HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2016-01-12 MINUTES OF THE 1,081st PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING
HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA
On Tuesday, January 12, 2016, the City Planning Commission of the City of.
Livonia held its 1,081st Public Hearings and Regular Meeting in the Livonia City
Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan.
Mr. Ian Wilshaw, Acting, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Members present: Glen W. Long Carol A. Smiley
Gerald Taylor Ian Wilshaw
Members absent: R. Lee Morrow
Mr. Mark Taormina, Planning Director, and Ms. Margie Watson, Program
Supervisor, were also present.
Acting Chairman Wilshaw 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. Because this is the first meeting that we have a new
member, we would like to welcome Glen Long, our newest Planning
Commissioner. Thank you for being here, and we look forward to working with
you for a long time.
ITEM #1 PETITION 2015-12-01-11 AJAMCO INC.
Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2015-12-
01-11 submitted by Ajamco Inc. pursuant to Section 23.01 of the
City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting
to rezone the north one hundred feet (100') of 16825 Middlebelt
Road, located on the west side of Middlebelt Road between
Munger Avenue and Six Mile Road in the Northeast 1/4 of
Section 14, from P (Parking) to C-2 (General Business).
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Mr. Taormina: This is a request to rezone a portion of property that is identified
as 16825 Middlebelt Road. The rezoning petition affects the
northerly 100 feet of this property. The request is to rezone it
from its current classification of Parking to C-2, General
Business. This property is on the west side of Middlebelt
between Munger and Six Mile Roads. The size of the property is
1.2 acres. It includes 165 feet of frontage along Middlebelt Road
by a depth of 257 feet. The current zoning is split-zoned. The
northerly portion is zoned P, Parking, and the southerly portion
is currently zoned C-2, General Business. The property is
currently vacant. This is part of the former site of Moy's Chinese
Restaurant and Japanese Steak House. The existing zoning
was established in 1970 in connection with a request to expand
the restaurant. The parking classification on the property was
established for the additional off-street parking that was needed
to accommodate the expansion. Looking immediately to the
north of this property is the Teacher's Store as well as Paul's
Coney & Grill and some multi-tenant retail properties, all zoned
C-2. Immediately to the west is the site of the Bethel Baptist
Temple and Grace Christian Fellowship religious facilities which
are zoned R-U-F. Immediately south of this property, and which
was part of the original Moy's site, is a Tim Hortons restaurant.
Looking across Middlebelt Road to the east is the site of the
Manns-Ferguson Funeral Home which is zoned OS, Office
Services, and P, Parking. The area to be rezoned measures
roughly 0.82 acres and includes 100 feet of frontage on
Middlebelt Road. The purpose of the rezoning is to facilitate the
future development of the site with a credit union or a bank that
would include drive-thru facilities. Banks and credit unions are
treated as a permitted use within the C-2 zoning district.
However, the drive-thru facilities will require waiver use
approval. A preliminary site plan was submitted with this
application. Again, we're not looking at the site plan specifically
tonight, but it gives you an idea of how the site might be
developed should the rezoning move forward. The plan shows a
2,874 square foot building located roughly in the center of the
property. Off-street parking is along the north and south sides of
the property, as well as at the rear of the building. A bank or
credit union of this size would require approximately 24 parking
spaces. This plan shows a total of 30 spaces. A portion of the
site extends a little further to the west, and that's a little surplus
land that could be utilized either for additional parking, or more
than likely, it would be used for storm water control. Drive-up
operations are shown on the west side of the building. There are
four drive-up service units. Each would be served by a separate
traffic lane with sufficient stacking. Direct driveway access to
Middlebelt would be provided; however, there would also be
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secondary access provided via a connection to the parking lot
on the adjacent property to the south, which is the Tim Hortons
restaurant. The landscaping would far exceed what the
ordinance requires. This is showing about 44 percent of the site
in green space where the ordinance only requires 15 percent.
The proposed rezoning is consistent with the Future Land Use
Plan which shows General Commercial. With that, Mr.
Chairman, I can read out the one piece of correspondence that
we received on this item.
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please.
Mr. Taormina: There is one item of correspondence from the Engineering
Division, dated December 15, 2015, which reads as follows: "In
accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has
reviewed the above referenced petition. We have no objections
to the proposed rezoning at this time. The included legal
description appears to be correct and should be used in
conjunction with this petition. The existing property is assigned
an address of 16825 Middlebelt Road. The submitted drawing
does not indicate proposed drainage or public utility services, so
we are unable to comment on any impacts to the existing
systems at this time. The parcel is currently serviced by public
sanitary sewer and water main that the owner will be able to
access for the proposed building. It should be noted that Wayne
County permits will be required for any connections to utilities
within the Middlebelt Road right-of-way. The parcel is also
serviced by Wayne County storm sewer along the Middlebelt
Road right-of-way, as well as a City of Livonia storm sewer
along the rear property line. Storm detention and pre-treatment
will be required per the Wayne County Storm Water Ordinance,
but the organization that issues the permit will depend on which
line the owner decides to connect to." The letter is signed by
David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. That is the extent
of the correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions of the Planning Director?
Mr. Taylor: We're just strictly talking about zoning tonight, right?
Mr. Taormina: That is correct.
Mr. Taylor: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is the petitioner here this evening? We will need your name and
address for the record please.
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Ali Ajami, Ajamco Inc., 12950 S. Morrow Circle, Dearborn, Michigan 48126.
Good evening. I am representing the company Ajamco Inc.
Mr. Wilshaw: You've heard the presentation. Is there anything you'd like to
add to it?
Mr. Ajami: Nothing more to add. You have been very specific and
informative. This is exactly what we want.
Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions for the petitioner?
Mr. Taylor: Do we know whether it's a bank or credit union yet?
Mr. Ajami: So far, it is a credit union, sir.
Mr. Taylor: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Any other questions? Sir, just a question for you briefly. The
reason that you're choosing to put a credit union or bank on this
property as opposed to some other use, do you already have a
specific credit union in mind?
Mr. Ajami: Not specific. We have been approached by the real estate agent
who represents the credit union.
Mr. Wilshaw: So you are preparing the site so that they can . . .
Mr. Ajami: I don't know the name of the credit union because the agent did
not disclose the name.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. So the agent is not in the position to be able to say who is
interested in the property at this time?
Mr. Ajami: He narrowed it down but he cannot give us the name, maybe
because of confidentiality issues.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Thank you. And I do want to comment that because this
is a zoning petition, we're not going to go into the details of the
site plan, but I do appreciate you providing the plan. It was
actually quite detailed from what we typically get with a zoning
petition. So thank you.
Mr. Ajami: Thank you, too. _
Mr. Wilshaw: If there are no other questions from the Commission, I'll go to
the audience. If there anybody in the audience that wishes to
speak for or against this petition, please come forward? Seeing
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no one coming forward, I will close the public hearing and ask
for a motion.
On a motion by Taylor, seconded by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was
#01-01-2016 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on January 12, 2016, on
Petition 2015-12-01-11 submitted by Ajamco Inc. pursuant to
Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as
amended, requesting to rezone the north one hundred feet
(100') of 16825 Middlebelt Road, located on the west side of
Middlebelt Road between Munger Avenue and Six Mile Road in
the Northeast 1/4 of Section 14, from P to C-2, the Planning
Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that
Petition 2015-12-01-11 be approved for the following reasons:
1. That the proposed change of zoning is compatible to and in
harmony with the surrounding zoning and land uses in the
area;
2. That the proposed change of zoning represents a logical
extension of existing C-2 zoning that occurs on adjacent
properties located both to the north and to the south of the
subject property;
3. That the proposed change of zoning would provide for the
development of the subject property in a coordinated
manner that is consistent with its size and location;
4. That the proposed change of zoning is consistent with the
developing character of the area; and
5. That the proposed change of zoning is supported by the
Future Land Use Plan which recommends General
Commercial in this area.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 23.05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended.
Mr. Wilshaw, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution.
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ITEM #2 PETITION 2015-12-02-26 LIVONIA CORP.
Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2015-
12-02-26 submitted by Livonia Corp. Tower, L.L.C. requesting
waiver use approval pursuant to Sections 20.02 and 26.05 of
the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to
develop a Planned General Development at 29200 Vassar
Avenue, including renovations to the site and building to
accommodate offices and other commercial services on the first
floor of the building and a total of 112 apartment units on floors
2 thru 8, located on the north side of Vassar Avenue between
Middlebelt Road and Parkville Avenue in the Southwest 1/4 of
Section 1.
Mr. Taormina: This is a request to redevelop an existing high rise office
building into a mixed use housing complex. This property is
located on the north side of Vassar between Middlebelt Road
and Parkville Avenue. The current zoning of the property is PO,
High Rise Professional Office. The property is approximately
4.47 acres in area. It was originally developed in the early
1970's as Livonia Pavilion East, an eight story office building.
Today, the office building is referred to as Livonia Corporate
Tower. Access to the site is available from the south off
Middlebelt via a public street called Vassar. The building is
approximately 120,000 square feet in total size. It's a Class B
office building. Today it is mostly empty with only a handful of
suites occupied. Except for the ground level of the building and
a portion of the fourth floor, the entire building has been gutted.
This includes the walls, ceilings, carpet, and other fixtures.
Looking immediately to the south across Vassar is Perani's
Hockey World, which is zoned C-1, Local business, as well as
single family homes that are zoned R-1, One Family
Residential. Immediately to the west is a bank, office building as
well as an auto repair facility zoned C-1, OS and C-2,
respectively. To the north and east are additional residential
family homes under the R-1 and R-U-F classifications. The
proposal shows that the ground floor would be used primarily for
commercial purposes, including office suites for general and
medical office purposes. Additionally, the floor plan shows a
small café within a space that was similarly occupied several
years previously for this purpose. On floors 2 thru 8, the plans
call for a mix of both one and two bedroom apartments.
Contained within the PO district regulations under Section 26.05
is a provision that allows accessory residential apartments as a
waiver use, provided that they do not constitute more than 20
percent of the total floor area of the building. In the case of the
proposed Livonia Tower Apartments, seven of the eight floors
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would be utilized for apartments, which constitutes over 85
percent of the building's total floor area. There is, however, a
special provision in the ordinance that allows the Council to
waive or modify this requirement by means of a separate
resolution in which two-thirds of the Council concurs. Thus, such
a resolution could waive the 20 percent maximum described in
26.05(a) and allow for a majority of the building to be utilized for
apartment purposes. But again, this is something that would
ultimately be determined by the Livonia City Council. The site
plan indicates that the building would have 16 apartments per
story for a total of 112 units. The floor plans show seven unit
types, "A" thru "G," that range in size from 361 square feet to
approximately 754 square feet. Each residential floor plate
measures roughly 80 feet by 181 feet and is arranged similarly
with two connecting corridors on either side of the building's
core which contains three side-by-side elevator shafts,
mechanical, electrical and utility rooms, as well as a staircase at
each end. The floor plan shows how the apartment units would
be arranged around the outer edge of the building's core, which
as I indicated, contains two hallways, one on either side of the
building's core, which is the mechanical area, the electrical
rooms, the elevator shafts, as well as the stairwells. That is how
the building is currently configured except for the apartments. All
of the corner units are two-bedrooms, identified as either Unit
Type "A" or "C." The other 12 units per floor consist of loft or
one-bedroom apartments. Every apartment unit contains a living
area, bathroom, kitchen and laundry. The overall project density
equates to roughly 25 dwelling units per acre. For comparison
purposes, the permitted density of an 8-story building located
within an R-8 multiple family district would be somewhere
between 24 and 36 dwelling units per acre. In terms of parking
for multiple family dwellings, the ordinance requires 2.5 parking
spaces per unit. For 112 units, this would amount to a parking
requirement of 280 spaces. There is an additional need for 62
spaces for the non-residential uses that would be located on the
first floor. So this would bring the total parking requirement to
342 spaces. The site plan currently shows 234 parking spaces,
which results in a deficiency of 108 spaces. This deficiency was
created intentionally in an effort to reduce the amount of unused
surplus parking. The additional spaces could be provided if
necessary. One of the things noticeable on the site plan are
changes to the area surrounding the building. To provide a more
appealing residential character, the existing asphalt parking
located along the north and south sides of the building would be
replaced with areas that contain sodded lawn as well as various
plants and two gazebos. Walkways are shown around the
perimeter and also bisecting the common green areas. The plan
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includes landscape islands in the parking lot where none
presently exist. One of the things noticeable on the rendered
site plan is a dividing line between the parking, which the
petitioner believes is necessary to accommodate the
apartments, but it shows how the additional parking could be
provided if needed. That was one of the issues that came up at
the study meeting - the concern relative to whether there were
enough parking spaces to accommodate the proposed
development. This plan shows how the additional parking could
be provided if necessary. Looking at the exterior elevations, the
building's outer "skin" provides the primary structural support for
the building and cannot be altered to any significant degree.
This includes replacing the narrow windows. This would limit the
work mostly to cosmetic improvements, such as colors, veneers
and accent treatments. The exterior of the first floor would be
refaced completely in brick. There are bands of split-face block
that run along the tops and bottoms of the windows, and there is
a decorative E.I.F.S. cornice that would define the top edge of
the first floor. The exterior of the 2nd through 8th floors would be
completed repainted. I'll let the architect describe in greater
detail what he is proposing, but there are also some changes
along the top edge of the building. The appearance of the
building is being improved with this proposal, not only with the
landscaping around the foundation of the building, the additional
landscaping on both the north and south sides of the building,
but also the treatments along the lower level, the brick being
added on the first level of the building and then probably a
decorative E.I.F.S. band being placed along the top, as well as
the raised parapet and cornice, all to give the building a more
residential appeal. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the
departmental correspondence. We do have a number of items.
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes. Please go ahead. .
Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated December 14, 2015, which
reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the
Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced
petition. We have no objections to the proposed project at this
time. The included legal description appears to be correct and
should be used in conjunction with this petition. The parcel
address of #29200 Vassar Avenue is correct for the subject
property. The submitted drawings do not show proposed
revisions to the existing public utility leads or private storm
sewer in association with the renovations, so we are unable to
comment on those items at this time. Under current regulations,
the redevelopment of a property would require the owner to
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provide storm water detention and treatment per the Wayne
County Storm Water Ordinance. The drawings indicate that
there will be a reduction in the impervious area as a result of the
renovations, so we will need to review the completed
Engineering permit drawings before we will be able to determine
what will be required in relation to detention and treatment of
storm water. Also, the owner will need to coordinate with the
Building department to ensure the proposed cafe conforms to
Section 13.42 of the City Ordinances. This Ordinance limits the
amount of Fats, Oils and Grease (F.O.G.) which can be
discharged to the City sanitary sewer system to 100 milligrams
per liter by weight, unless written approval is obtained to exceed
this amount. This Ordinance provides information on grease
trap/interceptor requirements, and is available on the City of
Livonia website at www.ci.livonia.mi.us." The letter is signed by
David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The second letter
is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated December 23,
2015, which reads as follows: "This office has reviewed the site
plan submitted in connection with a request to develop a
planned residential development on property located at the
above referenced address. We have no objections to this
proposal with the following stipulations: (1) Subject building(s)
are to be provided with an automatic sprinkler system, and on
site hydrants shall be located between 50 feet and 100 feet from
the Fire Department connection. (2) Adequate hydrants shall be
provided and located with a maximum spacing of 300 feet
between hydrants. Most remote hydrant shall flow 1,500 GPM
with a residual pressure of 20 PSI. (3) Fire Hydrants and Water
Supply shall be required according to 18.3 NFPA 1, 2015. (4)
Fire lanes shall be provided for all buildings that are set back
more than 150 feet from a public road or exceed 30 feet in
height and are set back over 50 feet from a public road. (5) Fire
lanes shall be marked with wall or pole mounted signs that have
the words. FIRE LANE — NO PARKING painted on both sides
(for pole mount), in contrasting colors at a size and spacing
approved by the authority having jurisdiction. (6) In regards to
NFPA 13, 2013 edition, Fire Department Connections should be
of 2 % Detroit Standard Thread. (7) Chapter 11 shall be followed
f (8) or Special Structures and High-Rise Buildings, NFPA 101,
2015. (9) Chapter 30, New Apartment Buildings, and Chapter 7,
Means of Egress, must be conformed to which includes
Emergency Exit Signs, Emergency Lighting, Exit Pathways,
Travel Distance, Occupant Load, and Extinguisher
Requirements. NFPA 101, 2015. These issues and other code
requirements will be addressed during the plan review process."
The letter is signed by Daniel Lee, Fire Marshal. The third letter
is from the Division of Police, dated December 22, 2015, which
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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 January 7, 2016,
which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above-
referenced petition has been reviewed. (1) The building will be
required to be fully fire suppressed to code. (2) The petitioner's
proposal is a change in use. This would require that the
proposed space must conform to all current barrier free codes,
building codes and all mechanical codes and standards. This
will be addressed further at time of plan review if this project
moves forward. (3) Parking spaces shall be 10'x 20'and double
striped. (4) 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. Wilshaw: Are there any questions of the Planning Director?
Mr. Taylor: Through the Chair to Mr. Taormina. Mark, would you explain
exactly how the Planned General Development works? I don't
remember us ever having anything like this in Livonia.
Mr. Taormina: Well, we do. It was accomplished at the Fountain Park
Development at Plymouth and Farmington Roads. But while we
did identify this item as falling under that provision of the code,
as we inquired in greater detail with the Law Department, it was
felt that within the context of the existing PO zoning, this project
could move forward as I described it but requires a waiver or
modification of the 20 percent limitation on the number of
apartments that could be provided within the building. So rather
than looking at this as a Planned General Development, in
which case you could allow for a mix of uses, we're actually
processing this petition through the current waiver use
standards provided within the PO High Rise Professional
district. Either way, it can get you to the same end point, but it
was felt by our Law Department that it may be a little cleaner
just to process this under the current zoning and treat this as a
waiver to the special requirements that limits the number of
apartments that can go in the building.
Mr. Taylor: If I may, it's general apartments. It's not senior apartments?
Mr. Taormina: I think we're going to hear from the petitioner this evening more
about their thoughts on what the target market is going to be. So
I think they've taken to heart a lot of the comments that were
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made at the study meeting, and I think they're prepared to
address that this evening.
Mr. Taylor: I'm not looking forward to subsidized apartments. That's my
problem in that area. If it's senior apartments, we have zoning
for that, R-9.
Mr. Taormina: I think the density allowances under the R-9 would not permit
this number of apartments.
Mr. Taylor: I'm anxious to hear from the petitioner then. Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Mark, just one quick question. Along the lines of Mr. Taylor's
question, do we have the option under this Planned General
Development, essentially under the waiver use, to restrict the
use of the waiver use to senior apartments if that's something
that the petitioner is willing to offer?
Mr. Taormina: I'd have to explore that with the Law Department, but if you
wanted to move that recommendation forward to the City
Council, then that would give the Law Department an
opportunity to review such a condition to see whether or not it's
a reasonable imposition on the granting of the request.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Thank you. With that, is the petitioner here this evening?
We will need your name and address for the record please. I'm
sure you'd like to add to the presentation made already by our
Planning Director.
Ghassan Abdelnour, GAV & Associates, Inc., 24001 Orchard Lake Road, Suite
180A, Farmington, Michigan 48336: I'm representing Dr.
Labeed Nouri, the owner of the project. I think he'd like to say
something.
Labeed Nouri, MD, Livonia Corp. Tower L.L.C., 5440 Whitehall Blvd., Oakland
Twp., Michigan 48306. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
will leave the mike to my architect. He will probably do a much
better job than me.
Mr. Abdelnour: Actually, thank you for having us here tonight, and we thank the
Planning Department and Mark with the big help he's been
helping us with this whole project. I think he did a very good
presentation telling everybody what's going on, but I'll get into
some details. First, the building will be gutted for this project.
Some spaces will be left on the 1st Floor, but from the 2nd Floor
to the 8th Floor, it's already gutted. So we're going to be starting
the project from scratch. For the building from outside, it's going
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to have a total facelift like you see it on the elevations. The first
story and a half at the bottom will be all faced with new split face
block and brick colors. Actually, this whole area will be
constructed around the existing building, and above it from the
2nd Floor to the 7th Floor will be kind of fixing all of the existing
facing and painting it to kind of match with the new design of the
building. On the top floor we're putting E.I.F.S. that is matching
the color of the brick on the first floor with the stone, and we're
doing a parapet E.I.F.S. around the whole building and creating
a small tower, maybe potential for a sign location or just to make
the building a more residential look. For the site plan, actually
we're planning to kind of renovate the site plan and meet all the
requirements wherever the civil department would be asking us
for it. What Mark was talking about might be requiring some
detention, underground detention or whatever. So actually we
do have to do the calculation to see if we can meet the
requirement. What we're showing on the site right now, we're
adding a lot of greenery on the site that actually will help the
water issue. We're creating a lot of curb appeal with
landscaping and we're creating a garden area with two gazebos
for people to walk around to try to give it a residential look. Last
time at the meeting we talked about potential —what we showed
over here, we said that for every unit, we're planning to have
maybe one car and a half per unit because for the study we do
elderly apartments, the need of so many cars usually it was not
needed. So we showed here that we took one and half cars per
apartment, but after the meeting last time, I did a design and we
added actually 98 cars in the green area. So if it's needed, we
can extend the need for more parking in that area. And this area
with extra landscaping will take up to 98 cars. So actually we'll
have a good number for this kind of project. But like we thought,
we use it for after the project is open maybe a year or two years.
If everything is working okay, we'll keep it the way it is. If it's
needed, we'll have no problem to add the parking for it. For the
project itself, actually now on the side is available almost 500
cars and it's kind of a big parking lot. It looks like a sea of
parking. It has no residential feeling and it's always empty. So
that's why the idea to kind of go through that process. For the
apartment itself, if we go by gross sizes, they're like maybe 413
for the two small ones and the other ones are 760 and 780 if we
go by gross. Useable, they're like 367 and we have like 780 and
730. The percentage of apartments in this building, we have like
67 percent of the apartments, they're like one big bedroom with
a nice big open space and we have actually 27 percent, they're
two bedrooms. And only we have 12 percent for the small like
studio type. The idea of the studio type we add them if
somebody needs a space. He doesn't need like for the amount
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of the money to pay too much and still like to be in a separate
building living in that area. That's why we created these. And
actually we have two of them on every floor. So that's kind of
the idea for the function. The function, we have a bedroom, we
have walk in closets, we have a bathroom, a kitchen, we have a
laundry. Actually it will be stacking laundry, up and down, and
we do have like a small area for a table, eating area and a
sitting area. Most of the units will have all the bedrooms and all
the living space looking up to the windows, and with this
building, you know, we had issues with the window size
because of the structure of the building. It's kind of undoable to
make them wider because the walls are all concrete and these
are carrying the whole structure of the building. So we're
working within what we have, but we're trying to make it also
kind of very attractive for a residential look. For the first floor, we
talked also last time that the community might need — usually
the idea, what's going on with this project, is to have it for
elderly apartments. I mean that's what the project started
originally, and I thank you. You sent me that report, and we
went through it and maybe eventually talk with this company to
see what their ideas and if they can help with the project. But
yes, you're right. I think the need for elderly apartment over 55,
that's kind of what the plan is, but we're keeping an option in the
future. If it didn't work, at least we can take part of it, maybe
open it to the public. But the project is done for the elderly. On
the first floor, the doctor is planning to keep his medical practice
there. We did talk about potential having an exercise room, a
gym area, cafeteria. So there's a gym and we have actually the
doctor's use and we can have like a multipurpose room for
everybody to come and meet. So actually, the whole building
eventually it will be used and designed for this project. I'd like to
take any questions to help through the process.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you for the background. Are there any questions from the
Commission?
Ms. Smiley: What percentage are you seeing as — first of all, elderly is not
55.
Mr. Abdelnour: No, no, no. I'm counting myself.
Ms. Smiley: Because I'm past that and I'm not feeling elderly today. But at
any rate, what percentage of the apartments are going to be for
seniors?
Mr. Abdelnour: Actually, the way the project is, it will be the whole building.
January 12, 2016
27368
Ms. Smiley: And you're going to have how many two bedrooms?
Mr. Abdelnour: Actually, we have 27 percent two bedrooms, and we have 67
percent one bedroom, and we have 12 percent studios.
Ms. Smiley: The figure you gave for the size of the apartment, I'm trying to
figure . . .
Mr. Abdelnour: Most of the apartments are double the size of the studio. Most
of them, like between 760 to 750 square feet. The studio, if you
go by useable or gross, is like 413 square feet. But actually, it
will have a kitchen, it will have open space and a bathroom, and
a closet and a laundry area. It also will be the same function.
Ms. Smiley: Are you seeing this as subsidized rent or are you expecting
people to just pay that rent? Will it be government subsidized?
Dr. Nouri: We're expecting people to pay for it but like Ghassan said, we
are keeping an open mind for every possible thing in the future
to get an option in case one way didn't work. But this plan
originally for senior citizen housing to pay for their apartments.
Ms. Smiley: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Taylor: Mark, what kind of assurance do we have that if senior housing
doesn't work out there, it goes into something else like low
income apartments, but with this zoning?
Mr. Taormina: That would depend on how Council ultimately decides to
condition the approvals relative to the type of housing.
Remember, under the Fair Housing Act, they can limit I believe
up to 80 percent of the units to persons 55 years of age and
older. Aside from that, there cannot be any restrictions, at least
on who is eligible to reside within the complex in terms of any
income limitations. I don't think that's something that can
necessarily be addressed as part of a condition of approval. I
think instead what we have to look at is the quality of the
development and the fact that it is primarily going to be for
senior apartments. When we deal with property that is zoned R-
9, it is restricted to housing for the elderly. But in this case, it
would remain a PO district, so it would only be through some
understanding, agreement or condition of approval that this
would be limited for senior housing. Beyond that, I don't know
how or if you could put controls and restrictions in place that
would address the issue of income.
January 12, 2016
27369
Mr. Taylor: So it would be different than Brashear Towers or McNamara
Towers, would you say?
Mr. Taormina: Would it be different?
Mr. Taylor: Yes.
Mr. Taormina: Well, this would be privately operated as I understand it. This
would be something that would be completely market rate
apartments for seniors, as opposed to some of the other senior
housing developments that we have in the community that are
operated by the Housing Commission. But that's not what
they're talking about here. Again, this would be strictly private,
independent apartments like you have at some of the other
facilities a little bit further south on Middlebelt Road. A good
example being Marycrest Manor.
Mr. Taylor: Thank you.
Mr. Abdelnour: On this project, the money is coming privately and there's no
government help.
Mr. Long: Has there been consideration to making the bathrooms more
user friendly if it's going to be marketed to seniors?
Mr. Abdelnour: Absolutely. Actually, part of the building we're going to have in
so many floors, every floor, we're going to have handicap
accessible, and all of them they have enough width to kind of
maneuver. Even when you do the design and the walls, they will
all be prepped to be able to put like bars and everything for
handicap. Yes.
Mr. Long: Great.
Mr. Wilshaw: A couple other questions. What is the expected investment that
you're looking to put into this property? Obviously, it's not cheap
to completely reconfigure this building. Do you have a rough
estimate of what it's going to cost?
Mr. Abdelnour: I think after finishing the site and doing the whole building, I
think it's going to be between $3 and $4 million.
Mr. Wilshaw: Right now, you have essentially the doctor who owns the
building and you're the only tenant in the building right now?
Dr. Nouri: No, there are more tenants. On the first floor, there's durable
Medical Equipment, there's my medical office, there's an
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27370
accounting office. On the fourth floor, there is a TV station which
I own too. On the fifth floor, there's a couple offices for home
health care and two home health cares, one production
company.
Mr. Abdelnour: But these are empty.
Dr. Nouri: Yes, they are.
Mr. Wilshaw: So you've come to the point where you can't find any other use
for this building as a commercial office building?
Dr. Nouri: It's a huge building. It's like 429,000. Like I tried every single
possible solution for this, but it didn't work. I have the Hayman
Company been contracted with us for two years to lease offices.
Every other time they bring a tenant, take a look and go. So I
don't think it will be full very soon. I think the best use for this
area with the demand with the homework I did with the
assistance of other people, I've been asking for a few months.
The senior citizen housing or apartments in general, whether it's
senior citizen housing or skilled assistant housing, which is
possible too, like one of the options I have. I think this will be the
best idea for this building. Otherwise, if I leave it like this, the
building will collapse very soon and nobody wants that to
happen. It's a nice building. It's a shame to be left like this.
Mr. Wilshaw: The practicality of demolishing this building and basically
starting over wouldn't be cost effective, would it?
Dr. Nouri: It's a very solid building. I think there is no need for demolishing
this building. It's a very solid building. The structure of the
building is very good, and I don't see any reason to demolish it
and start over.
Mr. Abdelnour: Actually, to demolish this building is very costly. It's a heavily
concrete building. He's going to end up putting more than $1
million to demolish it.
Mr. Wilshaw: It will cost you more to demolish it and rebuild than it would be
re-purpose it.
Mr. Abdelnour: It's better to re-use the existing one and try to come up with
apartments because it's mainly like 90 percent empty right now.
He's been trying for the last two or three years and nothing is
happening. Actually, he has to keep it heated and all the utilities,
so the cost every month is going crazy. It's very costly. You
have over like $200,000 just to keep it going. That's the idea. He
January 12, 2016
27371
doesn't want to lose it and even sell it to another person and
have the same issue. So we're trying to come up with a project
that helps the community, helps the doctor, and would be good
for the city
Mr. Wilshaw: Just for the audience's benefit and the petitioner is already
aware of this, this is obviously a unique petition we haven't seen
typically in the city to take an office building and convert to
residential, but it's not completely unique in the Metro Detroit
area. There's been a few other developments. There's one in
Southfield and some others throughout Southeast Michigan
where they've taken essentially a functionally obsolete office
buildings and converted them into some residential apartments.
There is one particular in Southfield that I pointed the petitioner
to, to say you might want to talk to the owner of that building
and understand kind of how it works for them, what their
successes were, what their problems were, so that they
understand what they're getting into because this is obviously
not something that is done terribly often but can be done and
can be done successfully. At least we've seen it in other
communities. So it's just a matter of making sure that you have
the correct business plan.
Mr. Abdelnour: Absolutely. We're taking in some area schools and transferring
them to this kind of projects because sometimes a lot of schools
are closing. They are going to charter school or to a different
issue. So instead of demolishing the building, try to remodel it
and try to use it for a good purpose.
Dr. Nouri: In this building, there are so many floors, as Mark said, not
almost, they are gutted out. So even if I want to establish a new
office, I have to spend money again and do this. So since I've
got all open space, it's easy for me to start with the senior
citizen apartments instead of put more money on to re-establish
the offices and risking the whole thing would not be leased
again.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is there anything else you would like to tell us at this time?
Mr. Abdelnour: I think we worked with the City for a long time. We're always
doing projects with the City. We think that this project can be
good for the city and I think with the plan that the doctor is trying
to work with the Planning Department and with all this new work
that has been done in the parking lot and the elevation and
inside the building, I think will improve this whole area and it will
improve the project in general.
January 12, 2016
27372
Mr. Taylor: One other question. Do you have a ballpark figure of what they
might lease for?
Dr. Nouri: Yes. We talked about this. I thought we put like a number of
$500 to $700. We even thought about going down unless the
market now to try to fill this building.
Mr. Taylor: Thank you.
Dr. Nouri: I think $500 to $700 will be a reasonable number.
Mr. Taylor: Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: If there are no other questions from the Commission, we will go
to the audience. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to
speak for or against the granting of this petition? Please come
to the podium and give us your name and address just like the
petitioner.
Ammon Murray, 19461 Parkville, Livonia, Michigan 48152. I have had an
opportunity to speak to Dr. Labeed. We spoke over the wall
when you first bought the place. Remember I had some water
going over.
Mr. Wilshaw: Sir, if you can point this way, we can hear you better.
Mr. Murray: Okay. I was talking to the doctor. I'm sorry. I have a couple
concerns but I want to commend him for trying to do something
with the building because I live on what would be the northeast
corner. I live about a third of the way in. I'm on Parkville. If
you're looking at it north there, the long lot that goes along it. So
I've spent a lot of time next to this building. I've watched it
somewhat deteriorate in 16 years, so I would like to see
something done with it. I commend him for what he's trying to
do. The fact that he's trying to put apartments in there for senior
citizens, my mother lived in something similar to that. It was a
55 years and older good community. If that's what it's going to
be, I have no problem with that. What my problem is, is what if
that doesn't work and it becomes lower income housing? That's
mine and my neighbor's concerns. Another big concern is, I
noticed on the paperwork we got, Vassar Avenue, they show it
going all the way through. Vassar Avenue right now does not go
all the way through. That would present another traffic problem
that we deal with all the time. People try to cut in. They think
they can miss the light at Middlebelt and Seven Mile and they
cut through our neighborhood. If that stays the way it is, I have
no problem with that. I like what they're proposing, but I do have
January 12, 2016
27373
some concerns. They said they need an additional 108 parking
spaces but yet they want to make the east end of that all grass.
That seems to be contradictory of what they want to do and
what they need to have done. Right now, it's all parking spaces
anyways, so what are we getting? Are we getting grass or are
we getting the additional parking? My other concern is, they
talked about stormwater. I have to have a . . . most people have
a sump pump in their house to pump water out. I've got one
outside right along the wall line because I talked to neighbors.
You've got to understand. We're in the Clarenceville School
District. Close knit group of people. They don't move far away.
We moved into this. My wife has made some great friends
there. I have a neighbor that told me that the parking lot lights
where they're at on the north side used to be a ravine. You can
actually watch the water come out on the east end underneath
the parking lot and out. That's stormwater. That's water that's
coming into my house that I have to pump out. Now they said
they were going to address that issue. I don't know how they're
going to address that issue. I mean it comes up in their parking
lot. You can see it. They talked about waste management for
the proposed cafeteria. Where are they going to put . . . if they
can't put it in the sewer system, are they going to have like oil
containers out by my property, out by Parkville, right on the
corner by my house where I have to look at that - dumpsters?
Because I've dealt with that before too. The Doctor has since
moved the dumpsters from the back to the front, which I
commend his for but the previous owner wouldn't do that. I
addressed the elderly and the low income and the grass area. I
think those are my concerns. I would like to see him do
something with the building. It needs to be done because the
building is deteriorating, and if he's willing to do something with
it and make it better, I'm all for him, but we've got to do it in the
constraint of us as residents.
Mr. Taormina: Mr. Chairman, if I may?
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, Mr. Taormina.
Mr. Taormina: Just to put one concern to rest, and that is Vassar Avenue and
the fact that the drawing he looked at, which was the public
notice that went out, is a parcel map. It shows Vassar Avenue
as it exists today in terms of the right-of-way. The right-of-way
does go from Middlebelt Road all the way to Parkville Avenue,
but the actual improved portion of the road stops well short of
that. It goes about 600 feet. So there's another quarter of that
distance that is unimproved. The two streets don't connect,
Middlebelt and Parkville, and it is not the intention of this
January 12, 2016
27374
petitioner to change that in any way. It merely shows that way
on the maps because that's how the right-of-way was dedicated
originally, but it's improved only for a certain distance and it will
remain that way under the current plan.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Do you understand that, Mr. Murray?
Mr. Murray: Yes, I do, but I also want to bring to his attention, and I ran into
this once before when I lived in Redford Township. Even though
it is a right-of-way, if a person . . . I think it's called settlement
rights. If a person has taken care of that property over a certain
amount of years, they have the right to that property. Now that's
not my property. It's not my argument, but I'm just trying to look
out for everybody because that person has encroached and
kind of like taken over. If they was to come through, they would
have to take up a lot of this guy's driveway. But that's his
problem, not mine.
Mr. Wilshaw: Exactly.
Mr. Murray: But there would be other, okay, eminent domain settlement
rights. I mean there's a lot of issues that I don't understand. I'm
an electrician.
Mr. Wilshaw: It's okay. I just wanted to address a couple other points that he
made just to give you a sense of understanding. When we talk
about parking, the area toward the east end of the property,
what they're showing right now is that's going to be a land
banked parking area. So they're going to put grass there.
They're going to remove a lot of the parking that's currently on
the site, try to reduce the sea of concrete that you have there
now, and improve it with more landscaping, but what they can
do with our ordinance, because they have to have a certain
number of allocated or show that they have the potential of
having a certain number of parking spaces to meet our
ordinance, they will note those parking spots on the map but
they will cover it with grass essentially. That's what we call land
banking. So it meets our ordinance that they have the
appropriate number of parking spots, but they're not going to put
them all in at the beginning. They're going to try to have as few
parking spots as possible to try to minimize the parking, and
then if for some reason they find that they need additional
parking, they already have those spaces allocated. They could
then start to put more parking in.
Mr. Murray: That's all well and done. It's their property. They can do what
they want with it, and it would be nice if they did that. Something
January 12, 2016
27375
I didn't even think about with that wall, because we do have a
block wall that goes along Parkville, goes down my area. Will
that block wall still remain?
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes.
Mr. Murray: Because right now, that wall . . . they had to replace it before the
Doctor took over. They had to replace the wall along my side
because the snow plowers were just pushing it up, pushing it up
and it actually came into my property. We are now, because
they don't push it on my property, they're now pushing it onto
the Parkville side and you're seeing that wall slowly deteriorate
where it's starting to go over. So there's another issue that
they're going to have to deal with here pretty soon.
Mr. Wilshaw: Right. Anytime when two different zoning areas meet, especially
residential and the office or commercial, we always require that
there be a wall separating those different zoning areas. So
that's why that wall is there. Is not going to go away. And that's
something to keep an eye on with the Inspection Department,
that if for some chance that wall does start to deteriorate, he has
to maintain that wall and keep it in good condition. So if you see
it deteriorate or start to crumble or fall or be unstable, please let
the Inspection Department know and they'll go take a look at
that and try to work with him to make sure that stays in good
shape.
Mr. Murray: Okay. I was a good neighbor to the owner before. I actually
talked to him personally, especially when the wall came down.
He was a good neighbor and I'm sure the doctor is going to be a
good neighbor. We just got to get things right.
Mr. Wilshaw: I understand. Thank you, sir. Anybody else wanting to speak?
Please come forward.
Larry Elkus, 30833 Northwestern Highway, Suite 204, Farmington Hills, Michigan
48334. I'm a representative of my family who has the Perani's
Hockey property. We rent to them. If you could put the slide up
that shows the footprint? Thank you. Great. First, the concept of
converting this into residential sounds like it's a wonderful idea.
We're concerned about the parking. While I don't know if the
zoning ordinance says two and half cars for each one or two
bedroom unit, and if there's evidence to support that that's way
too high a burden, that's okay with me. My concern is that if it is
close to being that or if it's two cars, I'm concerned at what point
will residents or guests of the doctor's building be parking in our
parking lot instead of their parking lot. If what's to be a greenbelt
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27376
becomes the excess parking, effectively that parking is too far
away. As we know in the shopping center market efficiency that
everyone wants to be as close as possible, it's going to burden
our property. So the extent that you can keep that in mind as to
where the placement is of where the entrance and exits are and
where people are going to be coming, ingress and egress to the
facility, I guess my goal is that the parking burden be self-
contained within that property. And lastly I guess to the extent
that whatever target market the doctor wants in terms of his
residences, if that supports a lower parking amount, ratio, if that
changes, I certainly want within the record to be a change of
parking obligation when it converts over to something that is
more dense. That's it.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Elkus. Is there anybody else wishing to speak
for or against? Please come forward.
Debra Hall, 29105 Vassar, Livonia, Michigan 48152. Hello. My husband and
actually own the home directly across from the building on
Vassar. We're the very end home. Our driveway actually ends
where the street deadends. We have kind of a few concerns.
Some of them were already addressed. We do know from
talking to residents in that area, a lot of them were not informed
about this meeting, even people who can visually see the
building from their residence. But one of our big concerns with
that not being a through street was the traffic. We were
concerned were they going to make Vassar a through street. I
actually own part of that property it if were to go to a through
street. They were talking about snow removal. Snow removal on
my block is hideous. From the businesses that are in front of us
as you enter our street, they don't contain their snow on their
property. They push it across the street out and it leaves ruts
two, three feet deep. I have an SUV. I can get through it. My
daughter has a small Vibe. She gets stuck in my street every
year. They also bury my driveway because they push all the
snow, goes to the end of the street, half of which is my property.
I have five, ten foot, depending on how much snow snowbanks,
and they'll bury my driveway in the snow and I can't access my
home.
Donald Hall, 29105 Vassar, Livonia, Michigan 48152. Between them and the
City.
Ms. Hall: Between them and the City.
January 12, 2016
27377
Mr. Hall: When the City finally does come out and actually clear our
street, we've already had Perani's push the snow across the
street . . .
Ms. Hall: To the bank.
Mr. Hall: To the bank and over to the pavilion.
Ms. Hall: They go back and forth across the street, and it's a nice set of
hills that just leads from our house all the way out to the end of
the street.
Mr. Hall: So that's one issue right there. No one seems to take care of
their own stuff. Okay? That's one issue.
Ms. Hall: I guarantee if I went and pushed all the snow from my driveway
on somebody else's property, they wouldn't appreciate that. And
you cannot move with a snow blower or shovel packed icy snow
at the end of your driveway that is three feet high. I used to work
as a midnight nurse and I would come home and I'd go to my
driveway and I can't get in my home. I have like a 60, 80 foot
long driveway. The other issue is just turning on and off of
Vassar with just the limited traffic from the building across the
street and the bank and the hockey shop and our two homes.
There's only two homes on that block. It's terrible getting out
onto Middlebelt as it is because that's our only access to
Middlebelt. The traffic is terrible as it is. Then to make it even
worse by adding an extra 100 to 200 cars coming off and on
that street, how is it going to accommodate that traffic? Privacy
issues. Everybody in these high rise buildings can see directly.
These are all single family homes in the area. Everything in that
whole area is nothing but single family homes. I'm actually the
original owner of our home. We've been there for almost 20
years. And originally they wanted to put a couple of apartments,
like about a six unit apartment building in the two pieces of
property that are the two . . .
Mr. Hall: The two lots that I own and my neighbor owns.
Ms. Hall: And my neighbor owns. And it was shut down immediately.
They said the street can't handle that kind of traffic. And now
you want to put almost 200 cars coming off and on our block on
a daily basis, not including the office building. So just being able
to get there, and then them being able to see down into
everybody's elses what they're doing in their backyard. They will
have complete access and view of our property. The decrease
in our property value was already mentioned. I mean, I'm sorry,
January 12, 2016
27378
$500 to $700 for an apartment is not that much, not in these
days. You know, even smaller apartments in Canton, Westland,
they're $700, $800, $900. So the price of these apartments are
very, very low. And like I said, the density of the amount of
people coming off and on the street, between just our two
houses, there's 12 children. You're talking about kids that are
outside trying to ride their bikes, and on a deadend street they
only have one direction to go. They can't access the other
neighborhood. Tring to ride their bikes, these people come flying
down our street. They literally try to drive through my front yard
to get to Parkville because they realize when they get there, it's
not a through street, no matter how many signs you put there.
And Clarenceville being the school district, if this was like he
had talked about, apartments for the elderly, it might not be as
bad, but if that doesn't work out, you're talking about adding
100, 150 children to a school district that's getting ready to
close. My daughter's spoken to the superintendent of the school
and he says within a couple years, Clarenceville probably won't
exist. That means Livonia absorbs us. Where else are we going
to go? You know? So know you're talking about busses that
don't have enough room for students, classes that don't have
adequate teachers as it is. They don't have adequate cafeteria
facilities in the high school, and we're going to dump more kids
into an open school district. So that becomes a problem. And
notice that you talked about there being a wall separating the
other property on the other side. There is no wall that separates
us and we have maintained that grassy area all the way out to
the parking lot for practically the entire 20 years that we've lived
there. Even when they come to cut the grass, the skip the
section in front of my house. They go over beside the wall, they
cut it and they leave. So I don't know where all the grassy area
would be, but if they leave the grassy area in front of my house,
that means I'm going to have people congregating in my front
yard. I'm going to have to completely re-landscape my front yard
which has sprinkler systems and everything else to keep people
from basically using my front yard as their recreational area.
And those are my main concerns, like I stated, traffic and what
it's going to do to my home and my property value. I am,
however, glad to see that they're going to do something with it. I
would think, to me, since the complete and total area are large
lots with private homes on them, why don't you just break it
down and sell it in parcels and have people build homes on it?
People that will actually care about the community that they live
in, things that would raise my property value, things that would
bring I think a much better climate to the area.
January 12, 2016
27379
Mr. Hall: It's more accommodating when you have families in that area
than 200 families in that area when you're talking maybe six to
eight homes added instead of 200, you know.
Ms. Hall They really have no investment. The people who move into
those apartments, they're not invested in the area. We're
invested. I've put two daughters through Clarenceville. I'm now
putting three grandsons through Clarenceville. So we are a very
close knit community and we would like to see our community
made better, not worse by whatever they decide to do. But
would ask that you don't put anything across the street from me
that you wouldn't want across the street from you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Very good. Thank you Ms. Hall and Mr. Hall. Is there anyone
else wishing to speak for or against?
Scott Grefke, 19444 Parkville, Livonia, Michigan 48152. I'm adjacent to the
building. I've been a resident there for 22 years and I'm kind of
opposed to the proposal just for the fact with the building what's
been going on for the last 22 years I've been there. I police that
area next to the wall that I live at for trash. I've called numerous
times to have the grass cut and it just goes on for weeks. There
is no wall against the Vassar area. It was one of my concerns. If
they were going to do this, would they put up a wall there or are
they going to put the street all the way through to Parkville?
Right now, Parkville is already a drag strip from the shopping
malls. People use it to cut through from Seven Mile and then
they cut up through St. Martins to Middlebelt. It's one of my big
concerns. Low income housing I was worried about. It was
mentioned $400, $500 to $700 isn't much for an apartment and
also like everybody said, they have no investment in the area
there. I like the area but if they bring it in, I mean what's it going
to do to my property value? If that happens, I'm moving.
Mr. Wilshaw: I understand. Is there anything else you wanted to add?
Mr. Grefke: No.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Is there anybody else wishing to
speak for or against? If not, would the petitioner like to come
back and respond to anything or add any additional comments?
Mr. Abdelnour: Yes. Thank you for your concern. I can go through some of the
concerns that they were talking about. Let's start with the
parking lot. The existing parking lot now is 498 parkings.
Actually, there's a lot more parking than what we're proposing. If
we go with the one and a half parking, we have around like 290
January 12, 2016
27380
parking or 270 parking. But even if we go to meet the
requirement by two and a half per unit, we go to 340 parking. So
actually we're losing 160 parking from that parking lot. What
we're doing at the same time for the water issues, we had one
person talking about the water. By adding all this grass and all
these islands and the greenery area, that take a lot of the water
and stops all the drainage going to the other side of the
property. Listening to what the civil engineer was telling us, we
have to meet the requirement. If we have to do it, we have to do
a study if they need to do underground detention, trying to make
it happen, or whatever is needed to meet the requirement of the
city. If this building is going to stay office and we're going to
lease it, you're going to need 500 cars plus more during the day.
Actually, with that zoning you have way less parking, less need
for cars. It's going to be for the elderly and maybe somebody
visiting on the weekend just to see their mom or dad or what its
needed. So actually, the density of parking, that will be the
lowest we can get in these kinds of projects. Any work need to
be fixed along the wall from the two sides, that's something that
we have to do. We're not going to get a permit or a final
approval unless everything is fixed according to the Building
Department. The issue of the parking on the other side, if we're
going to try to use, we have enough parking. I don't think we're
planning to go to the neighbors and park over there. We can
have signs or close the road. You don't have to do that. Then
neighbors from Vassar side, they're asking maybe to see walls.
If it's required, we'll do it, but it's better for us to put more
landscaping and maybe trees over there to try to make it more
good for them for a good view. But we still, we can work with the
city. We can do it either way. So actually, we don't have any
kind of issues on that part. For the grass, for the snow removal,
actually by adding more grass around the parking lot and more
greenery area, that makes it easier for the people cleaning the
parking lot to put the snow because when you plow it, when you
have grass around the parking, it's easy to put your snow there.
You don't have to start hitting walls and stuff like that. So
actually all this kind of what's been kind of put together on that
side, just try to make it easy and more residential look. I know
the doctor said that it might be $500 to $700 for rent. Because
the cost for this building we said is going to be around $4 maybe
$5 million and I think the numbers and it's all financed by him,
so he has to do the math and he has to make sure that he's not
losing money. He still has to make some money. I think myself,
$700 is low. So it's going to be between $700 to $900. It may be
in the top area or the two bedrooms can go to $1,000, but that's
kind of an idea because the construction cost I think is high. It's
a lot of work. Mechanically it's going to be all gutted. Electrically,
January 12, 2016
27381
it's all new and the parking and the asphalt and if we do
underground detention, there's a lot of extra cost plus all the
renovation on the outside. That's going to be a big project.
Maybe the doctor would like to say something too. But we're
willing to work with the neighbors. We're willing to see what their
concerns are and we can work with them.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. I think you addressed a number of the issues that
were raised at least. Is it safe to assume that from a
construction standpoint, if you go forward with this project that
you would start probably by renovating one or two floors, try to
lease those out, see how the market is going, and then
continue?
Mr. Abdelnour: The issue with these kinds of projects, you have to do more at
the beginning. So actually the parking will have to be fixed. The
outside of the building has to be renovated because it's hard to
come back and do that. The only part, you're going to maybe
start with three floors at the top and start going down to between
the second and the eighth floor, but that doesn't interfere too
much with the building because the outside will have to be
whatever we're showing on the pictures. Everything has to be
approved from the beginning and everything else will be inside
to see how the economy is working on that part.
Mr. Wilshaw: I didn't see anything in the plan about carports. Is there any
consideration for that?
Mr. Abdelnour: We did talk about it in the meeting and we did say there that
there's a potential we can do the carport on the north side of the
property. We can do that line. There's like maybe 28 to 40 cars.
We can give options that people can do it. It's hard to put
carports in the middle of the parking. It makes it too kind of
congested, but we do have the back wall. It's a long wall. It's like
maybe 40, 60 cars. There's a potential if it's needed. I think the
doctor even talked about it last time that if we can afford it and
make it good for the neighbors, especially elderly cleaning snow
or something during the morning, that's something in the plan,
yes.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Are there any other questions from the Planning
Commission?
Dr. Nouri: One gentleman talked about the entrance. We have two
entrances on the side. We're trying to make it easy access for
the building so you don't really have to go to the neighbors or
somewhere to park. We're trying to keep it within the properties.
January 12, 2016
27382
Ms. Smiley: Are those entrances on the east and west or the north and
south?
Dr. Nouri: East and west.
Ms. Smiley: And you have elevators.
Dr. Nouri: We have three elevators in the building. All the ingress
requirements is going to be put together for that project.
Ms. Smiley: I read through these letters. You have a lot to do. Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: I did find the other thing I was going to mention. The trash
disposal for the residents that would live in property - would that
be handled through your existing dumpsters that you have or
would you be putting in additional trash receptacles or
compactors or anything?
Mr. Abdelnour: Actually, I think the way it's going to be done, we're going to
maybe have a chute for all of them to take it to the first floor and
somebody will put it in the dumpster. Yes.
Mr. Wilshaw: Store internally and then move it to the dumpster?
Mr. Abdelnour: Move it to the dumpsters.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. You said that you would be willing to put additional
landscaping around the . . . you're showing some trees.
Mr. Abdelnour: We're showing full trees over there. We're putting all the trees
there on that side.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. So if there's a need for possibly some arborvitaes or
other screening, you could do that as well, right?
Mr. Abdelnour: If the neighbors and if this is kind of the plan, yes. We can do
that. Actually, we can do some evergreens. Like even in the
wintertime, the evergreen will . . .
Mr. Wilshaw: Right. Keep some screening for the residents nearby. Yes, I
think that's a good idea. All right. Thank you. If there is nothing
else from the Commission, we've heard from the audience.
We've heard from the petitioner. Thank you very much. A
motion would be in order. I'll close the public hearing and a
motion would be in order.
January 12, 2016
27383
On a motion by Smiley, seconded by Long, and unanimously adopted, it was
#01-02-2016 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on January 12, 2016, on
Petition 2015-12-02-26 submitted by Livonia Corp. Tower,
L.L.C. requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Sections
20.02 and 26.05 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543,
as amended, to develop a Planned General Development at
29200 Vassar Avenue, including renovations to the site and
building to accommodate offices and other commercial services
on the first floor of the building and a total of 112 apartment
units on floors 2 thru 8, located on the north side of Vassar
Avenue between Middlebelt Road and Parkville Avenue in the
Southwest 1/4 of Section 1, which property is zoned PO, the
Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City
Council that Petition 2015-12-02-26 be approved subject to the
following conditions:
1. That the Site Plan marked Sheet SP.101 dated December
2, 2015, as revised, prepared by GAV Associates, is
hereby approved and shall be adhered to, except that the
site plan shall be revised to show a total of no less than 56
"land banked" parking spaces on the easterly portion of the
site;
2. That the accessory residential use for apartments shall be
permitted only under the circumstances that the standard
set forth in Section 26.05(a) of the Zoning Ordinance,
which specifies any such use shall not constitute more than
twenty (20%) percent of the total floor area of the building
is modified by the City Council to allow for approximately
eight-five (85%) percent of the total floor area of the
building to be used for such purposes;
3. That this approval is subject to the petitioner being granted
a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals for deficient
parking and any conditions related thereto;
4. That the Landscape Plan marked LP-1 dated November
25, 2015, as revised, prepared by Nagy Devlin Land
Design, L.L.C., is hereby approved and shall be adhered
to;
5. That all disturbed lawn areas shall be sodded in lieu of
hydroseeding;
January 12, 2016
27384
6. That underground sprinklers are to be provided for all
landscaped and sodded areas, and all planted materials
shall be installed to the satisfaction of the Inspection
Department and thereafter permanently maintained in a
healthy condition;
7. That the Elevation Plans marked Sheets A.201 and A.202,
both dated December 2, 2015, as revised, prepared by
GAV Associates, are hereby approved and shall be
adhered to; except that the plans shall be modified to be
consistent with the new rendered elevation as received by
the Planning Commission on January 12, 2016;
8. 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;
9. That the three walls of the trash dumpster area(s) shall be
a minimum seven feet (7') in height, constructed out of
building materials that shall complement that of the building
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;
10. That any restaurant or cafe shall provide disposal of
grease waste in accordance with Section 13.20.380 of the
City Code of Ordinances;
11. That the issues as outlined in the correspondence dated
December 23, 2015, from the Fire Marshal shall be
resolved to the satisfaction of the Fire Department;
12. 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;
13. 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;
14. That no LED lightband or exposed neon shall be permitted
on this site including, but not limited to, the building or
around the windows;
January 12, 2016
27385
15. That this approval is conditioned on the petitioner
restricting the use of the property for Housing for the
Elderly as defined in Section 2.07 of the Zoning Ordinance
#543;
16. That the specific plans referenced in this approving
resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department
at the time of application for building permits; and
17. 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.
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons:
1. That the proposal is in compliance with all of the special
and general waiver use standards and requirements as set
forth in Sections 20.02 and 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance
#543;
2. That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony
with the surrounding uses in the area;
3. That the subject site has the capacity to accommodate the
proposed use; and
4. That the proposal represents a reasonable and logical
development plan for the subject property which adheres to
the principles of sound land use planning.
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. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion?
Mr. Taormina: I have a couple of items for consideration of the maker of the
motion. For Item #7 with respect to the elevation plans, I would
make an addendum to that. I notice there's a slight difference
between the flat drawings you're looking at here and the
rendering. I would pen some language that would say, except
that the plan shall be modified so as to be consistent with the
rendered elevation view. He's brought the brick up a little bit
January 12, 2016
27386
higher on the corners of the building or the masonry, and he's
also added the E.I.F.S. on the top. There might actually be a
little change to the cornice treatment on the top. So I think this
rendering is a more recent depiction of their intentions on how to
modify it, so I'd like the other drawings to be changed. What
you've seen here this evening is what you prefer to the flat
drawings, so I would recommend that.
Ms. Smiley: Do we need to change the date?
Mr. Taormina: We'll handle that in the approving resolution, but I just wanted to
see whether or not you agreed with the changes to that.
Ms. Smiley: Yes. Absolutely.
Mr. Taormina: Then secondly, if you wanted to consider a condition that the
approval would be conditioned on the petitioner restricting the
use of the premises for senior apartments and any change that
would include rentals to any non-seniors in excess of what the
Fair Housing Act would allow would be subject to City Council
approval. I know that's been in discussion this evening. It's
something that was indicated by the petitioner. It would be their
intention to market that initially for senior housing and that type
of condition would restrict it initially to senior housing, but it
would also open up the door for him to go back to the Council
for any consideration to open the leasing to non-seniors.
Mr. Taylor: It's a good idea.
Ms. Smiley: Okay. Would that be #17?
Mr. Taormina: That would probably be an additional condition. That's correct.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is that okay with the maker of the motion?
Ms. Smiley: Yes.
Mr. Wilshaw: And is the second okay with that?
Mr. Long Yes.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is there anything else that we need to talk about? Are there any
other questions or comments?
Mr. Taylor: Well, Mr. Chairman, only about the snow removal. I'm not quite
sure where you're at on it. They are not allowed to push snow
into your driveways. If you ever have a problem like that, you
January 12, 2016
27387
should call the city. I don't know if you have in the past or not,
but you certainly could. The city should have done something
about it. Whether they did or not, I don't know but that's against
the rules.
Unidentified audience members: Inaudible conversation.
Mr. Taylor: You have the attention of the owner again. I think they're going
to try . . .
Mr. Wilshaw: Ma'am, we can't hear you on the tv if you're speaking.
Ms. Smiley: You need to go to the microphone.
Elizabeth Hall, Hall, 29105 Vassar, Livonia, Michigan 48152. Every year I've had
to go out there and either stop the snow plows that he
personally provides for his property from pushing snow into our
driveway so that I can get out, because like my mother stated
earlier, I'm the one who gets stuck. Everybody else on the street
has, you know, the nicer four by fours lifted vehicles. No, I have
the Vibe that's an inch off the ground. I get stuck. I call the city.
stop the snow plows. I'm out there attempting to move the snow
so that I can get to and from work to support my three children
who go to Clarenceville school district. If this does fall through
and does not become a senior citizen and it becomes low
income or single family homes, Clarenceville is already
overcrowded as it is. My kids are sitting three kids to a bus now.
My mom drops them off to school for me so that they don't have
to be on a crowded bus. But they have to take the bus home
because of conflicts in schedule and my other sister who's in
school.
Mr. Wilshaw: We're talking about snow removal.
Ms. Hall: I'm sorry. I'm frustrated.
Mr. Wilshaw: I understand.
Ms. Hall: But we call the city every year. I've stopped people for the snow
removal and it takes days. It doesn't get handled right away. It's
not an issue that is resolved instantly and it doesn't help talking
to the plow guys who are out there. They just waive me off and
they go and do whatever, and then I'm on the phone with the
city and I'm yelling at people for, you know, an hour because
they're like, we'll, we didn't do it. And it's like no, you didn't plow
our street at all.
January 12, 2016
27388
Mr. Wilshaw: Unfortunately, the wheels of government move slowly
sometimes, but certainly the Inspection Department would be
the right place to contact if someone is plowing onto your
property. At least you're doing what you can do. I appreciate
that.
Mr. Wilshaw, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution. You will have another opportunity to talk to
the Council. They are officially the ones that are going to
approve or reject this. This is just a recommendation that we
provide to them.
ITEM #3 PETITION 2015-12-08-20 GROUP 10 MANAGEMENT
Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2015-
12-08-20 submitted by Group 10 Management requesting
approval of all plans required by Sections 18.47 and 18.58 of
the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, in
connection with a proposal to construct a new five-story hotel
(Hampton Inn) on part of the property at 28101 Schoolcraft
Road, located on the south side of Schoolcraft Road between
Inkster and Middlebelt Road in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 25.
Mr. Taormina: This is a request to construct a new five-story hotel on the south
side of Schoolcraft between Inkster and Middlebelt Road. This
property is 2.22 acres in area. It includes 250 feet of frontage
along Schoolcraft Road and has an average depth of 380 feet.
Currently the property is vacant. The site is in the process of
being rezoned from M-2, General Manufacturing, to C-4-I, High
Rise Commercial, in order to support the use of the property
with a hotel. The First Reading on the rezoning was given by
City Council on December 14, 2015, and the Second Reading
and Roll Call, which are the final steps in the rezoning process,
are on hold until the site plan is reviewed. So we're looking at
tonight's agenda item as if the property was zoned appropriate
to the C-4 I district regulations. Immediately to the west of this
property is the site of Millennium Park, which includes the Home
Depot, and while Costco is not actually a part of Millennium
Park, it is right at the southeast corner of Middlebelt and
Schoolcraft Roads adjacent to this site. To the east is the Burton
Manor banquet facility, to the south are industrial uses that
make up part of the City's industrial corridor, and immediately to
the north is Schoolcraft Road and the 1-96 expressway. The
proposed hotel is sited near the center of the property. It
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27389
includes off-street parking on three sides of the building as well
as vehicular access all the way around the structure. The
building would be five stories in height. This equates to an
overall height of 67 feet as measured from the finish grade to
the top of the parapet. The building overall is about 63,000
square feet in size. It would accommodate 110 guest rooms.
The overall dimensions of the structure, not including the indoor
pool area, are about 62 feet of width to the building to 203 feet
of its length. The main entrance and lobby are on the north side
of the building closest to Schoolcraft Road. The plan shows a
porte-cochere and covered valet area. The enclosed in-ground
pool area, which is attached to the east elevation, measures
about 2,200 square feet. In terms of the setbacks for five-story
buildings in a C-4 district, the minimum required front yard
setback is 46 feet. At its closest point, this building would be 48
feet from Schoolcraft Road so it does comply with the front yard
setback requirement. The rear and side yard minimum
requirement is 50 feet. The building placement meets or
exceeds these requirements so it's fully conforming with all the
C-4 district regulations as it pertains to building height, setbacks
as well as maximum ground coverage. In terms of parking, the
ordinance requires a total of 114 parking spaces based on the
number of rooms and projected number of employees. This plan
shows 119 parking spaces, so there is a slight surplus of
parking spaces. There is a service area for refuse collection, a
generator enclosure as well as a shed. Those are shown in the
southeast part of the site. All of those accessory appurtenances
and services would be fully enclosed using masonry walls that
would match the building materials of the hotel building. Primary
access would come from Schoolcraft Road, although there is
secondary means of access that would come from the south via
a connection to the existing road network that links Schoolcraft
Road to both Millennium Park and the Livonia Corporate Center,
which is to the south. Stormwater would be managed, as it's
proposed now, within an existing stormwater detention basin
which is located adjacent to the site's west property line. It is
between the roadway and the property. In terms of the design of
the building, the building's exterior includes a combination of
brick, split face block as well as E.I.F.S. The first floor of the
building consists primarily of split-face block with cast stone
accents. Floors two through four would be faced with the darker
brown color brick. The fifth floor is primarily E.I.F.S. A simple
cornice treatment is shown on the lower part of the building
including the porte cochere. At the top of the building, at least at
the ends of the building and near the center of the building, the
cornice or parapet is more pronounced and decorative. In terms
of signage, they are allowed one wall sign. This plan shows
January 12, 2016
27390
multiple wall signs on each side of the building. That is
something that would require approval from the Zoning Board of
Appeals. With that, Mr. Chairman, I'll read out the
correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, it looks like we have some correspondence?
Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated December 15, 2015, which
reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the
Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced
petition. We have no objections to the proposed project at this
time. The legal description included with the submitted drawings
appears to be correct and should be used in conjunction with
this petition. The parcel address of 28101 Schoolcraft Road is
correct for the subject property. The submitted plans do not
indicate calculations for any of the proposed utility connections,
so we cannot comment on any potential impacts to the existing
systems at this time. The existing parcel is currently serviced by
public utilities that were installed as part of the overall Livonia
Corporate Park Condominium. The owner will need to show
calculations for the proposed utility connections and storm water
detention showing that the site will not exceed the permitted
flows from the original design plans. We will review the
proposed systems when plans are submitted to this department
for permitting." The letter is signed by David Lear, P.E.,
Assistant City Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia
Fire & Rescue Division, dated December 23, 2015, which reads
as follows: "This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in
connection with a request to construct a new five-story hotel
(Hampton Inn) on part of the property located at the above
referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal with
the following stipulations: (1) Subject building(s) are to be
provided with an automatic sprinkler system, and on site
hydrants shall be located between 50 feet and 100 feet from the
Fire Department connection. (2) Adequate hydrants shall be
provided and located with a maximum spacing of 300 feet
between hydrants. Most remote hydrant shall flow 1,500 GPM
with a residual pressure of 20 PSI. (3) Chapter 11 shall be
followed for Special Structures and High-Rise Buildings, NFPA
101, 2015. (4) Access around building shall be provided for
emergency vehicles with a minimum vertical clearance of
thirteen feet six inches, a turning radius of fifty-three feet wall to
wall and an inside turning radius of twenty-nine feet six inches.
(5) Fire lanes shall be marked with wall or pole mounted signs
that have the words: FIRE LANE — NO PARKING painted on
both sides (for pole mount), in contrasting colors at a size and
January 12, 2016
27391
spacing approved by the authority having jurisdiction. (6) In
regards to NFPA 13, 2013 edition, Fire Department Connections
should be of 2 X Detroit Standard Thread. (7) These issues and
other code requirements will be addressed during the plan
review process." The letter is signed by Daniel Lee, Fire
Marshal. The third letter is from the Division of Police, dated
December 22, 2015, which reads as follows: "I have reviewed
the plans in connection with the petitions. I have no objections
to the proposals. I do however recommend that `Right Turn
Only' signs be posted at the driveway exiting onto eastbound
Schoolcraft Road." The letter is signed by Joseph Boitos,
Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the Inspection
Department, dated January 7, 2016, which reads as follows:
"Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced petition has
been reviewed. (1) Parking spaces are required to be 10' x 20'
in size and double striped. (2) All existing and proposed
landscaped areas must have a functioning irrigation system
installed. (3) No signage has been reviewed at this time. (4)
This review is based on the proposed zoning change from M-2
to C-4. 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. Wilshaw: Are there any questions for the Planning Director? If not, will the
petitioner please come forward? We will need your name and
address for the record please.
Scott M. Bowers, Bowers+Associates, 2400 S. Huron Parkway, Ann Arbor,
Michigan 48104. Good evening.
Kenny Koza, Group 10 Management, 30500 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 525,
Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Is there anything you'd like to add to the
presentation?
Mr. Bowers: No. I did bring samples of the materials for the exterior of the
building.
Mr. Wilshaw: That would be excellent to see.
Mr. Bowers: I did provide the city with exterior pictures of one similar that
we've done for Group 10.
Mr. Wilshaw: This is the one in Troy, is it?
January 12, 2016
27392
Mr. Bowers: Yes, it is. A very similar flavor. The E.I.F.S. colors are now a
little different but the brick and the split face and with the cast
stone accents. Again, so what we have is stone at the porte
cochere. That would be the bottom masonry on this board. The
split face block is the first floor, all the way around the building.
It is broken up with a water table accent band and precast
accent band. Field brick is a reddish brick. In this case, our
building is five stories. This one happens to be four. Two
E.I.F.S. colors, if you can go back to the original rendering. All
the proud elements on the building will have this darker color
E.I.F.S. The base, fifth floor, will be the lighter color.
Mr. Wilshaw: Those look a little darker than what we saw on the photo from
Troy, correct?
Mr. Bowers: Correct. Yes, they're a little richer.
Mr. Koza: Just to note, that's nothing that we've done. Hilton had changed
the colors.
Mr. Bowers: The E.I.F.S. is Hilton.
Mr. Wilshaw: It looks like a nice change. Is there any additional questions for
the petitioner?
Ms. Smiley: When would you anticipate breaking ground?
Mr. Bowers: As soon as you approve.
Mr. Koza: We would obviously like a spring ground break. That's what we
always aim for.
Ms. Smiley: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is there anybody in the audience that speaking on this? If you
want to come up and say a word, that's fine.
Ken Haag, Ashley Capital, 2575 Haggerty Road, Canton, Michigan. We currently
own the property and the surrounding additional acreage. We're
selling it to Group 10 for the development. As we've said before,
we find it an ancillary benefit to the property. It doesn't impact us
from continuing to market the properties for additional
manufacturing and industrial uses, but we find it as a nice
amenity that will be an attraction to other users.
Mr. Wilshaw: Very good. Thank you.
January 12, 2016
27393
Ms. Smiley: It looks like a very nice development. I like where you placed it.
It's got easy access on and off to the expressway. It should
really work for you.
Mr. Bowers: We're excited about this one. It did work out very well.
Ms. Smiley: It's a very nice location. And it's a pretty building and you have a
pool, I understand.
Mr. Bowers: Correct.
Ms. Smiley: Indoor or outdoor?
Mr. Bowers: Indoor pool.
Ms. Smiley: It's a good idea for Michigan. Are there conference rooms
there?
Mr. Bowers: A small one.
Ms. Smiley: Who do you anticipate is your clientele?
Mr. Koza: Obviously, there's a million or so square feet of office space
within Livonia. Group 10 and Hilton recognized there was
actually a void for the Hampton Inn brand in this market. So they
actually brought it to our attention to kind of hone in and find a
location. That's how we came across this and started to work
with Ashley Capital. Obviously, you've got Bosch who is
expanding in Plymouth. We expect them to actually start using
this facility because it's going to be a new Hampton. They're a
very big client of Hilton. Hampton is the number one luxury
limited service brand in the world. So for it not to exist in this
market, it provided us a great opportunity to seize this moment.
On top of it, we look for many things that are going to be
amenities to the hotel and to the customers. So when we look
for any kind of hotel site, we also look at what is in the market
and most people wouldn't realize that the Costco, the Menards,
the Walmarts of the world are actually filling our hotel rooms
constantly. They have a constant amount of people coming to
train current employees, bring in new products, new reps, to
represent all sorts of things that they sell, as well as we look for
where can our guests go. In this area, we have plenty of new
restaurants that popped up before us, which we like. You've got
a brand new Applebee's and a few other beautiful restaurants.
We have the Leo's, the Panera Bread. We have the Outback
Steakhouse right in front of us. There's a lot of beautiful things
working for this property.
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Ms. Smiley: Good. Thank you. That was a good commercial too. I really do
believe you'll do well. It's a high quality hotel for this area and
you've picked an excellent location.
Mr. Koza: Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: I echo your comments, Mrs. Smiley. I think that the site is a
multi-use site of both commercial and industrial uses, Ashley
Capital's property in the back, and it seems like a hotel would
definitely fit into that area. With that, would someone like to
make a motion?
On a motion by Long, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was
#01-03-2016 RESOLVED, that the City Planning Commission does hereby
recommend to the City Council that Petition 2015-12-08-20
submitted by Group 10 Management requesting approval of all
plans required by Sections 18.47 and 18.58 of the City of
Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, in connection with
a proposal to construct a new five-story hotel (Hampton Inn) on
part of the property at 28101 Schoolcraft Road, located on the
south side of Schoolcraft Road between Inkster and Middlebelt
Road in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 25, be approved subject to
the following conditions:
1. That the Site Plan marked Sheet SP1.00 dated September
21, 2015, as revised, prepared by Bowers+Associates, is
hereby approved and shall be adhered to;
2. That the Landscape Plan marked L1 dated September 17,
2015, prepared by Deak Planning & Design, is hereby
approved and shall be adhered to;
3. That all disturbed lawn areas shall be sodded in lieu of
hydroseeding;
4. That underground sprinklers are to be provided for all
landscaped and sodded areas, and all planted materials
shall be installed to the satisfaction of the Inspection
Department and thereafter permanently maintained in a
healthy condition;
5. That the Exterior Elevations Plan marked Sheets A5.00
dated December 10, 2015, as revised, prepared
Bowers+Associates, is hereby approved and shall be
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27395
adhered to, except that burnished block, stone or brick
shall be substituted for the split face block material;
6. That all rooftop mechanical equipment visible to the public
shall be concealed on all sides by screening that shall be
of a compatible character, material and color to other
exterior materials on the building;
7. That the three walls of the trash dumpster area(s) shall be
a minimum seven feet (7') in height and constructed out of
building materials that shall complement that of the
building. The enclosure gates shall be of solid panel steel
construction or durable, long-lasting solid panel fiberglass.
The trash dumpster area shall be maintained at all times,
and the enclosure gates shall be closed at all times, except
when in use;
8. 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;
9. 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;
10. That this site shall meet either the City of Livonia or the
Wayne County Storm Water Management Ordinance,
whichever applies, and shall secure any required permits,
including stormwater management permits, wetlands
permits and soil erosion and sedimentation control permits,
from Wayne County, the City of Livonia, and/or the State of
Michigan Department of Natural Resources and
Environment (DNRE);
11. That the issues as outlined in the correspondence dated
December 23, 2015, from the Fire Marshal shall be
resolved to the satisfaction of the Fire Department;
12. That the specific plans referenced in this approving
resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department
at the time the building permits are applied for; 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
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27396
approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said
period.
Mr. Wilshaw, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution. Good luck with your project.
ITEM #4 MOTION TO HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING 9309 NEWBURGH
Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, a motion to hold
a public hearing to determine whether or not to rezone a portion
of the property at 9309 Newburgh Road, located on the west
side of Newburgh Road between Joy Road and Ann Arbor Trail
in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 31, from PL (Public Lands) to R-
1 (One Family Residential).
Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Taormina, this is a housekeeping item?
Mr. Taormina: Yes. It is just to schedule a public hearing. This will appear on
the agenda later this month.
On a motion by Taylor, seconded by Long, and unanimously approved, it was
#01-04-2016 RESOLVED, that the City Planning Commission, pursuant to
Section 23.01(b) of Ordinance #543, the Zoning Ordinance of
the City of Livonia, as amended, does hereby establish and
order that a public hearing be held to determine whether or not
to rezone property at 9309 Newburgh Road, located on the west
side of Newburgh Road between Joy Road and Ann Arbor Trail
in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 31, from PL to R-1, such
property legally described as follows:
The East 134' of that part of the S.E. 1/4 of Section 31, T. 1 S., R.
9 E., City of Livonia, Wayne County, Michigan, described as
beginning at a point on the E. line of Section 31 distant S 02 deg
12' E. 379.26 feet from the E. 1/4 corner of Section 31,
proceeding thence S. 2 deg 12' E. along said line 163.41 feet;
thence W. 1,336.6 feet; thence N. 0 deg 10' 29" W. 163.3 feet;
thence E. 1,330.87 feet to the point of beginning, except the E.
1.0 acre thereof. (Part of Parcel 31 JJ 1)
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of such hearing shall be
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 23.05 of
Ordinance #543, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Livonia, as
amended, and that thereafter there shall be a report and
recommendation submitted to the City Council.
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Mr. Wilshaw, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
ITEM #5 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,080TH Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting
Ms. Smiley, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the
Minutes of the 1,080th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting
held on December 15, 2015.
On a motion by Smiley, seconded by Wilshaw, and unanimously adopted, it was
#01-05-2016 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 1,080th Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on
December 15, 2015, are hereby approved.
A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES: Smiley, Wilshaw, Long, Taylor
NAYS: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
Mr. Wilshaw, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,081st Public
Hearings and Regular Meeting held on January 12, 2016, was adjourned at 8:54
p.m.
CI PLANNING COMMISSION
Carol A. Smiley, Secreta
ATTEST: 416''-
Ian Wilshaw, Acting Chairman