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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2014-03-18MINUTES OF THE 1,052n° PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA On Tuesday, March 18, 2014, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia held its 1,052otl 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 Kathleen McIntyre R. Lee Morrow 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 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 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 2011-08-02-12 AMC THEATRES Ms. Smiley, Acting Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2011-08-02-12 submitted by Carlin Edwards Brown P.L.L.C., on behalf of American Multi -Cinema, Inc., requesting to amend Council Resolution #379-11 adopted on November 16, 2011, in order to extend the operating hours of the bar area (from 12:00 p.m. noon through 2:00 a.m. on a daily basis) of the AMC Theatres Livonia 20 at 19500 Haggerty Road, within the Paragon Entertainment Campus located on the east side of Haggerty Road between Seven Mile Road and Eight Mile Road in the Southwest 1/4 of Section 6. March 18, 2014 26289 Mr. Taormina: AMC Theatres received waiver use approval in 2011 to operate a Class C License which allows the theater to sell beer, wine and spirits for consumption on the premises. The waiver use that was granted limits the hours of operation from 4:00 p.m. through 12:00 a.m., Monday through Friday, and from noon through 12:00 a.m., Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. There were a couple of additional conditions that were imposed. First, the theater is required to issue wristbands to identify individuals who have purchased alcoholic beverages. No alcoholic beverages are permitted outside the theater building; and no alcoholic beverages are permitted at events that target youth audiences. AMC is now seeking your approval to amend the waiver use from your approval in 2011 and extend the operating hours. They are requesting to serve and to allow the consumption of alcoholic beverages from noon until 2:00 a.m. on a daily basis, seven days a week. If approved, AMC has indicated that they do not intend to serve beyond 12:30 a.m. on a regular basis. What this would do is give them the ability to do so on nights when the theater has a premier showing and special film opening that runs after midnight. All other conditions of the waiver use approval would remain unchanged. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Please. Mr. Taormina: There are three items of correspondence. The first item is from the Division of Police, dated March 10, 2014, which reads as follows: "We have reviewed the plans in connection with AMC Theatres Livonia 20 - Class C Liquor License, located at 19500 Haggerty Road (between Seven Mile and Eight Mile Roads in the Southwest 1/4 of Section 6) After reviewing the plans with the Chief of Police, we have no objections to the waiver being granted, contingent that the petitioner complies with all state laws, city ordinances, stipulations and conditions set by the Livonia Police Department Liquor Investigation Unit as approved by the Chief of Police, stipulations and conditions set by the Traffic Bureau of the Livonia Police Department. We are available to provide any additional information you may desire on this subject" The letter is signed by Jeffrey W. Ronayne, Special Services Bureau. The second letter is from the Inspection Department, dated March 11, 2014, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above -referenced petition has been reviewed. This Department has no objections to this petition." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection. The third letter is from the Law Office of Gary Bloom, dated March 3, 2014, which reads as March 18, 2014 26290 follows: "The undersigned is the owner, along with his wife, of the building located at 39040 W. Seven Mile Road, Livonia, Michigan 48152. In addition, the undersigned is the principal of both Peninsula Legal Group, P.L.L.C. and Gary M. Bloom, P.C., both of which entities are located at the same address. 1 have a written notice that was sent to this address, and 1 want to express my feelings which are that 1 have no objection whatsoever to the petition on behalf of AMC Theatres. In fact, 1 fully support it as being good for the community." The letter is signed by Gary M. Bloom. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Seeing none, is the petitioners representatives here this evening? We will need your name and address for the record please. John B. Carlin, Jr., Carlin Edwards Brown P.L.L.C., 2855 Coolidge Highway, Suite 203, Troy, MI 48084. I'm appearing here on behalf of the applicant. Just as we indicated at the last meeting, this is really an effort on our part to better serve our guests that are coming to the theater for events. Since we had the liquor license and gone forward, we've had a lot of adult people that are coming in there during the affemoons and wanting to have a beer and a hamburger or whatever, and they just haven't been able to do R. So this would allow us to do that. These are days when the kids are in school. We don't have this anyway in an area where all the children's films are shown so that really isn't a problem, and we have absolutely no problem with maintaining all of the other rules and regulations that we agreed to when we were approved with the liquor license. The after-hours thing is simply to allow us on an occasion when theyre allowed to run a special brand new film but they can't do it until after midnight. So they start it at 12:01. Those are usually big events. They're well talked about movies and sluff like that. Of course, it would be adults anyway at that time. This allows us to do that without having to come back to the City each time for a special permit. We're not going to do it routinely. We'll continue to close at 12:30 except in these occasions. Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions for Mr. Cadin? Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Carlin, at our study meeting, you mentioned that as a matter of practice that typically they're not going to be serving alcohol up to 2:00 a.m. even during these premiers because AMC's policy is to cul off alcohol sales around the time that the doors close. Can you explain that to us? March 18, 2014 26291 Mr. Carlin: I think it's a certain amount of time after you start your last film, fifteen minutes or so after. So if they started a film at 12:15 or something like that, they would be closing down at 12:30, which is fine because nobodys coming out anyway. They wont come out when the movie's on. They want it either before or after. Mr. Wilshaw: This is generally then a patron who would want to have a drink before the movie, but after the movie's done, they're not going to be sifting around continuing to loiter. Mr. Carlin: We don't have enough seats. Mr. Wilshaw: Exactly. Mr. Carlin: There's only five seats at the bar. Mr. Wilshaw: I believe the staff has confirmed that there has been no MLLC violations atyour location? Mr. Carlin: Correct. Mr. Wilshaw: Excellent. That's good. It seems you've been responsible licensees, so I appreciate that. Thank you. Mr. Bahr: Mr. Carlin, is this consistent with what other AMC Theatres around Metro Detroit, around the state, do? Mr. Carlin: Well, no. It's more restrictive. All of the others are the normal hours of the Liquor Commission. So literally we could run it 7:00 in the morning. There are no restrictions on ours at any of the other locations. There are on the hand bands and cupware, but that's fine. We do that anyways. Mr. Bahr: Can you describe how the hand band process works? Mr. Carlin: The hand band is a band that is put on somebody who walks up to the bar, to one of the wail staff, and orders a beer or a glass of wine or whatever. They check the age on this person to make sure they're 21, then they give them the badge, the wristband. It, along with the glass, it's not a glass. It's plastic, in which they put the alcoholic beverages. Inside the theater that light that's coming from the screen will lighten these up so that the monitors that are constantly going around through the theaters to make sure that there's no alcohol abuse or they're giving it to somebody else. They can tell instantly if somebody shouldn't have a glass of whatever it is. Mr. Bahr: Thanks. March 18, 2014 26292 Mr. Carlin: That we do nationwide Mr. Taylor: When this first came to the Planning Commission a few years back and the Council, we were a little bit nervous about it because it was the first one that we've ever done in Livonia. Obviously, AMC has proven the fad that they have no violations so far and the Police Department has said its been working, and you're policing it well enough so we're not having any problems. So with what you want to do, just increase the hours a little bit, and keep all the other rules the same, I don't really have a big problem with it. Mr. Morrow: Anyone else? Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speakfor or againstthe granting ofthis petition? Seeing no one coming forward, I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion. On a motion by Taylor, seconded by McIntyre, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-12-2014 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on March 18, 2014, on Petition 2011-08-02-12 submitted by Carlin Edwards Brown P.L.L.C., on behalf of American Multi -Cinema, Inc., requesting to amend Council Resolution #379-11 adopted on November 16, 2011, in order to extend the operating hours of the Class C License bar area (from 12:00 p.m. noon through 2:00 a.m. on a daily basis) of the AMC Theatres Livonia 20 at 19500 Haggerty Road, within the Paragon Entertainment Campus located on the east side of Haggerty Road between Seven Mile Road and Eight Mile Road in the Southwest 1/4 of Section 6, which property is zoned G2, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2011-08-02-12, as amended, be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That condition #2 of Council Resolution #379-11 which reads, "Thal the hours of operation for the bar area shall be limited to 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays" shall be modified to read as follows: That the hours of operation for the bar area shall be limited to 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.; 2. That all other conditions imposed by Council Resolution #379-11, which granted approval to utilize a Class C liquor license in connection with a multi -screen movie theatre (AMC Livonia 20), shall remain in effect to the extent that they are not in conflict with the foregoing condition. March 18, 2014 26293 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 carded and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. ITEM #2 PETITION 2014-02-02-04 HOTHEAD BURRITOS Ms. Smiley, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2014-02-02-04 submitted by Dave Kauscher requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(c) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to operate a full service restaurant (Hol Head Burritos) at 30975 Five Mile Road within the Livonia Plaza Shopping Center, located on the south side of Five Mile Road between Merriman Road and Henry Ruff Road in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 23. Mr. Taormina: This is a request to operate a full service restaurant within the Livonia Plaza shopping center. As you can see from the Zoning Map, most of this properly is zoned G2, General Business, allowing for full service restaurants under Section 11.03(c) of the Zoning Ordinance. Livonia Plaza is a community shopping center of about 133,000 square feel, and is subdivided into roughly 20 tenant spaces. The major tenants include Kroger, which is at the east end, and T.J. Maxx which is centrally located within the complex. Full service restaurants allow for seating of more than 30 persons. The proposed Hol Head Burritos restaurant would have a total of 40 seals. Hot Head Burritos would occupy one of the interior units. It is located between the Tropical Smoothie Cafe and a Fantastic Sam's hair salon. This is a unit that faces north toward Five Mile Road. The unit is about 1,640 square feet in size altogether, and its dining area would consist of 20 tables with 2 chairs each for a total sealing count of 40. The site plan does not show any proposed outdoor sealing, nor are there any modifications proposed to the building exterior. They would be allowed one wall sign having a maximum area of 40 square feet. Parking for the plaza is adequate. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Yes, please March 18, 2014 26294 Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated February 21, 2014, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above -referenced petition. The address of 30975 Five Mile Road is appropriate for the proposed restaurant and should be used for all future matters regarding the proposed project. No legal description was provided with the petition, so the following description for the overall parcel boundary should be used in connection with this petition: Part of the NW/. of Section 23, TIS., R.9E. described as beginning at a point on the South line of Five Mile Road a distance due East, 700 feet and S 0011'30" E, 60.0 feet from the NW Comer of said Section 23 and proceeding thence due East, 955.45 feet, thence S 0011'30" E, 532.02 feet, thence due West, 100.0 feet, thence S 0011'30" E, 25.0 feet, thence due West, 855.45 feet, thence N 0011'30" W, 557.02 feet to the Point of Beginning. Containing 12.1603 acres. Subject to easements of record. We do not have any objections to the proposed petition, although the following items should be noted. (1) The proposed project consists of renovations to the existing building, and does not involve renovations to any of the existing public service leads within the road right-of-way. Should the owner need to relocate any of the public service leads to the building, plans will need to be submitted to this department to determine if Engineering Division permits will be required. (2) The owner will need to coordinate with the Building Department to ensure the proposed restaurant conforms to Section 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 milligrams per liter by weight, unless written approval is obtained to exceed this amount. This Ordinance provides information on grease trap/nterceptor requirements, and is available on the City of Livonia website at wwwci.livonia.mi.us." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Civil Engineer II. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated February 27, 2014, which reads as follows: "1 have reviewed the plans for approving this waiver use approval to operate a full service restaurant on the property located at the above referenced address. 1 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 February 21, 2014, which reads as follows: "1 have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. 1 have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Joseph Boilos, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the Inspection Department, dated March 12, 2014, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above -referenced petition has been reviewed. The following is noted. (1) The maximum March 18, 2014 26295 occupant load shall be 49 in accordance with the Michigan Building Code. (2) Grease interceptors are required and shall be designed and perform in accordance to the Michigan Plumbing Code. They shall be property installed and maintained in working order. The City shall be granted access to conduct on- site inspections as necessary to ensure compliance with Chapter 13.42 of the Livonia Code of Ordinances. 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, is the pefitioner here this evening? We will need your name and address for the record please. Dave Kauscher, Hot Head Burnlos, 30 College Hills Ten, Springboro, Ohio 35066. Mr. Morrow: If there anything you would like to add to what you've heard so far? Mr. Kauscher: No. I've operated restaurants for 26 years of my life. I bring a new concept to Michigan. This will be the very first one in this whole stale. Its a concept that is bom from Dayton, Ohio. There are up to 51 restaurants throughout Kentucky, Ohio. I just opened one in Florida and Pennsylvania. So we're looking to be the first one in the Stale of Michigan and hopefully to grow further. Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions from the Commissioners? Mr. Bahr: I just wanted to understand a little bit more about the history of the chain. How long has this chain been around? When was it started in Dayton? Mr. Kauscher: It was started in 2004 by Ray and Cindy Wiley. They were Subway franchisees. He stll has those franchisees. He and his wife developed the concept themselves with all the sauces, the food, the whole setup of the restaurant. For about the first three years, they only built about three or four. They kind of perfected that whole thing now and have started to franchise. I have two area developers I'm working with. They've built two in Toledo, one in Penyburg and one in Holland. They are helping me do all the stuff here in Michigan loo. Mr. Bahr: So you're from Ohio. Why Livonia? March 18, 2014 26296 Mr. Kauscher: My partner used to be the Director of Ops for Tim Horlons in the State of Michigan. He lives in Brighton. We fell that the time in Michigan was right, that the economic turnaround seems to be happening here and it's a great place to grow. It gives us an opportunity to grow bigger. In Dayton, they have 28 locations so it's pretty well saturated there, and we thought this would be a good place to come up and do business in Michigan. Mr. Bahr: Thanks. Mr. Wilshaw: How many facilities do you run? Mr. Kauscher: This will be the first one. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. What is your past experience in the restaurant industry? Mr. Kauscher: For the last 16 years, I was a franchise district manager with Tim Horton in Dayton, Ohio. Before that, I've run restaurants in Oklahoma City. I went out there and started a concept for somebody I worked for. From college, I started out with Pizza Hut delivery for six years and done Wendys and Cracker Barrel. So I have some background in that. My manager, who I talked to, she has operated restaurants for 13 years. We're both state certified already. I used to be a certified instructor also. Mr. Wilshaw: So you have a very extensive background, not only in restaurant operations but also in some franchise management. Mr. Kauscher: Yes. Mr. Wilshaw: Excellent. Tell us a little bit about the Hol Head Burritos menu. Obviously it's burritos, but is there anything else you can gel there? Mr. Kauscher: If you don't want to put it on a burrito, you can just gel it in a bowl. We also do quesadillas and tacos. So its fairly limited. I do have menus here for you if you'd like to see that. Since they were Subway owners who developed this concept, its very similar. All the food is prepared right in front of the guest. They come in, they walk down the line, they tell us do you want white rice, brown rice. Do you want chicken, pork, steak, barbacoa, taco meat? We have different toppings. You can put on jalapenos, banana peppers, grilled onions and peppers, raw onions and peppers. You can put on Monterey jack cheese, cheddar cheese, guacamole, lettuce. The unique thing from us compared to Qdoba's or a chipolle is, we have 12 different sauces. Their theme is mild to wild. So you can do a barbecue. You could do just ranch. There's a Hot Head sauce which is a March 18, 2014 26297 zesty garlic sauce, and they go all the way up to a sweet habanera, which is sweet, and then there's an extreme habanera which is hot. We offer kids meals. We do a lot of promotions. We have a loyalty card for after you buy 10 burritos and get your 10 stickers, you buy a 21 ounce drink, you get a free burrito. Mr. Wilshaw: Interesting. And then what are the hours of operation going to be? Mr. Kauscher: They are 10:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Sundays. Mr. Wilshaw: I think that covers my questions. Thankyou. Mr. Bahr: When do you intend to be open assuming this goes through? Mr. Kauscher: If this goes through, if I can get my bids back from my general contractors and permitting gets approved relatively quickly, I'm hoping we'll be open before school is out. Maybe the end of May. Mr. Bahr: Okay. Mr. Taylor: I see you have 40 seals. Would you consider it more of a carryout or dine-in kind of a restaurant? Mr. Kauscher: The statistics they have on the ones that have been open, it's typically about 55 percent carryout, 45 percent dine-in. Mr. Taylor: Sort of like a Subway then. Mr. Kauscher: Very similar, yes. Mr. Taylor: Who is going to be the manager here? Mr. Kauscher: I will be there and my manager, Deb Low, will be there. Mr. Taylor: Oh, are you moving into town here? Mr. Kauscher: Yes, I'm slaying at my friend's house in Brighton right now because he hasn't sold his house yet. If he sells that, then I'll move into this area. Mr. Taylor: Thankyou. Mr. Morrow: Is your friend the one from Tim Horton? March 18, 2014 26298 Mr. Kauscher: Yes. Mr. Morrow: I think we've got one or two of those around the city. Mr. Kauscher: Yes, I think he started those before he lett. Mr. Morrow: I'm just kidding. I know we have a number of them. They seem to like Livonia. Are there any other questions? 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 Bahr, seconded by Wilshaw, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-13-2014 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on March 18, 2014, on Petition 2014-02-02-04 submitted by Dave Kauscher requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(c) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to operate a full service restaurant (Hol Head Burritos) at 30975 Five Mile Road within the Livonia Plaza Shopping Center, located on the south side of Five Mile Road between Merriman Road and Henry Ruff Road in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 23, which property is zoned C-2, P and RUF, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2014-02-02-04 be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the maximum customer sealing count for this restaurant shall not exceed forty (40) seats; 2. That this restaurant shall provide disposal of grease waste in accordance with Section 13.20.380 of the City Code of Ordinances; 3. That only conforming signage is approved with this petition, and any additional signage shall be separately submitted for review and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals; and 4. That no LED Iightband or exposed neon shall be permitted on the site including, but not limited to, the building or around the windows. Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for the following reasons: 1. That the proposed use complies with all of the special and general waiver use standards and requirements as set March 18, 2014 26299 forth in Sections 11.03 and 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance #543; 2. That the subject site 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: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw: Just a comment that I appreciate this petitioners investment in bringing this new chain to the area and picking Livonia as a place to start in the stale. That's very much appreciated I think by this community and I think the petitioner has demonstrated that he has the ability to ran a very successful operation. I wish him well. Mr. Morrow: I think the Commission will join you in that feeling. 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 2014-02-02-05 WADE SHOWS Ms. Smiley, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2014-02-02-05 submitted by Wade Shows, Inc. requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(1) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to conduct a carnival in the parking lot of Sears, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Livonia, consisting of amusement rides, games and food concessions from May 22, 2014 through June 1, 2014, inclusive, on property at 29500 Seven Mile Road, located on the northwest corner of Seven Mile Road and Middlebell Road in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 2. Mr. Taormina: This is a recurring request sponsored by the Rotary Club of Livonia to hold a fundmising carnival at Sears located at the northwest corner of Seven Mile and Middlebelt Roads. The operator is Wade Shows. The City granted waiver use approval March 18, 2014 26300 at this same location Iasi year to the same petitioner. This is the aerial photograph showing the location of the carnival. Its highlighted in yellow. The portion where the actual carnival will be conducted is within the southerly portion of the parking lot of the site that Sears owns near the intersection of Seven Mile and Middlebelt Roads. Immediately to the west is Livonia Marketplace. To the south and to east across Seven Mile and Middlebelt Roads are a variety of commercial uses, and then lying to the north of Sears across Sl. Martins is the Nottingham Village Condominiums which is zoned RC, Residential Condominium. The operation of a carnival is allowed pursuant to 11.03(1)3 of the Zoning Ordinance. This section of the code allows for carnivals up to two weeks. The duration of this proposed event would be 11 days, from May 22 through June 1. These dales correspond with Thursday before Memorial Day weekend and runs through the following weekend. The hours are Monday through Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. and then Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Monday, June 2, is when the carnival would close and they would begin to dismantle everything and ship it off-site. The carnival is in the same area of the parking lot as previous years. They would utilize an area that's about 660 feel running in an east to west direction by about 320 feel in a north to south direction near the intersection of Seven Mile and Middlebelt Roads. The north boundary corresponds with a drive aisle that extends all the way across the Sears site from Middlebelt Road and connects to the Livonia Marketplace shopping center. So that driveway would not be impeded at all by the carnival and would remain open. The west boundary coincides with the common property line between Sears and the Livonia Marketplace. All the trucks and transportation equipment would be located in the northerly portion of the site within the parking lot area. This area measures about 250 feet by 200 feet. This is the same that they've done in previous years. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Yes, please Mr. Taormina: There are six items of correspondence. The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated February 28, 2014, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above -referenced waiver use approval request. The address of 29500 Seven Mile Road is correct for the subject parcel, and should be used in connection with this petition. The legal description provided for the property does not close per surveying standards, but is sufficient to describe the parcel for this petition. We have no objections to the proposed petition, although the following items should be March 18, 2014 26301 noted. (1) Should the carnival have the need to occupy, or should any of the associated activities impact either of the Seven Mile Road or Middlebelt Road right-of-way, a permit from Wayne County will be required as both mads are under their jurisdiction. (2) All sanitary sewage from the site, recreational vehicles or campers shall be disposed of properly. (3) Should the operators need to have water provided for their facilities, they should contact the City of Livonia Water Department to obtain the proper equipment, including a water meter with backtiow preventer." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Civil Engineer 11. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated February 27, 2014, which reads as follows: `This office has reviewed the plans for a waiver use approval in connection with a request to conduct a carnival on property located at the above referenced address. 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 February 28, 2014, 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 Boilos, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the Inspection Department, dated March 11, 2014, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above -referenced petition has been reviewed. This Department has no objections to this petition." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection. We have three items of correspondence from residents. The first is an email, dated March 18, 2014, from Sandra Thornton, which reads as follows: "The official mailing to nearby residents only indicated the use of south/east comer of Middlebelt/Seven Mile Roads. Past usage has also included use of Sears' north parking lot on Middlebelt/St. Martins for overnight housing. In past years, overnight housing has also included semi size commercial generators running 24 hours a day. This is not an emergency and thus 1 believe violates the Livonia Noise Ordinance. Perhaps Sears can provide direct power, or the housing can be located somewhere else not next to a residential area. Do residents again need to plan how they are going to survive with no sleep for several days? Will 1 have to plan for my adult son to have to again crash at my house?" The name given on this email is Sandra Thornton, 15564 Shadyside, Livonia, Michigan 48154. Next we have an email received on March 12, 2014, from Charles Spera, which reads as follows: "As owner of parcel 003-01-0419-006, 19276 Middlebelt Road, 1 am in favor of granting this petition. 1 believe it will be in the best interest of the surrounding area and businesses to promote the attendance of this event." The next letter is from Mustafa Arsiwala, dated March 3, 2014, which reads as follows: "I oppose the show, as March 18, 2014 26302 they park their trailers for the employees in the rear packing lot of Sears, which is right in front of my house. The trailersrun the air-conditioning all night and the noise is unbearable and 1 cannot sleep. If they park the trailers far off from the current location, 1 have no problem with the show. Thanks." The letter is signed by Mustafa Arsiwala, 29619 Nottingham Circle, Livonia, Michigan 48152. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Mr. Taylor: Mark, I thought we had the anangement where the housing was to the northeast. It wasn't near the residents. Mr. Taormina: Well, when you say to the northeast, it is in the northerly part of the properly. Mr. Taylor: I understand that. Mr. Taormina: I'm not sure that it extends all the way to Sl. Marlins. I think in years past we've asked them to keep the trucks and any noise - generating equipment as close to the building and as far south in the lot as possible, but its generally described as the northeast part of the site as shown on this map. Mr. Taylor: There s no homes right there. Mr. Taormina: Well, you have the condominiums across the street. Mr. Taylor: I know the condominiums are there, but I thought we were east of the condominiums. Mr. Taormina: I think it extends far enough west in the parking lot where a portion of this might be directly across from the condominiums. I would say that there is some overlap in where that equipment is stored. Mr. Taylor: Of course, the way the weather is this year, May 22 through June 1, they may not need any air conditioning I don't know, but I can see where that could be a problem. If there is any way we can move everything to the east, I think it would help the neighbors. Mr. Morrow: We'll see how the petitioner responds to that, Mr. Taylor. Any other questions of the Planning Director? Seeing no one, is the petitioner here this evening? We will need your name and address for the record please. March 18, 2014 26303 Pat Zucal, 30855 Rayburn Street, Livonia, Michigan. I am with the Livonia AM Rotary Club. The Wade Show representative could not be here tonight. Mr. Morrow: He's not here tonight? Mr. Zuca1: No. Mr. Morrow: Was he intending to be here? Mr. Zuca1: Yes. Mr. Morrow: But he got held up or something? Mr. Zuca1: Yes, correct. Mr. Morrow: Maybe you'll be able to address the questions we may have. Is there anything you would like to add to the presentation? Mr. Zucal: This is the third year that we'd like to have the carnival there at Sears. The previous two years we haven't heard any complaints at all. I know Wade Shows try to corral the employees with the trailers and keep everything centered and keep everything confined in the middle. I know we've tried to get it as far east as possible but I know there's restrictions on how close you can get to Middlebell Road with something like that. I know they make every effort to keep it quiet during this time. Mr. Morrow: Do you know if in the past if we had similar complaints as we just heard relative to the noise? Mr. Taormina: During the event itself, I'm not aware of any complaints that have been logged with our departments. I specifically asked that question to our Enforcement Supervisor who indicated that he did not log any complaints during the event last year. Mr. Morrow: Relative to the noise? Mr. Taormina: Relative to the noise. Nor did we receive correspondence from either the Inspection Department or the Police Department indicating as such, but I think we've received similar types of correspondence in the past. I don't know if this is the first time we received correspondence where people are concerned about the noise factor. Mr. Morrow: I guess the reason I ask, what did they do last year that they hadn't done in prior years relative to where they place the generators? March 18, 2014 26304 Mr. Zucal: I think they had the same layout and same setup the previous two years. I know they had the carnival at Sears maybe a dozen years ago. I think they also used that lot for the employees. Mr. Morrow: Okay. Mr. Bahr: To that issue, if this was the first time it came before us, it might be a bigger issue for me, but since this is the third or fourth year at least in this most recent stint that this has been here and Mr. Zucal: there's a bit of a track record, I'm sensitive to the neighbor's concerns but I think we can work with it. I notice that the Mr. Bahr: resolution we have before us specifies that the housing not be any closer than 60 feel from Sl. Martins Avenue. I'm not going Ms. McIntyre: to propose any different distance because I'm not out there measuring. I don't know what it is, but 60 feel doesn't sound like a whole lot. Ithink you being here and I'm sure you can pass the message along about this concern. Obviously the Mr. Taormina: further south and the further east that this can be, the better off it will be for everybody, including you guys when you come before us again, presumably next year. Mr. Zucal: Absolutely Mr. Bahr: Once suggestion I might make, if we can do this, if this were to pass tonight, I wonder if we can include in the resolution that the generators be on the south side of the living area. I don't know where they were last year, and maybe we're being too specific there. Maybe we should leave it up to them, but I don't know what my fellow Commissioners think about that, but that may help with the noise. It certainly seems to me like that would be better than any of the other alternatives. Mr. Zucal: I think they corral all the trailers and keep the generators on the inside, I believe. Mr. Bahr: I do recall in past years seeing all the trailers on the outside. I don't know where the generators were. Ms. McIntyre: There was a comment made about if the generators ran all night that that violates Livonia's noise ordinance. How do we ascertain if that's correct, that if the generators do run all night, that it does indeed violate the noise ordinance? Mr. Taormina: Its only done by laking measurements of the sound decibels at the property line. I mean it's possible to do that during the actual event to see whether or not it complies. I'm not aware March 18, 2014 26305 that's been done in previous years. If a compliant had been lodged about the noise factor in the middle of the night, typically our Enforcement Officers would go out there and they would check to see if the sound levels as measured at the property line are above ordinance thresholds. Should there be an infraction, then yes, they would have to find some alternative to reduce that noise. Ms. McIntyre: Because I am sympathetic to generator issues. Our neighbor one house away, not next door, one house away has an in- home business permitted and has a generator that kicks in the minute the power goes out and it's disruptive. Its disruptive. So I am really sensitive and that's usually when the power is out only for a night or two in our neighborhood, and this is a long time. So I'm sensitive and sympathetic to the concern about the noise, and at the same time certainly want to support what the Rotarians want to do. I know it's an important fundraiser for you and all the good work your organization does. Mr. Zucal: Its our big fundraiser, yes. Ms. McIntyre: Thankyou. Mr. Morrow: Are these household generators that are used out there? I know the carnival has fairly large generators for the carnival. I hope they're not moving one of those back in the area. Mr. Zucal: I don't believe so. I couldn't tell you how large they are, but I've seen the Wade Show, the Spree. Mr. Morrow: Those are huge generators that power the rides. I hope they're not using those back there. Mr. Zucal: I don't think so. I couldn't say for sure. Mr. Morrow: Well, check that out. Mr. Wilshaw: Just a comment about generators. There's sort of three classes, I guess you'd say of generators that are out there. There's the small portable kind of home ones that lend to be quite noisy as Ms. McIntyre mentioned. My apologies if I'm keeping you up. I don't know if we're neighbors or not. But there are small ones like that that tend to be quite noisy. There's the really, really big ones that carnivals use that are semi size that are also quite noisy, and there's sort of a happy in-between where they do make a whole line of generators that could power several trailers of a housing area, but you can literally stand right next to these things and have a conversation March 18, 2014 26306 and they're not that loud. You see these at street fairs and things like that and you can walk right by them and not even realize that they're running or barely notice it. I don't know who is providing the generators for the housing area, if it's the people with the trailers themselves or if Wade is providing that. Mr. Zucal: I think Wade provides it. Mr. Wilshaw: I would think Wade would have the capacity and the ability to use one of those sort of mid-size generators that lends to run quite quietly. If you could pass back to Wade to see if they have something like that and if they could implement a generator like that, I think it would probably alleviate a lot of the residents' concerns because the distance from that housing area to the condos, just looking at the map, you'd be hard pressed to hear those generators if it's one of the quieter ones. It's just a thought. Mr. Morrow: It would seem it would be a benefit to the campers that are camped there. Mr. Wilshaw: Exactly. Mr. Morrow: I mean if the neighbors are being disturbed, you can imagine what it is next door to the trailers. Mr. Wilshaw: Spending the whole day working in a carnival, you probably just crash. Mr. Morrow: Well, that's true. Thank you, Mr. Wilshaw. Anyone else? Mr. Zuca1: Should I address the issues that you mentioned earlier about occupying the Seven Mile and Middlebelt right-of-way? It would be the same as before and the carnival will not impede the right- of-way of those roads. All sanitary sewage will be disposed of properly. Wade provides contracts for the service, and they will also apply for a water meter and backflow preventer through the Water Department as they have in the past. Mr. Morrow: Is that it? Mr. Zuca1: Yes. Mr. Morrow: Okay. Not having the Wade representative here this evening, I guess you're going to have to be our messenger. I think you've been advised of the concerns of not only the neighbors but of the Commission. I would imagine this will pass tonight based on your prior track record, the club as well as Wade, but should March 18, 2014 26307 you decide to do it next year, we will probably be a little bit more mindful of what we talked about this evening and see if any progress was made in any of the areas. That seems to be the only stumbling block as to the residents, and as Ms. McIntyre worries about the noise ordinance, which is valid. So you will have to be our messenger. Mr. Zucal: I will do that. This is very important to us and the community, and we don't want to see it end for something like this. Mr. Morrow: If there is nothing else, I'm going to go to the audience. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes 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 Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-14-2014 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on March 18, 2014, on Pefifion 2014-02-02-05 submitted by Wade Shows, Inc. requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03 (1) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to conduct a carnival in the parking lot of Sears, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Livonia, consisting of amusement rides, games and food concessions from May 22, 2014 through June 1, 2014, inclusive, on property at 29500 Seven Mile Road, located on the northwest corner of Seven Mile Road and Middlebelt Road in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 2, which property is zoned G2, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2014-02-02-05 be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the carnival shall be limited to the dates as specified by Wade Shows, Inc., which are May 22, 2014 through June 1, 2014, inclusive; 2. That the proposed carnival operation shall be confined to the area as illustrated on the site plan submitted as received by the Planning Commission on February 19, 2014; 3. That all rides, food concessions, booths and all other equipment and apparatus relating to the opemfion of the carnival shall be located at least 60 feet distant from the Seven Mile and Middlebelt Roads nghtof-way lines; March 18, 2014 26308 4. That all trucks and other transportation equipment shall be allowed to be parked and stored within the north parking lot as far east and south as possible, but no closer than 60 feet from St. Martins Avenue and Middlebell Road right-of- way lines; 5. That the hours of operation shall be limited to the following: Monday through Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; and on the weekends, Saturday and Sunday, from 12:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; and 6. That access to fire hydrants is provided for the Fire Department. Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for the following reasons: 1. That the proposed use complies with all of the special and general waiver use standards and requirements as set forth in Sections 11.03 and 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance #543; 2. That the site has the capacity to accommodate the proposed use; 3. That the use of the subject properly for carnival purposes will not interrupt the normal traffic flow and circulation in the area and will not impede access to Sears or Livonia Marketplace; and 4. That no reporting City department objects to the proposed use. 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: Is there any discussion? Mr. Taormina: I'm just going to follow up with what Commissioner Bahr was saying with respect to Condition 4. If we could have the maker of the motion possibly accept revised language that would read to the effect that all trucks and other transportation equipment shall be allowed to be parked and stored within the north parking lot, as far south as possible but no closer than 60 feet from St. Martins. We will devise the language to advise them that it be placed as far south in the parking lot as is feasible. March 18, 2014 26309 Mr. Morrow: Does the maker of the motion support that? Ms. McIntyre: Yes. Ms. Smiley: Yes, absolutely. Mr. Taormina: Because I think the way it reads now it requests it be as far north in the parking Iotas possible, where we want it to be as far south within the north parking lot, if that makes sense. Mr. Morrow: I compliment the czar of Middlebelt for catching that noise abatement. Mr. Bahr: I resent the term czar. Would it make sense also to say the same thing, as far east as possible? Is there any reason not to do that? That would get it as far away from those homes as possible. Mr. Morrow: Does the maker and supporter agree to that? Ms. McIntyre: Yes. Ms. Smiley: Yes. Mr. Bahr: I prefer the term patriot. Mr. Morrow: Well work on thatdesignation for Middlebelt. Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. I would strongly advise that the representative of Wade Shows be present for that particular meeting. Mr. Zuca1: I agree. She will be here. Mr. Morrow: And we appreciate you coming tonight, representing both entities. Thank you very much. Mr. Zuca1: Thankyou. Mr. Morrow: That concludes the public hearing portion of the agenda. March 18, 2014 26310 ITEM #4 PETITION 2014-02-08-02 VICTOR EAST Ms. Smiley, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2014-02-08-02 submitted by Victor East, L.L.C. requesting approval of all plans required by Section 18.47 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, in connection with a proposal to construct a one-story office-researoh building on properly at 37640 Seven Mile Road, located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between Newburgh Road and Victor Parkway in the Southeast 114 of Section 6. Mr. Taormina: This is a request to construct a one-story office and flex building on 6.4 acres of vacant land at the northeast corner of Seven Mile and Victor Parkway. It was in May, 1998, when the City approved a proposal by Oakwood Health Systems to construct a three-story medical office building on the site. However, the project was never built and Oakwood eventually sold the parcel to S&N Development Company, who in 2003 obtained site plan approval to construct a three-story, 100,000 square foot general office building. Again, that project was never constructed. Approval of both the Oakwood and S&N site plans was based on a Consent Judgment between the City of Livonia and the previous owners of the property. The Consent Judgment basically divided the property into three parts. The area that we're looking at this evening is Parcel A. Again, it is just under 6.5 acres in total area, and its located south of a drainage course that runs in an east -west direction across the property. To the north, is Parcel B, which is about two acres and located on the other side of the drainage creek at the west end of the property with frontage along Victor Parkway. That parcel is to remain undeveloped under the terms of the Consent Judgment. Parcel C, which is about 5.6 acres, is also located north of the creek but at the east end of the property, and is currently developed with a childcare center. The latest proposal is based on a third amended version of the original Consent Judgment which was approved by City Council last December. Regardless of the R -U -F -C zoning of the property, the Consent Judgment allows for the development of the property with a single story office building. The uses allowed would include general office, engineering, research, development and design, laboratory, testing and storage. The proposal is to construct a one-story building that would total 54,000 square feel in size. As you can see, the building sits slightly off -center of the property with parking and access available on all four sides. There is a stonnwater detention pond located in the southeast corner of the site, very similar to the previous plans that we saw March 18, 2014 26311 for the development of this properly. Access would be available from both Seven Mile Road and Victor Parkway. There are two enclosed dumpster areas shown behind the building along the north edge of the parking lot. In terms of parking, the ordinance requires that the site be parked at the ratio of one space for each 200 square feet of usable floor space. That would require 216 parking spaces; the site plan shows a total of 245 parking spaces so that complies fully with the Zoning Ordinance and all spaces would be 10 feel by 20 feel. The landscaped areas constitute about 38 percent of the total site area, substantially in excess of our minimum requirement of 15 percent. There are greenbelts shown along Vidor Parkway and Seven Mile. Those greenbelts range in width from 20 feel to 40 feel so they are very generously landscaped. The shrub line that exists along the drain would be left untouched. The reason for that primarily is on the top of that bank is a wetland boundary. They have identified some wetlands that run along both the north and south sides of that drainage course. Those areas would have to be protected from the construction. This is a color rendering of the building. The materials on the exterior would include a combination brick and aluminum composite metal panels. The portion of the building right at the comer, that grayer color, would actually be the aluminum composite metal panels. The brick is a lighter shade on either side of that corner portion of the building. There is a dark band running along the lop of the building. The lighter brick is actually a soldier course brick. That would also help frame the windows. It's a one-story building. The overall height is about 24 feet. All roof -mounted mechanical equipment would be screened using a composite metal material that would be complementary to the building. With that, Mr. Chairman, I'd be happy to read the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Yes, that would be fine Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first dem is from the Engineering Division, dated March 4, 2014, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above -referenced petition. The address of 37640 Seven Mile Road is appropriate for the proposed development and should be used for all future matters regarding this petition. The legal description contained within the submitted drawings appears to be correct and should be used in conjunction with the proposed project. We do not have any objections to the proposed petition, although the following items should be noted. (1) The site is serviced by public sanitary sewer and water main located within both the Seven Mile and Victor Parkway rights-of-way. The submitted drawings indicate March 18, 2014 26312 service leads for both utilities to service the proposed building, although details have not been provided. (2) Storm sewer is also available in both road rights -0f --way, as well as a natural drainage course along the north side of the parcel for site drainage. The submitted drawings indicate the site will drain through private on-site drainage system to a detention pond, and eventually outietting to the existing drainage course at the northeast comer of the site. We have no objections to the schematic storm drainage plan at this time, but will need to see detailed calculations before we can approve the design. (3) The location of the proposed drive approach off of Victor Parkway appears to limit the directional abilities of vehicles exiting the site. We would ask that the petitioner look at adjusting the location of the proposed drive to match up with the existing median crossover. Should the drive need to remain in the proposed location, the petitioner will need to provide information on his intention for vehicles that wish to travel south on Victor Parkway. (U -Tum at the north end of the median, removal of parts of the median to create a new cross-over, signage prohibiting left turns and U-tums, etc) The petitioner will also need to provide vehicle turning templates to demonstrate that truck traffic will be able to complete all proposed turning movements. (4) The proposed drive approach off of Seven Mile Road is acceptable to this department, but will need to be approved by Wayne County as Seven Mile Road is under their jurisdiction." The letter is signed by David Lear, P.E., Civil Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated March 6, 2014, which reads as follows: `This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a request to construct a one-story office research building on property located at the above referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal with the following stipulations: (1) If subject building(s) are to be provided with an automatic sprinkler system, an on-site hydrant shall be located between 50 feet and 100 feet from the Fire Department connection. (2) Fire lanes shall be marked with freestanding signs that have the words FIRE LANE — NO PARKING painted in contrasting colors (on both sides) at a size and spacing approved by the authority having jurisdiction." The letter is signed by Daniel Lee, Fire Marshal. The third letter is from the Division of Police, dated March 3, 2014, which reads as follows: After reviewing the plans, I have some concern with respect to vehicles exiting the northwest driveway onto Victor Parkway wanting to tum left to get to 7 Mile. With the proposed location of this driveway, vehicles must tum right due to the existing boulevard on Victor Parkway. I believe this will cause many vehicles to make unnecessary and dangerous U-tums to head southbound to get back to 7 Mile. My recommendation for this plan would be to March 18, 2014 26313 shorten the existing boulevard on the northern end, make a pass through on the same boulevard directly across from the proposed drive, or to move the proposed driveway farther south to coincide with the existing opening in the boulevard." The letter is signed by Joseph Boilos, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the Inspection Department, dated March 11, 2014, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above -referenced petition has been reviewed. The following is noted. (1) The terms of the Consent Judgment on this property must be adhered to. (2) The parking spaces located along the walkway of the building need to be 20' in length. Parking bumpers will need to be installed to prevent the vehicles from encroaching on the walkway. (3) All parking spaces shall be double striped. 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 from the Commissioners? Ms. McIntyre: I was just going to ask if we could cut back to that slide for a minute. Mr. Taormina: The rendering or this one? Ms. McIntyre: The one that shows the driveways. This is consistent with our concerns that we discussed at the study meeting and how we thought that the drive and the median should be adjusted. Mr. Morrow: I'm sure that the departments and the petitioner will work that out to everybody's pleasure. Ms. McIntyre: Thank you, Mark. Mr. Morrow: Is the petitioner here this evening? We will need your name and address for the record please. Josh Suardini, Victor East, L.L.C., 29100 Northwestern Highway, Suite 200, Southfield, Michigan 48034. I'm representing Victory East, the applicant. Mr. Morrow: Is there anything you'd like to add? Mr. Suardini: I just want to respond to one thing, but the comments are exactly what we're proposing here to develop. I think we can gel into some commentary, but with the discussion on the curbed boulevard there on Victor Parkway, what we'd like to do is work with the appropriate departments to shorten that boulevard to line up with our northern entry. We probably will March 18, 2014 26314 have to address moving the water main a little bit further south. If we need to do that, we will, but that would be our preference, the reason being, the northern entry is the point at which we foresee truck traffic accessing the site. That being said, the only other thing I'd like to address is the comment from Inspection referring to the parking space length and the walk. It was my understanding that if we provided walks, we'd probably have a seven fool walk, that we were able to do an 18 foot parking space along that perimeter because of the walk being two feel wider than typical. Is that something that is allowed or do I still need to address that? Gli�kyj 57i GFri M Mr. Taormina: I did not get clear direction at this stage from the Inspection Department as to whether or not they will allow the extra -wide sidewalk to make up the difference as far as the need to provide a 20 foot deep space. So that is something we will have to verify with them prior to final permitting. There is a chance that maybe some hybrid to this design would work, maybe either with bumper blocks as part of the design. So it partly depends on the grade difference in the plan. It could mean pushing the sidewalk back a couple feel and going with the 18 fool spaces. We'll work out those details with the Inspection Department and the Engineering Department at the time of permitting. I would expect to have a firm answer before the Council takes a look at this in a few weeks, but whether or not it will actually result in modified plans by then I don't know, but we'll try to get that answer for sure. Mr. Morrow: I appreciate your answering that. It's nothing that can't be overcome. It's just that the plans are a little bit incomplete at this juncture. Mr. Taormina: That is correct. And what's nice about this, as you can see from this plan, he has the flexibility to modify the design to comply one way or the other. So he's really not constrained from that standpoint. It won't cause any other changes to the site plan. Mr. Morrow: Thank you. Any other comments, sir? Mr. Suardini: No. I did bring a material board that I can pass around. Mr. Morrow: Can you hold it up there? Oh, the tripod is already to go and there's a microphone over there also. Mr. Suardini: As Mark mentioned, the facade is comprised of a couple different colors of brick with some accent banding along the lop March 18, 2014 26315 and composite metal panels at the corner. We've got standing seam and metal panel -type canopies, and then we've got metal as a cornice piece along the top as well. But what's represented here with the leader lines is, we have a mix of lighter and darker color brick in a wire cul fashion. I misspoke. It's not a comice. It's a coping. The metal coping along the top would be what we consider a clear anodized color or a silver color to match up with the clean anodized aluminum framing for the glass system. The glass would be green tinted, very good glass. The canopies would be similar is range with the clear anodized color with the darker gray representing the composite panels here at the main entry and at the other entries. As you can see, it's a mix a several different materials but I think it flows quite nicely. The only thing I will comment on is, these are what we are showing today. We think this is it, but we want to see some live samples. We'll probably do a mockup out there. So if anything changes drastically, obviously we'd be back in front of you. I dont think it will, but just a note that when you see it as a small brick sample, sometimes you have to do a mockup to really tell how it looks. We're going to go through that process here shortly. Mr. Morrow: Okay, make sure you point that out at the Council level Mr. Suardini: Yes, I will. Thank you. Mr. Morrow: Any questions relative to the building materials? Mr. Wilshaw: Just a comment more than a question. It appears that Elkin has used a nice sampling of materials that is fairly modern in appearance. Now, we were talking at the study meeting about the use of this building being sort of multi -tenant, multi -use, more in the R&D alliance. I assume you're choosing this appearance and these types of materials to sort of go along with that high tech, R&D type theme, right? Mr. Suardini: Yes. We did take that into account. Certainly if we had one tenant come along and we could build this with one group, we would do that, but we think we have enough flexibility with the materials that we've shown here to not only give that high tech feel, a modem feel if you will, for a wide range of different types of users. Mr. Wilshaw: And in the back of the building you're going to have the ability to have rollup doors so that if someone needs to bring in large objects into their space, they would have potentially a vehicle bay or even some sort of a lift -type system as well. March 18, 2014 26316 Mr. Suardini: Yes. A lot of these flex -type users, whether it be for research and development, benchmarking - there's a lot of engineering companies out there that do a lot of benchmarking for automotive. We provide a 14 foot garage type door. The look of the door would be similar to what you're very used to and the color most likely will be the silver color as well to match up with everything else that we've got going on there. Mr. Wilshaw: And all those bays would be located in the rear, sort of central part of the building where they're not visible either from Seven Mile or even from Vidor Parkway, right? Mr. Suardini: Correct. It would be in the backside of the U -shape or on either leg of the U, but interior. No visibility from either roadway. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. I think it's a very smart design of the building. Is there any mechanical equipment that would be located on the roof? As we talk about benchmarking, for some reason I think of buildings like McLaren that have all sorts of ventilation and machinery that can run all night long as they're doing dynamometers as so on. Is there going to be any kind of that use of this building that you can think of or is going to be a little bit more low key? Mr. Suardini: It's hard to say right now, but any mechanical equipment needed for that process would be screened. I don't foresee something that we couldn't screen with what we've got proposed. Most of the other buildings of this nature that we have, if they need a specific roof -top unit, it's more of an air handling situation and maybe some makeup air because you have to exhaust an area per se, but it wouldn't be, in my judgment, anything that we couldn't screen with what we've got proposed and shown. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Elkin is obviously a very experienced property manager in the area. Based on your company's experience, this is the best use of that property that you're seeing right now, and you're seeing interest in a demand for this type of use in this area. Is that correct? Mr. Suardini: Yes. That is correct. We did a study up and down the 275 corridor down to M14 and up to M5. This type of space is in demand. We did a search and we're right in the center of the map as far as where we are in relation to a lot of the major OEM technical centers in relation to the engineering base that we have, Ann Arbor, Livonia, so on and so forth. So we feel very confident that this type of building is something you will see more of in the future. A lot of the people that we talked to really March 18, 2014 26317 liked the idea to have the flexible type of space, the location close to 275, being in Livonia with all the amenities around it, and having the chance to potentially have their name on a building is a very, very nice thing for them. Mr. Wilshaw: Excellent. Thank you very much. Mr. Taylor: I don't know whether its buildable or not, but the property to the north, do you own that property also? Did you buy it all at one time? Mr. Suardini: No. That's a separate parcel. If I might, Mark can probably opine. That's part of the first consent judgment and that parcel has some restrictions on it, but we did not buy that parcel. Mr. Taylor: I don't know if the property is even buildable or not. Is it, Mark? Mr. Taormina: The property that you're referring to is just to the north of this site and west to the childcare center. It's actually a little smaller than what appears on this map. Under the terms of the consent judgment, it has to remain as open space. It can be used for slonnwater detention in connection with the development of either of the other two parcels, but the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim given the topography. Unless the consent judgment is amended once again to allow for some limited development on that property, it will remain undeveloped. Mr. Taylor: Does Sam Shamie still own that? Mr. Taormina: I think it was retained by the developer of the childcare center. When both parcels B and C were sold together to one entity, I believe that entity retained this vacant parcel and maybe sold off the childcare center parcel. I cant recite exactly who the owner of that property is right now. Mr. Taylor: Thank you. The materials you have up here, is it regular four inch brick? Is that what we're talking about? Mr. Suardini: No. We proposed a utility brick so it's larger. I just didn't have a sample of that, but it's utility brick on the drawings that you have. Mr. Taylor: We have an architect on the Council now that is very meticulous about seeing what it's going to look like. With this, I really can't tell what it's going to look like. March 18, 2014 26318 Mr. Suardini: We will take that into consideration for sure. Its noted on the drawings and as rendered, it's utility brick, but I'll talk to him about that and we'll go over it with Mark if we need to. Mr. Taylor: Thankyou. Mr. Bahr: A comment and a question. The comment being, I think its a beautiful looking building and your comments as to why this makes sense for this site just really speaks to the central location of Livonia which is very strategic and really one of the great marketing assets of our city. It's great to see you recognizing that and see that bearing frail with buildings like this. My question is, again, having said how beautiful this building is, I must admit that I'm a little bit disappointed that its only one story. So I'm wondering if you ever considered doing multiple stories or if there's a reason why you couldn't? Mr. Suardini: Yes. We looked at multiple different scenarios here from mulli- slory to multi -building to a smaller one-story building. To be frank, in today's market, multi -story buildings are very difficult to make work from a financial perspective because the lease rates that you need to obtain to make the financial piece of the construction cost, overall development cost with a multi -story building is very difficult right now because the rents in Michigan, Livonia no different from anywhere else in Michigan, the rents in Michigan just do not support that type of development unless it's a development where it's potentially a single occupant who is really wanting a certain type of building, a certain type of layout, similar to what happened to the north of this site. But if you go across the city, I mean Detroit in general, you really don't see that multi -story or multi -tenant type building being developed right now, and its for lack of the rent production to gamer the type of costs that it would lake to build that type of product. Mr. Bahr: This is just for my own education. Is there just not interest in a second story? Is that what you're saying, or you're just saying the rales for a second story are that much lower? I'm trying to understand. Mr. Suardini: What I'm saying is the development costs to do a multi -story building are much higher than the development costs to do a building ofthis nature. When the costs are higher, the rents that you need to garner to support that development are much higher and it knocks you out of the box of what the market rent is in the area. Mr. Bahr: Okay. Thanks for that education March 18, 2014 26319 Mr. Wilshaw: Thanks for that information on the multi -story. That was really interesting and educational. When you think about it, things like elevators and so on all add a tremendous amount of cost. The retention pond that's going to be on the site, are you planning on making that a feature as far as fountains and nice landscaping around it or anything? We have a variety of different retention ponds in the city. Some look like swamps and some look like really beautiful features. I'm just curious what your plan is for that. Mr. Suardini: Right now, our idea for that retention pond is to make it very well landscaped. We don't have plans for a fountain at this point. We do have a pond across 275 that does have a fountain. It is very nice, but at this point, we dont plan on putting a fountain in this pond. It's much smaller, but we will landscape it nicely. We looked at the potential of pulling some benches and stuff out there, and we will continue to do that, but right now, I'm about 50 percent through the grading of the site. The grading that I'm going through might limit what we can do from that perspective, but if we can, we will take that into consideration, but surely the landscaping will be upgraded around the pond. Mr. Wilshaw: Thankyou. 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, a motion would be in order. On a motion by Wilshaw, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-15-2014 RESOLVED, that the City Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2014-02-08-02 submitted by Vidor East, L.L.C. requesting approval of all plans required by Section 18.47 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, in connection with a proposal to construct a one-story office -research building on properly at 37640 Seven Mile Road, located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between Newburgh Road and Victor Parkway in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 6, be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the Site Plan marked Drawing Number P-3 dated February 25, 2014, prepared by Professional Engineering Associates, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 2. That the Landscape Plans marked Drawing Number L-1 and L-2 both dated February 25, 2014, prepared by March 18, 2014 26320 Professional Engineering Associates, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 3. That all disturbed lawn areas shall be sodded in lieu of hydroseeding; 4. That underground sprinklers are to be provided for all landscaped and sodded areas and all planted materials shall be installed to the satisfaction of the Inspection Department and thereafter permanently maintained in a healthy condition; 5. That the Exterior Building Elevation Plan marked Sheet Number PE -4 dated February 25, 2014, prepared by Faudie Architecture, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 6. That all rooftop mechanical equipment shall be concealed from public view on all sides by screening that shall be of a compatible character, material and color to other exterior materials on the building; 7. That the three walls of the trash dumpsler areas shall be constructed out of the same brick used in the construction of the building or in the event a poured wall is substituted, the wall's design, texture and color shall match that of the building and the enclosure gates shall be maintained and when not in use closed at all times; 8. That all light fixtures shall not exceed 20 feel in height and shall be aimed and shielded so as to minimize stray light trespassing across property lines and glaring into adjacent roadway; 9. That this site shall meet either the City of Livonia or the Wayne County Storm Water Management Ordinance, whichever applies, and shall secure any required permits, including storm water management permits, wetlands permits and soil erosion and sedimentation control permits, from Wayne County, the City of Livonia, and/or the Slate of Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE); 10. That the Petitioner shall work with the City Engineering Division to make the necessary modifications to the median in Victor Parkway in order to facilitate proper turning movements for vehicles entering and exiting the site; March 18, 2014 26321 11. That only conforming signage is approved with this petition, and any additional signage shall be separately submitted for review and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals; 12. 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 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. Mr. Morrow: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw: On dem two, the Landscape Plans, the date was February 25, 2013. 1 believe that should be 2014. A minor edit. Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carded and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. Thanks very much for coming in this evening. We think you have a nice looking building in a strategic location. Good luck on finding an occupant and occupants. ITEM #5 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,0516'Public Hearings and Regular Meeting Ms. Smiley, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the Minutes of the 1,051n Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on March 4, 2014. On a motion by McIntyre, seconded by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-16-2014 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 1,051n Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on March 4, 2014, are hereby approved. A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following AYES: McIntyre, Smiley, Bahr, Wilshaw, Taylor, Morrow NAYS: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None March 18, 2014 26322 Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carded and the foregoing resolution adopted. On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,052otl Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on March 18, 2014, was adjourned at 8:29 p.m. ATTEST: R. Lee Morrow, Chairman CITY PLANNING COMMISSION Carol A. Smiley, Acting Secretary