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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2010-05-17 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD MAY 17, 2010 Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. Present: Maureen Brosnan, Conrad Schwartz, John Pastor, Brian Meakin, Joe Laura, Laura Toy and James McCann. Absent: None. Elected and appointed officials present: Mayor Jack Kirksey; Don Knapp, City Attorney; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Mark Taormina, City Planner; and Terry Marecki, City Clerk. President McCann announced Agenda Item #10 has been withdrawn by Mayor Kirksey. Pastor said Livonia has lost one of its pioneers, a friend of his Frank Hand who was President of Livonia Rotary Club and President of the Livonia Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the Planning Commission. His thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Terry, his son Brian, and his daughters Leslie, Joyce and Carol. Pastor congratulated his son Ryan who graduated last weekend from Spring Arbor College with a degree in Exercise Sports Management. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. NEW BUSINESS 1. BLOCK PARTY: Patricia Holcomb, re: to be held Sunday, July 4, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Cavell, between Grantland and Capitol, with no rain date requested. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2. BLOCK PARTY: Doug Kieselbach, re: to be held Saturday, July 17, 2010, from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Minton, between Merriman and Sunset, with no rain date requested. Brosnan offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2 3. BLOCK PARTY: Nancy Klein, re: to be held Sunday, June 27, 2010, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Myrna Court, Woodring Court, Hampshire Road and Westmore Court, with no rain date requested. Nancy Klein, 33373 Myrna Court, was present to answer any questions. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. BLOCK PARTY: Doris Nowicki, re: to be held Sunday, June 27, 2010, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Woodring Drive, Broadmoor Court and Shadyside Drive, with no rain date requested. Doris Nowicki, 33185 Broadmoor, was present to answer any questions. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5. BLOCK PARTY: Jeff Shingler, re: to be held Saturday, June 19, 2010, from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Grandon, between Harrison and Brentwood, with a rain date of June 20, 2010 requested. Jeff Shingler, 28652 Grandon, was present to answer any questions. Brosnan offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 6. REQUEST TO WAIVE CITY'S NOISE ORDINANCE: Kim Robinson, re. to allow a low volume sound system to be used at Rotary Park Pavilion 1 and 2 in connection with an annual meeting for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan on September 17, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Kim Robinson was present on behalf of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to answer any questions. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 7. REQUEST FROM THE MICHIGAN LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE REQUEST FROM STAR SUPERMARKET, INC. TO ADD SPACE TO INCLUDE 13973 MIDDLEBELT TO A 2009 SDD AND SDM 3 LICENSED BUSINESS: Division of Police, re: for the business located at 13971 Middlebelt, Livonia, MI 48154. Kelly Denha, 13971 Middlebelt, said this request is for the expansion of their store. He said operations will be the same; it will just be a bigger store with wider aisles and more products. Laura through the Chair to Don Knapp, City Attorney, asked if increasing the space requires them to increase their Liquor License. Knapp said he was unsure of the minimum amount of square feet which would require this approval, he said they are adding approximately 300 square feet and said that definitely would require this approval. Toy complimented the petitioner on the improvements he has done to his business. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 8. REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME FOR INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE #2008-527: F. William Luethge, Tax Counsel for Ford Motor Company, re: to complete the capacity expansion of the 6-speed automatic transmission (6R80) at the Livonia Transmission Plant located at 36200 Plymouth Road, Livonia, MI 48150. (CR 483-08) Mark Taormina, Planning Director, said in 2008 Council approved a tax abatement to Ford Motor Company for its investment of over $120,000,000.00 at its Livonia Transmission Plant; this was personal property of machinery and equipment related to the expansion of their manufacturing lines. They specified a completion time on the application of September 2010. They will have made over 60% of that investment by that completion date. There is still approximately $40,000,000.00 worth of equipment needed which has been delayed and they expect have the remaining improvement completed by December 2011. They are asking for an amendment to that resolution to reflect the new completion date. Kathleen McIntyre was present on behalf of Ford Motor Company added that the additional equipment will add flexibility to their operations and allow for production of both front wheel drive and rear wheel drive vehicles as opposed to being limited to rear wheel drive only in the past. Toy asked the petitioner if this improvement would result in any additional jobs in the City. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. 4 DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 9. REAPPOINTMENT OF GERALD TAYLOR TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION: Office of the Mayor, re: for a three-year term, which shall expire on June 9, 2013. Mayor Kirksey said it is with great pride and confidence he brings this reappointment of Gerald Taylor to the Planning Commission. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 10. REQUEST TO RENEW AGREEMENT WITH THE TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION (TIA) FOR THE YEAR 2010: Office of the Mayor, re: to provide traffic consulting, management and planning assistance and to help improve traffic safety in Livonia. President McCann said the Mayor has requested this item be withdrawn. There were no objections by Council to withdraw the request. 11. PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (PRDA) ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2009: Michael T. Slater, Treasurer, re: as submitted pursuant to Public Act 197 of 1975. Michael Slater, Director of Finance, stated this is their annual report required by State law for anyone that has a downtown development authority. It provides certain pieces of information that the State requires. They are submitting this to Council for a Receive and File and also to submit a report to the State with the exact same information. This is for Fiscal Year 2009. The PRDA had total revenue of $1,024,287.00, and expenditures of $1,570,666.00. There is about $5.2 million of debt remaining. Brosnan asked Slater about the line item his report titled H. Number of Jobs Created, that indicates this number is unknown. She asked why it is unknown and if it is required information. Slater responded by stating the PRDA does not have the tools to track that information. He said that is one of the pieces of information the State asks for and they have been reporting that information as unknown annually since 1996 and have never been asked by the State to provide additional information for that line item. Meakin asked Slater what the plan of action is to correct expenditures from being higher than the revenue, especially with revenues declining even further. Slater responded by stating the PRDA has gone into an allowed term maintenance mode which means the only dollars they are spending are those that are required to be spent (i.e. debt, street lighting bills, grass cutting bills) nothing discretionary 5 only mandatory items. Slater said beyond that if there are further reductions at some point, unfortunately, this may become a responsibility of the General Fund. At the direction of the Chair, this item was received and filed for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 12. REQUEST FOR ESTABLISHMENT AND USE OF "RECEIVING BOARDS" FOR ELECTIONS: Office of the City Clerk, re: for establishment of one (1) or more receiving boards to administer any upcoming election scheduled in the jurisdiction. (CR 170-09) Terry Marecki, City Clerk, said this is an annual request for establishing and using receiving boards as a measure to keep any upcoming election from being recountable. She said it's a housekeeping measure. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 13. AWARD OF CONTRACT: Public Service Division, re: for a telecommunication system upgrade, a three (3) year maintenance agreement and data network upgrades for various City facilities from budgeted funds. Brian Wilson, Superintendent of Public Service, said Plante Moran solicited upgrades for the City's telecommunication system; North American Communications Resource (NACR) was the low compliant bidder at $191,404.23 for the upgrade. The three-year maintenance cost would average $30,002.91 per year as opposed to the current annual maintenance cost which is $58,805.00 per year and would be expected to increase. The proposed upgrade will result in reduced maintenance costs over the next three years with a total minimum savings of $86,406.27. A net investment of $105,000.00 will address the issues of being maxed out with our current equipment, having our current equipment no longer supported in the future, bring us up to the latest technology with an IP telephony system and leverage our previous telephone system investment in 1997 and 2002 that totaled $730,475.71 with years of extended service. He said with the telecommunication system upgrade proposal all three of the City's telephone switches and voice mail system will be upgraded and new IP telephone sets will be put in place in the new Courthouse and throughout various other City Departments. In addition, a redundant switch will be placed in the Police Station in the event of a failure within the main switch at City Hall. Having IP telephony utilizing the City's existing data network will allow for additional abilities such as integrated voice mail, faxing and e-mail; multiple call centers with stacking abilities during peak calling times; better caller ID functioning; ability to trace a malicious call; and more efficient integration with E-911. It is also 6 recommended an additional $15,000 be authorized for data network upgrades to accommodate the upgrade. Wilson said Joe Caballero with Plante Moran is available to answer questions. Brosnan asked if the portion of the upgrade for the Courthouse is coming out of the General Fund. Mike Slater, Director of Finance, said the funds for the portion of this project for the Courthouse upgrade are coming out of the Court Budget and not the General Fund. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 14. WAIVER PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2010-04-02-07 submitted by B.A.C. Holdings requesting approval to operate a full service restaurant (Five Guys Burgers and Fries) on property located within Wonderland Village on the south side of Plymouth Road, between Middlebelt Road and Milburn Avenue, (29491 Plymouth Road), in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 35. Mark Taormina, City Planner, said this is a request to operate a full service restaurant (Five Guys Burgers and Fries) at Wonderland Village Shopping Center. This unit will be located in what is referred to as retail space CD, this unit faces Plymouth Road and is approximately 3,000 square feet. They will provide seating for 88 customers. He said the contractor is here to present additional information. There will be no exterior modifications to the building with the exception of a conforming sign; all work will be on the interior. Merrick Farber was present on behalf of B.A.C. Holdings. He said they are hoping to bring Five Guys Burgers and Fries to Livonia; they plan to bring approximately 40 new restaurants to Michigan. He said they plan to hire about 45-50 people for the 2 month project of construction and opening the restaurant. Laura asked the petitioner the hours of operation. Farber replied usually they are from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Laura asked if they would be serving breakfast and Farber replied no. Laura asked if they were international, Farber replied not at the present time. Laura asked how many restaurants are there in the chain. Farber responded stating they recently opened restaurant# 1,072. Toy asked the petitioner where their other restaurants are located. Farber responded by stating there is one in Southfield on Greenfield Road just south of 10 Mile Road, one at 12 Mile and Telegraph, one in Monroe by Lakeside Mall, one in Rochester on Adams Road, one in Troy on Coolidge and one in Greektown in Detroit. Toy asked the petitioner how they compare to other burger chains and what makes them successful. Farber said they are a little more upscale than McDonald's, he said their portions are generous. He said their restaurants throughout the country look identical. 7 President McCann asked the petitioner if they served alcohol at any of their locations. Farber responded by stating only their Greektown location. President McCann asked if they intended to serve alcohol at this location in Livonia. Farber responded, no. Laura offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. As there were no further questions or comments, Council President McCann adjourned the Study Session at 8:35 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17, 2010. DATED: May 20, 2010 TERRY A. MARECKI CITY CLERK