Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2012-09-25MINUTES OF THE 1,030TH PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA On Tuesday, September 25, 2012, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia held its 1,0301h 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: Scott P. Bahr Ashley V. Krueger R. Lee Morrow Lynda L. Scheel Carol A. Smiley Gerald Taylor Ian Wilshaw Members absent: None 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 tum, will hold its own public hearing and make the final determination as to whether a pefifion 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 len 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 pefifions upon their fling. 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 2012-08-01-04 DAVE & BUSTER'S Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2012-08- 01-04 submitted by Livonia IT Office Building L.L.C. pursuant to Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting to rezone the properly at 19375 Victor Parkway, located on the west side of Victor Parkway between Seven Mile Road and Pembroke Avenue in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 6, from PO (High Rise Professional Office) to C-2 (General Business). September 25, 2012 25302 Mr. Taormina: This petition involves the rezoning of a vacant parcel of land that is located on the west side of Victor Parkway between Seven Mile Road and Pembroke Avenue. The current zoning is PO, High Rise Professional Office. The request is to change the zoning to the C-2, General Business classification. The total area of the parcel is 6.34 acres. Abutting the site immediately to the north is a new two-story office building that will house the relocated offices and automotive headquarters of Infneon Technologies. They will be occupying that building in very short order. To the west is the I-275 Expressway. Abutting the site to the south are two restaurants currently zoned C-2, General Business. The closer of the two is Big Daddys. The larger parcel represents Doc's Sports Retreat. Again, both are zoned C-2. There is additional land zoned C-2 to the south of Doc's extending all the way to the OS District bordering Seven Mile Road, but that larger parcel actually is developed as a storm water management basin for much of the condominium park that makes up Victor Park. To the east is Victor Parkway. 3M Automotive Innovations is located immediately on the opposite side of Victor Parkway, and then there are residential homes zoned RUF along Northland Avenue as well as Sl. Marlins. The reason for the requested rezoning is to allow for the development of the Dave & Busters. Dave & Buster's is a full service Class C -licensed restaurant and also offers a wide variety of mechanical amusement devices as part of the entertainment experience for its patrons. The building that they anticipate is about 40,000 square feel. Dave & Buster's is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and they have approximately 60 locations across the United States. Dave & Busters establishments offer traditional games as well as high tech entertainment. They have a variety of menu items to choose from as part of the restaurant, and they provide several meeting rooms in their facilities. There will be more information and details provided when the waiver use is submitted for consideration should this rezoning petition move forward. The Future Land Use Plan curenlly shows the site as office. If this rezoning takes place, one of the things we'll have to do, as part of our frequent amendments to the Land Use Plan, is change that to General Business. Thank you. Mr. Morrow: Is there any correspondence? Mr. Taormina: There is one item of corespondence from the Engineering Division, dated September 17, 2012, which reads as follows: "in accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above -referenced rezoning request. The written legal description provided correctly describes the parcel. The address for this site is confirmed to be 19375 Victor Parkway. September 25, 2012 25303 Note that we are, for informational purposes, providing the petitioner with a ropy of Chapter 13.42 of the City Ordinances. This Ordinance limits the amount of Fats, Oils and Grease (F.O.G.) which can be discharged to the City sanitary sewer system to 100 milligrems per liter by weight, unless approved in writing by the Director of Public Works. The Ordinance can also be viewed on our website at www.ci.livonia.mi.us. This site is unit 4 of larger condominium complex (Victor Park) for which storm water detention volume has been provided. Therefore, additional storm water detention will not be required for this unit. However, the design engineer will be expected to verify that the proposed development will not exceed any approved design parameters as far as allowable Flow volumes from this particular unit." The letter is signed by Kevin G. Roney, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions for the staff? Mr. Taylor: Through the Chair to Mark Taormina. Mark, this then will fully develop the west side of Victor Parkway. Is that correct? Mr. Taormina: I believe this would complete the development along that side of the road. That is correct. Mr. Taylor: I know there are a couple parcels on the east side, but all the west side would be completely done. Mr. Taormina: That is correct. Mr. Taylor: Thank you. Mr. Morrow: Is the petitioner here this evening? We will need your name and address for the record please. Brian Hughes, 32870 Wing Lake Road, Franklin, Michigan. I'm representing the owner. Actually, I don't have anything else to add from what Mark had said, but I'm available for any questions if you have them. Mr. Morrow: Okay. Let's see if the Commission has any questions. Mr. Taylor: Just for the benefit of the audience, some people don't know what Dave & Busters is all about. Could you or the petitioner explain it? Chits Zenner, Regional Operations Director, 2481 Manana Drive, Dallas, Texas 75220. I am the Regional Operations Director for Dave & Buster's. We're a full service restaurant. We have a dining September 25, 2012 25304 menu a lot like your typical Chili's, Applebee's, that type of food, sports American cuisine. We have a full service bar in our restaurant, and we also have a gaming complex that appeals to people of all ages. We cater to families, young adults. We are 18 and up in allowing people in the building unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian. But our games are games of skill, simulation, driving games, things like that, games you can win tickets and then redeem them for prizes as well. Mr. Taylor: What is your sealing capacity? Mr. Zenner: Seating capacity in our 40,000 square fool building would probably fall somewhere between 250 to probably 300 with the party rooms. If there are special events, capacity for guests, I can't tell you right off the top of my head with the mid -way area and people playing games. Mr. Taylor: What about employment? Mr. Zenner: Employment typically in a store that size we would employ about 150 employees, possibly upwards of 200 depending on the volume. Mr. Taylor: Thankyou. Mr. Morrow: Any other questions? Mr. W lshaw: The property itself, is it going to be leased to Dave & Buster's or is this going to be a sale of the property to them? Mr. Hughes: It would be a sale of the property. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. I assume that Northern Equities, being the property owner directly to the north where the Infneon property is, they're okay with this particular use and they think its complementary to the office building? Mr. Hughes: Yes. That is correct. We are. Mr. Wlshaw: Okay. Thank you. Ms. Scheel: Can you tell me what the hours of the operation are going to be? Mr. Zenner: Typically, the hours of operation would be from 11:00 a.m. The latest any of our locafions stay open is 2:00 a.m. Ms. Scheel: What about on weekends? September 25, 2012 25305 Mr. Zenner: That is weekends. Typically on weeknights, Sunday through Wednesday, we typically close at midnight or 1:00 a.m., depending on which location, volume. Ms. Scheel: Okay. Thank you. Ms. Krueger: I just have a quick question about traffic flow. What impact do you think this use will have in that area? Mr. Zenner: I would assume we are going to bring traffic to the area much like the restaurant. I've seen the site once but there's a restaurant, the sports bar. I think its Doc's. It's my understanding there is traffic that comes in. It appears that most of that traffic is going to be routed through the freeways of 275. Our heaviest volume nights are Friday and Saturday nights. Typically, we will do decent business on Saturday and Sunday day, but our weeknights are typically less considerable than our weekends. Ms. Krueger: Right now, there are a lot of businesses in there and office complexes that have 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. hours. How will this use impact those times frames? Mr. Zenner: I'm thinking it will actually be pretty complementary because typically during their business hours, are our slow periods of time. Those folks will be gone when our traffic is starting to come in. Ms. Krueger: Okay. Thank you. That's all. 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 mofion by Taylor, seconded by Wilshaw, and unanimously adopted, 8 was #09-80-2012 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on September 25, 2012, on Petition 2012-08-01-04 submitted by Livonia IT Office Building L.L.C. pursuant to Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting to rezone the property at 19375 Victor Parkway, located on the west side of Victor Parkway between Seven Mile Road and Pembroke Avenue in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 6, from PO (High Rise Professional Office) to C-2 (General Business), the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2012-08-01-04 be approved for the following: September 25, 2012 25306 1. That C-2 zoning is compatible to and in harmony with the surrounding zoning districts and land uses in the area; 2. That C-2 zoning would allow for the development of a Dave & Buster's restaurant; and 3. That C-2 zoning is consistent with the developing character of the area. 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 #2 PETITION 2012-08-06-10 ARTICLE II LANGUAGE AMENDMENT Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2012- 08-06-10 submitted by the City Planning Commission pursuant to Section 23.01(b) of Ordinance #543, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Livonia, as amended, to determine whether or not to amend Section 2.10(16) of Article II, Definition of Miscellaneous Terms, of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance No. 543, as amended, pertaining to the definition of "Mechanical Amusement Devices" Mr. Taormina: Requested under this petition is a language amendment to the term "Mechanical Amusement Devices' under Section 2.10(16) of Article II. The amendment is intended to allow the operators of mechanical amusement devices to award prizes either in the form of merchandise, tokens, tickets, or other non-cash representations of value that could be redeemed for merchandise. Currently, the Ordinance restricts the form of any payoff, prize or reward to game replays only. This would expand the forms of prizes and awards that a player could redeem, the values of which would be limited to the cost of playing the machine or game. So there would be strict limits placed on the actual value of any payoff in the form of a particular token or something that could be redeemed for some type of prize. This language amendment was drafted by attorneys for Dave & Buster's in order to facilitate the development of their new facility on Victor Parkway, which was September 25, 2012 25307 the subject of the previous rezoning petition. Changes are also needed to Chapter 5.30 of the City of Livonia Code of Ordinances, which provides additional regulations and requires the operators of mechanical amusement devices to obtain a license. In lieu of providing a complete revised definition of Mechanical Amusement Device within the Zoning Ordinance, what we are requesting is that Section 2.10 instead reference a definition provided under Section 5.30 of the Code of Ordinances. That way, any future changes to the definition can be handled more expeditiously. Al our study session we presented to you a language amendment that provided a full definition or change to the definition as part of Section 2. 10, but you'll notice in the current report that we provided to you, it simply stales that, "For purposes of this ordinance, 'Mechanical Amusement Device' shall have the definition set forth in Section 5.30.030 of Title 5 of the Livonia Code of Ordinances. " Then what we're suggesting is to eliminate all of the other definitional language as part of Section 2.10. Then we've also provided to you what will be requested changes to Title V, Section 5.30.030, and that will be presented to the City Council for their adoption. That's something that this body does not have to approve. It's something that the Council would have to approve. Thank you. And there is no correspondence related to this petition. Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions for the staff? Mr. Taylor: Mark, I know a few years ago mechanical devices were very large in the shopping centers, and bars would like to have them also. Does this kind of take away our fail-safe for other businesses to come in and take advantage of this ordinance that we're changing? Mr. Taormina: The only thing it allows is for those operators to be able to award prizes in the same manner as provided for under this definition. It doesn't necessarily increase the number of mechanical amusement devices that can be installed in those other institutions or locations. It doesn't "open up the door" so to speak. It doesn't modify anything with respect to the number of locations of these devices. When Dave & Busters presents their petition to the City, they are going to request a number of waivers and modifications to the special requirements as they apply to this type of use that can only be approved by a supermajorily vote of the City Council. To that extent, it's going to be very specific to Dave & Busters and is not something that is going to be automatically afforded to any other business or operation that provides for mechanical amusement devices. Mr. Taylor: Good. Thank you September 25, 2012 25308 Mr. Morrow: Anything else? 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 heading and ask for a motion. On a motion by Scheel, seconded by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was #09-81-2012 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on September 25, 2012, on Petition 2012-08-06-10 submitted by the City Planning Commission pursuant to Section 23.01(b) of Ordinance #543, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Livonia, as amended, to determine whether or not to amend Section 2.10(16) of Article 11, Definition of Miscellaneous Terms, of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance No. 543, as amended, pertaining to the definition of "Mechanical Amusement Devices," the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2012- 08-06-10 be approved for the following reasons: 1. That the proposed language amendments provide needed updates and modifications to the C-2 District Regulations by expanding the forms of prizes and awards operators of mechanical amusement devises could award to a player of a machine orgame; 2. That the proposed language amendments will strengthen the C-2 Disldict Regulations of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended; and 3. That the proposed language amendments are in the best interests of the City and its residents. 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 carded and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. September 25, 2012 25309 ITEM #3 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,029" Public Hearings and Regular Meeting Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the Minutes of the 1,029'" Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on September 11, 2012. On a motion by Taylor, seconded by Bahr, and adopted, it was #09-82-2012 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 1,029th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on September 11, 2012, are hereby approved. A roll call vole on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following AYES: Taylor, Bahr, Smiley, Wilshaw, Scheel, Morrow NAYS: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: Krueger Mr. Morrow, Chainnan, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,030th° Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on September 25, 2012, was adjourned at 7:23 p.m. CITY PLANNING COMMISSION Lynda L. Scheel, Secretary ATTEST: R. Lee Morrow, Chairman