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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2015-03-31 •MINUTES OF THE 1,069TH PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA On Tuesday, March 31, 2015, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia held its 1,069th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting in the Livonia City Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan. Mr. Lee Morrow, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Members present: Scott P. Bahr Kathleen McIntyre R. Lee Morrow Carol A. Smiley Gerald Taylor Ian Wilshaw Members absent: None Mr. Mark Taormina, Planning Director, and Ms. Margie Watson, Program Supervisor, were also present. Chairman Morrow informed the audience that if a petition on tonight's agenda involves a rezoning request, this Commission makes a recommendation to the City Council who, in turn, will hold its own public hearing and make the final determination as to whether a petition is approved or denied. The Planning Commission holds the only public hearing on a request for preliminary plat and/or vacating petition. The Commission's recommendation is forwarded to the City Council for the final determination as to whether a plat is accepted or rejected. If a petition requesting a waiver of use or site plan approval is denied tonight, the petitioner has ten days in which to appeal the decision, in writing, to the City Council. Resolutions adopted by the City Planning Commission become effective seven (7) days after the date of adoption. The Planning Commission and the professional staff have reviewed each of these petitions upon their filing. The staff has furnished the Commission with both approving and denying resolutions, which the Commission may, or may not, use depending on the outcome of the proceedings tonight. ITEM #1 PETITION 2015-03-02-05 GOODYEAR Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2015-03- 02-05 submitted by Lormax Stern requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(m) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to construct and operate an auto repair facility (Goodyear) at 12661 Middlebelt Road, located on the west side of Middlebelt Road between the CSX Railroad right-of-way and Schoolcraft Road in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 26. March 31, 2015 26764 Mr. Taormina: This is a request to construct a new auto repair facility on what is the last remaining outparcel located adjacent to the Menards store which is on the west side of Middlebelt Road just north of the CSX Railroad right-of-way and south of Industrial Road. The land area involved in this request is 1.58 acres. The parcel measures approximately 265 feet in width and has an average depth of 250 feet. The zoning map shows that this parcel is zoned C-2, General Business, as are all the surrounding parcels. Immediately adjacent to this site to the north is a multi- tenant retail center that includes a drive-up Starbucks restaurant. To the south is a recently constructed Goodwill store. To the west is a Menards home improvement store, and then looking east across Middlebelt Road is the site of Millennium Park and Meijer. The land area involved in this request was originally part of a larger outparcel that was approved for retail and was part of the development to the north. This is the original approved site plan. The area that we're considering this evening is the south half of the original outparcel. North is pointed to the right on this drawing. The building that you see on the right hand side of the drawing has been constructed, and that is the three-tenant building that was referred to on the original site plan as Retail Building A. This is what we're looking at today. Superimposed you'll see on the right hand side the same building that was on the previous plan, which was constructed, but the area shaded on the left is the modification to that originally approved site plan. Going back to this previous plan, the building that was part of Retail Building B was about 12,240 square feet in area. As you can see, it could have been subdivided into six tenant spaces. On the other hand, the north building, identified on the plans as Retail Building A, which was completed last fall, is about 7,000 square feet. So it's the smaller of the two buildings. It is 100 percent occupied and its tenants are Starbucks, AT&T and the Vitamin Shoppe. The proposed Goodyear store would be one-story in height and about 6,065 square feet in total area. The interior space would be divided into three major components, including a showroom and waiting area at the front of the store, a service area and a storage room. Going back to the proposed site plan, the customer and employee parking is shown along the south and east sides of the building, and vehicular circulation would be provided completely around the facility. Between the proposed auto center and Retail Building #2, the plans show an area that would be maintained as open space. Basically, this is a non-buildable area that is a requirement of Menards in order to protect the visibility of its store from certain points along Middlebelt Road. I'll let the applicants speak more to this area. It would remain as open space. How this area would be March 31, 2015 26765 landscaped and maintained was a topic of discussion at our study meeting last week. This area is about a third of an acre in total size. Access would be provided via three new drive approaches. The parcel not have direct access to Middlebelt Road, but instead access would come from the driveway which is to west of this site. The driveway extends all the way from Industrial Road south to the Goodwill store where it terminates. It also has linkages with the adjoining retail building parcel to the north, which is consistent with the original approved plan. In fact, the access for this site is virtually identical to the access points that were previously approved. In terms of parking, the ordinance requirements are based on the number of workstations and employees in the facility. The proposed Goodyear store would have seven workstations and 12 employees. It would thus require 26 total parking spaces and the site plan provides for a total of 30, so there is a slight excess, and is in full compliance with the ordinance. The revised landscape plan is new this evening. We saw a different plan at the study meeting last week. What is different about this is they've substituted many of the trees for those that are part of the City's approved species list, primarily Gingkos and Swamp White Oaks along the perimeter of the site. On the east, south and west corners of the building are foundation plantings along the building. The biggest change is what involves the open space area. They have identified on the plan in the southeast corner an area that would include kind of an arched walkway connecting the driveways. There would be some benches and perimeter plantings along that area. The balance of the open space area would be a wildflower mix planting bed, as well as a shredded hardwood mulch. This is a concept that they're proposing to change from the previous plan which basically showed this area just being sod. The area identified adjacent to the benches is irrigated sod. So there are a couple different ground covers here. There is what would be a mowed lawn condition with most of the area in mulch, but then the center area would contain a wildflower mix. That typically is allowed to grow naturally and probably would obtain a height of about three or four feet when completed. In terms of the building's exterior, these are the elevation plans. I believe you'll see some material samples this evening, but the exterior finish on the building would be brick on all four sides. You can also see where the overhead doors would be located, both on the north and the south sides of the building. Over the main entranceway would be a structural canopy, and some prefinished metal in terms of the coping along the top of the building as well as the roof screen. The overall height of the building at its highest point is about 22'-8". Then lastly with respect to signage, it now only March 31, 2015 26766 shows a single conforming sign along the east side of the building, which is what the ordinance would allow. The previous plan showed three additional signs, one directly above the entryway, a smaller Goodyear identification sign, and one on the north side of the building which I feel would be appropriate for this location because as you drive to the site southbound on that drive, that would provide the visibility that I think you really need for this store. It's also something we're in discussions with the Goodwill store. They have a temporary sign on that side of their building. It would probably be appropriate to have permanent signs both on the north side of this building as well as the Goodwill building to the south. With that Mr. Chairman, I will read out the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Yes, please. Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated March 11, 2015, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced planning petition. We have no objections to the proposed site development at this time. The legal description provided with the petition appears to be correct and is acceptable to this office. The existing parcel is assigned an address of #12661 Middlebelt Road which should be used in conjunction with this petition. The parcel is currently serviced by public water main and sanitary sewer, as well as a private storm sewer system that were designed for the future development of this parcel. The existing utilities should not be impacted by the addition of the proposed development. Prior to construction, the owner will need to submit drawings to the Engineering Department to obtain permits for the utility lead connections, as well as soil erosion and sedimentation control. The owner will also need to submit plans to the Wayne County DPS to obtain a permit for the proposed water service excavation within the Middlebelt Road right-of-way." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated March 20, 2015, which reads as follows: "This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a request to construct and operate an auto repair facility on property located at the above referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal with the following stipulations: Suppression of the building and suppression for tire storage will be addressed during the plan review." The letter is signed by Daniel Lee, Fire Marshal. The third letter is from the Division of Police, dated March 11, 2015, which reads as follows: "I have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Joseph Boitos, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the Inspection Department, dated March 26, 2015, which reads as follows: March 31, 2015 26767 "Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced petition has been reviewed. The following is noted: (1) The gates on the dumpster enclosure shall be steel or may be as approved. (2) Parking spaces shall be 10' wide and 20' deep and double striped. (3) Signage has not been reviewed at this time. This Department has no further objections to this Petition." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Thank you. Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Seeing none, we can go directly to the petitioner. We will need your name and address for the record please. Daniel Stern, Lormax Stern, 38500 Woodward, Suite 200, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48304. Good evening. Mr. Morrow: Thank you. You've heard the presentation thus far. Is there anything you want to add to it? Mr. Stern: Sure. Thank you. Again, I want to apologize. We had every intention of building the second building next to this parcel of 12,000 square feet. Menards built their building and their operations people came, and I think that sometimes when you look at a site plan and then you actually come and visit something, the two are different. What we are dealing with here is a situation where the road goes down very quickly and the sight lines to the Menards store do disappear rather quickly as you travel south. We had built the first building, and I think it came out great and I think it was a great joint effort. And go to start to build the second building and the Menards folks said, we aren't going to allow this building. In fact, there was a time when they didn't want any building at all on the site. This is obviously about seven months down the road and we've expended a lot of dollars. The end result was a few months later, we had talked them into a building that was under half the size, which the Goodyear is just under half of what we had before. If you look at the orientation of the Goodyear building, it's perpendicular to the road and not parallel to the road so it has about 25 percent of the frontage increasing the sightlines to the Menards. This is something that didn't sink in until now - the trip generation for the Goodyear store versus the retail center. The retail center would have had several hundred trips a day. The building next door with the Starbucks, just the Starbucks alone probably has 300 or 400 a day. So the Goodyear stats, and I have a Goodyear representative here, as well as our architect. Hopefully between the three of us, we can answer any questions that come out. Goodyear will have 20 to 25 customers March 31, 2015 26768 a day, and then their employees. So on this site, we took a trip generation that probably was going to be several hundred and took it down to about 30 a day. As far as the building goes, the one thing I want to say about the building, and this is something we did at Livonia Mall. I think that this Goodyear building will be one of the most beautiful Goodyear buildings anywhere in the country. And I think a good parallel is, right now if you guys haven't seen it, we're under construction on building a Dollar Tree at Livonia Mall. When people think of Dollar Tree, they think of a white building and green awnings and green stripes all over. I think that Livonia is going to have the nicest Dollar Tree anywhere. The building is beautiful. We did the same thing with Goodyear, and I've got to give the Goodyear people credit because we told them that if they wanted to locate this store in this location in the City of Livonia, they had to build a really upscale brick building with more natural materials and upgraded materials, and I think that is an excellent result and something that fits into the area very well. Obviously, this site doesn't have any surrounding residential. It's got surrounding businesses with the Starbucks building to the north and the Goodwill building to the south. We think it fits in real well. The last thing I want to touch on is something that we spent a ton of time on between the study session last time, and that's the open space. It's a tough one. What do you do that will be (a) sustainable, (2) look good, not have any type of pedestrian or vehicular issues, keep away the geese, and we came up with this. I hope you like it because we spent a lot of time and we like it. If you don't mind, let me spend just two minutes talking about it. Mr. Morrow: Take whatever time you need. Mr. Stern: When we first looked at it, we thought of having something that would be open and useable to both the Goodyear building and to the Starbucks building, and possibly the Menards building. When we further looked at it, it unfortunately doesn't work because the Starbucks drive-thru is right on the other side, and if it looks like something that's open to them, people will want to go over there, and there isn't a fix because that's already built to basically stop traffic with their stacking and everything else. Issue number one was, okay, we want it to look good and we want people to be able to sit, but we don't want to make it oriented towards the Starbucks because people will be there. The second thing is that we thought for Goodyear and a part of the area, it would be nice to have a very small area, where if it's a nice day and you're going to spend an hour and a half, it would be nice to be able to sit outside. So we got an area that does have just a very small area of grass that bordered with March 31, 2015 26769 some higher trees and some benches that we do think will be utilized by customers in that area. Then the balance, which was the toughest part, we came up with this wildflower mix which gets vertical. Aesthetically, it looks great and it gets vertical so you don't have the geese problem. From a maintenance standpoint, admittedly there's almost no maintenance that needs to take place with it. Then around that area we put mulch which actually contrasts color-wise very good. I mean I can picture it. I think that will look beautiful, but that's what we spent most of our time between the last meeting and this meeting. We think it looks great, and obviously we hope you guys do too. With that, I have our architect and Goodyear here. We can answer any questions that anybody has. Mr. Morrow: Well, Mr. Stern, we will see if the Commission has any questions of you. Any questions of Mr. Stern? Mr. Bahr: I really just have one question because I had a whole list of questions in between Mark's presentation and yours. With the changes made from last week, you pretty much addressed every one of them. The mechanical screening I saw was addressed. The landscaping obviously addressed, the signage you already addressed. I would say I would agree if you chose to take this to the ZBA. I think it would make sense to have an additional sign, in this case on the north side of the building, but you've met the ordinance. No problem there. And the landscaping, I agree. I'm really, really impressed with the thought that you guys put into this. A number of the things you mentioned were things that have been going through my mind. I hadn't even thought about the Starbucks angle and the safety concern. I think that's really good thinking. My one question remaining is, is this store moving from the Seven Mile location or is this in addition to the Seven Mile and Middlebelt location? Mr. Stern: I'll let the Goodyear representative answer, but my understanding is they're opening this store and they're not closing the other store, and then I think that down the road you always make an assessment based on other stores' performance, what other ones do. Because I asked the question, but I don't know. Adam Pasateri, 21396 John Drive, Macomb, Michigan 48044. So the intent for Goodyear is to add this location. We're not looking to close the other one. Obviously, as a store's performance goes, but we're not looking to close or relocate. So this is to add. March 31, 2015 26770 Mr. Bahr: Thanks. Like I said, that was really the only question I had. I just want to compliment you again. You guys were dealt kind of a tough hand here and I think it's a really reasonable and really good solution to the situation that you were given. So, thanks. Mr. Morrow: As long as you're up there, because this is a waiver use, could you .give us an idea of exactly what type of business you're doing within those walls? Mr. Pasateri: So basically, what the Goodyear auto service center provides is automotive repair and tire sales. That's pretty much predominately what the core of our business is. So automotive repair. Mr. Morrow: Is that just regular maintenance type of repairs? Any heavy repair? Mr. Pasateri: It's more like, really it's a little of everything. So if somebody comes in and they've got any type of major mechanical repair, we would fix that issue for them. If they needed preventative maintenance, we would provide that service or any other tire- related type of services. Mr. Morrow: But basically you don't get into collision type work? Mr. Pasateri: No. We do not. Absolutely not. Mr. Morrow: Any questions from the Commission? Ms. Smiley Yes. What kind of hours do you operate? Mr. Pasateri: The hours of operation would be from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Ms. Smiley And there's no bump shop, no painting, none of that? Mr. Pasateri: No. We do not do any type of body repair or any of that stuff. No collision. Nothing. Ms. Smiley And how do you feel about your signage? Mr. Pasateri: The proposal for the signage? Fantastic. I've got another location that's going up in Royal Oak. The materials and stuff they're putting in these buildings, they are beautiful looking buildings. I'm pleased with the proposed signage. March 31, 2015 26771 Ms. Smiley: Okay. Thank you. Ms. McIntyre. We're delighted that we're going to have the best looking Goodyear store in Livonia, we hope. A question about your bulk material storage, your fluids and things, both the storage for the new bulk materials and then the waste. What's the storage system for that? Mr. Pasateri: Well, there's a tire storage area and then there's also another storage area for like parts and chemicals. We also have storage containers that we use. We use safety clean. All hazardous materials are contained by containers that are provided by them and hauled away by them, which they're licensed scrappers. For tire storage, if that's a question, like used tires, those are confined in a separate area in the building away from the elements. Ms. McIntyre: So all the bulk material storage, both new and waste and tire storage, is all interior? Mr. Pasateri: Everything is inside. The only thing that would be outside is obviously a dumpster which we would confine. Ms. McIntyre: Great. Thank you. Mr. Morrow: Anything else? Mr. Taormina: It may be a question for Mr. Stern. Mr. Morrow: You can step up there. Mr. Taormina: It was what the ownership arrangement of the property will be and maintenance obligations. Mr. Stern I'm sorry Mark. Mr. Taormina: What the ownership arrangement of this site would be. Is this going to be Goodyear-owned? Mr. Stern: They will be a tenant and we will be the landlord. Mr. Taormina: So all maintenance of the landscape areas will be the obligation of the tenant? Mr. Stern: The obligations will be, the landlord to take care of the common areas and the roof and the outer walls. The interior of the store March 31, 2015 26772 will be the tenant's responsibility that he was speaking to. But it's a typical landlord/tenant situation with a building lease and not a ground lease. So we actually have to build the building and be responsible for the common areas, the four walls and the roof. Mr. Taormina: That was it, Mr. Chair. It was really related to that open area. First of all, I see probably a little bit of change in the design. I suspect that in the end the amount of mulch will be less than what is shown here in the wildflower planting bed, a little larger than that because it's quite a lot of mulch to maintain and there's a lot of weeds that would grow in that area. So I'd to work with them on the final design to have some kind of border between the wildflower area and where the mulch is and well define that area and what is going to be left natural and how it's maintained, but I do like the landscape revisions. Mr. Morrow: So you have had the chance to review it? Mr. Taormina: Yes, and I think as long as it's subject to a little change, some improvements to the plan. Mr. Morrow: If we can do that, we don't have to have a call back on it at all. You can work that out, Mr. Stern? Mr. Taormina: That's correct. The prepared resolution does treat that as a callback, so that will have to be modified during the reading. Mr. Morrow: Okay. Will that come back to us? Mr. Taormina: No. Well, that will be up to you, but . . . Mr. Morrow: As long as it's just a minor modification, there's no need for that. Mr. Taormina: Correct. Ms. McIntyre: I just wanted to thank Mr. Stern and his colleagues for addressing, I think, every concern. To your good point earlier, we really did have a laundry list of concerns, and I don't think they were at all intended to be petty or nitty gritty, but every single one was addressed. And Mark, thank you for your clarification for some additional review, but thank you very much for listening to every concern that was presented last week in the study meeting. I can see that this is going to be very, very nice and address concerns, and it will be a very nice place for the Goodyear customers to go and sit on a nice day. So thank you. March 31, 2015 26773 Mr. Stern: We think so too. Thank you. Ms. Smiley Are those your samples. Mr. Stern: Yes. Ms. Smiley Can we take a look at them? You might as well show them to everyone. Beau Wynn, Wynn Design Architects, 1644 Ford Avenue, Wyandotte Michigan 48192. So down below, what you can see at the very top of those brick samples, I don't know if the camera is getting on those or if you can see them from there. So basically, a brick façade of two different values. Per the rendering, the darker value being the beltline toward the grade and the balance of the building being this lighter value. I didn't bring samples of glass and storefront, I apologize. I think everybody pretty much knows what that is all about. But the coping, there's a couple different copings we haven't evaluated yet, to which we might go an orange or a darker brown to cap the top and then the HVAC, the mechanical roof screening on top of the roof, would be whatever we pick to match that coping. The overhead garage doors would be the silver color, a clear anodized aluminum, if you will and some of the man doors around the perimeter of the buildings would then be painted to match the adjacent brick or coping colors. That's really it in a nutshell. Ms. Smiley Okay. And you said that's regular brick? Mr. Wynn: Correct. It's a little bit larger size for the scale of that building. Correct. Ms. Smiley: And then the picture we saw, is that of a building you already built? Mr. Wynn: We did not. That building is in Virginia, but that is a Goodyear building. That one is actually split face block. The brick that you see before you that we're holding is actually an upgrade from the split face block. I think you require that here. Ms. Smiley: Thank you very much Mr. Wilshaw: Just more comment to sort of echo what you've already heard. Mr. Stern has done a nice job being dealt a bit of a difficult hand by Menards to make the site work in a way that preserves their visibility plus allows him to build on this site. He's not getting March 31, 2015 26774 exactly what he wanted, but he is putting on a building that's very attractive that I think is very complimentary to the other uses in that area. I think Goodyear is an excellent fit for that area. I think it will be a nice destination for people to get automotive work done and then also use the other facilities that are around there - go over to the Starbucks or go shop at Menards. I think that works out really well. The landscaping was a difficult item to try to come up with a resolution. I think they've come up with an excellent solution. It may need a little bit of tweaking as we've heard, but I think the concept overall is very good and I just appreciate the fact that Mr. Stern and his company have continued to build attractive buildings in the city and have been good corporate partners in this community. Mr. Stern: Thank you. Mr. Taylor: Just one question, Mr. Chairman. The area that's unbuildable like you're talking about, who takes care of that all the time? Mr. Stern: The landlord of the facility. So it's still one parcel and it's still the responsibility of us as landlord to take care of that parcel no different than the perimeter landscaping and sod where the trees are. Essentially, as you guys are probably familiar with him, Karl Zarbo's job is to get somebody as part of their landscape contract to not only mow and trim trees, but also to take care of that area there too. That parcel is separate from the other parcel and it will be the responsibility of us, as landlord of the Goodyear parcel, to take care of the center plus the perimeter. Mr. Taylor: Upstairs at the study meeting, we talked about the possibility of a fountain in there. Have you looked at that at all? Menards may want to contribute to something like that for the beauty of it in the area and call it the Livonia Menards fountain or something like that. Mr. Stern: That's where we started is with a fountain, and the problem we came up with is that if we have something . . . because it would have to be in the middle. I'm very concerned that if that area becomes a focal point for the building next store, we really might end up in a situation where somebody gets hurt from Starbucks. Starbucks has a lot customers, and I'll admit openly a fountain is more inviting to spend time there, but I think because of what's already been developed, we want to make something inviting for people to sit at but only if they are to the south. Every time we did a fountain, we constantly thought we would have issues with people coming across from the north, and that's when it kind of March 31, 2015 26775 went by the wayside and we came up with the wildflowers, which actually, when we're done with it, it almost screens between that and the other area. It screens it so people that just go to Starbucks that have never been to Goodyear don't really know we have this nice little area on the other side. But it was deliberate and it was a safety issue. Mr. Taylor: Thank you. Mr. Morrow: Anyone else? We have no further questions. I'm going to go to the audience. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or against the granting of this petition? Christopher Martin, 12275 Inkster Road, Livonia, Michigan 48150. Thank you, Lee. I'm familiar with the area over there. I spoke on behalf of the Goodwill store. The fountain, I agree with the architect, it would be almost an attractive nuisance. People would be congregating there. So I think that was a poor idea to put a fountain in there, but everything else looks great. So I'm in favor of it. Mr. Morrow: Thank you, Mr. Martin. Anyone else? Seeing no one coming forward, I'm going to close the public hearing and request a motion. On a motion by McIntyre, seconded by Wilshaw, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-13-2015 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on March 31, 2015, on Petition 2015-03-02-05 submitted by Lormax Stern requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(m) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to construct and operate an auto repair facility (Goodyear) at 12661 Middlebelt Road, located on the west side of Middlebelt Road between the CSX Railroad right-of-way and Schoolcraft Road in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 26, which property is zoned C-2, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2015-03-02-05 be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the Site Plan marked Sheet No. C-1 dated March 30, 2015, prepared by K2 Land Consultants, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 2. That appropriate recordable legal instrumentation, such as a cross access agreement, that gives notice and outlines March 31, 2015 26776 the terms of how the subject property would share parking and access with abutting property(s), be supplied to the Inspection Department at the time a building permit is applied for; 3. That the Landscape Planting Plan dated March 31, 2015, as revised, prepared by J. Eppink Partners, Inc. is hereby approved and shall be adhered to, except that any modifications shall be submitted for approval to the Planning Department within sixty (60) days following approval of this petition by the City Council; 4. That the Exterior Building Elevation Plan marked Sheet No. PFP/PE-1 dated March 30, 2015, as revised, prepared by Wynn Design Inc. and Medium Cool Architecture, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 5. That all rooftop mechanical equipment shall be concealed from public view on all sides by screening that shall be of a compatible character, material and color to other exterior materials on the building; 6. That the three walls of the trash dumpster area(s) shall be constructed out of building materials that shall complement that of the buildings, and the enclosure gates shall be of solid panel steel construction or durable, long-lasting solid panel fiberglass and maintained, and when not in use closed at all times; 7. That all light fixtures shall not exceed twenty feet (20') in height and shall be aimed and shielded so as to minimize stray light trespassing across property lines and glaring into adjacent roadways; 8. That only conforming signage is approved with this petition, and any additional signage shall be separately submitted for review and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals; 9. That no LED lightband or exposed neon shall be permitted on this site including, but not limited to, the building or around the windows; 10. No outside storage, placement or display of merchandise shall be permitted at any time on this site; March 31, 2015 26777 11. That there shall be no outdoor storage of disabled or inoperative equipment and vehicles, scrap material, debris or other similar items; 12. That the specific plan referenced in this approving resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department at the time of application for building permits, occupancy permits and zoning compliance permits; and 13. Pursuant to Section 19.10 of Ordinance #543, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Livonia, this approval is valid for a period of ONE YEAR ONLY from the date of approval by City Council, and unless a building permit is obtained, this approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said period. FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 19.05 of Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended. Mr. Morrow: Is there any discussion? Mr. Taormina: I will need to ask the petitioner the date of the revised plans because I think the March 6 date referenced might be inaccurate. What is the date of the revised elevation plan and site plan, Mr. Wynn? Mr. Wynn: 3/30 I believe. Mr. Taormina: So we will modify the dates to reflect the latest plans. Mr. Morrow: That's for the site plan? Mr. Taormina: Yes. And then we'll also do that with the landscape plan and the other details coming back to the Planning Department. Mr. Morrow: Yes. Any other discussion? Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. Thank you for bringing Goodyear to Livonia in that location. Mr. Stern: Thank you for your time tonight. March 31, 2015 26778 ITEM #2 PETITION 2015-03-08-03 BZ's (KICKERS) Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2015- 03-08-03 submitted by Design+AE Inc. requesting approval of all plans required by Section 18.58 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, in connection with a proposal to construct a new outdoor dining patio and renovate the exterior of the existing full service restaurant (BZ's, formerly Kickers All American Grill) at 36071 Plymouth Road, located on the south side of Plymouth Road between Levan Road and Yale Avenue in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 32. Mr. Taormina: This is a request to construct a new outdoor dining patio and renovate the exterior of an existing full service restaurant. This is the site of the former Kickers located on Plymouth Road. The zoning is a combination of C-2, General Business, and Parking. The building and most of the parking is located on the C-2 zoned portion of the property. There is an area along the rear of the property that is exclusively used for parking purposes. This property is about 1.8 acres in overall area. It has 215 feet of frontage on Plymouth Road and a parcel depth of roughly 370 feet. The property is under new ownership. The main restaurant and the bar will be now be called BZ's Twisted American Cuisine, while Joey's comedy club will remain in operation on the second floor. Immediately to the east of this site is a car wash and quick oil change facility. Located to the west is LA Plaza shopping center, and to the south are single-family homes fronting along a street called Elmira Avenue. Looking back at the history, on more than one occasion the restaurant was upgraded and expanded. In 1995, at a time when the restaurant operated as Stoyan's Seafood and Steakhouse, approvals were granted for an expansion that included an outdoor patio off the rear of the building. A few years later the patio was enclosed for more indoor dining, and in June of 2004, Kickers was approved to construct an open-air patio located on the north side of the building facing Plymouth Road. This patio still exists. It measures about 1,200 square feet in size. It's about 15 feet in width by 80 feet and extends across the full width of the front of the building. Patio seating was limited to 28 seats. The new owners now would like to close this patio and construct a new patio in the southeast corner of the building. The area where the new patio would go presently contains landscaping as well as an HVAC unit. The proposed patio is about half the size of what presently exists along the front of the building. It would be about 660 square feet, and would extend from the restaurant's main entrance to the southerly edge of the building. The main entrance into the restaurant is labeled on the plan as "vestibule" March 31, 2015 26779 to the right and faces east. An ornamental fence would be used to enclose the patio area. Access to the patio area would be from within the building provided by means of three new garage- style overhead doors that would be installed along the east side of the building. This plan really doesn't identify precisely where the garage doors would be located, but if you look where it says "new patio," the two areas along the edge of the building represent two of those overhead doors, and then on the left hand side around that corner is the third door. If we move to the next plan, you can get a better sense of where those garage door openings would be to the new patio. The Elevation drawing shows what that side of the building would look like with the three new doors added. In terms of overall seating, the previous approval limits the inside seating capacity to 275. This includes 163 seats in the lower level for the restaurant and bar areas and 112 seats upstairs for Joey's Comedy Club. The seating plan for the new outdoor patio shows a total of 28 seats, which is the same as what was approved for the other patio. Thus, the combined total seating for the restaurant, comedy club and outdoor patio would equal 303. Parking for the restaurant is based on one parking space for each two interior seats plus one parking space for each three outdoor seats and then one space for each employee. When you add that up, the total is 177 required parking spaces. The site plan currently shows 148 parking spaces, resulting in a deficiency of 29 spaces. The previous owners addressed this deficiency with a variance that was contingent on there being a lease agreement with the owners of the adjacent commercial property, LA Plaza, for the non-exclusive use of approximately 46 parking spaces. It is our understanding that the new owner of the restaurant is working towards putting into place a similar agreement but we have not had any verification that this has been accomplished. In the absence of a new parking agreement, the variance would be nullified, and the Petitioner will need to either obtain a new variance for deficiency in parking from Zoning Board of Appeals or, alternatively, reduce the number of seats by roughly 58. Lastly, in terms of signage, they are really just replacing the existing signage on the building with one exception. They are showing a new illuminated sign above the entryway. Since the existing signage is in excess of what the ordinance allows and they are actually going to increase the number of signs, this is something that would have to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals for their approval. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Yes, please. March 31, 2015 26780 Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated March 13, 2015, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced planning petition. We have no objections to the proposed site addition at this time. The legal description provided with the petition appears to be correct and is acceptable to this office. The existing parcel is assigned an address of #36071 Plymouth Road which should be used in conjunction with this petition. The existing building is currently serviced by public utilities which should not be impacted by the proposed addition. If the addition will require the relocation of the existing service leads, the owner will need to provide plans to this department to determine if Engineering Department permits will be required." The letter is signed by David Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated March 20, 2015, which reads as follows: "This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a request to construct a new outdoor dining patio and renovate the exterior of the existing full service restaurant on property located at the above referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal with the following stipulations: (1) Parking near FDC will be reviewed during plan review. (2) Emergency exiting through kitchen will be reviewed during plan review. (3) New outdoor patio exiting will be reviewed during plan review." The letter is signed by Daniel Lee, Fire Marshal. The third letter is from the Division of Police, dated March 12, 2015, which reads as follows: "I have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Joseph Boitos, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the Inspection Department, dated March 26, 2015, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced petition has been reviewed. The following is noted: (1) The parking lot shall be repaired and restriped as necessary. Parking spaces shall be 10' wide and 20' deep and double striped. (2) The site is deficient in the number of required parking spaces. A variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals or a cross parking agreement with the neighboring property would be required. This Department has no further objections to this Petition." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Morrow: Any questions of the Planning Director? Mr. Bahr: Through the Chair to Mark. What is the FDC that the Fire Marshal is referring to? March 31, 2015 26781 Mr. Taormina: That is the Fire Department Connection. It is not identified on this plan, but essentially it is the connection that is located in the area where the new patio will be constructed. We had a meeting with the Fire Marshal to determine how best to maintain access to that Fire Department Connection. You can see the FDC on this plan. More than likely, directly across from the FDC, will be an emergency access gate provided for ready access to that connection. That's something that has been discussed with the Fire Marshal, and I think we have a good understanding of how to handle that. The details just are not reflected on this plan. Mr. Bahr: Thanks. Ms. Smiley That was my question. I didn't know what an FDC was either. Mr. Morrow: Well, I didn't either. Mr. Bahr: Then we're in great company. Mr. Wilshaw: Quick question for the staff, through the Chair. Mark, in the notes it indicates that the Council Resolution in 1995, when they originally got an outdoor patio, restricted the hours of operation to no later than 10:00 p.m. Was that just the outdoor patio or was that the business in its entirety? Mr. Taormina: That only applied to the outdoor patio. If you go back to the site plan, the original patio used to be where the projection is on the south end of the building. So it was a larger patio area. It was limited in its seating but it was something that was reviewed back in 1995. It did include those restrictions, not only the hours of operation, but that no music was allowed to be played on the outdoor patio directly. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Morrow: Any other questions? Seeing none, we will go to the petitioner. We will need your name and address for the record please. Larry Kiec, Dynamic Building Corporation, 51 Penwood Place, Suite 200, Warrendale, Pennsylvania 15086. Essentially what we're presenting here is pretty much a cosmetic interior renovation. The only thing on the exterior would be the signage, and we're presenting the garage doors that lead out to the exterior patio. As far as the parking requirements we talked about, we are pursuing on getting an agreement with the neighboring property. In fact, they are looking at an 87 parking stall agreement which would exceed what we do need there. In that regards too, I March 31, 2015 26782 know last week some of you asked what BZ's looked like, and quickly in a nutshell, I mean, BZ's is a newer concept. We worked with the ownership group in Pittsburgh. They have a very successful restaurant right next to PNC Park, the baseball stadium. We just started construction on one in Lombard, Michigan, and shortly to be in Vernon Hills, I'm sorry, in the Chicago area, Lombard, and in Vernon Hills and then their fourth location would be here in Livonia. As you may know, the ownership group is here. He is from the area. What I did do, I have some photos. So what you're looking at there, it's a concept that we're carrying through a lot of those architectural elements. You'll see the garage doors. There's a few pictures of the exterior entrances with the garage doors and the outdoor seating. A lot of those elements that you do see there are going to be carried throughout all his restaurants. It's a very unique space. I think it would work well in the location we're proposing here. With the garage doors, obviously those are seasonal, and the patio that we are proposing, the patio out front on Plymouth will be abandoned for various reasons, especially the noise, but the location. But the reason we're providing the patio where it is located is because it's going to off really the main area where people will be visiting in the bar/restaurant area. So during the nice days, hopefully you have more here than I do in Pittsburgh, we'll be using those doors. They will be open during their evening hours and even afternoon hours. I know we had questions about some of the noise and concerns there as well. If there are, I have the owner here too. There could be a certain time that those are shut down. We provided those doors in a location facing the car wash and not the residential area. We did drive by the residential area. There is a six foot precast screen wall that is sitting two feet above the road where the residential street is there that's lined with evergreen trees. So there's a pretty good screening there already. The bands will not be outside on the patio. They will actually be set back into the building. So noise should not be an issue here at this location. Mr. Morrow: Any questions? Ms. Smiley Are you a sports bar or family? Mr. Kiec: It's family. It's really not sports. They do have a lot of televisions. It's not dedicated as a sports bar. I can attest to what it is in Pittsburgh. It's welcome to all ages. I mean families come down there. During the baseball season, obviously you're going to get all the people coming to the game there. But this location is different. The same way as we're doing in Chicago. We're not tied into a major sports facility right there. So it is family. The March 31, 2015 26783 two in Chicago are actually going into a mall anchor-type set up. They're actually in a regional mall. So it's not like it's a sports bar. It will be a family setting. Ms. Smiley Okay. Good. Thank you. And then the garage thing —there's a place that's called The Garage in Northville that's got the doors that go up on the nice days. That seems to be a new hip kind of thing. Mr. Kiec: It is. We did it in Pittsburgh and they really like that. It's actually one of the items that we're branding within BZ's. So all the locations do have that feature. Ms. Smiley Okay. And what's the twisted about? Mr. Kiec: We don't have the chef here. Mr. Morrow: We'll need your name and address, sir. Ms. Smiley: It's beyond pretzels, I assume. Bob Zdravkovski, BZ Restaurant Group, 48781 West Road, Wixom, MI 48723. Yes, yes. The name is Bob Zdravkovski, hence the initial ZB's. I figure it will be a lot easier to put that on a building than my full name. We like to go by Twisted American Cuisine. The reason we say that is, we like to pair ingredients of food that you normally wouldn't think go well together, but end up phenomenal in all aspects. I'll give you one of our . . . you guys can hear me, right? Mr. Wilshaw: Oh, yes. Mr. Zdravkovski: I'm talking low. I'm sure all you guys are familiar with the typical slider, you know, with the hamburger. One of our best selling sliders in our Pittsburgh location, which obviously the menu is going to come here, is what we call our Duck slider. What we do is, on the bottom piece of the bread, we do a cream cheese base spread, shredded duck confit on top of that, then with the raspberry marmalade that goes over the duck confit. So when you take a bite into it, typically you probably would say, ahh, I don't know. It's a little too risque for me, but it just makes your mouth — I guess for a lack of better terms — Fourth of July because you get the sweet and the savory and the saltiness from the duck. One of our best selling hamburgers is our Turducken burger. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the typical Turducken. Basically, that's when you take a turkey, take a duck, you put the duck — or excuse me — take a turkey, take March 31, 2015 26784 the chicken, put it in the turkey, put the duck in the chicken. Our version of that is, we use 100 percent natural dark meat turkey meat for the patty, shredded duck confit on top of that, an over- medium egg for the chicken, a little bit of sage aioli sauce. When you squeeze into it, the egg yolk runs into duck and to the turkey. It's phenomenal. Now, along with that, we have Truffle Fries. A lot of people usually take French fried, sprinkle truffle oil over them. We actually deep fry our fries in truffle oil with seasonings. So you're basically getting — I hate to the use the word "gourmet" as everyone right now is a foody-type person thanks to our cable television, but you're getting a gourmet meal basically for a great price. On the back of our shirts that our staff wears, I like to put in fun slogans here and there, and one of the ones that I take pride in is "food doesn't have to be pretentious," which means, you know, yeah, you can eat duck and still watch a baseball game or enjoy yourself at a special event. For example, our Duck Confit and Truffle Fries and a Diet Coke is approximately $10.00 to no more than $11.00 and it's not something you're going to spend $20.00 on. Now, on top of that with different themes as when it comes to Twisted American Cuisine, two things we do take pride in is the two things you will not see in any of my kitchens, is a freezer and/or a microwave. Everything is freshly prepared on a daily basis. It doesn't help on the food costs but I'd rather serve a great meal, a fresh meal, and have my customers happy. Ms. Smiley: Good commercial. Thank you. Mr. Morrow: Yes. Mr. Taylor: Mr. Chairman, this gentleman has never been to Bates. I can tell that. Mr. Zdravkovski: Oh, no. Contrary to that, sir. I grew up in Novi. I actually worked across the street at the Ford Plant for ten years. Bates is probably my top two hamburger joints. Ms. McIntyre: Mr. Chair, thank you. A couple of things. If you can sell Duck Confit in Pittsburgh, Steel City home of Primanti Brothers with a pound of meat and French fries on top of it, I think it will go over well there. We talked about this, I think at the study session. The other thing is, it's really unfair to have this discussion for any of us who have not yet had dinner. But I think it will be really nice to have a non-chain restaurant in Livonia, especially in that part of town. We've had a lot of nice development on Plymouth Road and a lot of additional restaurants and some old favorites — Buddy's, you know. There are some good restaurants, but it March 31, 2015 26785 will be really nice to have a place where you can take your family, and as you said, enjoy a meal like that, have the TV on, but have a comfortable environment and good food. So I'm excited. And that site across from the Ford Plant, to have some new development and traffic there, I think will be great. It looks like a fantastic concept, and thank you again. We asked last week if you could bring photos and menus and you did. That helps me a lot really understand what this is and get very excited about it. So thank you. Mr. Zdravkovski: Thank you, guys. Mr. Taylor: I was just curious. I know what BZ is, but what is the twisted? Mr. Zdravkovski: The twisted part is like I was saying earlier. The twisted combination of ingredients we use that you normally wouldn't think would work well together, but are actually very tasty. Now, that could be anything from the Duck Confit to our Turducken burger all the way down to . . . I'll give you an example, there's so many in my head right now. Yeah, twisted American food. We're taking your everyday American classics and putting a twist on them. Mr. Morrow: A little twist. Mr. Zdravkovski: A little twist. Now, obviously, you can get your regular hamburger which after, I'm not going to brag, you eat one of my hamburgers, it's not going to be the same, but we like to cater to young professionals starting at 25, 24 and all the way up to 65, 70, along with their families. A sports bar I am not. You know when something rubs you the wrong way? It's one of those things, because automatically people think sports bar. They have a certain set of visions and expectations in their mind. Mr. Taylor: I knew there had to be something behind the name. That's why I wanted to know what it was. Thank you. Mr. Zdravkovski: Twisted is a new trend. Ms. Smiley: Thank you for including people up to 65 as young professionals. I appreciate it. Mr. Morrow: You didn't go far enough. Mr. Zdravkovski: I apologize, sir. I said, 85. Ma'am, I'm sorry. March 31, 2015 26786 Mr. Morrow: Those pictures were very helpful, particularly the concept of the garage-type door. They fit in very nicely there. I wasn't really sure what we were going to get, but it blends very well. It's a good concept. Mr. Zdravkovski: Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: I didn't expect when you came up here to start talking about Confits and aioli. You just don't look the type, but obviously you watched one of those Gordon Ramsay shows or something. Mr. Zdravkovski: I like to eat. Mr. Wilshaw: That's great. My only question is, the patio area that you have in front of the restaurant which you're not going to use anymore, do you have any thought of what you're going to do with that in the future, because it does seem like it's sort of unused space or wasted space? Mr. Zdravkovski: To be honest, the first time I was myself physically on that patio, the patio is beautiful. It has beautiful stained concrete. The awning needs a little work, don't get me wrong, but the one thing that I noticed right away is the noise level from Plymouth Road to where, I know me personally, I wouldn't be comfortable sitting on that patio with all that noise. My thoughts. Somehow, at a later date, enclose it. It doesn't have to be a structural enclosure, you know, just a brainstorm thing. I can bring all green bushes, the ones that get six foot, seven foot tall, and kind of block it in and do rope lights underneath the awning and possibly do like dessert only out there or something like that. It should be used• but the way it sits right now, it's not really effective. It's too loud out there. Mr. Wilshaw: As the resolution is probably going to be presented tonight, you'll be restricted to not be able to that patio for now with the granting of this other patio area, but certainly if you come up with a concept like that, that makes sense, that works for your business and for the city, hopefully it will come back and re-work that space a little bit because I'd like to see this place be a success. It's had good times in the past and you're bringing a really nice fresh new concept to that area and I wish you a lot of luck. Mr. Zdravkovski: Thank you, sir. Mr. Morrow: Anyone else? I think we should have an update on the progress as to the cross parking. Where do we stand on that? March 31, 2015 26787 Jeffery Fanto, 7000 Roosevelt Ave., Suite 102, Allen Park, Michigan 48101. Good evening. I have had further conversations with the owner of the LA Plaza. They have indicated that they had discussions with their property manager. The property manager apparently had some poor experiences with the prior owners so I have requested a meeting with the property manager so that we can explain to them exactly on the days when we would need this space, how we would control it with people directing traffic and how we would control it with how the folks would park and identify that they would park there appropriately. I have proposed an 87 spot situation with them. I am keeping in mind that it is possible that they decide not to go along with it. The variance request that we obviously, upon approval here, have to deal with the signage, I will likely include a variance request on the parking just so that we're moving the process along but still, with the intent of trying to work out an arrangement with them, but we have had active discussions this week. Mr. Taylor: The other facility had valet parking. Are you planning on doing something like that? Do you do that at your other restaurants? Mr. Zdravkovski: In our Pittsburgh location, to be honest with you, it's hard to valet 30,000 people in a few hours. With Pittsburgh, no. In Yorktown, Lombard Mall, they're actually having a valet area close to where we're at, so that's kind of built in. For this location here, I don't believe it's necessary. The valet, when I visited Kicker's when it was in its heyday, was more for the "club atmosphere" type thing, and that's what I'm steering away from. So to answer your questions, valet, I'm not planning on it, not at this location. Mr. Taylor: Thank you. Ms. McIntyre: I'm nervous about the possibility of not have the parking agreement. Would you consider valet if you couldn't get the cross parking agreement only because you hate to see a situation where you've got a. hot new restaurant, right? Everybody wants to go there and then parking becomes a problem. Mr. Zdravkovski: Obviously if that's my only choice, of course. Yes. One hundred percent. I don't foresee any issues with the landlord next door. Obviously, we're a new family coming in. I take great pride in taking care of my own property, much less my neighboring property. The one thing that I can stress, the only times that I can even foresee having to use quote unquote their adjacent March 31, 2015 26788 property, is at a time of the day when 90 percent of their business is already gone, from 6:00 to whenever at the end of the night. Do I get the past owner? Yeah. Do I understand he's made it a tougher battle for me? Yeah. But at the same time, that's the challenge that I want to take and get the opportunity to prove to the City of Livonia and its people that we take great pride in everything we do. Ms. McIntyre: I would think that for the Plaza what you would want is a thriving business next door that brings people, traffic through. The only reason I'm pursuing this, it would be a significant number of spaces in the waiver, and we just want to make sure this works and doesn't get held up for something like parking. So that's why I asked. If it were a few spaces, I wouldn't pursue it. So thank you. Mr. Morrow: Thank you. I appreciate your honesty on the current status. The gentleman you have representing him, I think he will be able to effect a parking arrangement. At least we will be thinking positive for you. Anything else? I'm going to go to the audience. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or against the granting of this petition? Seeing no one coming forward, a motion would be in order. On a motion by Bahr, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-14-2015 RESOLVED, that the City Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2015-03-08-03 submitted by Design+AE Inc. requesting approval of all plans required by Section 18.58 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, in connection with a proposal to construct a new outdoor dining patio and renovate the exterior of the existing full service restaurant (BZ's, formerly Kickers All American Grill) at 36071 Plymouth Road, located on the south side of Plymouth Road between Levan Road and Yale Avenue in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 32, be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the Site Plan and Patio Plan marked PS-1 dated March 2, 2015 prepared by Design+AE Inc. is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 2. That the existing patio along the north elevation of the building shall no longer be used for outdoor dining; 3. That the maximum customer seating count shall not exceed a total of 303 seats, including 163 interior seats for March 31, 2015 26789 the restaurant, 112 seats for the second floor comedy club and 28 outdoor patio seats; 4. Approval of the above seating counts is contingent upon the Petitioner entering into an agreement with the owners of the adjacent commercial property, LA Plaza, for a period of not less than five (5) years, for the non-exclusive use of no fewer than 39 off-street parking spaces. Should an agreement between the parties not be reached, the Petitioner must either obtain a variance for deficient parking from the Zoning Board of Appeals, or reduce the number of customer seats in order to comply with the City's parking requirements; 5. That there shall be no outside music; 6. That unless approved by the proper local authority, any type of exterior advertising, such as promotional flags, streamers or sponsor vehicles designed to attract the attention of passing motorists, shall be prohibited; 7. That the Exterior Building Elevations Plan marked PA-1 dated March 2, 2015, prepared by Design+AE Inc. is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 8. That the sign package as submitted is hereby approved, subject to a variance being granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals for the additional wall sign on the east side of the building; 9. That no LED lightband or exposed neon shall be permitted on the site including, but not limited to, the building or around the windows; and 10. That the parking lot shall be repaired and restriped to the satisfaction of the Inspection Department, and all parking spaces shall be ten feet (10') wide by twenty feet (20') in length as required; Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for the following reasons: 1. That the proposed use complies with all of the special and general waiver use standards and requirements as set forth in Sections 11.03 and 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance #543; March 31, 2015 26790 2. That the subject site has the capacity to accommodate the proposed use; and 3. That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony with the surrounding uses in the area. Mr. Morrow: Is there any discussion? Mr. Taormina: If I could suggest changes to Condition #4. As I read this again, with the agreement in place as indicated, we see no reason for them to go back and secure another variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals because it's approved for a variance with an agreement in place. So alternately, should they not obtain a variance, they would have the options of either reducing the seating count or going to the Zoning Board of Appeals. So I would like to reword that so that it reflects those options. Mr. Morrow: I assume the maker and supporter has no problem with that? Mr. Bahr: Absolutely. Mr. Morrow: So we can effect those changes. Mr. Wilshaw: The Inspection Department noted that the parking lot should be repaired and restriped. Does that need to be a condition of the approving resolution? Mr. Taormina: If you would like to that add, it should be included. Mr. Wilshaw: If the maker would be willing to add that the parking lot shall be repaired and restriped. Mr. Bahr: Absolutely. Mr. Morrow: Ten by twenty, right? Mr. Wilshaw: Ten by twenty, double striped. Mr. Morrow: That's a Livonia specification. Okay. Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. Welcome to Livonia. We wish you well and thanks for attendance here tonight. Ms. McIntyre: Do we have a grand opening date? March 31, 2015 26791 Mr. Zdravkovski: Oh, I apologize. Ms. McIntyre: We didn't ask so this is an afterthought. Mr. Zdravkovski: That is all depending on my construction guy. I'm assuming if everything falls into place, assuming no issues during construction, it will be open by tomorrow. A couple months. Ms. McIntyre: We can't wait. Mr. Zdravkovski: Thank you guys. Can't wait to have you. Mr. Morrow: Have a good night. ITEM #3 PETITION 2014-02-08-02 VICTOR EAST Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, a request for a one-year extension of Petition 2014-02-08-02 which previously received approval by the City Council on April 21, 2014 (Council Resolution #104-14), to construct a one-story office-research building on property at 37640 Seven Mile Road, located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between Newburgh Road and Victor Parkway in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 6. Mr. Taormina: I have nothing more to add to this. I think everyone is familiar with the site plan. It was for a building that was to be one-story in height and 54,000 square feet in size. It was approved a little less than a year ago. In speaking with the Petitioner, they are still pursuing possible occupants for this building and hope to be under construction sometime this year. Mr. Morrow: Is the Petitioner here tonight? Mr. Taormina: No, he is not here. Mr. Morrow: That's fine. It's fairly routine. We're all familiar with the site and we wish him well on getting something going over there. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to speak for or against the granting of this petition? I see no one coming forward. Without further ado, could we have a motion please? On a motion by Taylor by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-15-2015 RESOLVED, that the City Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that the request for a one-year March 31, 2015 26792 extension of Petition 2014-02-08-02 which previously received approval by the City Council on April 21, 2014 (Council Resolution #104-14), to construct a one-story office-research building on property at 37640 Seven Mile Road, located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between Newburgh Road and Victor Parkway in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 6, be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the request for an extension of waiver use approval by Etkin Management, L.L.C, in a letter dated February 20, 2015, is hereby approved for a one-year period; and 2. That all conditions imposed by Council Resolution #104-14 in connection with Petition 2014-02-08-02, which permitted the construction of a one-story office-research building, shall remain in effect to the extent that they are not in conflict with the foregoing condition. Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an • approving resolution. ITEM #4 PETITION 2014-10-08-15 BERNARDINI Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2014- 10-08-15 submitted by Joseph Bernardini requesting approval to install a new awning and signs on the exterior of the remodeled commercial strip center at 29217-29226 Seven Mile Road, located on the southeast corner of Seven Mile and Middlebelt Roads in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 12, as required in the approving conditions of Council Resolution #357-14. Mr. Taormina: As you recall, late last year the Planning Commission reviewed the remodeling of the exterior of this building, which is at the southeast corner of Seven Mile and Middlebelt Roads. That project has been completed, but the approvals at the time in December did condition the project on the review of the awning and signage as a callback item. That is why the petitioner is here this evening to submit a revised elevation plan with respect to signage. You will recall that the building previously had an awning across the front of it. This is on the north side facing Seven Mile. There were two tenants identified on the previous awning — one still occupies a portion of the building, Livonia Travel. You'll also recall that the awning had two very distinct halves. The red, white and green on the Livonia Travel side but March 31, 2015 26793 there was a gold dealer that was on the other side of the building and the color of the awning at that time was gold. I think that was part of the reason why we wanted to take a look at what the awning would look like going back up. So the Petitioner is now proposing a single awning, the same color and type of lettering for tenants. Livonia PC & Repair would be the business occupying the west portion of the site. He is showing the dimensions of the sign. Now he is indicating a dimension of two feet for the height of the awning, although I don't think that it scales properly on this particular photograph. The awning that existed there previously was taller than two feet. That might be closer to the size of the lettering. I'm not sure, but probably a little bit shy of what the actual awning dimension would be, but the signs themselves would comply with the ordinance in terms of the ones facing north along Seven Mile Road. This awning does wrap around the two sides of the building. Livonia Travel was permitted for whatever reason a sign on that other side of the building. I'm not sure of the circumstances that gave rise to that second sign but they would be entitled to another smaller sign as it wraps around on the east side of the building. That is not the case with Livonia PC & Repair. So if he wants any advertising on the west side of that portion of the façade, that is something that would require Zoning Board of Appeals approval. Thank you. Mr. Morrow: Mark, did you say this complies with the ordinance? Mr. Taormina: Well, these two signs that he's showing here would, but a second sign for Livonia PC & Repair would have to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Mr. Morrow: I understand that, but I mean this is relatively to scale. Mr. Taormina: I'm not sure how to scale this drawing is. Mr. Morrow: Well, whatever, they will work that out, the final size. Mr. Taormina: We know that the building, if it's 50 feet of frontage, the tenants would be allowed one square foot of signage for each lineal foot of frontage. So if Livonia PC & Repair has 30 feet of building front, then they would be allowed a 30 square foot sign. He is showing a 15 foot by 2 feet, and if those are the sign dimensions, then he would comply with that sign. Mr. Morrow: Okay. So we'll fit it into those dimensions. Mr. Taormina: That's correct. March 31, 2015 26794 Mr. Morrow: Did they address the lighting of the sign? Mr. Taormina: The backlighting is something that would have to be limited to that portion of the awning containing the lettering. So the backlighting, I think, is restricted to only a portion of the awning, and not the entire awning. But that is something that would be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals as well. Mr. Taylor: I was going to ask the same question. Any backlighting is going to be limited to the portion of the awning containing the letters. Now, those letters are black. Unless they light up the whole back of it, it's going to light up. Mr. Taormina: The ordinance does restrict that though. Mr. Morrow: Is the Petitioner here? Why don't you come forward? Ms. McIntyre: Could I ask Staff for clarification please? Mr. Morrow: Sure. We'll be right with you, sir. Ms. McIntyre: I'm sorry. Through the Chair. Mark, did you say that the second sign for Livonia Travel on the south elevation, the awning wrap around, is grandfathered in? Mr. Taormina: That's on the east side of the building, and yes, we're treating that as being grandfathered. Apparently he did have a permit for that sign. We did check on that. But according to the Inspection Department, there was not a permit for the second sign for the gold business. Ms. McIntyre: Speculating that may have been so people heading west could see that, right, before they pass it, because the access, if I'm correct, is to the east. So you don't want people getting past the building and then trying to turn in and make very difficult traffic maneuvers. That's speculation on my part, but that would seem reasonable as to why that was permitted and grandfathered or why that was allowed originally. Mr. Taormina: Correct. And it is because this building sits so close to the road, for that reason it probably makes sense to have some identification signage on both sides of both of these businesses to a limited extent. Ms. McIntyre: Okay. Thank you. • March 31, 2015 26795 Mr. Morrow: Yes, sir. Your name and address for the record please. Joseph Bernardini, 36915 Clarita, Livonia, Michigan 48152. I have an updated side drawing that I can distribute. Mr. Morrow: Okay. Where we left off, we were addressing the lighting of the sign, and if you can tell us what you plans are and how it fits in with the ordinance. Mr. Bernardini: From what I'm understanding of the ordinance, I'm allowed to backlight the lettering on the signs. Mr. Morrow: That's correct. Mr. Bernardini: Okay, and that's what I plan on doing. Mr. Morrow: Mr. Taylor was wondering how that would work. Mr. Bernardini: In the drawing itself, he said black, but it's a blue translucent material there. Mr. Morrow: Yes, you can see it's blue on this rendering. Mr. Bernardini: So it's going to be blue, not black. The thing that's kind of bothering me and until I get into it, I won't know, is how the sign from the areas where you don't have signage, how it starts dimming, you know, looking blackish because there's no lighting there, but I think possibly with the fluorescence behind the signs themselves, that it would be enough light, although dimmer. It won't be the same kind of color spectrum, but it will be a little dimmer where the fluorescents are not behind the lights themselves. Mr. Morrow: I'm sure your awning guy could work that out. Any questions? Mr. Bernardini: Oh, I had clarification or one correction. The letters themselves are only one foot high. In other words, "Livonia PC & Repair" would be a one foot high letter, not two feet high. I think that falls into place with the 15. Mr. Morrow: Mark, would you consider the whole awning, and everything part of the sign? Mr. Taormina: No. Mr. Morrow: Or just the letters? March 31, 2015 26796 Mr. Taormina: Just the letters. Mr. Morrow: So, you're right. It's 15 feet by 1 foot. Mr. Bernardini: Yes. Mr. Morrow: Is that what you're going to go with? Mr. Bernardini The 15 foot by 1 foot — we're debating whether to maintain Livonia Travel.Com or just put "Livonia Travel" on the awning at this point. That would be a decision that would be based on . . . Mr. Taylor: Mr. Chairman, through the Chair. Mark, are they allowed two signs? Mr. Taormina: Which one, Livonia Travel or Livonia PC? Mr. Taylor: Yes, Livionia Travel. Mr. Taormina: Livonia Travel was previously approved to have a second sign. Livonia PC & Repair, or the former tenant of that, was not apparently. That's my understanding. Ms. Smiley: So this needs approval. Mr. Taylor: So I still don't quite understand how you're going to light up the back of the sign. Mr. Bernardini: They make sealed T5's or some number like that, sealed . . . Mr. Taylor: Will this just be behind the white area? Mr. Bernardini: No. It would be behind the 10 feet of Livonia Travel.com, the 15 feet of the Livonia PC & Repair. The fluorescence would just be behind there. Mr. Taylor: It's going to light up the whole awning. Mr. Bernardini: It's not that bad and it's not going to be visible from outer space like the previous video store was. It's not going to look gaudy or blind people as they're driving by, but this is something I want to point out: we're not reinventing the wheel here. This is the type of awning that's been up there since . . . and you were on the Council at the time. This awning, I'm going to say, was 1980-ish. Mr. Taylor: I have no problem with the sign. I'm just saying that actually, other people coming before this Board or the Zoning Board are March 31, 2015 26797 going to say, wow, look at the sign over at Livonia Travel. That's a whole billboard. Mr. Bernardini: But it's not a new sign. This is a sign that has been identified with our business there since, you know, we've been in the building since 1978. I think the sign, and we went to City Council at the time and did receive approval for the backlighting of the sign then. I asked the question at the study meeting is I'm not a grandfather yet, but how far back do I have to go to get this grandfathered. I mean, we're looking at . . . Mr. Taylor: It doesn't have to go to the Zoning Board, right, Mark? Mr. Morrow: Only if they want the other sign. Mr. Taormina: Well, that will be the final decision of the Inspection Department, but I do believe, it's my understanding that Livonia PC & Repair, for them to have a second sign, they'll have to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals. We found the record for Livonia Travel to have a second sign, but Scott couldn't find the record for the other business to have a second sign. Mr. Taylor: Thank you. Mr. Bahr: So I just want to clarify. This awning really is just two feet tall? Is that two feet accurate? Mr. Bernardini: I find that maybe could be a misprint or something. Mr. Bahr: I think it probably is, and frankly, I'm not a great judge of distance, but even the one foot for the lettering, I'm questioning whether it's right. And if we're going to pass a resolution saying that we approve this drawing as submitted, I guess I'd like to have the dimensions on there be accurate. Mr. Bernardini: It's possible . . . while I do want to point out that the side sign for Livonia Travel, where it says 8 foot, that side sign there is off of Google. It was just made a little bit better in terms of coloring, but this is the actual sign itself off of a Google. I think the sign is probably something like 4 feet with the white strip being 2 feet or so at the most. Mr. Bahr: That sounds a little more realistic. I just, again, I mean these are the drawings that are referred to in the resolution, I assume, right? Through the Chair, to Mark. Ms. Smiley: Are these new ones? March 31, 2015 26798 Mr. Taormina: The one was received by the Planning Commission on March 20th. I think it's this one right here actually. Mr. Bahr: I hate to be knit-picky but . . . Mr. Taormina: This one right here actually. It's not the one that was handed out today. That's brand new. Mr. Bahr: If we're going to put it in the public record that we approve of these signs, I'd like to make sure that . . . right now we're showing an awning that's only two feet tall, and I don't think that's in your best interest. Mr. Bernardini: I happen to agree with you. I didn't notice that it was like that, otherwise I could have called and had it changed. Can we have an idea of some type of approval so we can go forward or do I have to wait until another meeting? Mr. Morrow: Will the Inspection Department be able to work that out? Mr. Taormina: To the extent this has to go back to Council, I don't want to bring to Council this information. He is going to have to refine it and he's going to have to provide accurate information on the plans. I apologize that what we're looking at here this evening really is not accurate and I think, Planning Commission, if you decide to table it in order to get more accurate information or if you choose to approve it with conditions, certainly he would have to provide more detailed and accurate information to go before Council. Mr. Morrow: We'll see what the Commission wants to do in that respect. Ms. McIntyre: I think the biggest problem is that the dimensions as indicated are wrong, more so maybe that the drawing, and we do have the requirement in there that signage in excess of what is allowed is subject to the Zoning Board and City Council approval, right? Mr. Taormina: Yes. That's correct. Ms. McIntyre: Is it that we have a problem with the way this looks or we have a problem that the dimensions are wrong? Mr. Morrow: I think we want something that is complete and definitive as to the exact sign as far as size is concern. I think that was Mr. Bahr's concern. And the Planning Director feels that he would March 31, 2015 26799 be more comfortable sending something to Council that is representative to exactly what it is. So as I indicated, we'll see how the Commission feels about it when we ask for a motion. Do you understand where we are so far right now? We will see what the Commission says, but we may have to require you to come back to make sure the dimensions are correct. Mr. Bernardini: I can do that. No problem. Mr. Morrow: Okay. Is there any other discussion? Mr. Wilshaw: Math was never my strong suit, but if the PC place has a 30 foot frontage, then 15 foot wide lettering and two feet high is covered by ordinance, right? That would be a 30 square foot sign. Right? Mr. Taormina: If the dimensions of the rectangle that enclose that lettering are 15 feet by 2 feet, then it would conform to what he is allowed to have on that side of the building. That is correct. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Mr. Taormina: But I think he told us it was one foot lettering, so it's actually half of what he'd been entitled to if it's only one foot. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. I know he switched from two feet lettering to one foot lettering, and I thought, two feet lettering is actually permitted as far as I can tell. So he's selling himself short in a sense, but maybe that's an offset to wanting signage elsewhere to kind of reuse that square footage elsewhere. I don't know. Mr. Morrow: That's why I asked, would the awning be part of that measurement and it was indicated it would just be the letters. Mr. Taormina: The only circumstance that you would have to include the entire awning in the area of the sign is if it was fully backlit, but to the extent that he's going to limit the backlighting to just the sign, the portion of the lettering, then he's okay. That's how we'll determine the sign area. Mr. Morrow: Okay. Mr. Bahr: Just to clarify. My concern is that with the size of the sign, you're right, it's conforming signage so we can approve this. It's just making sure what we approve is actually what's going to go there, and what's on here now, that's not the case. Through the Chair to Mark, if I may, if we were to approve this tonight, March 31, 2015 26800 technically it's two feet high, and if he really wants a four foot high awning, wouldn't he have to bring that before us again anyway? Because this sign fits within our ordinance. I don't have a problem with it from that standpoint. It's just that, if I understand correctly, he's not going to want a two foot tall awning there. If he wants a four foot tall awning, he's going to have to resubmit regardless. Mr. Taormina: I agree. Mr. Bahr: Okay. Mr. Taormina: He'll have to make corrections to this drawing and either move that to the Council with those revisions, or if you would feel more comfortable, wait a couple weeks to see those changes. Mr. Morrow: Okay. There's no one in the audience so we don't have to cross that bridge. If there is no more discussion, I'll ask for a motion Mr. Bahr: I'll motion to table it just so we can get the drawing rectified to represent what he actually wants to do and make sure we send something off to Council that's ready to go to them. On a motion by Bahr, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-16-2015 RESOLVED, that Petition 2014-10-08-15 submitted by Joseph Bernardini requesting approval to install a new awning and signs on the exterior of the remodeled commercial strip center at 29217-29226 Seven Mile Road, located on the southeast corner of Seven Mile and Middlebelt Roads in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 12, as required in the approving conditions of Council Resolution #357-14, be tabled until the Planning Commission Study Meeting of April 14, 2015. Mr. Morrow: Do you think it can be done by the next study session? Mr. Bernardini: Which is when? Mr. Taormina: In two weeks. Mr. Bernardini: The date . . . Ms. McIntyre: The 14th Mr. Morrow: So there is no discussion. March 31, 2015 26801 Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. This item has been tabled and we will see you in two weeks and hopefully we can put a wrap on it this time, and everybody will be more comfortable, including you. Mr. Bernardini: I do have a question about what's considered. If I'm allowed 30 feet, let say for instance, the width .of the building is 30 feet. Is the wraparound sign . . . let's say all the lettering added up together made 30 feet or less. Mr. Morrow: I'm going to let the Planning Director answer that. Mr. Taormina: That would still be in excess of what the ordinance allows. Any second sign exceeds the ordinance limit. So in this particular, he'd still have to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals even though the total square footage did not exceed 30 feet. And we often do take what he's allowed for a single sign and divide that into two signs in total area. That's something that maybe he should consider for the PC business. Ms. McIntyre: But that's only for the PC, right? Mr. Taormina: Yes. Mr. Morrow: Work that out with the Planning Director, any advice. Mr. Bernardini: Okay. Great. Mr. Morrow: We appreciate you coming tonight and good luck. Mr. Bernardini: Thank you. ITEM #5 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,068TH Public Hearings and Regular Meeting Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the Minutes of the 1,068th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on March 3, 2015. On a motion by Smiley, seconded by McIntyre, and adopted, it was #03-17-2015 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 1,068th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on March 3, 2015, are hereby approved. A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following: March 31, 2015 26802 AYES: Smiley, McIntyre, Taylor, Morrow NAYS: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: Bahr, Wilshaw Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. Ms. Smiley: Before we adjourn, would you like to say something about the loss of our former Commissioner, Dan Piercecchi? Mr. Morrow: Yes. We were just advised, some of us yesterday and some of us today, one of our former Planning Commissioners, Dan Piercecchi, passed away on Monday. The funeral will be on this coming Thursday at the Oakland Hills Community Church at 37150 West Eight Mile in Farmington Hills. That's on Eight Mile right across from the Whispering Willows Golf Course. On Thursday, visitation is from 10:30 to 11:30 in the morning and the funeral will be at 11:30 a.m. We mourn the loss of one of our Commissioners. Dan made large contributions to the City during his tenure and Dan, you will be missed. On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,069th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on March 31, 2015, was adjourned at 8:47 p.m. CITY PLANNINGNG COMMISSIOivut /, Carol A. Smiley, Secreta (---< ATTEST: a , ' R. Lee Morrow, Chkman