arbor Trail Estates) on
properties at 35652, 35700, 35800 and 35850 Ann Arbor Trail,
located on the north side of Ann Arbor Trail between Wayne
Road and Newburgh Road in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 32
July 14, 2015
26970
Mr. Taormina This is a request to develop a Planned Residential Development
and Single Family Cluster called "Arbor Trail Estates " The site
of the proposed development is on the north side of Ann Arbor
Trail It's approximately a third of a mile west of Wayne Road
The current zoning is R-U-F and C-1, but the site is in the
process of being rezoned to the R-1 Single Family Residential
category First Reading was given by the City Council on June
15 The site consists of four parcels with a combined land area
of 5.03 acres and includes 716 feet of frontage on Ann Arbor
Trail Looking to the west is the site of the Parkway
Condominiums which is zoned R-7, Multiple Family Residential
Immediately to the east of the subject property are the Arbor
Woods Condominiums zoned R-C, Residential Condominiums
To the south across Ann Arbor Trail are residential lots zoned
R-1 and R-U-F Looking to the north is the Middle Rouge
Parkway or Edward Hines Park which is zoned PL, Public
Lands Single Family Clustering is a development alternative
available in any R-1 thru R-5 district, subject to special waiver
use approval Single Family Clustering provides flexible design
standards as a way of encouraging more efficient use of land as
a means of preserving open space, providing single family
development on difficult sites, and offering reasonable
alternatives to multiple family residential development This
option permits either attached or detached single family
dwellings In order to qualify, the applicant must demonstrate
that the land area proposed to be developed contains one or
more unique characteristics The list includes natural assets
worth preserving, floodplains, poor soils, being located adjacent
to either non-residential or high-density residential land uses, or
is a parcel that is small, unusually shaped or contains narrow
dimensions that makes conventional land development difficult
or impractical This site qualifies on the basis that the land area
proposed to be developed is relatively small, does have
frontage on a major thoroughfare, is also adjacent to higher
density developments, and is of shallow depth that makes
conventional subdivision development impractical Greater
design efficiency is achieved by allowing the lot sizes and yard
setbacks to be reduced, provided that the overall density does
not exceed that which would normally be allowed for the
applicable zoning district, which in this case - the R-1 district - is
set at 4 0 units per acre For the subject site, which is 5 03
acres in overall area, the maximum number of homes that could
be achieved is 20 units The site plan shows a total of 19 single
family detached homes in the form of a site condominium. The
lots range in size from the lowest at 4,918 square feet, which is
Lot 11, to 5,855 square feet which is Lot 17 A majority of the
July 14, 2015
26971
lots are around 5,000 square feet and measure 50 feet in width
by 100 feet in depth There would be a single "L" shaped road
called Rouge Bluff Court that would provide access to all 19
lots. The road enters from Ann Arbor Trail at the east end of the
property, continues north for a distance of about 140 feet before
making a 90 degree turn in a westerly direction It then runs
parallel to Ann Arbor Trail for a distance of approximately 600
feet terminating at the west end of the property in the form of a
"T" turn-around The Engineering Division has reviewed the
revised "T" turn-around indicating that it fully complies with their
design parameters The minimum spacing between dwellings in
an R-1 cluster is 10 feet and the minimum front yard setback is
25 feet, 40 feet abutting a major thoroughfare All 19 lots would
conform to these minimum yard requirements In terms of storm
water detention, that is shown in the northwest corner of the
property in the form of a combined forebay and storage basin
with an outlet to an existing storm pipe that drains to the Middle
Branch of the Rouge River Again, it's in the northwest corner of
the property adjacent to the road just west of proposed Lot 12 A
couple of basins would be created on the surface of the land
providing some shallow depressions that would hold the storm
water It would first enter the forebay which is on the right hand
side which is separate from the larger detention pond which is
on the left hand side From there, the water would discharge out
to an existing pipe that then releases to the Middle Branch of
the Rouge River They would be tying into an existing storm
system The plan shows a 20 foot wide landscape berm along
Ann Arbor Trail that would be planted with a variety of both
deciduous and coniferous full size trees These would all be full
size trees, including white spruce, white pine, red maple and fir
Along the east side of the property, adjacent to Arbor Woods,
the plan shows a landscape greenbelt no less than 40 feet in
width between the road and the property line The greenbelt
would be bermed and landscaped, and planted with mostly
evergreens intended to shield the new development from the
existing homes Adjacent to the Parkway Condominiums, the
greenbelt is approximately 15 feet in width. We do not currently
have information pertaining to the homes that would be
constructed here, but Mr Soave, the developer, is present and
would be able to respond relative to the types of homes that
would be constructed With that, Mr Chairman, I can read out
the departmental correspondence
Mr Morrow Sure
July 14, 2015
26972
Mr Taormina There are four items of correspondence The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated June 24, 2015, which reads as
follows "In accordance with your request, the Engineenng
Division has reviewed the above referenced planning use
petition We have no objections to the proposed waiver use at
this time, although we do have the following comments which
should be addressed prior to approval It appears that the
petitioner may be using outdated parcel and legal description
information for the proposed rezoning In 2012, parcel 128-99-
0012-002 (35700 Ann Arbor Trail) was split into two separate
parcels, 128-99-0012-003 and 128-99-0012-004 (35700 Ann
Arbor Trail and 35652 Ann Arbor Trail, respectively) The
submitted plan and legal descriptions included with the petition
should be corrected to reflect the current parcel configuration
This department has been in contact with the developer
regarding the utilities for the site, and what they are showing on
the submitted plans is acceptable to this department They will
need to provide details plans to this office which include all
necessary calculations prior to permitting " The letter is signed
by David W Lear, P E , Assistant City Engineer The second
letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated July 7,
2015, which reads as follows "This office has reviewed the site
plan submitted in connection with a request for special waiver
use approval pursuant to Sections 20 01 and 20 02A of the City
of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to develop a
Planned Residential Development under the Single Family
Clustering option on property located at the above referenced
address Due to the following, we have objections to this
request (1) Access to this development is via the entrance
being proposed on the east side of the subdivision Our vehicles
will have to backup to get out (2) Prior history has shown that
subdivisions built with 'T' turnarounds do not function as
planned Homeowners will park vehicles, place sporting
equipment and plow snow into this space. Our recommendation
for this petition would be to deny the roadway request as laid
out and arrange for the road to continue out to Ann Arbor Trail
via lot number 11 " The letter is signed by Daniel Lee, Fire
Marshal The third letter is from the Division of Police, dated
June 30, 2015, which reads as follows "I have reviewed the
plans in connection with the petition I have no objections to the
proposal " The letter is signed by Joseph Boitos, Sergeant,
Traffic Bureau The fourth letter is from the Inspection
Department, dated July 13, 2015, which reads as follows
"Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced petition has
been reviewed This Department has no further objections to
July 14, 2015
26973
this petition " The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Assistant
Director of Inspection That is the extent of the correspondence
Mr Morrow Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Seeing none,
we have the petitioner coming forward We will need your name
and address for the record please
Leo Soave, 37771 Seven Mile, Livonia, Michigan 48152 As Mr Taormina said,
we propose 19 single family home sites The homes would be
one-story, two-story and one and half story homes, which will
sell for about $250,000 or so, and I'll answer your questions
Mr Morrow Any questions?
Ms Smiley Is there some kind of a sign that identifies this subdivision or do
you have a monument sign?
Mr Soave Yes, ma'am We will put an entrance marker on Ann Arbor Trail
that would say "Arbor Trail Subdivision "
Ms Smiley Would that go in the landscaping?
Mr Soave That would be in the landscaping buffer Yes, ma'am
Ms Smiley Okay Thank you There's quite a bit of landscaping I noticed It
looks nice
Mr Soave Yes, there is
Mr Morrow Along that line, Mr Soave, we brought up at the study session
that there might be an opportunity to kind of blend in some kind
of lighting with the monument sign that highlights the entrance
there Was that discussed with your representative that
attended?
Mr Soave Yes That's feasible We could do that if you want a lit sign
Mr Morrow Well, I think it came out that they wanted to some way highlight
the entranceway not only with a sign, but in the evening, it
would be easier to see the driveway with lighting
Mr Soave We could put a couple coach lights on both sides of the
entrance
Mr Morrow I just wanted to know if that was addressed
July 14, 2015
26974
Mr Soave This is the first I've heard of it, but it's not impossible We could
do that
Mr Morrow Does the Commission have any thoughts on that?
Ms McIntyre Not on the lighting. I appreciate the line of questions on the
lighting I have another question
Mr Morrow Are there any other comments relative to the lighting?
Mr Taylor The only comment I might add, Mr. Chairman, is Mr Soave has
been building in Livonia for quite a few years It's probably one
of the subdivisions that came in one time and there were about
25 people saying they want him to build their house So it's a
good indication that he does build a nice home, and I'm sure
that this going to be more or less for retired people
Mr Soave Yes, sir
Mr Taylor There will probably be a lot of one-stories, I'm sure
Mr Soave Correct
Mr Taylor I see that he's meeting all the requirements of the brick, and so I
think it's probably going to be a nice little subdivision between a
condominium outfit and apartments I'm going to say good luck
to you Are you a grandfather yet?
Mr Soave Yes, sir As of a couple days ago Thank you. Thanks for
asking
Ms McIntyre I understand I think from when Mr Soave, the younger, was
here last week, that you removed one of the planned sites in
order to add more extensive landscaping and provide more of a
buffer between the developments?
Mr Soave Correct The original plan was for 20 home sites My son met
with the neighbors and we agreed on a bigger berm on the east
side and eliminating Lot 20 So now we have 19 home sites
Ms. McIntyre We really appreciate the willingness to give up a site in order to
come to a very, very nice agreement, I think, with the neighbors
which resulted from taking the time to meet with them So thank
you and congratulations on the baby Does the baby have a
name?
July 14, 2015
26975
Mr Soave Yes It's Milana
Ms McIntyre Very nice Congratulations to everyone
Mr Soave Thank you
Mr Wilshaw Mr. Soave, the Fire Department had an interesting letter in the
sense that they were very adamant and concerned about their
ability to get in and out of this development with their trucks in
the event of a fire because of the lack of through access so to
speak and recommended that we remove another lot to allow
Lot 11 to allow their trucks to have access to Ann Arbor Trail
without having to back up, which is a pretty major item in the
sense that what does removing an additional lot, like Lot 11, do
to your development in terms of its viability, profitability, even
your ability to even develop this whole parcel'?
Mr Soave Well, if you take out Lot 11, you probably have to take out Lot
10 because you need a radius to do that We have condos on
the east side and we have condos on the west side I see them
on the market for like $47,000, $50,000, which we're going to
keep our product at $250,000 maybe We're kind of pushing the
envelope on that one It would make the project not bankrupt
but it would be on the edge of bankruptcy
Mr Wilshaw It would make it a lot more difficult for you
Mr Soave Yes, sir
Mr Taormina Mr Chairman, may I add to that'?
Mr Morrow Yes
Mr Taormina One of the complications with that, Mr Wilshaw, is the fact that
if the road were to loop back out to Ann Arbor Trail, it's located
right at a curve in the road As you recall, the initial concept plan
that was submitted with the rezoning petition had the entrance
drive shifted mostly to that side of the property In sitting down
with our Police and Fire Divisions relative to the location of that
driveway, it was felt that it was in too dangerous a location next
to the curve, and is the reason why we moved it further east
The reason why the road approach is positioned as far east as it
is, is to maintain as much separation as possible for left hand
turn movements between this road and the street directly across
Ann Arbor Trail The other option was to line those two streets
up, but the problem with that is there is some major utility
July 14, 2015
26976
conflicts So that really gives rise to the street pattern that you're
looking at today You'll recall with the 20 lot design, we actually
had a little different configuration It was a "Y" shaped turn
around That was the plan that was reviewed by the Fire
Department Even though they referred to it as a "T" design, it
was more in the form of a "Y" turnaround. I think that was a little
more constrained than this is. I have not had a chance to have
the Fire Department re-review this design, but I did have our
Engineering Division go back and take a look at the geometries
of this particular "T" design This is in line with what we've done
at several other locations throughout the city, and they feel it is
appropriate. There's actually some degree of flexibility in this
design So they can make some slight adjustments that would
make the "T" turnaround a little bit more convenient for the
larger vehicles So Engineering was very comfortable with this
design
Mr Wilshaw I appreciate that because anytime a public safety body like the
Police or Fire have concerns, it certainly is something that we
need to consider I think this is an improved design over the
initial "Y" turnaround I'm appreciative of both the background of
Mr. Soave and of Mr Taormina about the engineering design of
the road You are correct that Ann Arbor Trail near that curve
has a history of accidents and other issues, so any sight lines
that would exist at a driveway near that curb would definitely be
reduced and not ideal I appreciate that Mr Soave, we talked a
little bit about the houses Obviously, you don't have pictures
We know what your houses look like, but your houses are going
to be obviously brick on all four sides and up to the same
standard of quality that we're used to seeing of the Soave
homes, right'?
Mr Soave Yes, sir Thank you very much Even in a lot split where you
could go with all siding, I put brick on all four sides Even the
gables are going to be brick That's brick on all four sides
Mr Wilshaw Great Then the road itself, is this going to be a private road or a
public road'?
Mr Soave It's going to have a 50 foot right-of-way, it's going to be a public
road
Mr Wilshaw Okay Very good That's all my questions for now Thank you
Mr Morrow If there are no other questions, I'm going to go to the audience
Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
July 14, 2015
26977
against the granting of this petition? We will need your name
and address for the record
Larry Massa, 35558 Ann Arbor Trail, Livonia, Michigan 48150 Representing the
Arbor Woods Condos again We had a very good joint meeting
with Rico a week ago Answered almost all of our questions and
clarifications As you know, the original concern was centered
on the road We understand why it had to go the other way so
that's no issue. There have really been three plans Number one
had the retention pond up in this corner of the drawing It then
moved to the left, and the third one just finesses that and to our
surprise removed a unit The revised plan reflects good
improvements both in the landscaping and returns the berms to
kind of their original plan The greenery is substantial and that
basically reduces the majority of our concerns about privacy,
noise, lights, all that kind of stuff There are a couple of
clarifications that are needed Obviously, we're looking down the
road a little bit and are concerned about who maintains the
common grounds and wanted to reconfirm that these are
condos, that there will be a master deed, and that master deed
will specify some sort of a management group, either internal or
external or both so that we have someone to talk to and we
would want to avoid owner-to-owner problems by having an
association So we need that clarification There will be a master
deed, that these are condos and that the master deed will
specify the management of these areas
Mr Morrow Who would like to respond? Can you do that, Mr Taormina?
Mr Taormina I was just motioning to Commissioner Smiley that I think
Condition #1 more or less addresses that issue, which requires
the return of the actual document, the master deed and bylaws,
for review by this body and the City Council There's a
stipulation in the prepared resolution that would bring that
document back for review within 60 days of the approval by the
Council
Mr Massa That's fine
Mr Taormina And to answer your question, yes, there is a requirement for a
master deed It will address all the building and use restrictions
that we normally look at, as well as other items such as
management, maintenance, etc There's language contained in
the document that addresses that Maybe Mr Soave can
elaborate a little bit more on what you can expect to see
July 14, 2015
26978
Mr Soave. As far as the maintenance, before the sub is 65 percent
completed, we maintain it After that, then we form a
homeowners association and they maintain it That's how it's
always been done
Mr Morrow Thank you
Mr Massa So the individual owner's lots are self-maintained by the owner
The common grounds will be maintained by an association and
hopefully that association membership is not voluntary
Sometimes homeowner associations create problems when
there's only 50 percent of the people contributing and there's
financial troubles and all that So anyway, I will defer to
receiving that thing One last one, I didn't even have on the list
with Rico whether there will be a sprinkler system for the
common grounds We understand that the sprinkling, the
watering, is the owner's responsibility on the lots, but what is the
plan for the common area? I do not need that answer right now
Mr Morrow If it's available, we'll get it for you
Mr Soave Typically, we put like a drip system on the berm so it keeps the
property where it doesn't dry up and it keeps it healthy We have
a couple subdivisions in Livonia One is Livonia Manor We
have a drip system over there and it's been like that for 15
years And a couple other sites in Livonia we've done the same
thing, so we're going to do the same thing over here
Ms McIntyre Were you asking about the sprinkler system for all of the lawns'?
Mr Massa. Not the individual lots I'm speaking of the greenery on both
sides of the property and the 20 foot greenery on Ann Arbor
Trail
Ms McIntyre So I think the answer was yes
Mr Morrow That's your intent, Mr Soave, on the common grounds?
Mr Soave Yes All the common areas will have an irrigation system
Mr Massa I do want to add one thing First of all, we support this plan, no
ifs, ands or buts about it We support that I do want to mention
that there was mention to the fact that you lost Lot 20 The
reference was to the greenery on the right hand side That's not
totally accurate. The greenery on plan two, which was the
predecessor to this one had reduced that berm to 15 feet This
July 14, 2015
26979
plan returns it to 25 feet I believe the majority of the reason for
having to lose that lot was the increased size of the retention
pond So I just wanted to make that observation When I spoke
to Mark before, when I spoke to Rico, one of our questions was,
it seemed to me that they could increase our greenery on that
side by the 10 feet just by simply condensing the retention pond
Why it was increased from the initial plans, the size, go and look
at the size of it, I don't know why
Mr Morrow You're happy with the plan?
Mr Massa Yes We support that plan and the greenery I think will be very,
very attractive Any other comments, guys, you want me to
raise?
Mr Morrow Thank you for coming
Barb Retz, 35962 Ann Arbor Trail, Livonia, Michigan 48150 I live in the condo
association that's on the west side They've cut back a lot on
what they told us they would be doing with the berm to buffer
our side from their side I live in the building that is right at the
top left of the screen, and it appears that they're going to put in
a couple of trees That's not really adequate They've increased
on the east side and reduced on the west side from the other
plans Also, the area of their pond, and I know it's not a real
pond, but that's already a very marshy area for us, and that's
just going to create more water in that area, which is going to
breed more mosquitos and give us some more problems with
our catch basins Our buildings and storm sewers and that are
40 years old I can't say it's because of them, but we've already
started having some sink holes in our complex because of the
dirt being shaken and moved when they've pulled up trees and
stuff Let me check my notes We do have an issue with the
lighting. It's a very dark corner You're going to be increasing
the volume of cars turning in there on basically a blind curve
You still are coming up over a hill and a blind curve The
sewers The streets we were told at the meeting were not going
to be wide enough for on-street parking in the complex, and we
just wonder what that's going to do with parking in the area and
in our complex We already have people from other areas
parking in our complex, which is a security issue Well, the wild
life has already been disturbed Rico had said that maybe there
could be a turn lane put in to help buffer some of the turning
traffic and that I wondered if that had ever been proposed or
talked about Who's going to cover the cost for that? Again, for
July 14, 2015
26980
the additional sewers that are going to be put in there, we're just
wondering who pays for that
Mr Morrow That sums it up'?
Ms Retz Yes, my issues I'm just real leery about this retention pond
being so close to our property when we already have issues of
that land being very mossy and very soft, and you're going to
put in more catch basins with more people using it I'm just
afraid of what it's going to do to that portion of our complex
Mr Morrow Mr Taormina, the engineering would be such that it would not
impact other sites, would it not?
Ms Retz Well, he's extending it into our property
Mr Taormina The comment that he's extending onto your property, I'm not
exactly sure what you mean by that All the work that I see on
this plan will be conducted on the petitioner's property The
storm water management basins are located in an area of the
site that makes the most sense It's the lowest area on the
property, and I think that was noted by the resident, that that's
naturally the low area, so it makes sense that that would be the
location for the storm water control basins The actual
contouring of those basins isn't right on the property line It's set
back about 20 or 30 feet from the property line What happens
to the grades right at the property line, I'm not sure The plan
shows some ample room between the top of the slope and the
property line for plantings, and he is showing some trees in that
area The comment relative to on-street parking, this is a 31 foot
cross section, curb-to-curb, which is more than enough room for
parking along the side of the street So extra parking can, in
fact, be provided on-street The lighting I think was addressed a
little earlier It would be the intention to install some type of
lighting at the entryway to help guide vehicles to the subdivision
The issue of a turn lane or passing lane, that's something that
would have to be addressed by our Engineering Division, but all
the development costs and all of the utility construction are
going to be borne by the developer and not by the city or not by
the adjoining developments I hope that helps answer the
questions from the city's point of view Maybe Mr. Soave has
additional things he can add relative to that
Mr Wilshaw Just a comment to Mr Taormina's response is that right now
this site does not have any storm water management on it
Correct'?
July 14, 2015
26981
Mr Taormina. Not that I'm aware of.
Mr Wilshaw So basically, water could be shedding off this site into the
condominium development or ultimately to Hines Park
Mr Taormina Actually, there are structures that are on the condominium
development that cross onto this property The condos rely, to
some extent, on this property for its storm water drainage,
probably more so than the other way around
Mr Wilshaw Exactly That's really where I was headed is that the
improvements of this property by putting in a storm water
management system retention pond and then eventual catch
basin and drainage to the Rouge River is going to be an
improvement not only to this property, but it will probably help
facilitate better storm water management for the neighboring
properties as well
Mr Taormina There's no reason why it shouldn't be an actual improvement if
they've got a problem in that area adjacent to that northeasterly
building in Parkway Condominiums It could very well be
improved by this design by allowing the water to drain off and
into this pond and then outlet properly into the Rouge River
Mr Wilshaw Exactly We've seen this in other developments throughout the
city where these types of systems actually improve situations
but at the least, the goal of both the city engineers and of
Wayne County when it comes to storm water management is for
any development of a parcel, including this one, to not make
anything worse on any neighboring property So at the least,
we're going to not impact your property through increased water
to your facility, but also hopefully can actually improve the
situation for your area So that's just so you understand typically
that's the results that we tend to see So in no way would we be
wanting to do anything that would worsen any drainage in your
development
Ms Retz Okay
Mr Morrow Mr Wilshaw, I think on the prior petition, the development of
that storage yard was going to clear up the drainage situation
that currently existed because they came into compliance with
Wayne County That's exactly right When you put in retentions,
things like that, it tends to clean up a lot of the surrounding
problems
July 14, 2015
26982
Ms Retz Okay Can we get more of a berm put in on the west side there?
Mr Morrow Well, that would be up to the petitioner I don't know if you have
enough room to build up the berm or not
Mr Taormina Mr Chairman, if I can respond to that I would just caution
against any kind of commitment at this point until and unless it's
properly engineered Because, as I look at this plan, the area
between the existing building at Parkway Condominiums and
the westerly edge of the detention basin shows a pond with a
catch basin Well, if you start to berm that area up, you may be
impeding the flow of drainage and trapping more water on the
adjacent property So while I think it's a good thing to look at, I
don't know that it can be accomplished to any great extent in
terms of berming Landscaping is one issue, but berming may
present some complications and may work contrary to what we
just discussed, which is improving the drainage pattern between
the two properties
Mr Morrow One thing you want to keep in mind, he's developing what you
might say is an upscale subdivision, something that I think the
neighbors would feel pretty good about Sometimes when
people talk about screening, they want it for what reason,
whether it's a single family next to you or not I think he's got a
track record where he probably builds some of the best
subdivisions not only in Livonia but in the surrounding area I'm
sure it will work with your area That's one commissioner's
opinion
Ms. Retz And as far as the buildings being the lower end of $40,000, they
are going for a lot more now He had said earlier that the
condos were going for $40,000 We just had one go for $85,000
- $90,000 so they are coming up again I just don't want you to
think that it's a lower establishment
Mr Morrow No
Ms Retz It's an older establishment but has a lovely garden setting, and I
just want to retain that
Mr Morrow I don't think this will detract at all I'm not a real estate expert,
but I wouldn't be surprised Anyone else'?
Denise Semon, 36062 Ann Arbor Trail, Livonia, Michigan 48150 I've been
following this development from the first time there was a
July 14, 2015
26983
meeting with the zoning committee and I think it's a great asset
to the community I just have a couple questions and piggy
backing onto the other two speakers Naturally I'm concerned
about the water basin and how it's going to affect us My
concern is, there is currently I think a six foot to seven foot
cyclone fence dividing the two properties right now That fence
starts at Ann Arbor Trail, goes down and touches to Hines Park,
and then there's a 90 degree angle There's a fence from that
one and it attaches to the building So my concern is, is that
fence going to be removed where we can put that basin into
drain because right now there is a lot of foliage that's on that
fence and prior to that, there was a huge — a lot of mulch was
attached to it Could be anywhere from a six to seven foot pile of
mulch and that has been removed but the fence with all the
foliage is still there My concern is what's going to be done with
that Then we spoke about the berm on the east side that abuts
up against the other condominium There's actually a berm
there now and it looks as if according to the blueprints that that
berm has widen with the assistance of the new developer And
there's also on that berm, the existing berm, there are
evergreens that are dead Now my concern is, is the developer
going to replace those dead evergreens With that, when he
replaces the fence, if he's going to, the 15 feet between our
carport, if you look, that row T's right into our carport. If that
indeed is a public road, which the City I'm assuming will
maintain, will they push all of the snow from that, because
there's only one way in and one way out, into our carport And if
so, who will repair that or make any repairs to any cars that
might be there? That's just a couple Again, that was the
evergreens, the lighting on the curb, the lighting on the curb
right now is the pole, just a regular pole with a light on it It does
not have a normal streetlight where you would find in a
residential area I have a concern with that And we also asked
about a sprinkler system being put on the berms I just have one
question to ask the other condominium Is there an existing
sprinkler system now to maintain your trees on your berm where
your trees are?
Mr Morrow Ma'am, you have to come through the Commission
Ms Semon Well, my concern is, we've been mentoring this for the whole
time I just want to make sure whatever is on the east is on the
west side because on the east side they've already had a berm
They have had evergreens that are dead, and it seems like they
may get replaced They went from a 15 foot to a larger one, and
my concern is what's going to be done on the east side
July 14, 2015
26984
Mr Morrow Ma'am, you have a plan before you, which will be acted on
tonight
Ms Semon That plan really isn't in the same size as the east side My
concern is that
Mr Morrow All I'm telling you is this is the plan that we're going to act on
tonight, either approve it or deny it We're not going to modify it
tonight
Ms Semon. And my concern is before you approve it, if everyone has the
idea to approve it, if you could take a minute of your day and
actually come to the site and look where the pond is, because if
you look on that, the pond that is on the blueprint actually is not
a pond in our area It's actually part of our property and it comes
down to a low point
Mr Morrow Ma'am, that has been worked out with the engineering
Engineering has approved this plan Now, we are a
recommending body You can come to the Council's meeting
and express your concerns, but we are going to react to this
plan as you see it tonight
Ms Semon And I certainly understand it and I've been given that answer
from the zoning to right now, come to another meeting, come to
another meeting I'm here at this meeting I'm representing
myself and I'm stating that right from the get go, we've been
asking for a berm and it doesn't look as if it's going to be
appropriate That road is going to come down, it's going to end
right at our carport Where's the snow going to go? If we have
snow and it's going to be maintained by the city Just have a
couple of these issues again, if you approve it, I certainly
understand If you have any questions in which we do as
Parkway Condominium There's 72 units there and we just want
someone to come over there and actually walk the site and see
what you're going to approve
Mr Morrow Thank you Yes, Mark
Mr Taormina Just to address the questions relative to snow removal That
road will have a curb as well as a barricade at the end So I
don't think that there will be any real opportunity for the city to
push the snow beyond that point and adversely affect the
carport Plus you have the aprons on either side that would
allow for additional room for the snow removal In terms of the
July 14, 2015
26985
dead evergreens on the east side of the property adjacent to
Arbor Woods, if they are on Arbor Woods property, unless the
developer makes a separate arrangement with the Association,
then it's not the obligation of this developer to replace their
trees The same would hold true with the fence I'm assuming
that the fence that exists along the border of Parkway
Condominiums is their fence, and not his fence to remove
unless he has some arrangement with Parkway Condominiums
to replace that or to modify it at all Then lastly, I think I
addressed the issue of the berm between the pond and
Parkway I would caution any suggestions or recommendations
for berming in that area until it's properly engineered to make
sure that it could be done properly I would like to leave that
door open to improve the drainage situation, which I think is
probably more of a concern in terms of buffering It seems to me
that could be accomplished by landscaping rather than berming
in that area Those are just my comments relative to the
resident's comments
Ms Semon Very well, thank you very much I appreciate it, and again,
invite you to come on over and take a look at it
Mr Morrow Thank you
Tia Reid, 35904 Ann Arbor Trail, Livonia, Michigan 48150 Kind of piggy backing
off of her snow removal, my biggest worry is we've already had
drainage issues where we get an ice buildup in our carports So
adding that snow and that draining into it could cause another
safety issue My question about lighting, I understand that they
want to put the sign at the entrance and they want to put lighting
around it, and I think she mentioned it was actual lighting on
Ann Arbor Trail in that area You are now adding more traffic to
an already dangerous curve So is that something we bring to
you? Is it another commission that I'm supposed to ask? Is it
another department I'm supposed to call?
Mr Taormina- She is referring to lighting at the entryway? Is that what you're
referring to'?
Ms Reid No, on Ann Arbor Trail itself I understand that they want to put
the sign in and they want to have lights around it to tell you
where the driveway is I'm talking about the very minimal one
light we have on that curve Do they plan on making it any
lighter?
Mr Morrow Well, that would be something that does not fall within this
July 14, 2015
26986
Ms Reid That's what I'm saying Who would I talk to then?
Mr Morrow I don't know Mark, would that go to the Traffic Commission or
where would they go?
Mr Taormina I would start with the Engineering Department This is a City of
Livonia maintained thoroughfare so that's something she would
take to either the Traffic Commission or the Engineering
Division I would probably start with our Engineering Division
Irrespective of this development, if there is a lack of lighting
there, then that's something that maybe she could bring to their
attention to see if there's an opportunity for additional lighting
along Ann Arbor Trail I can tell you that entryway, more than
likely, will receive a couple of additional lights so that will help
on this end of the property in terms of visibility
Mr Morrow Thank you
Ms Reid I think they've already covered everything else Thank you
Mr Morrow Mr Soave?
Mr Soave I'd like to say a couple things if I may We're adjoining a site that
is R-7 If this could go R-7, our site, that means we could get
about 47 condos over there and we would have more water
runoff. As far as storm issues, we've taken four soil borings on
this site We went 20 feet deep, and this is all beach sand It's
granular sand It's never going to hold any water On top of that,
behind the site, it's about a 25 — 30 foot drop Water is going to
go into the Rouge River It's never going to stay up there As far
as us affecting the adjoining property owner, we're going to tap
into that storm catch basin that's way behind their property
We're not even going to be close to their detention or their storm
sewer As far as the road, the road is going to be just like any
other road It's going to be 31 feet from curb-to-curb, just like
every other road in the City of Livonia As far as traffic problems,
the speed there is 35 miles an hour I've driven that road
probably every day for the last 40 years There's a school
between Stark and Newburgh and there's police cars there all
the time God forbid if you go over 25 miles an hour I've never
got a ticket Knock on wood I've never got a ticket because I
don't want to get a ticket So as far as us impacting them, I'm
sorry I don't see it We're in between two multiple sites, R-7 and
zoned multiple on the east side As far as evergreens on the
east side, if they're dead evergreens, they're on their property
July 14, 2015
26987
We're going to maintain our property That's all I can say Thank
you very much
Mr Morrow Thank you
Ms Reid I'm sorry just really very quick. I'm just trying to understand their
plan here So I don't know if he will be able to help me more
being closer There's a solid line here and then the dotted line
Is the dotted line supposed to be their property line or is it the
solid line?
Mr Taormina The solid line very close to the carport
Ms Reid That's the property line between the two'?
Mr Taormina The solid line, yes
Ms Reid Okay Thank you
Mr. Soave And can I say one last thing?
Mr. Morrow Yes
Mr Soave I've been at the condominium on the west side and I've been by
the carports There's a grade difference between the two sites
It's like six, seven feet So if you put evergreens on the west
side, it's not going to affect their site Also, if you're worried
about snow going on their property, we've got a 10 foot
greenbelt with a berm and then we have curbs on the "T"
turnaround No plow is going to go through the curb and go
through a 10 foot greenbelt and push snow on the west side of
the property
Mr Morrow Okay Thank you If there is no one else coming forward, I will
close the public hearing and ask for a motion
On a motion by Taylor, seconded by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was
#07-44-2015 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on July 14, 2015, on
Petition 2015-06-02-12 submitted by Crosswinds Court Sub Inc
requesting special waiver use approval pursuant to Sections
20 01 and 20 02A of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543,
as amended, to develop a Planned Residential Development
under the Single Family Clustering option (Arbor Trail Estates)
on properties at 35652, 35700, 35800 and 35850 Ann Arbor
July 14, 2015
26988
Trail, located on the north side of Ann Arbor Trail between
Wayne Road and Newburgh Road in the Southeast 1/4 of
Section 32, which property is zoned RUF and C-1 and is
proposed to be rezoned to R-1, the Planning Commission does
hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2015-06-02-
12 be approved subject to the following conditions
1 That the Master Deed and bylaws for this condominium
development shall be submitted and filed with the Planning
Commission and City Council within sixty (60) days of this
approval,
2 That the following shall be incorporated in the Master Deed
and bylaws
- that the first floor of each condominium unit shall be
brick or stone, on all four (4) sides, and the total amount
of brick or stone on each two-story unit shall not be less
than 65% and not less than 80% on one-story
dwellings,
- that the minimum floor area for each one-story dwelling
shall not be less than 1,500 square feet and not be less
1,800 square feet for each two-story dwelling,
- that all exterior chimneys shall be brick
3 That entry lights and sidewalks shall be installed
throughout the development to the satisfaction of the
Engineering Department,
4 In the event of a conflict between the provisions set forth in
the Master Deed and bylaws and the requirements set
forth in the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance No 543, as
amended, the Zoning Ordinance requirements shall prevail
and petitioner shall comply with the Zoning Ordinance
requirements,
5 That the petitioner shall include language in the Master
Deed and bylaws or a separate recordable instrument
wherein the condominium association shall reimburse the
City of Livonia for any maintenance or repair costs incurred
for the storm water detention/retention and outlet facilities,
and giving the City of Livonia the right to impose liens on
each lot owner's property prorata and place said charges
on their real estate tax bills in the event said charges are
July 14, 2015
26989
not paid by the condominium association (or each lot
owner) within thirty (30) days of billing for the City of
Livonia,
6. That the brick used in the construction of each
condominium unit shall be full face four inch (4") brick,
7 That the Site Plan marked Sheet 1 dated June 25, 2015,
as revised, prepared by Arpee/Donnan, Inc , is hereby
approved and shall be adhered to,
8 That the Landscape Plan marked Sheet 2 dated June 25,
2015, as revised, prepared by Arpee/Donnan, Inc , is
hereby approved and shall be adhered to,
9 That only a conforming entrance marker is approved with
this petition, and any additional signage shall be separately
submitted for review and approval by the Planning
Commission and City Council,
10 That the petitioner shall secure the necessary storm water
management permits from Wayne County, the City of
Livonia, and/or the State of Michigan,
11 That the Site Plan referenced in this approving resolution
shall be submitted to the Inspection Department at the time
the building permits are applied for,
12 That all required cash deposits, certified checks,
irrevocable bank letters of credit and/or surety bonds which
shall be established by the City Engineer pursuant to
Article XVIII of Ordinance No 543, Section 18 66 of the
ordinance, shall be deposited with the City prior to the
issuance of engineering permits for this site condominium
development, and,
13 Pursuant to Section 19 10 of Ordinance #543, the Zoning
Ordinance of the City of Livonia, this approval is valid for a
period of ONE YEAR ONLY from the date of approval by
City Council, and unless a building permit is obtained, this
approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said
period
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 19 05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended
July 14, 2015
26990
Mr Morrow Is there any discussion'?
Ms Smiley I would like to ask the maker of the motion, we said in here that
only a conforming entrance marker is approved with this
petitioner Did we want to say a lighted entrance marker or refer
to that in some way, Mark? Mr Soave said it wasn't a problem
Mr Taormina Yes I think that's important that we do that I think what will
happen is they would request waiving the street lights on Rouge
Bluff Court in favor of entry lights along Ann Arbor Trail, which is
what was done recently, because this is a short street and
there's probably no need for street lighting on the residential
street, and more importantly, you'll need the lights near the
entryway I think that's what you did at Livonia Manor
Mr Soave Yes If I can speak to that, please We did Livonia Manor #1
The people didn't want street lights, so we had two lights on
Seven Mile At Livonia Manor #2, we've got the same thing The
people voted on it They wanted an entrance marker with two
lights That's what we provided And that road is about 1,500
feet It's about half the size of this road
Mr Morrow That sounds like what we were talking about earlier if you were
going to do any lighting around the sign
Mr Soave Yes, sir
Ms Smiley He said yes?
Mr Morrow Mr Taylor, did you say okay?
Mr Taylor Oh, yes
Ms Smiley I approve too, yes
Mr Morrow Is there any other discussion?
Mr Wilshaw Just a brief comment. When we deal with these types of
petitions that abut other residential properties or what have you,
we can't always check off everybody's box of what everybody
wants, but what we try to do is at least hit the major ones and as
many as we can This developer has gone to a good extent to
work with the neighboring properties on both sides to present
the plans in advance of this meeting and try to resolve as many
of those, check off as many of those boxes as he could in terms
July 14, 2015
26991
of landscaping and buffering and so on He has come to us with
a plan I think is reasonable for the site It removed one of the
lots that he was capable of building on in favor of making sure
that he had adequate landscaping As a result, I think this is an
appropriate resolution tonight However, realizing that we're not
going to satisfy everybody's individual needs Thank you
Mr Morrow Thank you for the comments Anything else?
Mr Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution Thank you for coming this evening
Mr Soave Can I make one last request? Can I get a seven day waiver on
this? I'd like to do it this year if I may
On a motion by Taylor, seconded by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was
#07-45-2015 RESOLVED, that the City Planning Commission does hereby
determine to waive the provisions of Section 10 of Article VI of the
Planning Commission Rules of Procedure, regarding the effective
date of a resolution after the seven-day period from the date of
adoption by the Planning Commission, in connection with Petition
2015-06-02-12 submitted by Crosswinds Court Sub Inc requesting
special waiver use approval pursuant to Sections 20 01 and 20 02A of
the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to develop a
Planned Residential Development under the Single Family Clustering
option (Arbor Trail Estates) on properties at 35652, 35700, 35800 and
35850 Ann Arbor Trail, located on the north side of Ann Arbor Trail
between Wayne Road and Newburgh Road in the Southeast 1/4 of
Section 32, which property is zoned RUF and C-1 and is proposed to
be rezoned to R-1
Mr Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution
adopted You have your seven day waiver Good luck at the Council
level
ITEM #5 PETITION 2015-06-08-07 TEN YEN PLAZA
Ms Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2015-
06-08-07 submitted by Acy, L.L C requesting approval of all
plans required by Section 18 58 of the City of Livonia Zoning
Ordinance #543, as amended, in connection with a proposal to
remodel the exterior of the commercial shopping center (Ten
Yen Plaza) at 8963-8997 Wayne Road, located on the west side
of Wayne Road between Joy Road and Ann Arbor Trail in the
Southwest 1/4 of Section 33
July 14, 2015
26992
Mr Taormina This is a request to remodel the interior of an existing retail
plaza commonly referred to as Ten Yen Plaza. It's on the west
side of Wayne Road between Ann Arbor Trail and Joy Road
This site is just under an acre in size and it includes the main
parcel that has frontage along Wayne Road and which contains
the retail plaza, as well as a back lot which is located kitty
corner from the main parcel with frontage on the side street,
Joselyn Avenue That portion of the site provides additional
parking for the plaza It's difficult to see on this site, but 9001 is
also property owned in common with the Ten Yen Plaza The
main part of the site is zoned C-2 The back lot is zoned C-1
The multi-tenant one-story retail plaza is about 10,500 square
feet in total size and can accommodate up to six leasable tenant
spaces However, the only tenant currently occupying space in
the center is Ten Yen restaurant which has been there for some
time The improvements to the site involve a facelift to the
shopping center's store front elevation The current façade
includes a combination of brick and glass on the lower part with
asphalt shingled mansard roof above The most significant
change will be to cover the mansard roof by adding a
dimensional parapet wall along the upper part of the façade
along the building's east elevation facing Wayne Road The
new vertical wall elements would extend above the existing
roofline and project above a walkway that is in front of the
storefronts. It would be constructed out of EIFS primarily This
would be a painted EIFS system It also includes some
patterning to help differentiate and provide some interest along
the façade of the center Also you'll see flanking on both ends of
the façade are sections of sloped red metal roofing that would
extent about four feet above the new parapet wall and there are
nine brick columns that would be needed to support the
overhang Those would be evenly spaced along the front of the
building There is some existing panel brick located on the front
of the building That would be removed and replaced with
cultured stone There are a couple different materials that will
go into the facelift The red metal roof on top, the next layer
moving down is the painted EIFS system, then you have a
darker brown which is the columns that would be constructed
along the front of the overhang Those would be clad with full
face brick Then in the background is the cultured stone which is
actually along the face of the restaurant The plans do not
indicate any improvements or changes to the site including
parking and signage With that, I can read out the
correspondence
July 14, 2015
26993
Mr Morrow Please
Mr Taormina There are four items of correspondence The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated June 23, 2015, which reads as
follows "In accordance with your request, the Engineenng
Division has reviewed the above-referenced petition We have
no objections to the proposed project at this time The existing
parcel is assigned an address of #8981 Wayne Road, with a
range of addresses from #8963 to #8997 Wayne Road for the
individual units within the building. The legal description
included with the petition appears to be correct and should be
used in conjunction with this petition The existing building is
currently serviced by public utilities which are not indicated for
alterations under the proposed remodeling Should the owner
need to alter the existing service leads to the building, plans will
need to be submitted to this department to determine if
Engineering permits will be required " The letter is signed by
David Lear, P E , Assistant City Engineer The second letter is
from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated June 25, 2015,
which reads as follows "This office has reviewed the site plan
submitted in connection with a request to remodel the exterior of
the commercial shopping center on property located at the
above referenced addresses We have no objections to this
proposal " The letter is signed by Keith Bo, Senior Fire
Inspector The third letter is from the Division of Police, dated
July 2, 2015, which reads as follows "I have reviewed the plans
in connection with the petition I have no objections to the
proposal. I do however recommend repair be made to the
asphalt parking lot There are several large holes and cracks in
the surface Also, please refer to the enclosed map of Ten Yen
and surround businesses In the alley due north of Ten Yen,
there is a large 10 foot by 10 foot crater It is located behind
9001 Wayne and the gas station I do not know whose
responsibility it is to repair this, but I want to make sure you are
aware of it " The letter is signed by Joseph Boitos, Sergeant,
Traffic Bureau The fourth letter is from the Inspection
Department, dated July 13, 2015, which reads as follows
"Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced petition has
been reviewed The following is noted (1) The protective wall
on the South and West side of the property shall be repaired
and painted as needed (2) The dumpster enclosure located on
the West portion of the property is in need of repair and has no
gates installed (3) The parking lot shall be repaired and
restnped as necessary Parking spaces shall be 10' wide and
20' deep and double striped (4) Barner free parking spaces
shall be properly sized, signed and striped (5) The electrical
July 14, 2015
26994
junction box for the pylon sign needs to be replaced and
installed to code (6) The Commission and/or Council may wish
to address the existing non-conforming pylon sign (7) The rear
of the building is in need of maintenance and repair This
Department has no further objections to this petition " The letter
is signed by Jerome Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection.
Thank you
Mr Morrow Are there any questions from the Commissioners? Seeing none,
is the petitioner here this evening'? We will need your name and
address for the record please
Ryan Schneider, A J Design Architect, 2803 Greenlane, Commerce, Michigan
48382
Michael Rose, 750 Welsh Road, Commerce Township, Michigan 48309
Mr Morrow Are you the owner, sir?
Mr Rose No I am representing the owner She is in China She couldn't
get back for tonight's meeting She will be back tomorrow I'm
the real estate broker on the property
Mr Morrow Thank you Sir, you've heard the presentation Is there anything
you want to add'?
Mr Schneider The only thing that we talked about, we met a couple
contractors at the site and the concern is that putting the brick
columns inside where the sidewalk is, part of the thing is we're
going to rip up the whole sidewalk and redo the sidewalk
because we noticed that there's also a drop at the doors that
won't meet ADA requirements So we're going to redo the entire
sidewalk in front of it By keeping the parking lot as is and the
columns in that sidewalk, we're only about three feet away from
the building So we're looking at just off-centering columns
Instead of 9, we'll have 8 brick columns By doing this, if you
look right now, the doors line up with the columns They're just
going to slide off-center the other way so that you won't have
any obstructions getting to the doors themselves We're
proactive and we're actually getting four bids from contractors
We've asked all four of them about redoing the whole road and
doing that grinding four inches off the asphalt and putting new
asphalt in instead of just topping it Do you have anything else
to add?
July 14, 2015
26995
Mr Rose I know that the woman who bought the center just bought it
about two months ago Her sister actually owns the restaurant
There were no other tenants She bought it to generate more
business for her sister and then redo the center because it's not
a nice looking center right now She's proactive in getting
everything the way that it should be
Mr Morrow You mentioned something about the parking lot
Mr Schneider Correct We are going to repave the parking lot
Mr Morrow You will repave it'?
Mr Schneider. Yes
Mr Morrow Well, that's a giant step forward I'll go to the Commission now
Ms Smiley Do you have any samples of what you're going to do on this
building?
Mr Schneider I do not It's a very traditional cultured brown stone, brown brick
to match. It's a red metal awning I can get you some samples if
you'd like for the next meeting
Ms Smiley I think you'll need them before you go to Council What are
those two red things on top there'?
Mr Schneider That's just a metal roof
Ms. Smiley But it doesn't go all the way across'? It's just those two sections?
Mr Schneider Yes, it's just two sections It gives it a little bit of height and
gives anchor to the corners so it doesn't get too top heavy
Instead of just doing El F S straight across, just trying to give a
little three dimensional aspect to it The red metal is actually
sloping so it's a slope coming out with a gutter on the end where
the EIFS is a true parapet, and instead of just leaving brick
and the existing façade, we're changing that to cultured stone
with a brick in front of it trying to give it some three
dimensionality when you're driving by so it doesn't look like it's
all brick across So that would be the red metal roof
Ms Smiley I would recommend that before you go to Council that you
actually have material samples
July 14, 2015
26996
Mr Schneider We'll bring samples and actual colors This is relatively new to
us in this process so from here, it goes to City Council and that's
a meeting in about another three or four weeks'?
Mr Morrow The Council sets up their own schedule but maybe, Mark, you
can give him an idea
Mr Taormina Yes It's roughly that timeframe
Mr Schneider Then we meet with them and show them the samples there and
then from there, they'll either approve it or not approve it
Mr Morrow Right We'll make a recommendation either approving or
denying and then they will ultimately make the final decision
Mr Schneider And then from there we could submit for a building permit
Mr Morrow Yes, once you have your approvals from City Council
Ms McIntyre A couple of things Do you have any renderings of the north and
south elevations'?
Mr Schneider It's block right now and we're just talking about painting it We're
not doing anything on the sides at all I mean other than repair
the CMU, the grout that is needed to be tucked, there's no work
on each side
Ms McIntyre Okay Well, you'll definitely want to have renderings of what
that's going to look like at the City Council
Mr Schneider Are you saying I can just take some pictures of what the existing
looks like'?
Ms McIntyre If you're going to paint it, I think at a minimum it needs a new
coat of paint I would have a photo of what it looks like now and
then a rendering of the improvement with the paint Is the
restaurant that's there now, Ten Yen, Is that restaurant viable'?
I remember going there as a kid, which was a very long time
ago I mean, how is the restaurant doing'?
Mr Rose She is doing well There's a ton of carry outs there When I go
there in the afternoon to show space, there's always two or
three cars and all these people are going in to get carry outs At
night, I don't know
July 14, 2015
26997
Mr Schneider The biggest thing I know just from talking to the owner is that it's
her sister that owns the Chinese restaurant They've been
paying rent for years and obviously haven't done anything to the
building The original owner is from out of state so about a
month and a half ago or so she bought the building and the
whole idea is to renovate it The owner already owns other
properties in Livonia and just redid a new place not too long
ago
Mr Rose Yes, on Middlebelt Road between Seven and Eight called Mid-8
Plaza
Ms McIntyre Okay
Mr Rose The green EIFS with the brown trim
Ms McIntyre Yes, I know right where that is I think, and don't misread my
question about the restaurant, it's a nice thing to see a long time
business that's been there forever to serve the community It
still is obviously popular in a commercial strip center that looks
horrible which is being redone with an opportunity to really
spruce up that stretch of the road, and also, hopefully, right, to
boost the business appearance because if you don't know a
restaurant, you're not probably going to go into a restaurant in a
commercial strip that looks like that So I think there's great
opportunity here, but again, you just have to have a lot more
detail when you go to Council or you won't get approved
Mr Schneider Okay Thank you
Ms Smiley Through the Chair, Mark. The ten by ten hole they're talking
about, whose is that'?
Mr Taormina I actually drove out to the site today and I failed to look at
exactly where that is located, if it's on this property or off the
site So I apologize for not knowing where that so-called crater
is
Mr Morrow I didn't see it when I was out there
Mr Taormina It might be in the alleyway behind the barber shop, but we can
go back and check Mr Chairman, if I could just ask a couple
questions
Mr Morrow You surely may
July 14, 2015
26998
Mr Taormina I agree with Commissioner McIntyre on getting some additional
information when you go to Council One item is going to be
how the north and south sides will be finished We may need to
see a side view I understand looking at this construction
diagram how it's being framed, and you've got the existing
roofline and how you're going to add the elements above that,
but I think you need to call out what the materials are going to
be going all the way back to the block and maybe show that
existing roofline as it comes down a little bit further I think that
would be helpful because that question will come up at the
Council level Then I would also encourage you, besides
bringing in the material samples and making a change from
eight columns instead of nine, to provide a conceptual site plan
and call out all the improvements that have been identified this
evening, like the parking lot, the striping, where those barrier
free parking spaces are going to be provided on the site, and
the improvements to the sign That is still an issue that may
come up in a discussion this evening, but a couple of things
identified by the Inspection Department, like the dumpster
enclosure gates and repainting the wall and painting the side of
the building Call those out on a site plan It doesn't have to be a
surveyed site plan, just something that hits each one of these
items so that they're covered and you're committed to doing
those as part of the project because I don't think any of these
things are onerous They're really just general maintenance
items that should be covered with the final resolution on this
Thank you
Mr Morrow I support that In other words, what we've heard so far, you're
making a significant investment and you don't want to do any
half measures I think some of the things you'll hear tonight,
you're just kind of doing the little things that will not only improve
the site but work in a positive manner to not only they've stood
the test of time as far as staying in business, and hopefully it will
draw tenants to your site
Mr Rose That's what she's hoping for
Mr. Morrow Like I say, I've heard a lot of nice things here tonight As one
Commissioner, I looked at the site and I say, oh man, I hope
they're not going to have too much shortfall in what they want to
invest in this site Those are just my comments Any other
questions or comments
July 14, 2015
26999
Mr Wilshaw We haven't really talked about the pylon sign too much with the
petitioner Are you guys really stuck on that pylon sign or is
there some flexibility there about removing it?
Mr Schneider I'll be honest, we haven't really talked much about the sign
tried to have nothing to do with the signage
Mr Rose She wants to redo it She likes the sign, but there is flexibility
She would like to redo the whole sign completely and leave it
there, but she understands. That's why she has the monument
sign on Middlebelt
Mr Wilshaw That's exactly the reason we ask Historically in our city, we've
made great efforts to try to remove pylon signs from the
community that have been established years ago before some
of these ordinances existed and replace them with ground
mounted monument signs that are more attractive but still give
enough space so that you can not only advertising your primary
tenant, which is obviously Ten Yen, but also panels for some of
the other tenants so that people can find those businesses as
they're coming along Wayne Road. So I would really like to see
consideration be given to getting rid of the pylon sign and
replacing it with an appropriate monument sign that would be
very attractive to go along with all the other improvements that
are being made that will also clearly improve the appearance of
this site overall and make it all very attractive and conforming
with what we see in other areas of the city Whether that makes
it into an approving resolution or not, I don't know, but I would
certainly like that to be considered That may be hopefully an
issue that will come up at the Council level as well Thank you
Mr Schneider Just to respond to Mark We revised the drawings like we said
We did actually some elevations of the side to show how it turns
around You don't have it It's something that was done after. So
we'll make sure we send it for everyone else to show how it
turns the corner and how it meets the brick and then we'll
definitely bring the samples for the materials
Mr Morrow Anything else? I don't see anyone in the audience This is not a
public hearing, but we'll call off discussion and ask for a motion
On a motion by McIntyre, seconded by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was
#07-46-2015 RESOLVED, that the City Planning Commission does hereby
recommend to the City Council that Petition 2015-06-08-07
submitted by Acy, L L C requesting approval of all plans
July 14, 2015
27000
required by Section 18 58 of the City of Livonia Zoning
Ordinance #543, as amended, in connection with a proposal to
remodel the exterior of the commercial shopping center (Ten
Yen Plaza) at 8963-8997 Wayne Road, located on the west side
of Wayne Road between Joy Road and Ann Arbor Trail in the
Southwest 1/4 of Section 33, be approved subject to the
following conditions
1 That the Elevation Plan marked Al 01 dated July 3, 2015,
as revised, prepared by AJ Design Architects, is hereby
approved and shall be adhered to,
2 That the brick used in the construction of the columns shall
be full face four (4") inch brick,
3 That the north, south and west elevations of the building
shall be repaired as needed, and repainted,
4 That the issues as outlined in the correspondence dated
July 13, 2015, from the Assistant Director of Inspection
shall be resolved to the satisfaction of the Inspection
Department and/or Engineering Department,
5 That the existing pylon sign shall be removed and replaced
with a conforming monument sign, and that only
conforming signage is approved with this petition Any
additional signage shall be separately submitted for review
and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals,
6. That no LED lightband or exposed neon shall be permitted
on this site including, but not limited to, the building or
around the windows,
7 That the parking lot shall be repaired, resealed and
restriped as necessary to the satisfaction of the Inspection
Department Parking spaces shall be doubled striped at ten
feet (10') wide by twenty feet (20') in length,
8 That all dying, dead, diseased or missing landscaping shall
be replaced at the direction of the Planning and Inspection
Departments,
9 That the specific plans referenced in this approving
resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department
at the time the building permits are applied for, and,
July 14, 2015
27001
10 Pursuant to Section 19 10 of Ordinance #543, the Zoning
Ordinance of the City of Livonia, this approval is valid for a
period of ONE YEAR ONLY from the date of approval by
City Council, and unless a building permit is obtained, this
approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said
period
Mr Morrow Is there any discussion?
Ms. McIntyre Should we edit the elevation plan now because that's the
elevation plan that shows nine columns and we're moving to
eight
Mr Schneider Correct I mean I have the drawings
Mr Taormina. Is that a revised date?
Mr Schneider Yes, I have a revised date on it
Mr Taormina What is that date'?
Mr Schneider It's 7/3/15 I have a half set and full set if you want to see it now
Ms McIntyre Mark, would that become Elevation Plan Al 02?
Mr Taormina Yes, and I don't need to see it now but we want the correct date
Ms McIntyre All right So we'll just correct the date
Ms Smiley I have one question On Condition #4, when we say only
conforming signage is approved, what does that mean, Markt
Mr Taormina Maybe Mr Wilshaw will begin that discussion on the signage
issue, but I don't like the way Condition #4 is worded if it
pertains to the monument sign or the ground sign We need
better clarification on what the intention there is I don't think
we're concerned too much about the wall signage, but if the
intention is to replace the pylon sign with a new one, you can
either treat that as a callback item within 60 days of Council
approval, have that come back for review, or provide direction
this evening relative to removing the pylon and replacing it with
a conforming monument sign
Ms Smiley. Mr Wilshaw, what he said, replacing the pylon with a
conforming monument sign'?
July 14, 2015
27002
Mr Wilshaw I would like that, yes As I understand it, the pylon sign, as is, if
it's not touched, is grandfathered but if they're going to be
working on the sign or redoing it, that's an opportunity If you're
putting the money into putting up a new pylon sign, you have
the opportunity to now make it a nice monument sign as well
Mr Taormina I believe they would be entitled to an 8 foot high, 40 square foot
sign. I believe that's what the ordinance would allow
Mr Morrow Can you commit to that this evening'?
Mr Rose If it's an eight foot sign, not a problem
Mr Morrow Did you say 8 by 4'?
Mr Taormina No Forty square feet, eight feet high
Mr Rose She told me that I have permission to approve things while
she's not here as long as it doesn't cost her a ton of money It
won't be an issue I'll talk to her
Ms McIntyre I don't think you'd want to do redo and put all the money into
this and then have the old sign Really, the sign for Ten Yen,
that's almost kind of the logo, right'?
Mr Rose That's going to be redone too
Ms McIntyre But that's a strong visual cue, that sign on the building
Mr Schneider Can I question one thing? One of the comments you made
about the mechanical units on the roof to block it on all four
sides Obviously, the main street side, it's easy to do We're
doing that with the soffit and everything else The other two
sides, if you look at them, they're old units They've been there
for a while They're pretty tall I'm concerned on how you're
really going to screen it and then protect it through the
environment in Michigan You're not going to be able to do a
small wall It's on a sloped roof The barber shop next store, you
can see all the units on the side I think that would be a very
complicated way to screen that mechanical on three sides when
we're truly screening it already on the main street side
Mr Taormina We can eliminate that condition because I think he's correct It
won't be visible from Wayne Road given the height of the
parapet Correct'
July 14, 2015
27003
Mr Schneider Correct
Ms Smiley Have you eliminated #3 then?
Mr Taormina I think it can be eliminated.
Ms Smiley Are you rewriting #4?
Mr Taormina I was going to try and verify the code but I'm having trouble
here.
Mr Schneider We're okay then with taking down the pylon sign and putting up
a new sign We're okay with that
Ms McIntyre So would we want to make that only a conforming monument
sign is approved with this petition'? We don't want to limit it to
the monument sign because they also get a wall sign
Mr Wilshaw I think we need to leave the existing verbiage that conforming
signage is approved, and then add to that, that the pylon sign
will be replaced with a conforming monument sign
Mr Schneider Whatever your requirements are
Mr Wilshaw Eight feet high, 40 square feet in area
Ms Smiley. Is that right, Mr Taormina'?
Mr Taormina I think you can include that If it's not, then it would at least
entitle them to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals for approval
for an eight foot sign, which is a vast improvement over what
exists today and I think would be completely in keeping with the
scale of the site I believe that is what's conforming but I'm
trying to double check that right now
Mr Wilshaw If we're giving them a little bit more on the monument sign, I
have no problem with that if they remove the pylon sign
Mr Taormina And then also reference the Inspection letter and the
improvements recommended in there If the maker of the motion
could accept, by reference, the items to be addressed to the
satisfaction of the Inspection Department
Ms Smiley That would be #10?
Mr Taormina Correct
July 14, 2015
27004
Ms Smiley Okay Is that okay?
Ms McIntyre That is great
Mr. Morrow Just a couple other details We talked about the repair and the
painting of the north and south and west walls They committed
to do it We might as well make that part of the resolution
Ms Smiley Is that covered in the Inspection Department's letter?
Mr Morrow Yes
Ms Smiley Oh good, because he's going to include this whole thing as #10
Mr Morrow He's got a conflict here too We've got it here but it's not in the
motion Are you going to include the dumpster?
Mr Taormina That was in the Inspection Department's letter So by reference
we're including that
Ms Smiley He said all items he's going to fix here
Mr Morrow Okay I guess that's what I missed Do we now have everything
included? And the maker and the supporter are happy?
Ms McIntyre The maker is very happy
Ms Smiley Mark is still looking something up
Ms McIntyre Okay
Mr Taormina I think we're good
Mr Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution Gentlemen, thank you for waiting We
really appreciate your coming tonight I think you've got a nice -
building coming here that I think will be a credit to the city
Mr Taylor. I was just going to mention that actually we had a study session
here tonight I was surprised that we had an approving
resolution because I thought we would probably table it because
we didn't have near enough information that we normally get at
a study session I understand the owner is out of town, but
you're really going to have to perform before the Council
July 14, 2015
27005
Mr Schneider Okay I'll have more details, and just so I know A lot more
details
Mr. Taormina That is an eight foot high, 40 square feet sign that they are
entitled to
Mr Morrow We really appreciate it and we think it will be a lot smoother at
the Council level if you follow what you heard here tonight
ITEM #6 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,072"d Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting
Ms Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the
Minutes of the 1,072nd Public Hearings and Regular Meeting
held on June 30, 2015
On a motion by Wilshaw, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was
#07-47-2015 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 1,072nd Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on June 30,
2015, are hereby approved
A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following
AYES Bahr, Smiley, McIntyre, Wilshaw, Taylor, Morrow
NAYS None
ABSENT Bahr
ABSTAIN. None
Mr Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted
On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,073rd Public
Hearings and Regular Meeting held on July 14, 2015, was adjourned at 9 37 p m
CI , PLANNING CO ,MISSION
Carol A Smiley, cretary '`/
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ATTEST '`Q� fi
R Lee Mor7ow, Ch 'rman