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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPUBLIC HEARING - 2017-01-11 - REZONING CITY OF LIVONIA PUBLIC HEARING Minutes of Meeting Held on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 ______________________________________________________________________ A Public Hearing of the Council of the City of Livonia was held at the City Hall Auditorium on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. MEMBERS PRESENT: Kathleen E. McIntyre, President Brandon M. Kritzman, Vice President Scott Bahr Maureen Miller Brosnan Jim Jolly Brian Meakin Cathy K. White MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT: Mark Taormina, Director of Planning Todd Zilincik, City Engineer Don Knapp, City Attorney Bonnie J. Murphy, CER-2300, Certified Electronic Recorder The Public Hearing was called to order at 7:07 p.m. with President Kathleen McIntyre presiding. The Public Hearing is in regard to Petition 2016-11-01-07 submitted by the City of Livonia to rezone the property located on the south side of Five Mile Road between Farmington Road and Shadyside Street, 33233-33243 Five Mile Road in the Northwest ¼ of Section 22, from PL (Public Land) to C-1 (Local Business). The City Clerk has mailed a notice to those persons in the area affected by the proposed changes, and all other requirements of Ordinance No. 543, the Zoning Ordinance, have been fulfilled. The public hearing is now open for comments. There were three people in the audience. Please state your clearly your name and address before making your comments. McIntyre: Mr. Taormina? Taormina: Thank you, Madam President. And this is a request to rezone certain property located here in the Civic Center Campus. This is the former Chamber of Commerce Office Building which as everyone knows is located on the south side of Five Mile Road, just east of Farmington Road and the area of land that we’re considering this evening is only about 2,600 square feet, it includes 36 feet of frontage on Five Mile by a depth of 2 73 feet. The building on the property is about 1,575 square feet in size so it occupies the majority of the parcel. A little bit about the history on this, records show that the City acquired the property in the 1970s. It was zoned C-2 and used as an office in conjunction with a real estate company at the time that the property was purchased. But after we purchased it in 1974 the City rezoned it to Public Land and for many years after that it served as the location of Livonia’s Youth Assistance Program. But following the relocation of the Youth Assistance here to City Hall in the space that was vacated by the Parks and Recreation Department after it moved to the Recreation Center, the building was leased to the Livonia Chamber of Commerce and it served as Livonia’s welcome center, thus the PL zoning for the past four years has been appropriate given the quasi public usage that the property has been used for. But now the site is empty and you received a correspondence from the Mayor several months ago whereby he requested that you consider rezoning this property to C-1 and that would be our attempt at looking to expand our options for leasing the building possibly for commercial purposes. The C-1 zoning as requested would allow the City to market the property for a variety of commercial uses ranging from general office to retail. The Future Land Use Plan does currently show the site as Community Service, but if approved, the C-1 zoning would probably be only for a short term basis as the City would entertain leasing this property given the fact that we’ll be taking a closer examination of the Civic Center Land Use Plan as part of our Comprehensive Master Plan Process scheduled for later this year. So, with that, I’ll be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Bahr: I’ll just confess my mind wandered a little bit while you were talking, Mark, in your excellent presentation, and you probably said what I’m about to ask. So when this came before Council a few months back, what is it we approved, did we approve to have a public hearing? Taormina: Yes. Bahr: Okay, so it’s just a process question. Taormina: Yes. The Council referred the matter to the Planning Commission to hold a public hearing and thereafter submitted its report and recommendation. Bahr: Got it, okay. So we hold a public hearing and then it goes on? Taormina: That’s correct. Kritzman: Madam Chair? McIntyre: Yes, Vice President Kritzman. 3 Kritzman: I think that this is an important piece of property for the future of Livonia and taking that look into what the next decades will bring to the Civic Center Campus. So although I’m not particularly interested in tying this up on a long term basis but I don’t believe that’s the intention of the administration and I think it would be helpful for them to have as much latitude and flexibility as possible in marketing this property. So I would look forward to offering an approving motion this evening, but prior to formally doing so I have one question for Mr. Taormina and maybe it’s a process question for Council, but if I recall the Chamber of Commerce lease renewal came before us for approval, would any leasing of that property also come before Council for approval prior to the City making any long term commitment for the property? Taormina: I’ll pass that over to Don. Knapp: Yes. Kritzman: So, with that I think we would have the authority at that point to take a pass on something if we felt that it was tying the property up for longer than we wanted it to, so given that we have that ultimate say, Mr. Knapp? Knapp: Just to sort of add onto that, we’re aware what the adjacent tenant’s lease term is, so at this point, you know, if we were to lease it tomorrow it wouldn’t be for any longer than the Sam’s Place lease would be. Kritzman: Correct, and I think that’s understood and I think that’s right. I think Council understands that that’s the intention of the administration, so with that I would offer the approving resolution. McIntyre: Mr. Meakin. Meakin: Thank you, Madam President. I have a few issues with this proposal. As the Planning Director mentioned, it’s 2,600 square feet of property that has been on our campus for a long time and my colleague mentioned that it doesn’t fit into our long term goals for the campus. I do not believe the City should be in the retail office business. There are professionals that handle that, we don’t have the staffing to take care of that and be responsible for managing such a property. We have other properties on our campus such as the courthouse that are far more viable to rent out to the public but we haven’t done that yet. It just doesn’t meet our long term goals for the campus and I don’t think it’s appropriate that we should be spending time on something that we might be getting a few hundred dollars a month for rent,. We shouldn’t be in that business, we should leave that to the private industry. I just don’t think that this is a good idea for a short term problem to solve for a few months rent, it doesn’t help us in the long run, so I’m going to offer a denying resolution as well. 4 Bahr: Madam President. McIntyre: Yes, Mr. Bahr. Bahr: Yes, through the Chair to Mr. Taormina, so if we were to go through with this and we go through the Master Planning Process at present and in that part of the Master Plan to improve the Civic Campus, we would then have to go through and rezone it back at that time, to Public Land, is that true? Taormina: Not necessarily. We wouldn’t have to adjust the zoning at the time the Future Land Use Plan is adopted if there’s a difference. If there’s a conflict between what the Future Land Use Plan and the Master Plan recommends for this site and the zoning that’s in place at that time, the Master Plan is nonbinding. But yes, it would be important in the future that if we follow that Master Plan, that any recommended change of land use, that the zoning be consistent with that recommended change of land use. Bahr: So, as the City is the owner of the property, it’s up to the City to make that happen? Taormina: Correct. Bahr: My only other comment would be, and I appreciate Mr. Meakin’s comments, he raises a good point, but I guess I’d just put the question out there, just thinking out loud, I wonder taking into consideration how collecting money from this is any different than collecting money from the other places in the City where we are bringing in income, collecting rent from other facilities, Parks and Rec, there’s other facilities where we are taking in income so I’m just thinking out loud, wondering how this is different, I’m just going to put that question out there. McIntyre: Mr. Jolly. Jolly: Thank you, Madam President. How long is Sam’s Place lease, how long of a period are you talking about here? Taormina: 2020, I think. Knapp: That sounds about right, I think it’s about three years. Jolly: So potentially we’re talking about leasing the property then for up to three years? Taormina: Right. 5 Jolly: Thank you. Brosnan: Madam Chair. McIntyre: Yes. Brosnan: Through the Chair to Mr. Taormina, and there’s nothing in the Public Land zoning classification that allows us the flexibility to provide relief for that property other than rezoning? Taormina: No, not that I can think of. No, there’s no, you know, really the uses intended for the PL zoning are by large all community service, public venue related, so no. And I think, in discussing this matter with the Law Department, and in particular Mr. Fisher, part of the motivation for making sure that the zoning is appropriate for the use if it should be leased to a private entity is this being consistent with the approach that we take with respect to the school district because that has been an issue. As they go to lease their facilities that are now available, we maintained that those properties should be appropriately zoned for the type of commercial enterprises that they’re bringing in to them, so we want to maintain that consistency. Brosnan: And then back to the issue of the Master Plan, we’ve spoken about this at a number of other opportunities and venues, when do we see that process wrapping up? Taormina: I would hope that initiating the process within the coming months would provide I think a schedule, timeframe, that we could complete it by, hopefully by the end of the year or early next year. I guess that really depends on the final scope of services that are going to be part of the process and what kind of timeframe is laid out by the consultant, whenever that consultant is selected. And as you know the process of just selecting a consultant is going to take a few months of negotiating a final contract. So once that’s completed and we actually kick off the actual work, I’m guessing it’s a six to eight month process, maybe even a ten month process but that’s just an early projection on my part. Brosnan: My thought is that the value in having this property as Public Land in the long run may be greater than the short term gain that we get in leasing the property. And I do think that while the Master Plan, as you’ve indicated, is not a document that obligates us to use property a certain way, Livonia has been fairly true to its Master Plan historically and that’s one of the things I appreciate and I think many of the people who come to develop businesses and develop property here appreciate. So, my original inclination and I will continue to give this thought but my original inclination 6 is that we ought to let the Master Plan play out and see what the recommendation is for that property following that and then take up the issue of rezoning. I think this is a critical piece of property and as we go about our continued development of the Civic Center area and we may find that this is an integral part that we need to do that and do it at its fullest and highest benefit to the community. Thank you. McIntyre: Vice President Kritzman. Kritzman: Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a couple of points to touch on that were just mentioned. One, the Master Plan item falls under two committees, one which is mine, is the Strategic Planning Committee and the other one there’s a component of it that falls under the Committee of the Whole. The Administration has drafted a draft version of the RFP, it is actually waiting on us setting a Council committee meeting which we’re looking to try to do in the next two weeks. At that point we’re hoping to get some direction whether we pursue it through Council, through the Administration, through the stakeholder committee to get some clarity there and then we’ll start to move forward issuing the RFP, getting that process started there. I for one am still very hopeful this will be wrapped up before the end of the year. But touching on that, as far as the Chamber of Commerce building goes, at this point we don’t know what the long term plan for that place is and until that Master Plan process is executed, we don’t have any definitive intention for that area and I think if we have a chance for the next three and a half years to recoup some money from that, it’s at least worth looking at and considering. So in my mind this rezoning is something that is not necessarily going to obligate us in any one direction, but offers the opportunity to potentially recoup some of the money that we are currently losing on that property. The rent rate of the Chamber of Commerce was $1,640 per month, if you multiply that on a monthly basis over say roughly three, three and a half years, not counting the full 2016 or the full 2020, that brings us close to $70,000. and right now the City of Livonia is responsible for paying the utility bills on that property, and if we were able to lease it out, the lessee would be responsible for those. So at this point it’s not just sitting there empty, it’s actually costing us money to protect the investment that we have in it already and to keep the water running at a minimum. So it’s not necessarily certain that we’re going to lease this out to anyone, and certainly we would want to be very careful in what type of business and who we’re going to lease it to because it is in such close proximity to the City. But I see it at this point as an opportunity at the very least that’s worth exploring. White: Madam Chair. McIntyre: Yes. 7 White: Through the Chair to Mark, Mark, the Master Plan at this point, does it have any ideas for that piece of property? Taormina: No. Again, well, the current Future Land Use map does identify this area as community service, so that’s all we have really at this point. The upcoming effort of updating the Master Plan, creating a new Master Plan, we could see a completely different suggested land use for this portion of the Civic Center property. That’s going to be an engaging discussion, I’m sure, at some point along the way. White: I just wondered if there were preliminary discussions or thoughts about that. Thank you. McIntyre: Anyone else? Anyone in the audience? All right, then we’ll close this public hearing. And this item will be on the regular meeting set for th January 30. As there were no further questions or comments, the Public Hearing was declared closed at 7:24 p.m. SUSAN M. NASH, CITY CLERK