Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 1999-10-07 MINUTES OF THE 100th REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 100th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 3:10 p.m., Thursday, October 7, 1999 In the 4th Floor Conference Room of City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Jack E. Kirksey Mr. Michael Polsinelli, Chairman Mr. Raby, Vice Chairman Mr. Stan Anderson Mr. Scott Grace Mr. Lowell Peterson Mr. Bill Pike Mr. Jerry Wordhouse* Members Absent: Mr. Dennis Kujawa Mr. Duane Wolfgang Mr. Marvin Walkon Ms. Toni Mette Mr. Rod Crider Others Present : Mr. Ralph Williams, Citizen Mr. Allen Nowak, Planner IV Mr. Jeff Bryant, Economic Development Manager Ms. Susan Annibal, Secretary 1. Roll was called. 2. Adoption of the September 16, 1999 Minutes: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, it was #99-51 RESOLVED that the Minutes of the 98th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on September 16, 1999 are approved. Mr. Polsinelli, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 3. Comments from Chairman: Mr. Nowak appeared on behalf of Mr. Mark Taormina, the City of Livonia Planning Director, who was scheduled to appear on behalf of Mr. John Nagy, the Director of the P.R.D.A. A letter was received from the Wilson Barn stating interest in some space relative to new development on Plymouth Road. A letter has been forwarded by John Nagy thanking Mr. William (Bill) Faris for his gracious hospitality and and food served from LaShish. The Holiday Parade was moving right along; the next Parade committee meeting will be held on October 14th at 10:00 a.m. The parade last year cost approximately $10,000 for the entire event. There was a contribution of$10,000 from Wards for that year and future years, as well as a contribution from Livonia Mall. P.R.D.A. reimbursed the City for Police overtime, which was less than anticipated. Corporate sponsors last year were Wonderland, a cash contributor, and the Observer. Possibly another corporate sponsor could be considered. This 1 . year, Wonderland was paying for everything taking place inside the mall, as well as funding the cost for the Fife and Drum Corps. Wonderland Mall was picking up part of the advertising costs. 4. Budget Report — Mike Slater: As the submitted data confirmed, there is a balance of $2.5 million dollars remaining as of the end of August. P.R.D.A. had spent $722,000.00 during that month. An exception to the reported expenses was voiced with regard to an awning repair disbursement — check 41058 for $1,625.00 for the Crestwood Lounge; an earlier understanding was that Peter Basile was supposed to pay for that awning. A second disbursement was questioned pertained to Check 41059 payable to KAS Electric, Inc. for $565.82. Mr. Nagy would be consulted on these two matters upon his return from vacation. Dollars to be generated by the Peregrine property was addressed; originally there was to be a tenant going in there and adding space. Mr. Slater didn't think that Peregrine/Delphi would be a contributor to our tax base next year. We might be more interested in looking at a developer for Plymouth and Merriman. That might be of interest to the Chamber of Commerce. The new lights had been energized all the way to Merriman Road. 5. Beckett & Raeder — Construction Report: Board members talked about the update received by FAX on October 6th, including such topics as the drainage problem, scheduled to begin at Mette's Printery in a few days and that the awaited pipe had come in. Updates on Phases II and III projects were read, and Phase IV drawings had been submitted to MDOT and Wayne County for review. 6. Play It Again Sports/Livonia Crosswinds Shopping Center: Mr. Al Nowak stated the company's intent to occupy the former Park Appliance space to sell both new and used sporting kre goods; secondhand stores are allowed under waiver use. Planning Commission is recommending approval with the condition that there be no outdoor display of merchandise. Conditions include that this waiver use be for this petitioner only and not run with the land and that only 50% of the floor space be used for used merchandise. With regard to the upgrading of the building, the petitioner was not required to do any, although putting up a new conforming wall sign was a condition. Consensus was to support the concept with waiver use only to this petitioner and 50% new and 50% used merchandise. Play It Again Sports does a decent job on the inside of their stores — neat, clean, etc. Also noted was the fact that some things like ice skates had a big turnover in families — with the children growing out of them so quickly; used skates could be purchased as used for about 1/3 the original cost. Another store on Plymouth Road that sells used merchandise was described as sometimes looking trashy inside, the number of people frequenting the facility and inside displays. The proposed Play It Again unit would contain 7,500 sq. ft.; MC Sports has 11,000 sq. ft. and Dunham's has 20,000 to 25,000 sq. ft. This was a win-win situation. The shopping center is in compliance with the Zoning Ordinance. On a motion by Mr. Pike, seconded by Mr. Anderson, and unanimously approved, it was #99-52 RESOLVED that the Plymouth Road Development Authority supports the proposed plan by Summit Sports, Inc. d/b/a Play It Again Sports to locate and operate a new and used sporting goods store within an existing building on property located on the southeast corner of Plymouth and Middlebelt Roads in the N.W. ''A of Section 36 with the added conditions that the used merchandise shall be limited to no more than 50% of the floor space and that this support is for this applicant only. Mr. Polsinelli,Chairman,declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 2 • 7. Reports from Committees: Ihrie Construction Committee: Plans are submitted for Phases III IV and V. A meeting was held on the matter of redoing the pavement and associated problems between the sidewalk and the curb. The curbing is being taken care of by the County for the State. Trees along the corner, especially in front of the library and in front of Daly's restaurant across the street, would be removed during Phase III. The lights were only about 6 feet off the road; the trees were in about the same spot. The lighting was designed to effect a certain amount of light on that street. It was proposed that for the next meeting the street lights and trees be observed Public Relations: The Newsletter was coming along nicely. Fisher Creative Services (FCS) had moved their offices elsewhere in Livonia, still in the same general area. Mr. Hugh Gallagher was the new editor of the Livonia Observer. It has been a while since we've had a press person present at a P.R.D.A. meeting. It was, perhaps, appropriate for Mr. Nagy could invite Mr. Gallagher to a meeting to give him a better feel for the community. . Perhaps in November a meeting could be scheduled for that observation of the trees and lighting; and, maybe a stop at Fonte D'Amore could follow. Vacant Buildings: There was no updated list. Autoworks was now Harmony House. Furniture Direct had a new tenant. House of Maple is off the list; Commercial Lawnmower was coming in. The Knoppow's building had been split in two with half in use and half for lease. HiFi is off the vacancy list. The Showcase Video building is a potential space for a floor covering business. There would be communication with Mr. Nagy regarding Cockrum's and the N.E. corner of Plymouth and Merriman upon his return from vacation. Mention was made of C & C Insurance, kor which site was planned to be used by a drug store, which deal fell through. It is potentially back on the market and available to us to buy it. Previously, something else was scheduled to open up there now. A deal with Walgreen fell through, leaving it more affordable to us. (Mr. Nagy was to go back to see about getting new prices.) The Dragon Garden restaurant was for sale but still operating; customers were parking on both sides of the building, although it wasn't known what parking requirements were for what business. It should be looked into so that consideration could be given to whether there is anything P.R.D.A. could do. Perhaps we could take part of this by purchase order. It is$300.000.00 strictly for the land, leased on a month-to-month basis. Inspection: Nothing to report. Development Assistance: The Committee had reached a consensus and is recommending that financial assistance be issued in the form of a grant only for those properties where there is clear evidence of blighted conditions, substandard or non-complying structures, obsolescence or other evidence of non-compliance with City of Livonia ordinances. Financial assistance could also be provided in the form of a loan for the improvement of a property by remodeling or exterior rehabilitation. Such financial assistance shall be directed toward the reimbursement of those development costs as referenced, where the removal of those conditions have a direct bearing on future improvements of the property and/or buildings in relation to general aesthetics of the Plymouth Road Corridor. Such assistance shall further be directed to promote the redevelopment of buildings, structures and related site facilities in support of these buildings and structures and not intended to be used for site environmental re-mediation. Interest on the loan is 5% for a period not to exceed ten (10) years. Interest and principal earned on the loan will go (iv into a revolving loan fund to further promote the objectives of this program. In its program, Ypsilanti had capped the loan amount and outlined the scope of the work, thereby qualifying them for the loan program. This information was offered as a preliminary submission, with a 3 formal submission given at a later time. Mr. Kujawa had supplied a brief presentation on this matter early on in the process with regard to assistance offered in other communities, including some of the criteria and financing. What were specific limits? Assistance could go back retroactively to any improvement being done. It would also include Bill Faris' project going back three years — a $5,000.00 grant to rehabilitate. Would a person get a grant or a loan if he was working on the structure and wanted to have it torn down? We had only qualify for demolition, as in the past. The Board would define it as a blighted condition. For instance, Wards had a 30 year old building, but it isn't substandard, but it is blighted. Mr. Grace would support financial assistance for demolition, adding that this report be forwarded to those Board members who were not present for their comments. 8. Director's Report: MDOT had approved Bill Brown's two driveways, one which was two-way and two which were one-way. Ward's has filed for a landscape easement. Wonderland had sent a document to Mr. Nagy for this easement. A copy of a letter of appreciation was sent to Bill Faris and noted. The Quick Oil Change has been removed. The right-turn arrow for Merriman Road has been approved by the City Engineer, who is now sending the item to MDOT and Wayne County. Channel 8 has agreed to be a corporate sponsor (Holiday Parade). There had been a meeting on bus shelters. We were waiting for a report on number of stops and their locations agreed upon. Jeff Bryant suggested that we not utilize 34 shelters and had ridden the bus route up and down. We have four major locations for shelters and some locations for benches. Mr. Nagy was going to check with SMART to find out how many stops there were in all, which it was understood only went down to Levan Road. The route went by Laurel Park and up to Eight Mile and Haggerty Roads. Mr. Bryant reported that Peregrine has applied for demolition assistance from P.R.D.A. They are getting assistance through the Wayne County Brownfield Redevelopment. Ashley also has come to us for Tax Increment Financing, but we aren't going to do any TIFA. There's a real potential for that building to become a showcase unit; a tenant could put in a $1 million façade. The Salem Lumber building was addressed, with the suggestion that it be offered as an industrial property. The current price tag was an exorbitant $465,000 per acre, which is out of line with M-1 zoning. P.R.D.A. meeting dates for the year 2000 were provided to Board members. Election of new officers for the P.R.D.A. would be held the first week in November. NOTE: It was reported that Bill Faris had undergone an eight-way heart bypass recently but had returned home now. 9. Polling of Board Members: None. 10. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 100th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on October 7, 1999 was adjourned at 4:30 p.m. The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on October 21, 1999 in the 4th Floor Conference Room of City Hall. 41100 Susan Annibal, Secretary