HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2016-09-27 MINUTES OF THE 1,095TH PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING
HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA
On Tuesday, September 27, 2016, the City Planning Commission of the City of
Livonia held its 1,095th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting in the Livonia City
Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan.
Mr. Glen Long, Acting Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Members present: Sam Caramagno Glen Long Betsy McCue
Carol Smiley Kevin Priddy
Members absent: Peter Ventura, Ian Wilshaw
Mr. Mark Taormina, Planning Director, and Ms. Margie Watson, Program
Supervisor, were also present.
Acting Chairman Long informed the audience that if a petition on tonight's agenda
involves a rezoning request, this Commission makes a recommendation to the City
Council who, in turn, will hold its own public hearing and make the final
determination as to whether a petition is approved or denied. The Planning
Commission holds the only public hearing on a request for preliminary plat and/or
vacating petition. The Commission's recommendation is forwarded to the City
Council for the final determination as to whether a plat is accepted or rejected. If a
petition requesting a waiver of use or site plan approval is denied tonight, the
petitioner has ten days in which to appeal the decision, in writing, to the City
Council. Resolutions adopted by the City Planning Commission become effective
seven (7) days after the date of adoption. The Planning Commission and the
professional staff have reviewed each of these petitions upon their filing. The staff
has furnished the Commission with both approving and denying resolutions, which
the Commission may, or may not, use depending on the outcome of the
proceedings tonight.
ITEM #1 PETITION 2016-08-01-06 TNA ENTERPRISES
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2016-
08-01-06 submitted by TNA Enterprises pursuant to Section
23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance#543, as amended,
requesting to rezone the property at 27430 Seven Mile Road,
located on the northwest corner of Seven Mile and Inkster Roads
in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 1, from C-1 to C-2.
Mr. Taormina: This is a request to rezone property from the C-1, Local Business,
category to C-2, General Business. This property is located at the
northwest corner of Seven Mile and Inkster Roads. The property
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is about 0.4 acre in area with 163 feet in frontage along Seven
Mile Road and 110 feet along Inkster Road. The site is presently
vacant. It was previously occupied by a Clark gas station. The
former gas station, including the facility's underground tanks,
were demolished and removed in 2009. The purpose of this
rezoning is to allow for the development of a new fueling station.
Currently, there are no provisions within the C-1 district that allow
for a gas station. Thus, the rezoning to C-2 is the first step in the
process. If this rezoning should move forward, the gas station
would then come back and be reviewed as a waiver use under
the C-2 district regulations. The previous gas station was
considered a lawful nonconforming use and was permissible
under the C-1 zoning due to the fact that the use had been
established before the current zoning restrictions were enacted.
The station lost its legal nonconforming status once it was
removed, and that's the purpose for the rezoning. A preliminary
plan was submitted with the application. Again, we're not here to
review the plan this evening; we're here to consider the rezoning.
But in reviewing the rezoning, it's always helpful to look at how
the site might be developed should the rezoning move forward.
The plan shows a new 2,490 square foot building along the north
side of the property. There would be four pump islands with the
capacity to accommodate eight vehicles. The required minimal lot
area for gas stations is 22,500 square feet or 0.52 acre. As I
indicated earlier, the subject property is 0.41 acre or 17,930
square feet and thus fails to meet the minimum lot area
requirement. Where the site abuts residential to the north, the
minimum required setback is 20 feet. This preliminary plan shows
the building setback of 11 feet 7 inches and would also be
nonconforming. Waiver use standards require curb openings to
be no less than 25 feet from the intersection of the property lines
along major thoroughfares. This plan shows existing curb cuts
from Inkster as well as Seven Mile that are less than 25 feet. So
there are a number of deficiencies with respect to the plan as
presented. In terms of the lot area, this is something that the City
Council can waive. Any setback deficiencies of the building would
have to be reviewed by the Zoning Board of Appeals and the
location of the curb cuts, to the extent that those do not meet the
minimum requirements, would have to be waived by the City
Council. A new six-foot-high masonry screen wall would be
required along the north side of the property. It is also important
to point out that no gasoline service station shall be erected within
400 feet of any residential district provided, however, that this
restriction may be waived by written consent of 65 percent or
more of the owners of the residential property within 400 feet.
That's not something that we are reviewing at tonight's meeting,
but it is something that, again, should this rezoning move forward,
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27865
would be a requirement for the applicant to submit such evidence
that they've obtained the written consent of 65 percent or more of
the owners within 400 feet of this property, unless the Council is
willing to waive that requirement as well. The Future Land Use
Plan does show this site as commercial. With that, Mr. Chairman,
I can read out the departmental correspondence.
Mr. Long: Please do.
Mr. Taormina: There is one item of correspondence from the Engineering
Division, dated September 7, 2016, 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 legal description
included with the petition appears to be correct and should be
used in association with this petition. The existing property is
assigned an address of 27430 Seven Mile Road. The parcel is
currently serviced by City of Livonia water main and sanitary
sewers. Existing services that are to be used for the new
construction will need to be televised prior to any connections, to
ensure they are suitable for use. Storm sewer is available to the
parcel, but it is under the jurisdiction of Wayne County. The owner
will need to obtain permits from the County for any storm sewer
connections and storm water detention that will be required under
the site development guidelines. The owner will also need to
obtain permits from Wayne County for any work within the right-
of-way, including the removing or replacing drive approaches."
The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City
Engineer. That is the extent of the correspondence.
Mr. Long: Are there any questions of the Planning Director?
Ms. Smiley I have just one. Through the Chair to Mark, did you say this is 0.4
acre and it needs to be 0.52?
Mr. Taormina: Yes. It's about 0.10 acre less than what is required under the C-
2 district regulations. It is deficient in size.
Ms. Smiley Do we have any other gas stations that are on 0.40 acre?
Mr. Taormina: I didn't really check to see which other ones are. I can think of a
couple. The Valero gas station at Five Mile and Middlebelt is
probably less than half an acre in size. Previously, the station at
Farmington and Seven Mile was also undersized. I would have to
research that to see if there are others. There might be one or
two others but probably not more than that.
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27866
Ms. Smiley: Are you talking about the lot on the corner of Seven Mile and
Farmington that's for sale now?
Mr. Taormina: Yes, the southeast corner. I think that site was undersized when
it was utilized as a gas station.
Mr. Long: Are there any other questions for staff? Seeing none, would the
petitioner come to the podium please? We will need your name
and address for the record please.
Allie Bazzy, 30825 26 Mile Road, New Haven, Michigan 48048.
Mr. Long: Mr. Bazzy, is there anything you would like to add to Mr.
Taormina's presentation?
Mr. Bazzy: No, he got every point.
Mr. Long: Do members of the Commission have any questions for the
petitioner?
Ms. Smiley Did you understand that you would have to get approval of 65
percent of the owners within 400 feet of this site?
Mr. Bazzy: Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Smiley: Have you been in contact with anyone in the neighborhood?
Mr. Bazzy: No, not as of yet.
Ms. Smiley: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Caramagno: Sir, how long have you owned the property?
Mr. Bazzy: It's been in the family for probably at least six years.
Mr. Caramagno: Did you buy it after the Clark station was demolished?
Mr. Bazzy: We bought it during the Clark station, and then it was closed and
then Clark came in and took out the tanks and everything, and
then the building was demolished.
Mr. Caramagno: Okay. So you owned it when it was taken down. The property all
came back clear without any contamination?
Mr. Bazzy: As far as I know, yes, because Clark was responsible for any
environmental issues on the site. So they got a closure report and
pulled out the tanks.
September 27, 2016
27867
Mr. Caramagno: Okay. Is this your first gas station or have you had others?
Mr. Bazzy: We have others.
Mr. Caramagno: Have you ever had to go to the neighborhood and get a variance
or get the neighbors to sign off? How tough of a chore is that
going to be do you think?
Mr. Bazzy: We've had experience as far as having discussions with
neighbors. The biggest concern probably with neighbors would
be noise or headlights. I think the wall screening would probably
do sufficiently enough to cover any lights, and basically we like to
listen to the neighbors and see what their recommendations are,
if any. We've had pretty good success, but not particularly in the
City of Livonia yet.
Mr. Caramagno: Thank you.
Mr. Priddy: Just a follow up question. Have you spoken with the neighbors at
all yet?
Mr. Bazzy: No, we have not. This project has been brought to life now that
the times are a little bit better, and we want to see obviously what
the Board and the City Council thought. If it's something worth
pursuing, we would definitely reach out to the neighbors.
Mr. Priddy: Okay. Are you aware of all the deficiencies that have been
brought up so far?
Mr. Bazzy: Yes. We have some work ahead of us as far as zoning and
obviously with the planning and meeting the right setbacks and
everything else.
Mr. Priddy: Okay.
Mr. Long: I have one question for you as well. Have you been in touch with
anybody at Wayne County concerning the storm water runoff or
anything like that?
Mr. Bazzy: No, not as of yet. Obviously once we go through the site plan
phases and approaches as far as the City's recommendation,
then we'll have to do some engineering and get some calculations
to the County as far as drainage.
September 27, 2016
27868
Mr. Long: Thank you. We'll hear questions from the floor. Interested people
will be invited to speak for or against this petition. Please come
to the podium and state your name and address for the record.
Matthew Martin, 19136 Rensellor, Livonia, Michigan. I live basically northwest of
this particular parcel we're talking about tonight. I have some
concerns. When this was first brought up as a gas station project
back in I think the '09's, there was some talk about not having the
cement wall at that point in time. I see now that there's a cement
wall in the blueprints or at least the projected plan. That alleviates
some of my concern. One of my major concerns is noise. There's
another gas station across on the Redford side. It's noisy. You
can hear it during the day and they tamp it down at night. But as
a resident, that would be pretty unacceptable being closer to my
house. Basically, it's diagonal to my property. Headlights maybe
not a concern, but overhead lights would be a concern into my
bedroom windows from the gas station because the six-foot wall
isn't going to block those. I would like to make sure that at least
I'm on record stating that I would love to see the 65 percent rule
substantiated and not overruled by the Council. I heard some kind
of language how that might be potentially overruled. So I don't
know if that's an option that someone could exercise that's not in
here, but I would want to make sure the 65 percent thing is
addressed, that neighbors are aware of this. The question I have
is, 65 percent of what count? Is it my street? Just the block? Is
it multiple blocks? If that's defined, I'd love to see that
information. Will we be notified if this moves forward? Will we be
notified if blueprints change? Those are things that are
concerning to me as well.
Mr. Long: Mr. Martin, thank you. This is a zoning hearing. They would have
to come back with a site plan in order to go forward. As far as the
overhead lights, we generally have restrictions on where they can
project in order to make sure that the community is not bothered
by things like that. Obviously, the wall is going to help with the
noise as well. I'm going to ask Mr. Taormina if there is anything
in there that he could address as far as maybe the 65 percent
approval, if that's a requirement or if it's an option.
Mr. Taormina: It is a special requirement of the waiver use standards that
applies to gasoline stations. There is a provision in the ordinance
that allows the Council to waive or modify any special
requirement but requires a two-thirds vote of the Council. It is a
little higher standard in order to waive or modify any of those
special requirements. To Mr. Martin's question relative to how
that measure is determined, it is defined in the ordinance. It is a
400-foot radius from the boundaries of the property in question.
September 27, 2016
27869
Also to his inquiry about procedure, this is the first step in the
zoning process. The City Council is also required to hold a public
hearing on the question of the zoning, and should that move
forward, then there is further notification to the residents at the
time the site plan or waiver use application is submitted for the
actual details of how the site would be developed. There are at
least two other instances and maybe three where the residents
would be afforded an opportunity to be a part of the review.
Mr. Martin: Thank you.
Mr. Long: If you'd like to take a seat, we will bring the petitioner back up at
the end as well and ask him to address any other open questions.
Is there anybody else that would like to speak for or against this
item? Seeing none, Mr. Bazzy, would you like to come back to
the podium. Is there anything that you can add to the questions
that Mr. Martin raised?
Mr. Bazzy: No. I appreciate Mr. Martin's comments and concerns. Obviously
we want to be good neighbors and we want to be part of the
community. As time progresses, maybe we could sit down and
talk about some issues you may have concern with and we'll try
to work them into our site plan to try to accommodate if that would
work for you.
Mr. Long: Commission, do you have any furthers questions of Mr. Bazzy? I
do have one. I know it's early in the process, but would this be a
24-hour station? Would this just be limited to certain hours?
Mr. Bazzy: That hasn't been determined yet. Once we kind of see as far as
layout and size of the building and everything that we're going to
do, but it would be safe to assume at this point in time that we'll
probably seek a 24-hour operation and we'll make a
determination as we get closer.
Mr. Long: I understand, and again, this is just the first step in a long process,
the zoning and then the site plan. So there will be several
opportunities for the public to get involved here. Thank you, Mr.
Bazzy. I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion.
On a motion by Priddy, seconded by McCue, and unanimously adopted, it was
#09-97-2016 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held
by the City Planning Commission on July 26, 2016, on Petition
2016-08-01-06 submitted by TNA Enterprises pursuant to
Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as
amended, requesting to rezone the property at 27430 Seven Mile
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Road, located on the northwest corner of Seven Mile and Inkster
Roads in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 1, from C-1 to C-2, the
Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City
Council that Petition 2016-08-01-06 be approved for the following
reasons:
1. That the proposed change of zoning is compatible to and in
harmony with the surrounding land uses and zoning districts
in the area;
2. That the proposed change of zoning will provide for
commercial development similar to what already exists
along this section of Seven Mile Road;
3. That the proposed change of zoning is consistent with the
subject property's Future Land Use Plan designation of
commercial; and
4. That the proposed change of zoning represents a
compatible extension of the existing zoning districts
occurring on adjacent properties to the west and south.
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. Long, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving
resolution.
ITEM #2 PETITION 2016-09-02-16 ZEAL CREDIT UNION
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2016-
09-02-16 submitted by Colliers International requesting waiver
use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(n)(3) of the City of Livonia
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to construct and operate a
credit union with drive-thru facilities (Zeal Credit Union) at 15950
Middlebelt Road, located on the east side of Middlebelt Road
between Five Mile Road and Sunnydale Avenue in the Southwest
1/4 of Section 13.
Mr. Taormina: This is a request to construct and operate a credit union with
drive-thru facilities. It would be located on the east side of
Middlebelt Road between Broadmoor and Sunnydale Roads,
about halfway between Five and Six Mile Roads. The zoning of
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27871
the property is C-2, General Business. The site is roughly 1.6
acres in size with 185 feet of frontage on Middlebelt Road and a
depth of 375 feet. This is the former site of the Newton Furniture
Store. Newton occupied the property from the early 1970's up
until about three years ago when the building was demolished.
Banks and credit unions are treated as a permitted use within the
C-2 district, however where drive-thru facilities are involved, they
are treated as a waiver use. Because this proposed credit union
would have drive-thru service facilities, this site is being reviewed
as a waiver use pursuant to Section 11.03 of the Zoning
Ordinance. The proposed credit union would be one-story in
height and roughly 3,487 square feet in size. The building is
positioned near the center of the property and the overhead
canopy for the drive-up facilities would be located on the north
side of the building. The main entrance faces west towards
Middlebelt Road. Employee and customer parking is shown in the
front and the rear of the building, as well as along the south side.
Access to the site would be available from two drive approaches
off of Middlebelt Road. These drive approaches are very close to
the existing drive approaches that are located in the northwest
and southwest corners of the property. The minimum required
building setback for structures in a C-2 district is 60 feet. This
building is shown having a setback of 86 feet, 3 inches, so it does
comply with that particular requirement. The drive-up window
service would consist of five lanes, including one drive-up ATM.
Customer traffic would commence along the east side of the
parking lot where there is a 24-foot wide drive island. At this point,
leading all the way to the drive-up facilities, the traffic would be
treated as one-way. Traffic lanes that serve drive-up facilities are
required to be 10 feet in width. The plan we looked at last week
showed the lanes 9 feet in width. The petitioner has adjusted the
plan and is now showing 9.5 feet. We did check that against other
similar projects. Most recently, a credit union built at the corner of
Eight Mile and Farmington Roads is where we allowed the 9 foot
6 inch drive-thru lanes as well. This plan is consistent with the
plan that was approved in that previous case. For stacking, drive-
up operations are required to have at least four vehicle waiting
spaces. There is ample room on this site to provide for more than
four vehicle waiting spaces for each one of the drive-up lanes.
Also shown is a bypass lane. So anyone not using the drive-up
that comes along that north side of the property would be able to
exit without having to wait to go through one of the lanes. The
overhead canopy would project out from the north elevation of the
building and extend over the drive-up facilities. The structure
measures about 57.5 feet by 39 feet in size and would be
constructed out of brick columns as well as a profiled architectural
paneled roof. Stormwater runoff for the project would be handled
September 27, 2016
27872
underground. This is a requirement of Wayne County. All of the
rain runoff from the roof and the parking lot areas will be collected
and transported to an underground tank system and then
released into the storm sewer system at a restricted rate, but it's
not something you'll see aboveground. Everything will be placed
beneath the surface of the parking lot and landscaped areas. In
terms of parking, that is computed at a ratio of one space for
every 150 square feet of useable floor area. In this case, they are
required to have 19 parking spaces. The plan shows 45 parking
spaces, so they have more than adequate parking to serve the
needs of this facility. One deficiency with respect to the parking is
the fact that 9-foot-wide spaces are shown where the ordinance
required 10 feet. We have pointed this out to the petitioner. We
believe he can easily make the change to 10 feet and thus have
no need to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals. He may lose
a couple spaces but again there is adequate parking in order for
him to do that. A fully detailed landscape plan was submitted with
the application. It shows a variety of plant materials around the
perimeter of the site as well as around the foundation of the
building and throughout the parking lot area. Altogether,
landscaping constitutes about 33 percent of the site. So about a
third of the property is maintained in landscaping. There is a
significant greenbelt along the east side of the property where it
abuts residential. The Planning Commission at the study session
asked for additional landscaping along the north side of the
property. The current plan does reflect additional landscaping. I
believe there is a total of 33 arborvitae shrubs that are proposed
in a row along the north side of the property between the curb
and the actual property line. The appearance of the building is
consistent with Zeal's corporate image. The orange panel system
along the top of the building is consistent in many ways with the
design of their headquarters building currently under construction
at Six Mile and Newburgh Roads. There is a four-foot-high brick
base around the bottom of the building along its entire perimeter.
The upper part of the building includes a combination of cement
fiber siding as well as architectural metal panels. The design
includes a tower feature in the front of the building similar to the
credit union and branch offices located at Six and Newburgh.
Again, it's a one-story building. The highest point is 27 feet, so it
is less than what the ordinance allows. The maximum building
height allowed is 35 feet. We have not reviewed this for signage
but they would be allowed one wall sign at 60 square feet as well
as a ground sign at 30 square feet. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can
read out the departmental correspondence.
Mr. Long: Please do.
September 27, 2016
27873
Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated September 6, 2016, 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 waiver use at this time. The legal
description submitted with the petition appears to be correct and
should be used in conjunction with this petition. The existing
parcel is assigned the address of 15950 Middlebelt Road. The lot
is currently serviced by public sanitary sewer and water main. The
submitted drawings indicate that the existing service leads will be
used for the proposed construction, so we do not anticipate any
adverse effects to these systems. The proposed plans indicate
that the storm sewer will include an underground detention
system per the Wayne County Stormwater Ordinance. Final
calculations for the system will be reviewed during the
Engineering Permit submittal. The system is utilizing the existing
storm water outlet to the north, which is not shown as a public
storm system. The owner will need to provide background
documentation that the outlet is public, obtain an easement from
the neighboring property, or alter the outlet location to Middlebelt
Road. The owner will also need to obtain permits from Wayne
County for any work within Middlebelt Road including approach
and sidewalk replacement."The letter is signed by David W. Lear,
P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The second letter is from the
Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated September 7, 2016, which
reads as follows: "This office has reviewed the site plan submitted
in connection with a request to construct and operate a credit
union with drive-thru facilities on the property located at the above
referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal."The
letter is signed by Keith Bo, Senior Fire Inspector. The third letter
is from the Division of Police, dated September 20, 2016, which
reads as follows: "I have reviewed the plans in connection with
the petition. I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is
signed by Brian Leigh, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter
is from the Inspection Department, dated September, 23, 2016,
which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above-
referenced petition has been reviewed. (1) Separate restroom
facilities are required for both men and women per the Michigan
Plumbing Code. This will be addressed at the time of our plan
review if this project moves forward. (2) The drive thru lanes are
required to be a minimum of 10' in width. This requirement may
be waived with a super majority of Council. This Department has
no further objections to this petition." The letter is signed by
Jerome Hanna, Director of Inspection Pro Tern. That is the extent
of the correspondence.
September 27, 2016
27874
Mr. Long: Thank you, Mr. Taormina. So there is a lot going on Middlebelt
Road. Will the petitioner please come to the podium and tell us
about this fine project? Please state your name and address for
the record please.
Jason Covalle, Covalle Group Architects, 2019 Fourth Street, Jackson, Michigan.
Mr. Long: Is there anything you would like to add to what you've heard so
far?
Mr. Covalle: Not really. Staff did a pretty thorough job. I'd be happy to answer
any questions you folks may have.
Mr. Long: We'll open it up to the Commission for questions.
Ms. Smiley: Did you ever think of having an ATM and then three lanes instead
of four lanes? If you can stack them back four people, there
seems to be a lot of credit unions and banks, that there'd be that
many people waiting.
Mr. Covalle: Correct. I can have the owner to speak to that, but that did come
up in programming. Those counts were derived from historical
data on the current site of Five Mile. Their busiest times, when
they peak out, we actually added more stacking than we would
normally need. That was based off of what they are encountering
now on a day-to-day basis.
Ms. Smiley: So they really need four lanes in addition to the ATM?
Mr. Covalle: Yes.
Ms. Smiley: Okay. Thank you.
Ms. McCue: Can you tell me exactly who will be working in this building? Will
there be additional loan officers. Is it just a branch? Do you know?
Mr. Covalle: There is a traditional teller line for day-to-day operations and the
way it's set up, the staff is cross-trained so you can do a
transaction, a cash, a check, a loan, at any one of those stations.
So it's pretty much all hands on deck. They're just trying to add
as much flexibility for the customer as possible. If you'd like, I can
have Angie speak a little more to that for additional clarity.
Ms. McCue: With that, maybe she can add to that as well, just the number of
parking spots. This was something we brought up the other night
as well. I'd just like to know the logic behind what's required and
the exorbitant amount of spots.
September 27, 2016
27875
Angie Kogel, Senior Vice President of Member Services, Zeal Credit Union, 29550
Five Mile Road, Livonia, Michigan 48154. I met you all when I
was here for the headquarters. We do not have underwriters
there.We do not have mortgage people. We're actually taking the
staff that's at the existing branch on Five Mile and moving them
over. Branch manager, assistance branch manager, and six
tellers, most of them full time, a few part time. Where the parking
comes in, or the stacking comes in for the drive-thru, if you ever
go there on a Saturday, we're open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
We can have as many as 40 cars in our drive-thru, stacked 10 in
a row. So we felt that we couldn't go with two lanes or three lanes.
To be efficient on that Saturday, which is our busiest day of the
week for drive-thru, we need the four lanes.
Ms. Smiley: Can they go inside if they want?
Ms. Kogel: Not on a Saturday. Saturday is drive-thru services only.
Ms. Smiley: Okay.
Ms. Kogel: Our busiest day is a Friday and that would be both drive-thru and
all day traffic in the lobby. What I did was, I took all the transaction
volume for the last 16 Fridays to see how many cars were parked
in the parking lot excluding going through the drive-thru. On
average, every hour, there was about 42, 43 cars in that parking
lot. That did not include our 10 employees that are there on a
Friday. That doesn't include anybody not doing a transaction,
anybody that would be doing a loan app, opening a new member
account, just changing their address, just coming in to get a copy
of a statement. So it could be even higher than that. It could be
50 cars in our parking lot within that hour period. So that's why
we need as many parking spots as we can have. It's a very busy
branch. It is our busiest branch of all 13 of our locations. I mean
just transaction-wise, they do 20,000 transactions a month.
Ms. McCue: Thank you.
Mr. Caramagno: When I look at the drive-thru, one, two, three, four, five drive-thru
lanes, the one that's closest to the building, that's designated
ATM only?
Ms. Kogel: Yes. That is ATM only. That is so we can service the ATM
ourselves from the building, the back of the ATM.
Mr. Caramagno: Is that all that lane can do? That lane can't service anything else
other than ATM?
September 27, 2016
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Ms. Kogel: That's all it can service, the ATM users.
Mr. Caramagno: Does it ever provide a visual problem to see the other four lanes?
Ms. Kogel: That will all be handled through cameras and everything.
Mr. Caramagno: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Long: What will be done with the old building on Five Mile Road?
Ms. Kogel: The old building will eventually be for sale.
Mr. Long: If there are no further questions from the Commission, we will
hear questions from the floor. Again, interested persons are
invited to speak for or against this petition? Please come to the
podium and state your name and address.
Janice Peg, 29205 Sunnydale, Livonia, Michigan 48150. I would face directly south
to this new credit union. My issue in this day of security and safety
is cameras and lighting. What are we talking about when we're
talking about the traffic going through with lighting? I would likely
be facing that. I'm just wondering how much lighting would there
be in addition to the safety issue, security issues and that sort of
thing, that would affect my privacy and my comfort in my own
home. So that's basically my concern. I don't think there would
be a traffic issue on Sunnydale by virtue of what they were talking
about coming in and out from Middlebelt. So I'm not worried about
traffic. The noise issue, I guess they have to snowplow. Will that
be 3:00 in the morning again? I'm right there. I think that covers
it. The hours of operation again would only be on Saturday where
there would be a tremendous amount of volume. Otherwise it's a
9 to 5 operation I'm assuming. And the ATM would be 24 hours,
I'm assuming.
Mr. Long: Those are our assumptions as well, but we will bring the petitioner
back up to address all of your questions. What I'd like to do is
gather any other questions we have from other people in the
audience and we'll let the petitioner come back then.
Ms. Peg: Like I say, in this day and age, safety and security are my biggest
issues and I'm just wondering again how much lighting there
would be that would be directed to my area. My children built an
in-law quarters onto that house, so that's why my entrance faces
south, which would be directly with the credit union. I think that's
it.
September 27, 2016
27877
Mr. Long: Thank you. Is there anybody else in the audience?
Ben Quan, Pastor, Detroit Korean Seventh Day Adventist Church, 15956
Middlebelt Road, Livonia, Michigan. Just a question about the
north side of the building. We're a Seventh Day Adventist Church
and we have service on Saturdays, so our services happen to be
on the same time they're the busiest. We have service from 9:30
a.m. to 1:00 p.m. so we're wondering if they will be having walls
along their property so that there's not much noise?
Mr. Long: In our study session, we did speak with the petitioner and asked
them to put in additional landscaping in order to provide a screen,
and I think that's the plan right now. But again, we'll let the
petitioner speak to being a good neighbor as well.
Mr. Quan: Thank you.
Mr. Long: Any other comments or questions from the audience? Seeing
none, would the petitioners come back to the podium please.
Mr. Covalle: As far as the lighting is concerned, there's a photometric plan
right here. What this shows is the site lighting on the property
which meets the minimum requirements from the Zoning
Ordinance. It will be well and uniformly lit. In addition to that, there
will be no light spill over the property line so it will all be contained
within the property lines itself. As far as operation, the hours are
9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday and Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on
Saturday. As we just stated, in terms of the barrier on the north
side of the lot, we did go with a landscape barrier to help block
headlight traffic off the site. It's just more of a natural, softer
barrier than a wall would be.
Mr. Long: Can you speak to what type of landscaping will be in there?
Mr. Covalle: I'd have to refer to the plan and I don't have that with me. I'd have
to look at the legend. Number two, I assume that's some kind of
arborvitae.
Mr. Taormina: That is correct.
Mr. Covalle: That makes it the bulk of it. So we have the two there, which is
the line of several small circles, that's an evergreen. And then we
have some deciduous trees, paired in threes on the side there to
soften that up. So that should serve as a pretty adequate barrier
for headlights.
September 27, 2016
27878
Mr. Long: Are there any other questions?
Ms. Smiley: You took the lanes to 9.5 feet?
Mr. Covalle: The drive-thru lanes are 9.5 but the parking stalls will be
increased to 10 feet.
Ms. Smiley: Okay. Because I don't think we need to take the drive-thru lanes
to 10. I'd rather see them smaller with more landscaping. I'd even
go to 9. I can get through a 9-foot lane, which tells you a lot, but
just so you have the landscaping and the privacy, it's more
important to me. Thank you.
Mr. Long: I think we can close the public hearing and ask for a motion.
On a motion by McCue, seconded by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was
#09-98-2016 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held
by the City Planning Commission on September 27, 2016, on
Petition 2016-09-02-16 submitted by Colliers International
requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(n)(3)
of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to
construct and operate a credit union with drive-thru facilities (Zeal
Credit Union) at 15950 Middlebelt Road, located on the east side
of Middlebelt Road between Five Mile Road and Sunnydale
Avenue in the Southwest 1/4 of Section 13, which property is
zoned C-2, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend
to the City Council that Petition 2016-09-02-16 be approved
subject to the following conditions:
1. That the Engineering Site Plan marked Sheet No. SP2
prepared by Nowak & Fraus Engineering, dated September
21, 2016, as revised, is hereby approved and shall be
adhered to;
2. That the traffic lanes serving the drive-up service facilities
shall be allowed to be nine feet six inches (9'-6") in width
only if the ten foot (10') requirement is waived by the City
Council by means of a separate resolution by which two-
thirds of the members of the City Council concur;
3. That all off-street parking spaces shall be doubled striped at
a width of ten feet (10');
4. That the Landscape Plan marked Sheet No. L1 prepared by
Nowak & Fraus Engineering, dated September 21, 2016, as
September 27, 2016
27879
revised, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to, except
as modified below;
5. That the landscaping shown along the perimeter of the site
shall be enhanced to the satisfaction of the Planning
Director;
6. That the Elevation Plan marked Sheet Number P1 prepared
by Covalle Group Architects, dated September 21, 2016, is
hereby approved and shall be adhered to;
7. That all light fixtures shall not exceed twenty feet (20') in
height and shall be aimed and shielded so as to minimize
stray light trespassing across property lines and glaring into
adjacent roadway;
8. That only conforming signage is approved with this petition,
and any additional signage shall be separately submitted for
review and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals;
9. That no LED lightband or exposed neon shall be permitted
on this site including, but not limited to, the building or
around the windows; and
10. That the specific plans referenced in this approving
resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department
at the time of application for building permits.
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons:
1. That the proposed use complies with all of the general
waiver use standards and requirements as set forth in
Section 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance #543;
2. That the subject site has the capacity to accommodate the
proposed use; and
3. That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony with
the surrounding uses in the area.
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.
September 27, 2016
27880
Mr. Long, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving
resolution.
ITEM #3 PETITION 2016-09-02-17 JERSEY MIKE'S SUBS
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2016-
09-02-17 submitted by Bear Food & Beverage, L.L.C. requesting
waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(c)(4) of the City of
Livonia Zoning Ordinance#543, as amended, to operate a limited
service restaurant (Jersey Mike's Subs) at 13215 Middlebelt
Road, within a multi-tenant retail building located on the west side
of Middlebelt Road between the CSX Railroad right-of-way and
Schoolcraft Road in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 26.
Mr. Taormina: This site is located at the southwest corner of Industrial and
Middlebelt Roads. Zoning of the site is C-2, General Business.
The property altogether is 2.95 acres in size with 365 feet of
frontage on Middlebelt Road by 375 feet along Industrial Road.
The overall site does contain two buildings. There is a multi-
tenant commercial building that includes Mod Pizza, Del Taco
and then the proposed Jersey Mike's Sub shop. Immediately to
the north is a freestanding Applebee's restaurant. Both of these
sites are owned and managed by the same parent company and
thus share common services, including parking and access.
Jersey Mike's is requesting waiver use approval pursuant to
Section 11.03(c) of the Zoning Ordinance in order to operate a
limited service restaurant that would include seating for no more
than 30 persons. The plan submitted with the application shows
seating totaling 26. It is classified as a limited service restaurant
under the guidelines of the Zoning Ordinance. Jersey Mike's
would occupy the middle unit within this three-unit retail building.
This is about 1,380 square feet overall. It has 17.5 feet of
storefront and then a depth of roughly 80 feet. The current plan
does not show any proposed outdoor seating. In terms of required
parking, for the overall site, it's equal to the sum of all of the
various uses on both properties since they share common access
and parking. Altogether, the Applebee's as well as the three
restaurants require a total of 209 spaces. When we look at just
the site in question, there are a total of 159 parking spaces, but
added to that are an additional 52 spaces that are leased on the
property to the west on the other side of the drive island across
from the proposed site. These 52 additional parking spaces bring
the total up to 211. Thus, there is adequate parking to serve the
needs of all of the uses located on both of these properties. There
are no exterior modifications proposed with the plan. One wall
September 27, 2016
27881
sign is allowed at 17 square feet based on the frontage of the unit.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental
correspondence.
Mr. Long: Please do.
Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated September 7, 2016, 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 waiver use at this time. The legal
description included with the petition appears to be correct and
should be used. The existing property is assigned an address of
13201 Middlebelt Road for the entire parcel, with a range of
13201 to 13229 Middlebelt Road for the individual suites within
the building. The existing building is currently serviced by public
water main, and storm and sanitary sewers. Should renovations
to the building require alterations to the existing services,
drawings will need to be submitted to this department to
determine if permits will be required." The letter is signed by
David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The second letter
is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated September 7,
2016, which reads as follows: "This office has reviewed the site
plan submitted in connection with a request to operate a limited
service restaurant, within a multi-tenant retail building in front of
Menard's on the property located at the above referenced
address. We have no objections to this proposal." The letter is
signed by Keith Bo, Senior Fire Inspector. The third letter is from
the Division of Police, dated September 20, 2016, which reads as
follows: "I have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition.
I have no objections to the proposal."The letter is signed by Brian
Leigh, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the
Inspection Department, dated September 23, 2016, which reads
as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced
petition has been reviewed. This Department has no objections
to this petition."The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Director of
Inspection Pro Tem. That is the extent of the correspondence.
Mr. Long: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Hearing none,
will the petitioner please come to the podium? We will need your
name and address for the record please.
Sara Scott, Bear Food & Beverage, L.L.C., 758 Chester Street, Birmingham,
Michigan 48009.
Mr. Long: Is there anything you would like to what you've heard so far?
September 27, 2016
27882
Ms. Scott: No, thank you.
Mr. Long: Are there any questions from the Commissioner?
Ms. Smiley Do you have any other stores in the area?
Ms. Scott: I do not. This will be my first franchise. There is another location
coming into Livonia and I can't recall what intersections, but I
think we talked about it at the study session.
Ms. Smiley: Does this look like your standard Jersey Mike's?
Ms. Scott: It does, yes. The size and the space, that's generally what we
look for, 1,400 square feet roughly, so this is a perfect spot for us.
Ms. Smiley: And you'll have 26 seats?
Ms. Scott: Yes. Generally, there's not many people that come and eat in. A
lot of it is lunch traffic and people come get sandwiches and carry
them out.
Ms. Smiley: And subs is your specialty?
Ms. Scott: it is, correct.
Ms. Smiley: This is your commercial.
Ms. Scott: It is. They're the best. I did bring some menus for you guys.
They're not of my restaurant yet, but I'll leave them here so you
can see, but it's good stuff so we hope you stop by.
Ms. Smiley: Thank you.
Mr. Priddy: Do you plan on utilizing outside seating at all?
Ms. Scott: At this time, it is not in our plan. We're going to be opening up in
February, so we obviously won't need it right when we open. The
seating that's out there right now is shared by Mods Pizza and
Del Taco. The way that our sidewalk is set up, there's not a ton
of room for outdoor seating. We have handicap spots pretty much
in front of our entrance so we wouldn't want to block any sidewalk
traffic.
Mr. Priddy: Thank you.
Mr. Caramagno: What will your hours be?
September 27, 2016
27883
Ms. Scott: We will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Mr. Caramagno: Seven days a week?
Ms. Scott: Correct.
Mr. Caramagno: Thank you.
Mr. Long: You have the front entrance and the rear entrance in the building.
Will they both be public entrances to get into the restaurant? Will
one be an employee entrance?
Ms. Scott: They will. We will be changing the doors at the rear of the building
to provide for customer entrance from the back Obviously with
this space, there's a lot of great parking back there for people. So
we're hoping that people will utilize that entrance as well and then
utilize the crosswalk across the Del Taco drive-thru to enter
towards the back of the building similar to what you do for Mods
right next door.
Mr. Long: Great.
Ms. Smiley: That's a great idea. Over in Plymouth, they have another shop
which will remain nameless, but the parking structure is behind,
and you can get in and out through that way and it really services
a lot of people.
Ms. Scott: Yes, I hope so. Coming from Menards and what not, hopefully
that will be a good entrance to have traffic flow.
Mr. Long: Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
against this petition? Seeing none, our vast audience has
decreased quite a bit here. I will close the public hearing and ask
for a motion.
On a motion by Smiley, seconded by Priddy, and unanimously adopted, it was
#09-99-2016 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held
by the City Planning Commission on September 27, 2016, on
Petition 2016-09-02-17 submitted by Bear Food & Beverage,
L.L.C. requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section
11.03(c)(4) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as
amended, to operate a limited service restaurant (Jersey Mike's
Subs) at 13215 Middlebelt Road, within a multi-tenant retail
building located on the west side of Middlebelt Road between the
CSX Railroad right-of-way and Schoolcraft Road in the Northeast
1/4 of Section 26, which property is zoned C-2, the Planning
September 27, 2016
27884
Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that
Petition 2016-09-02-17 be approved subject to the following
conditions:
1. That the maximum customer seating count for this
restaurant shall not exceed a total of twenty-six (26) interior
seats. Any outdoor dining shall be limited to a total of twelve
(12) seats pursuant to Section 10.02(e) of the Zoning
Ordinance, subject to the approval by the Inspection
Department;
2. That the Site Plan marked Drawing Number C-4, prepared
by Professional Engineering Associates, as received by the
Planning Commission on September 2, 2016, is hereby
approved and shall be adhered to;
3. That appropriate recordable legal instrumentation, such as
a cross access agreement, that gives notice and outlines the
terms of how the subject property would share parking and
access with abutting property(s), be supplied to the
Inspection Department at the time a building permit is
applied for;
4. 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;
5. That no LED lightband or exposed neon shall be permitted
on this site including, but not limited to, the building or
around the windows;
6. That unless approved by the proper local authority, any type
of exterior advertising, such as promotional flags, streamers
or sponsor vehicles designed to attract the attention of
passing motorists, shall be prohibited;
7. That the specific plan referenced in this approving resolution
shall be submitted to the Inspection Department at the time
of application for building permits; and
8. 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.
September 27, 2016
27885
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons:
1. That the proposed use complies with all of the general
waiver use standards and requirements as set forth in
Section 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance #543;
2. That the subject site has the capacity to accommodate the
proposed use; and
3. That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony with
the surrounding uses in the area.
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. Long, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving
resolution. Congratulations. Good luck with your new business.
ITEM #4 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,094th Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of
the Minutes of the 1,094th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting
held on September 13, 2016.
On a motion by Smiley, seconded by McCue, and unanimously adopted, it was
#09-100-2016 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 1,094th Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on September
13, 2016, are hereby approved.
A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES: Smiley, McCue, Priddy, Caramagno, Long
NAYS: None
ABSENT: Ventura, Wilshaw
ABSTAIN: None
Mr. Long, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
September 27, 2016
27886
On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,095th Public
Hearings and Regular Meeting held on September 27, 2016, was adjourned at
8:01 p.m.
CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
(eiD)
am Caramagno, cretary
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/4-2/
ATTEST:
Glen Long, Acting Chairman