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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 2000-07-20 MINUTES OF THE 115th REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH tie ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 115th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 3:05 PM, Thursday, July 20, 2000 in the 4th Floor Conference Room at City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Kirksey Mr. Adelard Raby Mr. Stan Anderson Mr. Lowell Peterson Mr. Dennis Kujawa Mr. Duane Wolfgang Mr. Marvin Walkon Mr. Scott Grace Mr. Rod Crider Members Absent: Mr. Michael Polsinelli(Excused) Mr. Jerry Wordhouse (Excused) Mr. Bill Pike (Excused) Mrs. Toni Mette(Excused) tre Others Present: Mr. John Nagy, Director Mrs. JoAnn Marshall, Beckett &Raeder Mr. Scott Reinholt, Beckett&Raeder Dr. Robert Auth, Rosedale Gardens Homeowners Association Mr. Ralph Williams Kurt Kuban, Livonia Observer Mrs. Robby Williams, Acting Secretary 1. Roll was called. 2. Adoption of 114th Regular Meeting Minutes: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, it was #2000-86 RESOLVED, that the minutes of the 114th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on June 15, 2000 are approved. Mr. Alelard Raby,Acting Vice Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 3. Comments from Acting Vice Chairman: No comments. (le 1 4. Finance Report- Mr. Raby gave a brief summary of Mr. Slater's Financial Report as of June 30, 2000, for the Special Revenue Fund. Total assets of the fund are $5,527,201.87. Special Revenue Fund Disbursements for June 2000 are $124,789.07. 5. Beckett & Raeder/Construction Report: JoAnn Marshall gave a status report on current projects concerning grounds maintenance and sod repairs, irrigation installation and the brick walls that are almost complete at the four City Lots. Phase IV project was awarded to Basile for the Farmington and Middlebelt locations. MDOT is scheduled to have this area completed by the end of July. There were concerns expressed from PRDA board members about the condition of the sod in some areas, which did not look good. Mrs. Marshall responded that salt damage, weeds, fertilization and disease were issues they were working with. Business owners are continuing with their own lawn maintenance programs which they shouldn't be doing. Curb work going on at the entrance to the City has delayed the plantings that were proposed. The hours the sprinklers are operating is a concern to some of the businesses. Mrs. Marshall will double check with the maintenance contractor regarding the timing schedule of the sprinkling system. There was discussion regarding the 90° angle of the driveways and possibly flaring the driveways so trucks did not run over the corners of the grass and damage the sod. Mrs. Marshall reported that this is something that Beckett&Raeder has changed by increasing the radii. Repair work is being done on the sod. Mr. Nagy reported that the water main has been pressure tested by the Detroit (00 Water Board, that it passed all the tests and that they will backfill the holes and remove the orange barrels. Scott Reinholt, Beckett&Raeder: Reported meeting with Basile regarding the current project. MDOT is working in that area currently. Basile is ready to start at the Farmington intersection. Easements have not been received for both of the gas stations, Mobile and Speedway. Phase V drawings were presented to the board members detailing areas of improvement regarding driveways,plantings, walls and fences. Some businesses need more sprucing up than others. Some sidewalks need repair and in some areas where there are no sidewalks, they will be installed. Some sidewalk areas need to be realigned in order to coordinate them with the fences. The status of the easement letters for Phase V is that they are coming in. Beckett&Raeder may need some help from PRDA board members with some of the businesses that are slow to respond. Detroit Edison is working up estimates for Beckett&Raeder to remove poles. Committee Reports: Public Relations- Stan Anderson- gave article to Community Resources for the City Newsletter. It was suggested that items of interest may be more in line with what the future happenings are for Plymouth Road instead of what has already been done. Vacant Buildings - Scott Grace - nothing to report. 2 Director's Report: John Nagy - We have had four meetings with the purchaser of the Leone Foods facility. Leone Foods is located at the northwest corner of Sears Drive and Plymouth Road. The purchaser is Furniture Xpress. They are currently located on the south side of Middlebelt Road in the Harrison area. They are interested in acquiring the 12 acres of the Leone property, 130,000 sq. ft. of showroom and warehouse. They plan on using it in its entirety and utilizing it in part for a showroom and principally for a warehouse. It is a non-conforming building. We suggested that the former Salem Lumber store should come down and be restructured. One of the issues we are dealing with is the garage doors. They want to use the building as a distribution center for all their stores. They want to have room for expansion. They want to go onto the internet and sell furniture on the internet. They are stating that they will be the third largest operation of that kind. There are some issues, zoning, demolition and the Salem Lumber sign issue that need to be discussed. We know they are strongly interested in this property. The cost to demolish that building would be approximately$25,000 to $30,000 and the PRDA position is to contribute up to 50% of that cost. We would prefer they use Sears Drive for their truck traffic. There is a lot of room for their expansion. They will be reconstructing the outside of the building using dryvit. We would prefer they go through the whole process by coming in with a site plan for approval instead of moving in and starting their operation. Mayor Kirksey stated that Salem Lumber was approximately 8,000 sq. ft. and that the building in the back is about 7,000 sq. ft. Mr.Nagy: At the last meeting their was discussion regarding the Sheldon Shopping Center in regards to Bogart's Billiards and the White Castle restaurant. The PRDA was asked to reconsider their resolution and support for these two businesses. Three of us, Butch Raby, Toni Mette and I went to the office of the owners of the shopping center, down town at Riverside Place. We met there and they gave us a copy of the plan for the redevelopment of the property. They indicated they have several holdings. Right now they appear to be stressed from a capitol standpoint to carry out the redevelopment of that property. The White Castle proposal was going to be an expansion of their retail space. They did indicate they would carry out their plans. They seem very serious that they want to develop the property but they would like to hold out for the White Castle. There was general discussion concerning the White Castle restaurant. Mr. Raby saw a new White Castle in Monroe that looked like the one that was proposed for the Shelden Center. He thought it would be a reasonable addition since it is on the corridor already. Mr. Anderson suggested that the Rosedale Garden Association meet with the owners of the shopping center and try to work something out. Dr. Auth passed this recommendation along to the Association but felt that there were some people in the Association who just don't like White Castle. There was also general discussion about the process PRDA goes through when giving their support to a new business proposal. 3 Polling of Board Members: Lowell Peterson-Dolby has a new sign up. It looks very nice. Scott Grace - Encourage businesses to let us know what we can help them with. Marvin Walkon-Announced names of his recently born twins, Alexander and Loren. Everyone is doing fine. - - (Congratulations to Marvin&family!) Mayor Kirksey- Commercial Lawnmower-their place of business really looks nice. Stan Anderson- Parks&Recreation has some new signs. They look very nice. John Nagy- We have been working to get some permanent monument signs up. We are having difficulty finding vendors who want to come in with a quality product. 6. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 115th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority of Livonia on July 20, 2000 was adjourned at 4:10 PM. (hriv The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on August 3, 2000, in the Fourth Floor Conference Room of City Hall. 2-21. ciyytlliams, Acting Secretary C 4