HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2014-06-02 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD JUNE 2, 2014
Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by President Brosnan. Present: John
Pastor, Laura Toy, Lynda Scheel, Susan Nash, Brandon Kritzman, Brian Meakin and
Maureen Miller Brosnan. Absent: None.
Elected and appointed officials present: Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Mark
Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development; Don Knapp, City Attorney;
Terry Marecki, City Clerk; and Mayor Jack E. Kirksey.
President Brosnan presented a commendation to Kitty Heinzman, recognizing her as
the honorary chairperson of the 5t" Annual Motor City Irish Festival. She is a long time
Livonia resident and is the matriarch of the Ardan Academy of Irish Dance, f/k/a the
Heinzman School of Irish Dance.
Kitty Heinzman said it was an honor and a privilege to be selected as chairperson of the
Motor City Irish Festival. She welcomed everyone to come out and join in the festivities.
It will be held June 13-15, 2014 at Beech Daly and Graham Road near Western Golf
and Country Club. She said there will be fun for all ages.
AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None.
NEW BUSINESS
1. AWARD OF BID: Department of Parks & Recreation, re: for LED light fixtures
for the Livonia Community Recreation Center from budgeted funds.
Lyle Trudell, Superintendent, Parks and Recreation, presented the request to
Council. The Department of Parks and Recreation has taken bids for LED light
fixtures for the Livonia Community Recreation Center. Specifications were
prepared by the Department, and an advertisement for bids was placed in the
Sunday, May 5, 2014 edition of the Livonia Observer and on the MITN website.
Eight bids were received and opened in the presence of the Bid Committee at
2:00 p.m. on May 13, 2014. Attached is a breakdown of bids. The Parks and
Recreation Department is asking Council to award the bid to the low bidder in the
amount of $149,098.16: Marshall E. Campbell Company, Mr. Robert Marshall,
34073 Schoolcraft Rd., Livonia, MI 48151. The Department's specifications and
their form of proposal have been provided to Council for its review. The majority
of the fixtures are Michigan made, qualifying for an additional 15% rebate
through DTE. The estimated DTE rebate is $33,000.00. Installation will be done
through the City electrical contract. Funds have been budgeted. Bids are good
for 120 days.
Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
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Kritzman thanked Trudell for all his efforts in saving the City money.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
2. REQUEST TO ADJUST WATER AND SEWER CONSUMPTION RATES,
INDUSTRIAL SURCHARGE RATE AND INDUSTRIAL WASTE CONTROL
CHARGE: Public Service Division, re: to become effective with the first billing
on or after July 1, 2014.
Coline Coleman, Chief Accountant, presented the request to Council. This is a
request to adjust the Water and Sewer Consumption Rates, Industrial Surcharge
Rate and Industrial Waste Control Meter charges; the new rates shall become
effective with the first billing on or after July 1, 2014.
Toy asked Coleman if she has heard anything regarding the dollars being spent
in the City of Detroit as it moves forward. Coleman replied no discussion has
taken place nor will it until the City of Detroit's Bankruptcy is resolved.
Kritzman commented on how the increases have somewhat improved. He
recalled when there were double digit increases. He said he was glad that the
suburban communities have some representation on the Detroit Water & Sewer
Board to help monitor these rate increases. He asked Coleman if the fixed rate
for the sewer gets readdressed every year. Coleman said her and Don Rohraff
both asked for an answer on how the fixed rate is allocated. She said currently
these fixed rate charges are set for a five year period but can be revisited if there
is a significant increase or decrease in the flow. Kritzman asked who initiates that
request to revisit the fixed rate charges. Coleman replied the City to Rouge
Valley.
President Brosnan said to Coleman that it was noted in the report that when we
went back and renegotiated our model contract that some of what we
renegotiated has caused a slight increase. President Brosnan asked for an
explanation on how that happened. Coleman replied that she would have to refer
that question to Don Rohraff because he is the person who does the negotiating
for the City of Livonia. She said the rate is set on certain factors (quantity
purchase, the amount used on the maximum day, the amount that is peak hour
usage) and said since he is the one that did the negotiating he would have the
specifics. She said there were areas where the City did exceed its contract
specific thresholds that resulted in a slight increase to the City of Livonia.
President Brosnan expressed some concerns over the percentage of the fixed
rate being passed on to the consumer. She recalled that Plante Moran did an
analysis for the City when it implemented the new billing methodology. President
Brosnan asked Coleman about the current health of the Water & Sewer Fund
and what is expected for the future of the fund. Coleman said the new billing
method has aligned them much more closely with the way our suppliers bill us
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and they have been able to smooth the fluctuation caused by water. She said
they have not yet experienced an increase to their bond rating but said it is a
fairly new way and she anticipates an upgrade in the future. She said it has been
a positive change. She said the fund balance in the Water Department contains a
lot of fixed assets.
Mike Slater, Director of Finance, said the fund balance of the Water Fund is
relatively healthy. He said the term fund balance in terms of Water & Sewer Fund
is a little bit different because it's an enterprise fund. Therefore, things such as
depreciation end up in the fund balance even though it's not really a cash item.
So in terms of measuring their health they look at the cash position and debt
service coverages. Which is one of the issues they have to look at in terms of
their bond covenants requirements. He said the net revenue should be 125% of
their debt service cost. He said what ends up happening if the increases do not
get passed on to the consumers each year is it builds up and you end up with
double digit increases which are harder to pass on to the consumer. It is easier
for the consumers when there gradual increases.
Toy offered the resolutions for both approving for 1St Reading and a denying for
the Regular Agenda.
DIRECTION: 1) APPROVING — 1St READING REGULAR
2) DENYING
Kritzman stepped down from the podium at 8:23 p.m. to avoid any perceived
conflict of interest.
3. REQUEST TO APPROVE OHM ADVISORS TO PROVIDE ON-CALL
INSPECTION SERVICES FOR CITY UTILITIES DURING THE 1-96
CONSTRUCTION PROJECT: Engineering Division, re: in order to
accommodate the various hours of construction and sequence of construction
activities, in an amount not-to-exceed $32,500.00 from budgeted funds.
Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented the request to Council. The City of
Livonia coordinated with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) in
advance of the 1-96 Reconstruction Project concerning the impact on the water
main, sanitary and storm sewer utility crossing. The 1-96 reconstruction project
commenced on April 5, 2014, encompassing seven (7) miles of new concrete
pavement with improvements to the 37 bridges located between Newburgh Road
and Telegraph Road. The estimated construction costs are $148 million. There
are several utility crossings underneath 1-96 involving water and sanitary sewers
that will be impacted. In addition, there are existing water and sanitary sewers
mains that run parallel to the exit and entrance ramps to the expressway. These
utilities are owned by the City of Livonia. The City of Livonia met with the
Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Dan's Excavating, Inc., prior
to construction as the contractor was to provide a video of the existing sanitary
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sewer crossings that would provide a base line of the existing conditions prior to
construction. In addition, there were four (4) sanitary sewer main crossings
underneath I-96 that were part of the MDOT contract that would allow the City of
Livonia to have our contractor, Liquiforce, reline them during the project.
However, we needed to coordinate with the Michigan Department of
Transportation (MDOT) and Dan's Excavating, Inc., for an opening in their
schedule that would not impact or delay construction. Due to the various hours of
construction and sequence of construction activities, it was decided to have the
critical utility crossings be observed by OHM Advisors. To date, OHM Advisors
has witnessed all the cleaning and televising of the sanitary sewer crossings.
They are now in the process of inspecting the sanitary sewer linings scheduled
by Liquiforce in coordination with MDOT and Dan's Excavating, Inc. The total
amount incurred to date by OHM Advisors is $12,860 thru May 3, 2014. We
estimate that the inspections are approximately 50% complete. The first location
was lined on May 22, 2014. OHM Advisors will inspect and coordinate on all four
(4) sanitary sewer crossings scheduled to be lined, plus an additional six (6)
locations that were determined necessary after review of the video inspection
reports provided by Dan's Excavating, Inc. completed in early April 2014. In order
to proceed with this project, they respectfully request that the Council take the
following actions: authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute an
amendment to the Engineering contract with OHM Advisors (OHM), 34000
Plymouth Road, Livonia, Michigan 48150 as the designated consultant to provide
on-call utility inspection for the sanitary sewer and water main utility crossings
within the I-96 Reconstruction Project. The amount not-to-exceed $32,500;
authorize an appropriation and expenditure not to exceed $32,500 from the
Construction-in-Progress Account; and authorize the City Engineering to make
minor adjustment to the work, as needed.
Meakin asked if the $32,500 was for the second half of this project. Zilincik said
the originally they projected the cost at $15,000 but once they put some cameras
in the lines some areas they need some additional attention were discovered. He
said since the area is under construction now it is more feasible to address these
areas at this time before the road is covered back up.
Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Regular Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR
Kritzman returned to the podium at 8:32 p.m.
4. WAIVER PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2014-03-02-06
submitted by JCD South 96, L.L.C., to operate a full service restaurant (Jimmy
John's) within the Livonia Commons Shopping Center, located on the west side
of Middlebelt Road between the CSX Railroad right-of-way and Schoolcraft Road
(13453 Middlebelt Road) in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 26.
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Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented the
request to Council. This petition requests waiver use approval to operate a full
service restaurant (Jimmy John's) within the Livonia Commons Shopping Center.
The shopping center is located on the west side of Middlebelt Road between the
CSX Railroad right-of-way and Schoolcraft Road. On December 16, 2013,
Council granted site plan approval for the redevelopment of this commercial
center, including renovations to the exterior of the existing shopping center
building, construction of an addition on the north end of the existing shopping
center building, and construction of a new freestanding multi-tenant retail building
in the southeast portion of the parking lot, adjacent to Middlebelt Road. The site
of the shopping center is zoned C-2, General Business. The petitioner is
requesting waiver use approval to operate a full service restaurant under the
provisions of the Zoning Ordinance pertaining to waiver uses as set forth in
Section 11.03(c). A full service restaurant is defined as a place where food,
confections, frozen dessert and beverages are served and consumed at chairs
and tables primarily within a structure and which has a minimum seating capacity
for more than 30 persons. The proposed restaurant would be classified as a full
service restaurant because it would have 60 seats. According to the submitted
plan, Jimmy John's would occupy the unit at the north end the new freestanding
multi-tenant retail building. This new building, identified on the plans as
"Proposed Outparcel", would be one-story in height and 8,640 square feet in total
size. The Jimmy John's unit faces Middlebelt Road and measures 2,160 square
feet (29' x 60') in gross floor area. The floor plan shows the layout of the interior
dining area, preparation area, kitchen area, equipment rooms and restrooms.
The restaurant's seating area, which would be located at the front of the unit,
would consist of booth and tables with a total count of 60 interior seats. The site
plan does not show any proposed outdoor seating. No modifications to the
building exterior are planned in connection with the proposed restaurant. This
restaurant would be allowed one wall sign on the front of the unit at a maximum
area of 36 square feet (based on one square foot of area for each one lineal foot
of the width of the unit). Parking is based on the overall requirement for the entire
center. The required parking for the center, because the users are retail in
nature, is based on the parking schedule for group commercial centers. The
parking of the Livonia Commons Shopping Center would be sufficient to handle
the parking needs of the proposed restaurant.
Cheryl Doelke, JCD South 96, L.L.C, 37671 Six Mile, was present to answer any
questions from Council. She said they have been working a while on this project
and is hopeful that they can move forward with the project.
Scheel offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
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5. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2014-04-08-05
submitted by Trinity Continuing Care Services, Inc., in connection with the
demolition of an existing nursing home facility (Marycrest Manor), and the
construction of a new two-story nursing and assisted living facility, located on the
west side of Middlebelt Road between Five Mile Road and Wentworth Avenue
(15495 Middlebelt Road) in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 14.
Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented the
request to Council. This is a request to demolish an existing nursing home and
construct a new two-story nursing and assisted living facility in its place. This is
the zoning map. It shows you the location of all of the land that is controlled by
Trinity Continuing Care Services. This is two contiguous parcels that are located
on the west side of Middlebelt Road a few hundred feet north of Five Mile Road.
The zoning of the property is R-9, Housing for the Elderly. Some of the adjacent
uses and zoning include a mix of commercial two story office, the Cambridge
Office building, McDonald's, a Coop Credit Union, Thrifty Florist, and CVS
Pharmacy. Those are all the businesses that make up the C-2 zoned area to the
south of this parcel. To the west is the RUF, Rural Urban Farm, area. The homes
are located on acreage parcels, mostly along Hidden Lane, that back up to the
west side of the Trinity Property. Across the street is a variety of commercial
uses and immediately to the north is the Manoogian Manor, which is also
property utilized for housing for the elderly. The site consists of two contiguous
parcels that total about 9.1 acres. The redevelopment that we're looking at this
evening and is associated with this petition involves the south parcel, which is
about 6.5 acres. It has overall dimensions of approximately 457 feet along
Middlebelt Road and a depth of 600 feet. It has an existing home located on this
parcel that is about 27,500 square feet. The current building has 55 beds. The
smaller parcel, which is located to the north, has about 205 feet of frontage along
Middlebelt Road and about 600 feet in depth. Its total area is about 2.6 acres,
and is the site of the recently constructed Marycrest Heights senior village. This
is a three story, 60-unit independent living apartment building that was the
subject of rezoning and site plan petitions back in 2007 and 2008. The request
before you is to construct a new skilled nursing and assisted living facility. It
would occupy a substantial portion of the land where the existing facility is
located plus some additional available land that is located to the west and to the
north of the existing building which is currently undeveloped. The appearance of
this building would complement the architecture and colors of Marycrest Heights.
It includes very similar materials - cement board siding, stone veneer, brick,
asphalt shingled roof and other trim and accent bands that are similar. Taormina
said he would let the architects show Council how the two relate to one another.
The proposed new building is about 61,200 square feet and two stories in height.
There is a substantial difference in the size between this building versus the
current building. It's overall vertical height is estimated to be about 34 feet. By
comparison, the three story building to the north, Marycrest Heights, is about
51.7 feet in height. This is not as tall a building as what is adjacent to it. Again, it
only contains two levels versus the three levels that is part of Marycrest Heights.
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In terms of the required setbacks, the ordinance requires 50 foot front and rear
yard setbacks and a minimum of 25 feet at the sides. The proposed layout does
show conforming building setbacks. The front yard would be roughly 220 feet.
That is the distance from the front of the building to the right-of-way of Middlebelt
Road. The south side yard has a setback of approximately 125 feet, so that is
substantially more than what the ordinance requires. The rear yard adjacent to
the single family district is shown at its closest points to be about 50 feet. By
comparison, the existing building currently is about 180 feet from that rear or
west property line. So this does push the construction closer to the residential. I'll
go over the floor plans quickly. This is the first floor plan. There is a total of 122
units and that would include 98 skilled nursing beds as well as 24 assisted living
beds. The first floor would contain 50 of the skilled nursing units, roughly half of
those beds, as well as various other common area and support rooms including
the main kitchen and dining facilities, the physical therapy center, several offices
as well as a salon, pool, chapel, sitting areas and mechanical rooms. The layout
is quite complex and mostly the beds are located on the left hand side of that
drawing and all of the common areas and support facilities are located on the
right hand side. There are a number of sitting and common areas that are part of
the hallways and corridors that connect the various rooms together. Again, the
architects can describe that in greater detail if you so desire. The second floor
consists primarily of living units with the remaining 48 skilled nursing beds and
the 24 assisted living units. There are some other dining and sitting areas and
support rooms that are also on the second level, but it is mostly the bedrooms
with the assisted living facility on the right hand side and the remainder of the
skilled nursing on the left hand side of this drawing. Altogether, when you include
the independent living apartments, Marycrest in total will have 182 units. We
need to look at the density calculations as to what is allowed in the R-9 district.
Those density limits are a function of the building height as well as the number of
bedrooms per unit. For two story structures, the minimum required land area for
every one bedroom unit is 2,500 square feet. When we look at the entire land
area required for the nursing center and the assisted living facility, together with
the independent apartment units, the overall development requires 10.34 acres
or about 450,000 square feet of land. Taormina said as he indicated earlier, the
total combined area of both parcels is less than that. It's about 9.1 acres or
397,000 square feet. They are about 53,000 square feet deficient in land to
accommodate the density that is proposed with this development. Thus the total
number of units exceeds the allowable density of the property under the R-9
district regulations. There are three options to overcome this. One would be to
reduce the number of units, but the two more likely options would be to either
obtain a variance for the increased density or rezone a minimum amount of land
necessary to support the higher density elderly housing and that would go to the
OS, Office District. If we look at rezoning a portion of this property to the OS
District, which does allow for a higher density, then it will make the development
conforming and it will also be within the height limitations. The OS district limits
the height to two stories, which this building is. It requires only 500 square feet of
land area per bed. We've already done the calculations in terms of what would
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be needed to be rezoned in order to fully comply with the ordinance. In terms of
parking, the off-street parking and access will be reconfigured and expanded.
The majority of the parking will be in the front yard and along the south side of
the building. The existing driveway would be shifted a little bit to the south and
widened to become a boulevard entrance and exit. Currently, it's a little bit further
to the north but that would be relocated to the south. A second access point from
Middlebelt Road would be provided to the south, and that access point does line
up with Roycroft Street directly across Middlebelt Road. Total parking required is
181 spaces based on the number of employees and doctors anticipated at the
facility, as well as factoring in the number of beds and visitors. They are providing
204 spaces overall, so they would comply with the ordinance with respect to
parking. In terms of landscaping, they would heavily landscape the site
throughout. That would include the parking lot islands and the frontage along
Middlebelt Road. The plan illustrates a substantial amount of foundation
plantings going in the outdoor patios and courtyards that make up those spaces
between the various wings of the residential parts of the building. There is a
walking path that serves primarily as a fire access route at the rear of the
building. It would actually connect to an existing 12 foot wide path that is behind
the independent living apartments and that would continue along the back of the
new building and that would also serve as a walking path for the residents. The
building construction plus the path and grading necessary for that is going to
have to cut into the existing natural vegetation that exists along the west side of
the property. In exchange for the removal of that landscaping, they are showing
heavy plantings along the west or rear lot line to help shield the residential
homes. Some of those homes sit pretty far back from this property line, probably
about 200 feet or so. There are one or two homes, however, that are relatively
close to the rear property line. So that is the area they would have to focus on in
terms of replacement plantings to make sure that a buffer is still maintained.
Lastly, as far as storm water management, this is the site plan showing where
the storm water would be contained. This would all be managed underground.
This represents where they would construct the underground piping necessary to
detain the site's storm water. He was ready to answer any questions Council may
have.
President Brosnan asked Taormina how that would align, the site plan approval
and rezoning of the property. Taormina said it was originally thought they would
seek a variance on the density; however, the Planning Commission felt it was
more appropriate for the property to be rezoned to accommodate the density of
the proposed plan. He said they are fully prepared to go to the Zoning Board if
they need to but said they are hopeful that the rezoning will coincide with their
timeline before they begin construction if everything goes according to plan.
Taormina said he could advise Council by the Regular Meeting what would be
the more appropriate course of action and what they expect the timeline to be.
Meakin asked Taormina to describe the density limits for R-9 zoning district.
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Taormina said the density in the R-9 Districts has 2 factors, the height of the
building and the number of bedrooms per unit. He said what is unique about it is
with skilled nursing and assisted living these are all basically one bedroom units.
They come up about 53,000 square feet short. He said their options are to seek a
variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals or to rezone the property to
accommodate the density. Meakin asked Taormina if there were any other
facilities short on land in relation to density. Taormina said off the top of his head,
he did not know one way or the other. He did say the majority of skilled nursing
and assisted living facilities were is OS Districts.
Toy asked Taormina how many new units and how many total units for this
project. Taormina said there are 60 existing units and the proposed plan includes
an addition of a total of 122 units and that would include 98 skilled nursing beds
as well as 24 assisted living beds. This equals to a total of 182 units. Toy asked
how much money the company is investing in this project. The petitioner replied
$34,000,000.00.
Kritzman said a firm he used to work at designed several skilled nursing/assisted
living homes. He said there has been a great evolution in the design of these
homes. He thought that perhaps the City should take a look at the Ordinance
requirements for these kind of facilities and see if there is a need for updating the
Ordinance in accommodating the developers of these projects. He said he has
no issues with the density and the amount of space for the project.
Toy said she appreciates the investment the petitioner is making in the
community.
Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
Jim Bowe, GlenAire HealthCare, L.L.C., 3598 Darcy Drive, Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan 48301. He said he'd like to talk about the sponsors. Trinity, as many of
you may know, is a very large Catholic health system based here in Livonia - 83
hospitals stretching from California all the way through Connecticut and Upstate
New York. The headquarters is right off of 275 and corporate headquarters is
right here, a significant presence. In addition, St. Mary Hospital here in Livonia is
part of the Trinity organization, and St. Mary Hospital has played a major role in
the commitment of Trinity in making this investment in the Marycrest campus.
Marycrest was initially sponsored by an order of nuns in Upstate New York and
that's when the original nursing home was constructed in 1962. As was
mentioned, the independent living apartments, Marycrest Heights, was
constructed approximately four years ago. The nuns came to the conclusion that
the resources necessary to continue the campus, they did not have the
necessary resources in order to upgrade it and to really bring it forward into
today's health system standards. As a result, they sought a Catholic sponsor to
come in and pick up their mission. Trinity, in looking at the alignment with St.
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Mary Hospital, agreed to do so with the understanding that the 55 bed nursing
home would have to be replaced. This nursing home, constructed in 1962, is
significantly outdated. The 60 independent living apartments are state of the art,
but in addition to that, we want to put in a skilled nursing presence that really has
two different levels of care. The 50 beds on the main level will be for short term
rehab care. Folks going into the hospital for surgical procedures, knee hip
replacements, etc. In today's environment, the health system works in a fashion
where they try to get you out of those expensive hospital beds as quickly as
possible rehabbing in a skilled nursing center. That will be the focus of the main
floor of this building. Immediately adjacent on the main floor of this building will
be a state of the art rehab gym with over 2,000 square feet with all the latest
rehab equipment in there. We have a hydrotherapy pool that will also be installed
immediately adjacent to that. This is all on the south portion. So we have a very,
very significant rehab commitment to this building. The second floor will have the
long term stay beds. That will be the 48 beds on the second skilled nursing level,
and that population is typically people in their late 80's who are approaching end
of life. They would tend to stay there for several years at a time whereas the first
floor folks, the rehab folks, would tend to be there for 30 to 40 days at a time. We
have two different populations we're going to serve in the skilled nursing. The
second floor also has 24 assistant living units, which gives us that transitional
period from the independent living apartments, folks who need personal care
assistance, medication management, meal service, laundry service,
transportation, etc., would receive those services in the assisted living. So this is
what we talk about with the continuum of care where the apartments, people with
their own kitchens, etc., come in. There's underground parking. They're still
pretty active in the community. As their needs change, they age, they can move
directly over to the assisted living, and then for folks who are in the hospital and
need to recover in rehab, we'll have the first floor unit, and then the second floor
unit for those who are approaching the end stage of life. One of the things we're
really stressing in this is resident centered care. These are single occupancy
rooms. When we think of nursing homes, we often think of double occupancy
rooms, shared bathrooms. Each resident room will have its own private bath and
shower, and this is a significant improvement, obviously, on quality of life. We
want to move from institutional care to more of a residential setting. We want to
emphasis an environment that people feel is very similar to the homes that they
have just left. We'll have small gathering areas in their neighborhoods where
people can come together and socialize, and we will have some other areas
where larger groups can get together for group activities. On each floor we will
have dining services. There will be 24 residents per dining area. So again, a
smaller community setting. This is not a large institutional dining area. This will
get people who are very familiar with each other, develop relationships, have a
higher quality of life. This is consistent with our Catholic sponsorship. This is a
project that the architect worked with Trinity on about a year and a half, two years
ago down in South Bend, Indiana, where Trinity also has a significant presence.
They are hoping to get this project start by October and completed by 2017. He
said his architect is here to give some additional details on the project.
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Jeff Anglemyer, Arkos Design, South Bend, Indiana. He said good evening. He
said on the first level here is where we will have the short term skilled side. It is
paramount to Trinity's mission that they are providing a quality of life, whether it's
the independent, the skilled or the assisted. It's very important to them. Get
better, go home is their philosophy. The blue area, as it was mentioned, this is all
the first floor, the short term rehab skilled and immediately above this would be
the long term care. There is small pockets of living room, hearth, dining areas
within this light blue area. This is all on that western portion of the property. It will
be very intimate. The second floor, as mentioned, this is very similar to the first.
About a third of the orange area will not be built until the end of the project in
order to allow the current residents to remain in their units until the new
construction is completed. Then they will be moved to their new units and the
remainder of the orange area will be completed. However, there are some
essential areas that will be done in the first part of the orange area such as
physical therapy area and therapy pool, laundry area, support area, a chapel, a
central kitchen and a restaurant. The green is all assisted living. These have a
combination. There are six two-bedroom units and there are 18 one-bedroom
units. They would all have walk-in closet, bedroom, and living space. Even the
one bedroom units are slightly larger than the skilled rooms so there is more
closet space, more floor area. The assisted living as well as the skilled has its
own dining, hearth, central kitchen, and these kitchens now in the neighborhood
environment are meant to engage the resident. There's going to be a side of the
kitchen that they can come and help plate the food and set the table just like
you've done your whole life. So it's meant to provide that continuum of life that
you've had. One thing I'd like to point out is, as it was mentioned, we're going to
be very complementary with the exterior materials. We're going to in fact
replicate things like shingles, the stone, the brick, the existing Heights building
has some metal roof features, the turrets on the end, then we also have the
canopy that have the metal green roof feature. We're going to do that very similar
here. We have two entrance points. Those are both opportunities for parking. If
you come in, depending where you park, we want it to be as close to guests as
possible, but features would have a very similar accent roof to match the Heights.
The shingles would match. The stone and the brick would match. We'll have a
similar cement board siding as was mentioned previously but we're going to a
more complementary color instead of the yellow color that's on the Heights. The
proposed landscaping plan exceeds the zoning requirements.
President Brosnan thanked them for the impressive presentation. She said
Council would wait for Mr. Taormina's response for the appropriate course of
action rezoning vs. Zoning Board of Appeals. She said it's the Council's intent
though not to hold up the petitioner's timeline. Taormina responded stating that
after given the matter more thought he anticipates his response to indicate that it
is probably more feasible for the petitioner to proceed to the Zoning Board of
Appeals and he said he would follow-up with a memo to reflect that to the
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Council. He said he would work with the Law Department on correcting the
language of the resolution to reflect that as well.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
6. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2014-04-08-06
submitted by Consumers Energy, in connection with a proposal to demolish
existing buildings and structures and construct a new customer service center
located on the west side of Farmington Road between Plymouth Road and the
CSX railroad right-of-way (11801 Farmington Road) in the Southeast 1/4 of
Section 28.
Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented the
request to Council. This is a request to demolish an existing building and
structures and then construct a new customer service center for Consumers
Energy. This is a zoning map that shows where the property is located in
relationship to the surrounding land uses and zoning categories. The property is
highlighted in yellow. It is an interesting shaped parcel. Most of its frontage is
along Farmington Road. The site is almost 17 acres in total area. It is split-zoned.
The majority of the property is zoned C-2, General Business, and then the
balance of the site is zoned M-1, General Manufacturing. The property does have
an entrance to Plymouth Road. That's the narrow stretch extending out on the
south side of the property. It is actually a driveway that connects the site to
Plymouth Road. The C-2 portion is about 600 feet in depth and extends across
the full width of the property, which is about 790 feet along Farmington Road.
The east half of the site is where the existing service center building is located,
as well as the recently constructed Compressed Natural Gas fueling facility,
which is in the southeast corner of the property. The back half of the property
which is zoned industrial, is used primarily for material, equipment and vehicles
storage. Adjacent properties and land uses to the north and west are industrial
uses. To the east across Farmington Road is the Fountain Park Condominiums,
and then to the south are commercial uses. The proposal is to construct a new
one-story service center that would total about 63,000 square feet in gross floor
area. The existing building is centrally located on the property, a little bit closer to
Farmington Road. This is the rendered site plan showing what the site would look
like upon full completion of the construction. As illustrated on the plan, the new
building would be situated at the north end of the property. It's oriented in an east
to west direction. It's a very rectangular configured building. The positioning of
the building, in fact, is in an area of the site that is currently undeveloped and that
will allow for the operations to continue in a majority of the existing building while
the new facility is being constructed. Only a small section of the existing building
will actually have to come down during the construction of the new service
center. Upon completion of the new service center, the remaining portions of the
existing building will be completely removed and replaced with parking and storm
water management and other storage. The setbacks for this building are about
220 feet from Farmington Road and about 90 feet from the north property line.
13
The new building would contain two major components. The first being office
space and that would total about 33,600 feet, and then the second would be a
shop area which is a little less than that, about 30,000 square feet in total area.
The front portion of the building, the area closest to Farmington Road, would
house the offices as well as conference and training rooms and a wellness center
and locker rooms, whereas the back half or the westerly part of the building will
include storage, maintenance, as well as a repair garage, mechanical equipment,
tool cribs, etc. The building is almost evenly split between the offices on the front
half and the shop area to the west. This is a service center. This is where
Consumers Energy stores equipment and vehicles, and is where employees are
dispatched to service the various customers 24 hours a day. The rear portion of
the site, or the industrial zoned area, will continue to be enclosed by a six foot
high chain link fence. This shows where some of the new vehicle ports would be
placed to replace the current vehicle ports. The gray area is the paved portion of
the site, pretty much the way it exists today. The lighter gray areas are the areas
where the vehicles would be stored. These are open canopy structures. Twenty-
four trucks in total can be stored underneath these overhead canopies. They're in
a slightly different configuration and location than what currently exists, and are
being rearranged to accommodate the new plans. The plan shows 30 foot high
light poles, which is inconsistent with the lighting policy. We are recommending
that the poles be lowered to 20 feet for that portion of the site which is adjacent to
Farmington Road. The 30 feet would be adequate for the industrial zoned portion
of the property. Two storm water retention ponds would be constructed. One is
shown in the east central part of the site near Farmington Road between the new
building and the existing C.N.G. station. One of the requirements as part of the
redevelopment is that they provide storm water control in the form of these
basins. This would be one of two basins. They have to build two because of the
topography of the site. It's split between the drainage going in one direction
versus the other, so they have to build two of these basins, one near Farmington
Road and the other in the northwest corner of the property, which is an area that
is zoned industrial. In terms of parking, we estimate they would need 166 spaces.
The plan is showing 201 spaces so they comply fully with the ordinance, but
more importantly for Consumers' needs is the ability to expand parking in the
future. For those reasons, they are showing some areas along the front of the
site where some of the parking spaces will be land banked. This is an area where
they can expand parking in the future if necessary, but until the time it is needed,
they are going to keep that area as part of the greenspace on the site. In terms of
landscaping, they are showing a variety of plants and shrubs being planted
throughout the property. This shows some of the landscaping going in along the
frontage of the site. They are showing a variety of trees and shrubs. Street trees
and lawn would be installed along Farmington Road. They would provide
irrigated sod lawn areas between the public sidewalk and the driveways on
Farmington Road as opposed to the non-irrigated areas. They are essentially
seeking LEED certification for this building, and one of the things they're looking
at is drought resistant landscaping. They are not proposing to sod and irrigate
much of the lawn areas surrounding the building and some of the areas that
14
might someday be converted to parking, but to be consistent with the frontage
along Farmington Road and connecting to the PRDA, they would extend that
irrigation along the area closest to Farmington Road and plant street trees in that
particular area. Looking at the elevation plans, they are proposing primarily a
masonry constructed building on the exterior, similar materials that were used as
part of the C.N.G. facility, the containment structure that was built as part of that
project. They would also include prefinished metal panels as part of the roofing
and screening elements that are on the building. The overall height is 30 feet,
which is within the allowance in the C-2 district, and all the mechanical
equipment would be screened with 5 foot high metal screen walls. This shows
the building in several different views, but if you look at the top elevation, it really
shows what the building would be from the point closest to Farmington Road.
Christopher Laser, Project Manager, Consumers Energy, 11801 Farmington
Road, said they are looking at expanding our facility there, actually updating it.
The existing facility was built in 1960 1 believe. Over the years it has served us
well, but we've changed the departments and the people and the building. It
really has outlived its service there. This new building will be much more efficient.
As Mr. Taormina mentioned, we are looking to obtain LEED certification on this
building as we do on all our new service centers, and this is going to be the
newest LEED certification, which is Version Four just coming out right now. With
that said, I know we mentioned about some of the grass and the sprinkler
systems; however, if possible, we would provide more sprinkler systems in the
front of the building to the grass areas out front. We do want to improve the site
and the look of the facility there. The only other thing I wanted to mention is, like I
had said, we've been in the Livonia building here since 1959, 1960 time frame.
Obviously we would like to continue to stay in Livonia. It's been a good location
for us and serves the metro area. This is a gas site so we do service quite a bit of
the metro area from this. Our next nearest location is Royal Oak and we have
one in Howell. So this does serve quite a large portion of our service area.
Toy asked Laser if they could add some more trees or shrubs along Farmington
Road to improve on the proposed landscaping plan. She said that she thought
the proposed plan didn't do their new building justice and thought it could use a
little lusher landscaping along Farmington Road. Laser said they could do that.
Toy said she appreciates that.
Kritzman said they are appreciate of their investment in the property. He said he
agrees with Toy's comments. The property is a little barren and lacks some
additional landscaping. He said it is a unique property with the split zoning. He
said he thinks that the proposed building could use some more architectural
features, additional landscaping, and additional screening from the carports. He
said he is okay with the materials being used. He thinks a little more attention to
the architecture would greatly improve the look of the site.
15
Meakin said he too was excited when he heard about the redevelopment of the
property. He said when he saw the proposed plan it just didn't excite him.
Pastor suggested to the petitioner to get together with Councilmembers Toy and
Kritzman to address their concerns prior to the next Regular Meeting.
Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Regular Agenda.
Kritzman offer the resolution referring this matter to the Committee of the Whole
for its report and recommendation for the Regular Agenda.
DIRECTION: 1) APPROVING REGULAR
2) REFER TO COMMITTEE OF
THE WHOLE FOR ITS
REPORT & RECOMMENDATION
7. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2014-04-08-07
submitted by Stucky Vitale Architects, in connection with a proposal to relocate
and construct a new covered drive-thru facility of the credit union (Community
Choice) located on the east side of Farmington Road between Five Mile Road
and Roycroft Avenue (15420 Farmington Road) in the Southwest 1/4 of Section
15.
Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development Director,
presented the request to the Council. This is a request to relocate and construct
a new drive-thru facility at the Community Choice Credit Union located on the
east side of Farmington Road just south of Roycroft Avenue. This property is
zoned OS, Office Services. It has office to the south, commercial to the west, and
residential on the opposite side of Roycroft. Westmore Avenue as it extends
south onto the property has been vacated and serves as part of the existing
drive-thru facility. It will continue to serve that purpose as far as the main access
to the drive-up window operations. Currently, those operations are located at the
east end of the building, and access is provided by means of this dedicated
driveway which traverses that vacated portion of Westmore that extends south
from Roycroft for about 265 feet. Westmore north of Roycroft is the public portion
of the roadway, but then as you crossover Roycroft that street is vacated. It's part
of the property owned by Community Choice and that driveway serves the
purpose of providing access to the existing drive-up window operations which are
located on the east side of the building. Persons using the drive-up come down
Westmore, loop around and start to continue north. When they complete their
transactions, they have the option of either continuing north to Roycroft where
they could either turn right or left, or they could circle back to Farmington Road
by crossing over the parking lot. The proposal is to basically better separate the
drive-up operations from the parking lot at the credit union and they would
accomplish this by removing the existing drive-up window operations on the east
side of the building and relocating those a little bit further north on a new
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driveway that would be built between the parking lot and Westmore Avenue.
Cars using the drive-up would continue to access it from Westmore. They would
have a little bit sharper U-turn to make to turn due north and then there is a
widened staging area for vehicles to wait to be able to use one of the four ATM
machines that would be located beneath a constructed canopy, then the vehicles
would exit the site. They would still have the option of going into the parking lot
but further north on the lot as opposed to in front of the building, or they could
continue out and exit to the left to Roycroft. The construction of the canopy looks
a little different than the current facility. They would provide for stone and
composite panel columns as well as a standing seam metal roof. These are the
same materials that would be utilized in the construction of a new vestibule and
entryway which is on the north side of the building. So the project not only
involves the relocation of the drive-up operations but also some work being done
to the front of the building in the form of this new entry and vestibule. This is a
blowup of what that would appear like. The plan illustrates stone on the bottom,
the composite panels and then the standing seam metal canopy or roof element.
That would match what they are doing for the drive-up operation. Upon
completion of the new drive-up operation, they would remove the old drive-up
canopy which is situated here, and as illustrated on this plan, they would replace
it with about seven new parking spaces. They do comply fully with the parking
requirements and the setback requirements.
Toy asked Taormina to point out on the plan where Farmington Road is and
where Roycroft and Westmore were located on the plan. Taormina pointed them
out for Council. He said this would help separate the traffic utilizing the ATM. Toy
asked how traffic would exit the site. He explained the traffic flow pattern.
Kritzman asked what would happen to the existing ATM in the drive-thru, he
asked if it would be removed. The petitioner in the audience nodded yes
indicating it would be removed.
Toy asked if the night drop box at the entrance would remain. The petitioner in
the audience nodded yes indicating it would remain.
Mike Blanek, Stucky Vitale Architects, 27172 Woodward, Royal Oak, Michigan
48067. As stated, the proposal is to eliminate the existing drive-thru canopy that
is there now, which uses the pneumatic tube system, construct a new four lane,
which will be ATM, so it will be automated teller machines. There will be no tubes
or anything back and forth to the branch from that new location and then also the
new entranceway to the branch. Also, as part of the development, they are totally
remodeling the interior of the branch as well, so the whole interior is going to be
updated when you walk in to that new entranceway and the hallway space is
being redeveloped as part of the overall plan for the branch. They basically
maintain all the existing drive entrances. They have just worked inside the site
with this new drive thru. One of the challenges with this site is people would
come in off of Farmington Road and try to access the drive-thru lane from two
17
directions and it was sometimes a challenge to who's next in the queue. In order
to make the members more comfortable with the way the branch functions, this
new canopy is being proposed along with all the renovations that are being
proposed for the branch. Blanek said he knew there was one concern about the
length. They also have a bypass lane that they are providing. The current
dumpster location is at the end of that vacated drive, so they created about 16
feet of width at the point there for a garbage truck to pass through there. So it's a
generous amount of width to provide that access through there. He was ready to
answer any questions from Council.
Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
Meakin asked why the change, why now. Blanek said they wish to provide their
members' the services they desire and to update the branch to align with the look
of their other branches and services offered. Meakin asked Blanek if they will be
adding new trees, he replied yes.
Phil Cooper, Chief Operating Officer, Community Choice Credit Union, said they
are updating the look of all the branches. He said that the placing of the ATM is
to assist with visibility for security reasons. He said for those member who like
the teller interaction they do still have tellers inside. They are promoting a barrier
free atmosphere where the teller meets the customer as they walk into the
facility.
Kritzman asked Blanek if there was any changes being made to the building on
the Farmington Road side to help improved visibility. Blanek said the new glass
entrance will be visible from Farmington Road and a new sign will replace the
existing sign. Kritzman asked if here would be any improvements to the south
portion of the building along Farmington Road; Blanek replied no.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
8. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 5437 AS AMENDED:
Department of Law, re: proposing to amend Section11.03 (p) of Article XI, in
order to require a petitioner who wished to construct a building of 30,000 square
feet or more to include a statement that the future building will be attractive to
commercial tenants other than the initial occupant, to ensure that big box stores
can be quickly re-occupied rather than remain vacant.
Don Knapp, City Attorney, presented the request to Council. The Law
Department, in conjunction with the Planning Department and Building Inspection
Department, has drafted the attached ordinance amendment that, if adopted,
would apply to any new big box stores approved by the City Council. It is
intended to promote quick re-occupancy of big box stores by requiring architects
to contemplate potential subsequent tenants during the design phase. Because
the vast majority of big box stores are built to suit a particular retailer such as
18
Target, Wal-Mart, and The Home Depot, and not designed or constructed in a
manner to accommodate another retailer or for it to be converted into a multi-
tenant space, vacant big box stores are less attractive to subsequent tenants
than to the occupant that designed and built it. Additionally, large vacant
storefronts can also deteriorate into blight and affect the values of properties in
the immediate vicinity The proposed amendment to Section 11.03(p) of the
Livonia Zoning Ordinance would require a petitioner who wished to construct a
building of 30,000 square feet or more to include a statement that the future
building will be attractive to commercial tenants other than the initial occupant.
The petition would be required to identify and list as part of the initial petition
those features which make it attractive to subsequent users. Furthermore, the
statement would be revised prior to final approval to reflect and incorporate
changes made by the Planning Commission and City Council. The suggested
amendment is recommended to help ensure that, from the outset, big box stores
are designed and built to be attractive to more than one tenant so that, in the
event the event the current occupant vacates the premises, it has value to
another large retailer and can be quickly re-occupied rather than remain vacant
and develop into blight. Moreover, if the business that constructs a big box store
acknowledges that the building will have value to subsequent tenants, it will
hopefully make it less likely that big box retailers will realize dramatic reductions
in the TCV (true cash value) of newly constructed stores based upon
obsolescence. They respectfully request that Council refer this matter to the
Planning Commission. Knapp said he'd be happy to answer any questions
Council may have.
Pastor offered the approving resolution referring the proposed amendment to the
Zoning Ordinance to the Planning Commission for its Report and
Recommendation for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING - REFER PROPOSED CONSENT
AMENDMENT TO THE ZONING
ORDINANCE TO THE PLANNING
COMMISSION FOR ITS REPORT &
RECOMMENDATION
AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None.
President Brosnan wished her daughter Ellie a belated Happy 12th Birthday.
As there were no further questions or comments, President Brosnan adjourned the
Study Session at 9:46 p.m. on Monday, June 2, 2014.
DATED: June 13, 2014 TERRY A. MARECKI
CITY CLERK