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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 1995-03-02 MINUTES OF THE 13TH REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA, MICHIGAN tw The 13th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 4:00 p.m. , Thursday, March 2, 1995 in the 4th Floor Conference Room of City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Robert D. Bennett Mr. Bill Pike Mr. Mike Polsinelli Mr. Scott Grace Ms. Toni Mette Mr. Lowell Peterson Mr. Dale Summers Mr. Joe Laura Mr. Marvin Walkon Members Absent: Mr. Ed Brawn (unexcused absence) Mr. Adelard Raby (unexcused absence) Mr. Conrad Carson (excused absence) Mr. Stan Anderson (excused absence) Others Present: Mrs. Jean Garvey, Secretary Mr. Richard Niedieck, Livonia Economic Development Office Mr. Michael McGee, City Council Mr. Bill Poppenger, Planning Department Chairman Pike informed the board that Ed Brawn would be resigning from the PRDA and would be sending a letter to the PRDA to that effect shortly. The first item on the agenda was the adoption of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on February 16, 1995. On a motion by Mr. Sumers, seconded by Mr. Laura and unanimously approved, it was #95-11 RESOLVED that, the minutes of the 12th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on February 16, 1995 are approved. Mr. Pike, Chairman, declared the resolution adopted. Chairman Pike acknowledged that Maureen Miller Brosnan was the new member of the City Council and felt it would be a good idea to invite her to a meeting of the PRDA to make her aware of the authority. The members agreed this would be a good idea. Chairman Pike reviewed the various letters sent to the City Council from the PRDA, one stating the PRDA was in favor of the expansion of Archie's Restaurant and the other two sending the Development Plan and Tax Increment Plan to the City Council for the purpose of holding a public hearing and then for further action by the City Council. Mr. Peterson noted that Eastside Mario's was before the Planning Commission on February 28th asking to add an outdoor patio dining area to their existing restaurant. He informed the members that the Planning Commission had tabled this tue matter and felt the PRD should write a letter in support of the patio dining area as long as it fell within the ordinance requirements. On a motion by Mr. Peterson, seconded by Mr. Summers and unanimously approved, it was #95-12 RESOLVED that, the Plymouth Road Development Authority supports the request by Fastside Mario's to add an outdoor patio dining area to their existing restaurant at 31630 Plymouth Road and strongly urges the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals to approve this petition as long as all requirements of the zoning ordinance are met. Mr. Pike, Chairman, declared the resolution adopted. Mr. Niedieck passed out an article from the Economic Development Quarterly entitled "Reshaping the Local Economy through a Revolving Loan Fund Program in an Entrepreneurial City". He requested the members read through this so they could put it on the agenda for the next meeting for the purpose of discussion. Mr. Laura brought up the subject of the request that was passed by the PRD at their last meeting and sent to the City Council to amend the Bylaws eliminating the requirement for a representative of the Livonia Public Schools to be a member of the PRD. He stated it was his understanding this item had been tabled until he could get back and speak to his board about it. He stated he was not acting as Joe Laura on this board but was acting as a member of the Board of Education. If there was a personality conflict, someone else from the School Board could take his place. He stated he has always felt the PRD was a good concept and that this board was a positive group. He stated the school board felt it was a legal requirement that the board be represented but in talking to Mike McGee, they were told there were two ways of doing this. Therefore, his board felt it is not worth the effort to fight the City and they would drop out if that was the desire of the City. He stated the matter had gotten into the City Council hands and the Observer picked it up. He apologized for that. He did not want to make it more than it is. The Mayor answered that Mr. Laura had not asked for a tabling resolution, and that it had nothing to do with Joe Laura himself. It came about because of Proposal A, which removed school districts as participants in TIFA's. He felt it was unfortunate that the newspapers had not talked to him or anyone on the board. He felt it was not a proposal that has anything to do with being anti Board of Education just a change in circumstances, and would open up an opportunity to name another business person to the board. The Mayor ended by saying the City Council has to act by ordinance, and that takes about two to three months. In the interim period Joe Laura is the designee. The next item on the agenda was a discussion regarding specific projects for the development. The subject of traffic lights was brought up and the board felt they would like to have someone from Wayne County come to a PRDA meeting to see if the timing of traffic lights would be something that would fall within the authority of the PRDA. Allen Richardson was one member of Wayne County that was mentioned as a possible person to invite to a meeting. Cie -2- Ms. Mette felt they needed an overall theme before they did anything else. They discussed possible themes for different sections of Plymouth Road rather than possibly one theme for the whole area. Suggestions of themes were as follows: (11, Use - (example - auto emphasis) Ethnic Color (Encourage colors that would blend together) Architectural Entertainment & Social Area possibly next to George Burns Theater (Botiques, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, etc to encourage people to walk down Plymouth Road) Need hub to attract others - dictated by who will come - can't plan it Encourage uniform landscaping (landscape walls with the same brick and same color with landscaping to go with street lights) Spruce up parks and add benches Auto Malls Restaurants The board then discussed negative things to work on such as: Ordinance enforcement Sidewalks Lighting Signs Inability to walk along Plymouth Road Positive items were: Tone of brick Benches Awnings Landscaping Restaurants Upscale Shopping (Botiques, coffee shops) -3- The board agreed that street lighting would be their first target. The next item on the agenda was an update on the George Burns Theater. Mr. McGee stated there had been discussions with the Kirco Company in Troy. They would purchase the property from Mr. George with development of the vacant parcel to the east to be used for commercial types of uses that would take advantage of the theater. Hiroo would like to see the theater operated more than in the past. Last time Center Stage had only 13 shows from October 1992 to March 1993. For that reason the theater was empty a lot of the time. Kirco would like to have a community based theme so it is open more nights. They wanted to see if the City would be interested. They are to come back to the City with something more definitive. They are aware of the PRDA and they found that appealing and hope the PRDA will be supportive. They talked about having a facility where a serious promoter would bring in maybe 20 shows a year and that would mean they are looking for community organizations to fill up the theater the rest of the year. Mayor Bennett stated a meeting regarding the theater scheduled with Joe Nederlander and Marvin Walkon had been cancelled because of the ice storm and hopefully would be rescheduled in the near future. Mayor Bennett had some literature on the League of Historic American Theatre. It is an organization that works with communities to promote and preserve theaters. It was the Mayor's opinion, and also the opinion of Mike McGee, that the board should join this group. It was stated they could join for less than $300. On a motion duly made by Mr. Walkon, seconded by Mr. Peterson and unanimously approved, it was L #95-13 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development authority does hereby agree to join the League of Historic American Theatre for the period of one year. Mr. Pike, Chairman, declared the resolution adopted. Ms. Mette volunteered to drive up and down Plymouth Road to see if there is any range of color that could be considered as a theme for Plymouth Road and would bring her ideas back to the next meeting. On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 13th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority of Livonia on March 2, 1995 was adjourned at 6:05 p.m. Ly ::Z-1✓ /417-14/1/ Jean Garvey, Secre L '- -4-