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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-05-14City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 1 of 10 May 14,2013 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS CITY OF LIVONIA MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING HELD MAY 14, 2013 A Regular Meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Livonia was held in the Gallery of the Livonia City Hall on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. MEMBERS PRESENT: Matthew Henzi, Chairman Craig Pastor, Vice President Sam Caramagno, Secretary Edward E. Duggan, Jr. Kathleen Mcintyre Robert E. Sills MEMBERS ABSENT: Elizabeth McCue OTHERS PRESENT: Michael Fisher, Assistant City Attorney John Podina, City Inspector Bonnie Murphy, Court Reporter The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Chairman Henzi then explained the Rules of Procedure to those interested parties. Each petitioner must give their name and address and declare hardship for appeal. Appeals of the Zoning Board's decisions are made to the Wayne County Circuit Court. The Chairman advised the audience that appeals can be filed within 21 days of the date tonight's minutes are approved. The decision of the Zoning Board shall become final within five (5) calendar days following the hearing and the applicant shall be mailed a copy of the decision. There are four decisions the Board can make: to deny, to grant, to grant as modified by the Board, or to table for further information. Each petitioner may ask to be heard by a full seven (7) member Board. Six (6) members were present this evening. The Chairman asked if anyone wished to be heard by a full Board and no one wished to do so. The Secretary then read the Agenda and Legal Notice to each appeal, and each petitioner indicated their presence. Appeals came up for hearing after due legal notice was given to all interested parties within 300 feet, petitioners and City Departments. There were 4 persons present in the audience. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 2 of 10 May 14,2013 7:00 APPEAL CASE NO. 2013-05-15: SignGraphix, Inc., 39255 Country Club Drive, B-35, Farmington Hills, Ml 48331 on behalf of Madonna University, 36800 Schoolcraft, seeking to erect a ground sign resulting in excess sign area and sign height. APPEAL CASE NO. 2013-05-16: SignGraphix, Inc., 39255 Country Club Drive, B-35, Farmington Hills, Ml 48331 on behalf of Madonna University, 13501 Levan, seeking to erect a ground sign resulting in excess sign area and sign height. Henzi: Mr. Podina, anything to add to this case? Podina: No, sir, not at this time. Henzi: Any questions for the Inspection Department? Hearing none, will the Petitioner please come forward. Good evening. Petitioner: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Bill Lutz with SignGraphix. My business address is 39255 Country Club Drive, Farmington Hills, Michigan. Henzi: Let's take the first case, the Schoolcraft and Newburgh sign, why don't we start with that one? Petitioner: Mr. Chair, I can, we can do this, I know that you have to vote on these two separately. I think the points that I'm going to bring up are consistent with both locations. Unless you want to hear it twice, I'm happy, whatever your pleasure is. Henzi : Once is enough. Petitioner: That's what I thought. My understanding is the first case is the most westerly facing signage on the corner of Newburgh and Schoolcraft Road, if I'm not mistaken. Henzi: Right. Petitioner: If you page through your documents there's some nice overviews and I'm not sure where they are in your packet, but they're going to look like this (indicating), I believe you have those in your packet. This gives you a very good, kind of an almost aerial view of what we're talking about which is consistent on both of these corners, both on the east corner of Schoolcraft and the west corner of Schoolcraft, and of course we're talking about the west corner first. What Madonna is trying to do here is develop an overall campus-wide identification plan that is consistent with the philosophy of the school, it's consistent with the architecture of the campus. You're fully aware when we get to the next case that we have a corner monument sign on the corner that has an LED message center in it and is 18 feet high and it's quite a footprint. They want to get away from that. If this plan is accepted by the Board this evening, we'll take down that City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 3 of 10 May 14,2013 sign and replace it with one of these more - what we call more traditional consistent with the campus look types of architectural signage that will identify these corners. I might also note that if you look at the overall site plan which is in the first page of mine but might not be in yours, if we look at the overall campus here, the most westerly corner of that campus on Schoolcraft and Newburgh is where there are long range plans for significant development of that which now is a field. Whether it be a wellness center or a health facility of some sort or athletic type facility is a little bit up in the air, but there definitely is plans to develop that area. So a monument sign there makes a lot of sense because that would be western most access to the campus for those facilities that are over there. We're all aware that this is a very large parcel and it needs access and convenient locations without having to run through the entire campus. So that might be in the offing but we can use identification at that corner as well as the most eastern corner of Schoolcraft and Levan, too. We tried to develop a plan that is again consistent with the architecture but also is visible. We don't need long range visibility which is why we're talking about a reduced signage height down to 10 feet from the current 18 feet on the Levan side, a lot less footprint visually. If we compare square footage to what's there now, what we're asking for, we're talking about probably less than half of what we have now at the corner or Schoolcraft and Levan. So we think what we're offering here is consistent with the college's desires and the look going forward into the coming future in terms of the architecture and use of the facility and is probably closer in line with your overall Master Plan and your overall Sign Ordinance in terms of its intent. Henzi: Okay. Any questions? I have one. This is quite different from the signage that was approved by this Board for the athletic complex on Newburgh just south of Five and do I understand you that it's much different because what you want to get from these signs is different from what you want to get from the athletic complex sign? Petitioner: Yes. When we came before you for that athletic sign, we were really trying to get people from out of town, ball teams that were not familiar with the area, so we needed a much higher level of identification to attract that specific visitor, if you will. This is very different. This is more setting the mood and the identity of the main portion of Madonna University really. And so it needs to be more consistent and professional in terms of its look and the kind of signage that it is, you know, we've worked on this project now for some time and we've gone through a lot of reiterations of what these signs should look like and maintain the look that we all want. And this is a very traditional look, with the wrought iron fencing and the brick and the kind of lower level of identification of the University, if you will, but still visible from the road but certainly sets a different mood than what they currently have which is the intent. Pastor: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: You're taking down the LED sign, do you have plans in the future of putting that back up? Because my concern would be that we approve this and a year or two years, three years from now someone says oh, we need that LED up, we need to have a message out on the road. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 4 of 10 May 14,2013 Petitioner: I would say based on the conversations that have happened between our company from a consulting standpoint and Madonna University, they're very happy to see that go and have no plans to bring that back. Pastor: Okay, thank you. Sister Rose Marie Kujawa: I could speak to that. We think that the trend now is to have the LED signs closer to the buildings that would use them directly and so we would have them closer to an activity center that would not - that would be closer into the campus which would not require approval of this sort. So that's our intention. We've had long discussions and prepared our public because we know some will say you know it was so important to have this and we knew what was going on, but our research shows that there are other ways to get this information across and that this gives a more classical look to the University. Pastor: So are you planning on putting LED signs near the campus, inside of the campus, LED signs because that is kind of what I thought I heard. Sister Rose Marie Kujawa: Well, we haven't --- certainly if we need to have any approvals we'll come back, the point is we paid for this LED within the last five years so we do not intend to trash it but we will follow whatever laws are required and we have had that discussion about would we have it just you know internally closer to something where the building would be used and the people would be passing through internally to the campus. Petitioner: Sister, if I may, and I think what the Sister is trying to allude to is that this kind of sign may be more functional to them as a university as a pedestrian informational sign as opposed to a vehicular pedestrian sign. Sister Rose Marie Kujawa: That's correct. Henzi: Your name, Sister, by the way? Sister Rose Marie Kujawa: Sister Rose Marie Kujawa, 36600 Schoolcraft Road, Livonia, 48150. Henzi: Thank you. Anything else? Caramagno: Mr. Chair. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: The wrought iron fencing along the sign, how tall of fencing is that going to be? Petitioner: You know we have a 6-foot high fence now, it will not be higher than that and I believe that it is the same height, if I'm not mistaken. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 5 of 10 May 14,2013 Caramagno: And the chain link would abut into the end of the pylons in each end? Petitioner: That is correct, yes. Caramagno: Any thought to eventually making that fence consistent down the road, any discussion? Petitioner: You know it's not come up in discussion, the Sister might have some input on that. You know that kind of fencing is really pricey relative to chain link fencing. While chain link is functional, in some respects it kind of disappears visually compared to a wrought iron fence that is more almost for identification purposes in this case. Caramagno: And I think it looks tasteful, it looks good. This sign is similar in nature to the entrance, the main entrance, isn't it? Petitioner: That's correct. Caramagno: And we approved that a couple years ago, I believe. Petitioner: Yes, at least that long ago. Henzi: Anything else? Hearing none, is there anyone in the audience who wants to speak for or against the project? If so, come on up. Seeing no one coming forward, can you read the letters, please. Caramagno: We have an objection by Mario Azzopardi, at 14944 Richfield, (letter read). Denise Pirronello at 14495 Newburgh, writes an approval (letter read}. Deborah Liebold at 36927 Lancaster writes an objection (letter read). Tarek Kadri, 14463 Woodside writes an objection, (letter read). Hazel Simkins at 36295 Barkley writes an objection (letter read). Ronald McKendrick at 14325 Newburgh, objection, (letter read). Those are for case 15. For case 16, objection, Ernest Liebold, 36927 Lancaster, (letter read). Roze Kadri at 14463 Woodside writes an objection (letter read). Charlene McKendrick at 14325 Newburgh writes an objection (letter read). Henzi: Anything you'd like to say in closing? Petitioner: Yes, I would if I could, Mr. Chair. Much has been made of the size of these signs and so I would call the Committee's attention to the text size. The largest size is the 20-inch copy for Madonna itself --- I'm sorry, the 14-inch copy for Madonna itself. The circles are only 20 inches high. If you do a calculation on the actual footprint of the verbiage and of the seals, it's a total of 35 square feet on each of these two signs. So, we're asking for 35 square feet on each corner. That is considerably less than the one sign is on the corner right now. So I think the way the City calculated it and I talked to Randy about this, he did a quick calculation and he took a square around the perimeter of everything, both Madonna University, the Felician Sisters panels, the other panels and took those big squares and just drew one big box around the whole thing and that's how he calculated 108 square feet. But in terms of visual text, what you really see for signage we're talking 35 feet. Just a point of clarification. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 6 of 10 May 14,2013 Henzi: Anything else? Petitioner: Not at this time. Henzi: Thank you. I'll close the public portion of the case and begin the Board's comments with Mr. Sills. Sills: Well, I personally like the professional look of the new signs that you're proposing, but I have a feeling for the people that live in the neighborhood and that object to it. We certainly have an awful lot of objections to the sign, in fact I think you only got one approving resolution on these letters. So I'm going to reserve my vote right now and wait and see how the rest of the Board sees this. Henzi: Mrs. Mcintyre. Mcintyre: I give a lot of consideration to what Mr. Sills said to the letters but it's my sense, with all due respect to the people that took the time to write the letters, that they perhaps didn't familiarize themselves with exactly what was proposed because a number of them expressed concern about commercial and lit at night. The LED sign, that's a commercial sign. I'll say this for someone who lives off of Levan between Schoolcraft and Five Mile, I do find myself getting distracted by that sign. There's no turn on red between 7:00 and 7:00 and sometimes I'm at the corner waiting to turn and I get so engrossed in looking at the program that I forget to turn when it turns green. I think this enhances the esthetic appeal overall of the campus. Madonna is certainly an important part of our community and I think this just gives the feeling that this indeed is a university setting and I love the removal of the LED sign and I think this is a beautiful sign package and again, I don't like to presume I know more than the people that are writing, but most of these people do not live directly where they would see the sign, I think there was one person on Newburgh Road. There also seems to be some confusion maybe that this has something to do with the sign at the sports arena, so I don't have any problem giving my full support. I think this is a lovely package and I think it suits the esthetics of the college, I feel more like it fits in with what you're trying to do with your brand identity and I think this just enforces for Livonia that we have a true, prestigious academic facility within our City limits. Henzi: Mr. Caramagno. Caramagno: Well, I feel much the same way. The letters that were received, we like to respect the letters and the wishes of the neighborhood, I wish they understood the project as we're able to sit here and listen to it because it's clear most of the letters we saw were not pertaining to these signs. They were referring to the athletic field up north of here, of this property, and really didn't apply here. As a matter of fact I feel that the residents are going to find this much more appealing and if you ask them after the fact they're going to probably, they would probably agree to that. These signs are in line with what was approved for the Angela Hospice entrance, I think that's fantastic, probably some of the best signs in this entire city and I have 100 percent approval for both signs. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 7 of 10 May 14,2013 Henzi: Mr. Pastor. Pastor: Yes, I agree. This is a very well thought out project. I'm happy that they're taking down the LED, although I'm a little concerned that they want to think about putting it up someplace else on the property. We keep approving signs for this property above and above and when I hear someone say well, we may want to move that somewhere else, that has me a little concerned. I will approve this, though. Henzi: Mrs. McCue. McCue: I agree. I really can't say anything else. I agree that we need to pay attention to the objections but I do think that in the long run, taking that LED sign down, having a nice classy looking sign up on each of those corners, enhances the branding and again kind of sets that whole campus up which I think is a really nice thing. And I agree, I think the residents will be happy in the long run so I will fully support. Henzi: I, too, will support. My only conclusion from reading the letters is that some folks were confused. This is primarily a residential area but it also borders an area that is not. There is a hospital, a hospice center and a university and more, you know, some things that are very unresidential and I think that everyone will be pleased when they see these. I think architecturally it's a beautiful school and these signs are going to look great. I also appreciate Sister Rose Marie's candor about the sign because LED signs are something that we deal with a lot and it sounds to me like this school wasn't getting its bang for the buck and I think its replacement sign is going to look terrific. And I'm glad to hear where it might be reused or where additionally these signs might be used because that will help me the next time that some other business or church or whatever comes to the community so thank you for that. So the floor is open for a motion. Upon Motion by Mcintyre, supported by Pastor, it was: RESOLVED: APPEAL CASE NO. 2013-05-15: SignGraphix, Inc., 39255 Country Club Drive, B-35, Farmington Hills, Ml 48331 on behalf of Madonna University, 36800 Schoolcraft, seeking to erect a ground sign resulting in excess sign area and sign height. Sign Area Allowed: 20 sq. ft. Proposed: 108 sq. ft. Excess: 88 sq. ft. Sign Height Allowed: 6ft. Proposed: 10 ft. Excess: 4 ft. The property is located on the north side of Schoolcraft (36800) between Newburgh and Levan, Lot No. 078-99-0003-000, RUFZoning District, be granted for the following reasons and findings of fact: 1. The uniqueness requirement is met because it is an academic institution and university setting unique in Livonia. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 8 of 10 May 14,2013 2. Denial of the variance would have severe consequences for the Petitioner because it would compromise the branding on the campus that is currently established. 3. The variance is fair in light of its effect on neighboring properties and in the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance because these signs are less 4. commercial than the existing signage. 5. The Board received one (1) letter of approval and five (5) objection letters from neighboring property owners. 6. The property is classified as "Community Service" in the Master Plan and the proposed variance is not inconsistent with that classification. FURTHER, This variance is granted with the following conditions: 1. That the sign and fencing be constructed exactly as indicated to the Board. 2. That the current LED sign will be removed 3. That it be completed within 120 days. Upon Motion by Mcintyre, supported by Pastor, it was: RESOLVED: APPEAL CASE NO. 2013-05-16: SignGraphix, Inc., 39255 Country Club Drive, B-35, Farmington Hills, Ml 48331 on behalf of Madonna University, 13501 Levan, seeking to erect a ground sign resulting in excess sign area and sign height. Sign Area Allowed: 20 sq. ft. Proposed: 108 sq. ft. Excess: 88 sq. ft. Sign Height Allowed: 6 ft. Proposed: 10ft. Excess: 4 ft. The property is located on the west side of Levan (13501) between Schoolcraft and Five Mile, Lot No. 079-99-0001-001, RUF Zoning District, be granted for the following reasons and findings of fact: 1. The uniqueness requirement is met because it is an academic institution and university setting unique in Livonia. 2. Denial of the variance would have severe consequences for the Petitioner because it would compromise the branding on the campus that is currently established. 3. The variance is fair in light of its effect on neighboring properties and in the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance because these signs are less 4. Commercial than the existing signage. 5. The Board received no (0) letters of approval and four (4) objection letters from neighboring property owners. 6. The property is classified as "Community Service" in the Master Plan and the proposed variance is not inconsistent with that classification. FURTHER, This variance 1s granted with the following conditions: 1. That the sign and fencing be constructed exactly as indicated to the Board. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 9 of 10 May 14,2013 2. That the current LED sign be removed. 3. That it be completed within 120 days. Petitioner: Thank you very much, I appreciate your time and consideration. You all are always very thoughtful, we appreciate that. Sister Rose Marie Kujawa: Let me just make one comment that I didn't realize in fact that this group was as opposed to the LED signs as you are and I can assure you that we love being in Livonia and so we'll convey that freely and make sure that we're very consistent with the recommendations we heard today. Again, we thank you for your vote. Henzi: Maybe in response one of the things we often battle with is if you're going to have an LED sign, especially if it's not at a corner, is that distracting to drivers. So you might have a different desire in fact which is to attract pedestrians, those that park in the main lot and are looking where's the play, the basketball game, whatever, that sort of thing. But that's something we always battle with and as does City Council, so that's why I brought it up. Mcintyre: I would just like to suggest because I do like, I can see when you're doing the plays and things, is that maybe next time you run the ad in the Observer, if you put the website in there where people can subscribe to get your updates because I just realized I get coupons for $2 off a $700 purchase at Lowe's but your updates would be something I'd be interested in receiving. So maybe there's a way in an advertisement or something to say that to a community so people can subscribe to your newsletter or an alternate method of information other than the LED signage. Sister Rose Marie Kujawa: We'll certainly consider that and make it more available to the public. Mcintyre: Thank you. City of Livonia, Zoning Board of Appeals Page 10 of 10 May 14,2013 h h, Upon motion by Pastor, supported by McCue to approve the minutes of February 51 and February 191 2013. Motion carried, all ayes. Upon Motion by Pastor, supported by McCue, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried, all ayes. There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 7:40p.m. SAM CARAMAGNO, Secretary MATTHEW HENZI, Chairman /bjm