HomeMy WebLinkAboutLBRA MINUTES 2017-09-06 MINUTES OF THE 14th MEETING OF THE
CITY OF LIVONIA BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
The 14th Meeting of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority of Livonia was
called to order at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, September 6, 2017, by Chairman
Engebretson.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Jack Engebretson, Chairman
Lynda Scheel, Vice Chairman
Ken Harb, Secretary
Andrew Lendrum
Bill Fried
MEMBERS ABSENT: Heather Douglas, Kathleen E. McIntyre
OTHERS PRESENT: Mark Taormina, Planning & Economic
Development Director
Michael Slater, Director of Finance
Mayor Dennis Wright
Barbara Gamber, Economic Development Coordinator
Jared Belka, Warner, Norcross & Judd, L.L.P.
Karl Zarbo, Lormax Stern Development Company
ROLL WAS CALLED. A quorum was present.
WELCOMING REMARKS. We want to welcome Andy Lendrum, who was with
us last time, but we welcome you once again.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
On a motion by Harb, seconded by Scheel, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#04-2017 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of the 12th Meeting of the City of
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority held April 3, 2017,
are hereby approved as submitted.
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 2
CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST BY JARED BELKA OF WARNER,
NORCROSS & JUDD LLP, ON BEHALF OF LIVONIA MARKET II LLC, TO
APPROVE THE BROWNFIELD PLAN AND DEVELOPMENT AND
REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT FOR LIVONIA MARKET II AT 29601, 29659
AND 29701 SEVEN MILE ROAD (FORMER FARMER JACK SUPERMARKET
PROPERTY) LOCATED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF SEVEN MILE ROAD
BETWEEN MIDDLEBELT ROAD AND MELVIN AVENUE IN THE NE 1/4 OF
SECTION 11.
Engebretson: Mr. Taormina, at this time we will turn to you.
Taormina: Thank you. I'm going to go through each of the main
components to this proposal starting with the Site Plan. This is a
request for Brownfield financing involving the former Farmer
Jack site, which is located on the south side of Seven Mile Road
just west of Middlebelt Road. The name of the project is Livonia
Market II. Demolition is currently underway on the approximate
110,000 square foot building that was originally constructed in
1995 as a Builders Square and then later converted to a Farmer
Jack. In 2007, A&P closed its chain of Farmer Jack stores, and
the building has remained empty ever since. The site now
consists of three parcels with a total combined land area of 9.95
acres, including approximately 705 feet of frontage along Seven
Mile Road. The zoning is all C-2, General Business. On April 10,
2017, City Council granted approval of the site plan and waiver
use for three new commercial buildings that include a 37,000-
square foot LA Fitness and two smaller multi-tenant retail
buildings identified as "Outlot A" and "Outlet B." LA Fitness will
occupy the southwest part of the property. Initially, Outlot A was
projected to be a single use, full-service restaurant of about
10,000 square feet. Recently, however, Outlot A was downsized
to approximately 5,900 square feet and is planned as a multi-
tenant building that will include two leasable units: 1) a 3,750-
square foot urgent care clinic called MedPost, and 2) a 2,148-
square foot drive-thru restaurant. A site plan and waiver use
application is currently before the Planning Commission for
review. Outlot B, which measures 8,060 square feet, located in
the northwest corner the property, is designed to have up to five
tenants. As part of the redevelopment, the site's parking and
circulation pattern will be completely reconfigured. Two of the
three existing driveways will remain. There is a signalized
intersection near the central portion of the frontage on Seven
Mile Road, and the easterly driveway will also remain available.
Parking will be provided for 522 vehicles. This is substantially
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 3
more than what is needed to satisfy the zoning ordinance.
Storm water will be managed by means of a large open
detention system that will be constructed in the southeast corner
of the site. This area will be devoted strictly for managing the
storm water runoff on the site. Other major site improvements
include landscaping, site lighting, and trash containment. Some
of the streetscape improvements that are planned along the
frontage of Seven Mile Road are going to be consistent with and
tie into the Livonia Marketplace project across the street. The
next major component is the Brownfield Plan. The submitted
Brownfield Plan provides a basic description of the project, the
brownfield conditions present on the site, and each of the
various Plan elements. The site does qualify as a brownfield
based on the determination by the City Assessor that the
building, as it existed at the time of her evaluation, was
functionally obsolete. This is a legal term that refers to the
extent of deficiencies and inadequacies that render it unusable
for its intended purpose. Table 1 of the Plan includes a
breakdown of the various eligible activities for which the
applicant is seeking reimbursement from the capture of tax
increment revenues. The major activities and costs associated
with each of these include: 1) Baseline Environmental
Assessment Activities ($5,000); 2) Lead and Asbestos
Abatement ($8,500); 3) Demolition ($550,000); 4) Site
Preparation ($1,100,000); and 5) Infrastructure Improvements
($500,000). Additional costs include 15% Contingencies
($324,525) as well as Development and Preparation of the
Brownfield Plan ($30,000). The estimated total for all Eligible
Expenses is $2,518,025. The largest expense, Site Preparation,
involves several activities related to engineering services,
erosion control, grading, and utility relocation. Demolition is the
second largest expense, and includes the existing building as
well as other unusable site features, such as the parking lots,
utilities, and landscaping. Tax increment revenue captured on
the value of the real property above the established base value
will be used to reimburse the Developer for the eligible costs.
The base value is established according to the current pre-
construction taxable value of the property, which in this case is
$1,305,837. As the site is developed and the taxable value of
the property increases, the taxes paid on the incremental value
above the base value are captured by the LBRA and used to
pay the project costs. A complete Tax Capture Table is provided
under Schedule 1 of the Brownfield Plan. The Tax Capture
Table provides a yearly estimate on the taxable values and the
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 4
captured tax amounts for each of the separate taxing
authorities, and itemizes the available reimbursements. The
estimated taxable value of the completed project is $7.7 million,
reflecting a capital investment of approximately $15 million.
Non-capturable millage include the Zoo Authority, Art Institute
and School Debt. The year 2019 is shown as the first full year of
tax capture. For that year only, a proportional amount of School
Education Taxes (SET) and School Operation Taxes will be
captured to pay for a portion of the BEA (Baseline
Environmental Assessment). The statute allows for certain
preapproved eligible expenses such as the Baseline
Environmental Assessment. It allows for the capture of school
taxes to help defer those costs, but it's a proportional amount.
You will see on the table the collection of a small amount of
school tax dollars to pay for the BEA, and that would be limited
to just the first year of collection. Schedule 1 shows a 13 year
reimbursement period that would run from 2019 through 2031.
The 13 years is consistent with the two other projects that we
have approved, Livonia Commons and Livonia Marketplace. As
with Livonia Marketplace, the ensuing five years following the
reimbursement to the Developer, which would be years 2032
through 2036, the LBRA would capture 100 percent of local
taxes for the Local Site Remediation Revolving Fund. This fund
can be used to pay the costs of eligible activities on eligible
property that is located within the city. We have yet to use
those dollars for any purposes yet since we've just started
collecting it. It is something that we are in discussion with and
we will bring to you probably within the next month or two. The
projected total cost to the City, which would be the unrealized
tax revenue over the life of the Plan, would be about $1.24
million which constitutes roughly 50 percent of the tax increment
revenue collected by the Authority above the base value. The
City will continue to collect taxes on the $1.3 million of value,
which is the base value, which equates to roughly $18,000 a
year. That is not something that is a part of the incremental
capture. Finally, the Development and Reimbursement
Agreement spells out the various obligations between the LBRA
and the Developer regarding the collection and payment of tax
increment revenues, the duration and timing of the payments,
and the retention of funds to pay for the administrative costs of
the LBRA. The Law Department has reviewed the proposed
Development and Reimbursement Agreement. This Agreement
contains several key terms and conditions including the
submission of costs. This requires the Developer to provide the
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 5
City with detailed information on all brownfield eligible costs,
including copies of invoices. Payments are limited to the
Developer, again, for a period of 13 years only. And then
Adjustments, this is a part of the document that spells out the
obligations of both the Developer and the Authority and the City
with respect to tax bills. The Authority can recommend any
amount of the requested reimbursement or limit the number of
years of capture based on what it determines is appropriate. Mr.
Chairman, I also gave you some key facts regarding this project
which summarizes a lot of what I just went over, but it's a good
handy reference if you have any questions regarding any of the
numbers or key items. That is the summation of the report and
all the documents that you have.
Engebretson: Thank you very much, Mark. Mike?
Slater: That was a great summary, Mark.
Engebretson: Jared, are you speaking for the owner or is Karl going to get us
started there?
Karl Zarbo, Director of Construction, Lormax Stern Development Company. With
the Board's approval, I'd like to start and then I'll turn it over to
Jared. Thank you for having us here tonight, and with me is
Jared Belka with Warner, Norcross & Judd, L.L.P. He is our
legal counsel on this. As we've indicated, Jared has put the
basic brownfield package together and the goal was to try to
make this a little easier, a little simpler, a little bit more direct
than what we went through 10 years ago. Mark's presentation
was really pretty all inclusive. I just want to touch on a few
things, number one, to reinforce a couple things and to add a
couple things. As Mark indicated, this is basically a 10-acre site,
just slightly under 10 acres. It has been vacant for about nine
years. When we first looked at this, and as some of you know, it
was almost three years ago, we set several development goals,
and it's really been a challenge to try to get this accomplished.
One of them certainly was to demolish the 110,000-square foot
building that currently exists there. As I say currently exists, it's
about 90 percent down as of an hour ago - half the front wall
and a little bit of the back wall by the shipping and receiving
docks. There's a lot of debris to be shaken out and sorted out
and removed from the property, but the building is essentially
down. As Mark indicated, we had received approval from City
Council for a 37,000-square foot building to house LA Fitness.
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 6
They will consume 4.474 of the almost 10 acres. As Mark
indicated, there's a lot split and there will be three lots for the
two owners. The reason there's two ownerships, the outlots are
not contiguous. LA Fitness will own the center piece. We will
own the two outbuildings and that's why there's three parcels
but two ownerships. Hopefully, that's not too confusing.
Engebretson: Excuse me, Karl. Where do the property lines go?
Zarbo: They're difficult to see. This is the delineation that you can see
for the LA Fitness. So this piece becomes that retail outlet. This
piece becomes that retail outlet. As Mark says, this retention
pond, which is huge, you'll notice that it stays under our control.
We're going to build it. We'll own it. We'll control it so that the
City and the County has the warm fuzzy that while there's three
parcels, there's one control point.
Engebretson: Will you own the sticks and bricks?
Zarbo: Yes, but not the LA Fitness. LA Fitness, last Friday, that 4.474
acres sold to them. That's really why the lot split. As we've
indicated, the building that's on the top left, and actually we're
looking at four spaces now, multi-tenant retail. One of the things
we hope you noticed in the drawings that Mark showed and the
elevations is one of our goals in this development was to try to
mirror across the street. We wanted you to come down Seven
Mile from either direction and feel that you've reached an area
that has been redeveloped under a very controlled package. So
one of the things that we hope you noted in your package was
that we've repeated a lot of the building materials, a lot of the
colors, the awnings. It looks very, very similar to the outbuildings
across the street. The other thing you'll notice is that there are
two pylon signs across the street at Livonia Marketplace and we
have one pylon sign coming for Livonia Market II and it's
identical to what's across the street. So that's one of the things
that we felt was very important and believed the City felt was
important to make this look like you're entering an area with one
ownership and that the architecture has been controlled. Up
until a couple weeks ago, we really had marked the one outlot
as future development, but we were pleasantly surprised with a
couple of phone calls and, as Mark indicated, there is some
interest and there is a deal working on that lot now and it's
happened much, much faster than what we anticipated. We
actually anticipated with City Council on land-banking some of
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 7
that parking because at the time we went through that process,
we really didn't have a prospect for that. Again, we wanted to
make sure that it's very clear to everyone that when we're
talking about demolition, we're talking about physically taking
down the building, but we're also talking about, if you were there
in the last few days, the landscaping is gone. But the light poles
are coming out. The asphalt is coming out. The curbs are
coming out. All of the underground utilities are coming out. So
this will be a brand new site from ground up. One of the other
goals in this was to try to overcome the difficulty, as you say on
that plan, the southeast corner is essentially all retention pond.
One of the things that really, really slowed this down for a
couple years was the cost of that and who and how that was
going to be borne by whoever was interested in the project. The
challenge in this thing was, again, that brought very, very
unusual cost per acre to this site that you wouldn't have. Some
of you made me aware that on the west border of this is a 10
foot storm drain. What had been hoped was that the storm
water, as it has for 60 years, would feed into that drain and then
we wouldn't have to take an acre and a half and build almost a
million dollars worth of structure to handle that water, but I
guess we pushed it with Wayne County long enough and
decided that you will now have a retention pond. Again, it's
caused some very unusual costs, but more importantly,
probably slowed the project down much longer that what we had
thought. One of the things that Mark mentioned was the
"functionally obsolete." I would tell you we took several runs
and communication over the years with Mark about readapted
uses or repurposed, and we just couldn't get any traction. If
you're over there and we start to tear the floor out, we'll remind
you, with a grocery store, that the utilities under the floors are
phenomenal. It just became a struggling point with anybody to
try and take that building without essentially ripping out the floor,
essentially ripping out the walls, and what we thought, we don't
want a retrofit project. Let's build something that looks like it
does across the street. While it's taken some time and some
extra dollars, that's the project that we wanted to deliver to the
city. Again, as Mark mentioned, we went through the process to
have it deemed functionally obsolete. We want to make sure
there is a feeling in the sense that all of the old will be removed,
and one of the important things with that is, if you look at the
first slide Mark had, it was a 110,000-square foot grocery store.
We're coming back with less than 55,000 square feet. So one of
the things that we're very pleased with is we're downloading this
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 8
project. If you look at the ratio of pervious to impervious, it's
much improved. So, we actually meet and exceed your
landscaping requirements. The project previous did not. And
then obviously the open space with the retention pond handling
the water, we think that you'll not only get a better quality of
storm water entering your system, but there will be a much
greater control rate of that water that's entering that system.
Again, when we're all said and done, we're coming back with
about half of the square footage, about half of the load on that
system. As you're aware, with that project sitting there, the
project has been underperforming. I think Mark indicated that
the current value on it is $1.3 million. We hope, when we're all
said and done, that we're at something approaching $14 - $15
million value and what that means to you folks is what it means
to us. The enhanced value certainly is something that we look
for as a developer, but what that means for you folks is really
obviously a better taxable value. Take an under-performing
asset and we hope that we can make it state of the art. Also, the
municipal fees connected with this in the last few months and
upcoming over the next few months, we hope are something
that's an advantage to the city, as is the new construction jobs,
which, again, will only be six to nine months in duration, but
when the project is completed, you'll have permanent retail jobs.
We hope that all of those things kind of put together, that our
development goals became your development goals. With that,
I'd like to turn it over to Jared who has actually put this package
together. Again, we really took the model from across the street
that the City of Livonia and especially two the guys sitting here
and Mr. Engebretson, ten years ago, did a lot of heavy lifting to
get this to what we believe is a concise package but a lot easier
to read and understand and comprehend. With that, I'll turn it
over to Jared.
Jared Belka, Warner, Norcross & Judd, L.L.C. Thank you very much. I
appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening. Mark gave a
phenomenal overview. I don't have too much to add to that. I
think there are two main things I'd like to point out and then I'd
be happy to answer any questions. This is a reimbursement
program. So the Developer is only going to get reimbursed what
they incur. As Mark pointed out, upon completion of the project,
they will assemble a cost summary of the costs incurred and
submit that to the Brownfield Authority for their review and
approval. So they're not subject to any reimbursement until
you've approved it. The costs included in the Plan are based on
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 9
current estimates, but those could certainly come in less so they
are only going to get reimbursed what they actually incur. If they
come in higher, we have caps within the Plan so these are the
caps subject to that 15 percent contingency. The only other
thing I'd like to point out is what Karl described basically going
back and scrapping everything out of the site to build new. It's
programs like this that make that possible as opposed to driving
down the road saying, you know what, I'm not going to touch
that site. We'll go find somewhere else to build. Because they
are a deterrent to future development. When you can see how
long it took them to come forward with a plan for this site
because they just couldn't quite put their thumb on retrofitting
what is there. I just wanted to highlight that, that programs like
this make investment like this possible.\
Zarbo: I think one of the keys for some of you that have been around
this for a lot of years, in our industry, it's certainly easier to
chase a green field. By that I mean if it's just clean dirt, we're
out of the ground in a very, very short period of time. As many of
you are aware, and poor Kathleen had to go through this from
the time she's been on City Council, these are a lot more
complicated and there's more moving pieces and again there's
more layers of authority certainly beyond even the City of
Livonia as it involved the County and the State. A brownfield is
not the easiest road to go but, again, we tried to retrofit it a few
times and it's really not the product we wanted to put out there.
Engebretson: Anything else, Jared?
Belka: No. With that, I appreciate the work of Mark and Mike to get us
to this point. They did a great job reviewing the materials and
responding promptly, and we addressed their comments and
we're here today. Again, we thank you for the opportunity.
Engebretson: We appreciate their good work also. Let me understand your
role. Are you an outside attorney?
Belka: To give you my background, I began my career in finance, the
banking world, and I ended up with a job at the Michigan
Economic Development Corporation in their brownfield
redevelopment department.
Engebretson: A good launching pad.
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 10
Belka: Yeah. So, I transitioned out of there and into the law firm I've
been with since 2008. I do economic incentive work. I'm
fortunate to work with a lot of businesses and developers in
redevelopment of these types of properties.
Engebretson: So, we'll be seeing you then throughout this process, or are you
just here for the launch of the project?
Belka: Probably, this. I've worked with Karl in the past to assemble
some cost information on the reimbursement portion of projects.
Zarbo: In the past, we've submitted to you guys. You've seen the
books. They are kind of submittals and the easiest term I think
for most to understand is they're like done and drawn requests.
Typically, at the end of each year, Mark will ask us to at least
bring him up to speed, bring the City up to speed, with what's
been spent to date. In this case, this will be a pretty short fuse.
There's a ton of money upfront with these eligible activities, and
then once we go vertical, it's not reimbursed. One of the cool
things that somebody taught me years ago and I remember with
what's reimbursable, it's kind of demolition and dirt down. So if
you can of remember the three ds', demotion and dirt down, and
then you go back and you read Mark's explanation of defining
the eligible activities, that's pretty easy to remember. And the
opposite, the equivalent of that is once you go vertical, it doesn't
qualify for that. We are supposed to attempt to go vertical in 120
to 130 days. Unlike Livonia Marketplace, which was done over
many, many years, and there's still a little bit of work left to go,
this will have a pretty short fuse on it.
Engebretson: So, Karl, talk to us about that fuse. If everything stays on track,
the building is down, the dirt is ready, when will you be done?
Zarbo: Let me make one other thing really clear. We're doing all the
site work including for LA Fitness. And again, we wanted to do
that so that you have the assurance that one person is moving
the dirt on that 10 acres. Even though it sold last Friday, we're
doing all of that - doing all of the demo, all of the underground,
all of it. They have what they call a critical path. It's 120 days
from last Friday for us to deliver the site to them. And then they
will build. We're going to have a little bit of an issue because of
the late start with this, probably the landscaping may go in the
Spring of 2018. We'll try desperately to get the base course
down for asphalt, but it depends on weather. And when the
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 11
plants close, the wear course may be Spring, 2018. Our intent
for the outbuildings are April 1, 2018. They're typically a process
of 60 to 90 days. So mid-2018, this should be done. Even the
outbuilding that Mark had indicated which really picked up some
speed very quick, we think, if it continues to go forward in the
next 30 or 60 days, they wouldn't be more than 30 or 60 days
behind us. So, you should have a project in its final stages by
the middle of next year. Pretty fast track compared to across the
street.
Engebretson: Yes, but that was a much bigger project.
Zarbo: By comparison, that brownfield was $6.6 million for across the
street. This is $2.5 million that we're discussing.
Engebretson: It's very exciting news. And Jared, welcome to you. We hope we
do see you periodically. We've always enjoyed working with
Karl, and he's always welcome to come anytime. Does the
Board have any questions?
Scheel: First of all, you answered my first question, which was regarding
who is going to be responsible for the brownfield. Then my next
question would be, Mark or Mike probably . . . if that portion of
the property is sold and LA Fitness is going to take over building
it, then does our Assessing Department assess the LA Fitness
building and we collect taxes on that or is that still going to be
part of this brownfield recapture?
Slater: You would assess the old property. It would still be part of this.
Across the street, we have a number of parcels owned by
different people but they're all still a part of the brownfield. The
Kohl's property is owned by Kohl's, but it's still part of the
brownfield.
Scheel: So this would be the same thing, then.
Zarbo: I might be able to simplify it. Correct me if I'm wrong. The
reason that Lormax Stern or Livonia Market II is looking to be
reimbursed goes back to my earlier comment. We're doing all of
the site work. So, all of those eligible activities that Mark spelled
out, we'll write the check. We would turn in those invoices. Like
across the street as they indicated, as parcels got sold off, you
would tax them individually but we're still being reimbursed
across the street because we still spend the money.
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 12
Scheel: Okay.
Belka: If I could add to that as well. Ownership doesn't matter. You
don't need to own property to be reimbursed from the taxes
from that. Similar to like a downtown development authority,
they capture property taxes within a district. This is similar to
that.
Scheel: Okay. My next question is, when Mark had the map up there
that Jack asked about the property.
Taormina: The property lines?
Scheel: Yes.
Taormina: I'm going to go back to this one, which I think it shows parcels
A, B and C a little bit better.
Scheel: So, Parcel A, you still own a sliver at the side, right, and then
down at the bottom?
Belka: Yeah.
Scheel: Okay.
Zarbo: This might be easier.
Scheel: I highlighted it on my map when you drew it. So it looks like you
own a sliver at the side and a sliver at the bottom, and then this
whole section here. So this bottom portion right here, that LA
Fitness owns, it goes all the way to the back. Right?
Zarbo: If your question is, is the parcel really unusually shaped, the
answer is yes. Part of that reason is the only acreage that LA
Fitness will accept is basically five acres, and this is as close as
we could get. So you'll see some unusual pieces like on that
south end, the west end, just as you've indicated.
Scheel: Everything that LA Fitness owns, does that back up to the
condominiums then?
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 13
Zarbo: No, and you'll see a split again. This piece to the west is us, and
this piece to the east, they go all the way back to the end of the
property line.
Scheel: Okay.
Zarbo: Does that answer that? Is that an any better illustration?
Scheel: That's good. And then for the landscaping in the front along
Seven Mile Road, is LA Fitness going to be responsible for that
or the Developer?
Zarbo: We're putting that all in.
Scheel: You're putting it all in so it's all matching?
Zarbo: Yes. And there's a follow-up to that. We will maintain the
common area. So when it's all done, we'll do the snow removal.
We'll do the landscaping. Again, so that you got one person to
call if you're not happy. We'll also do the common area
maintenance of their property.
Scheel: Okay.
Lendrum: That was in your agreement?
Zarbo: What was submitted to the City as an OEA and an REA, and
what those are is operating and reciprocal easement
agreements and they do just that, Andy. Yes.
Lendrum: And that's how you're dealing with the retention pond?
Zarbo: Yes.
Lendrum: Okay.
Engebretson: I'm glad Lynda asked about the land design. Our former
Planning Director used to call that a catawampus site plan
layout, but it all works and there are cross parking agreements
and all that.
Zarbo: Yes. We can get you all that. The City has all of it.
Engebretson: I don't need to see that. Let the City Council worry about that.
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 14
Harb: Karl, what do you have to do with the 10 foot storm drain that
was on the other side of the property?
Zarbo: The original plan or hope was to put the storm water off the site
into it. Then years ago when we did Livonia Marketplace, we
camera-ed it and there was this much water in it. What we've
asked from day one is to try to use the capacity of that 10-foot
drain and we just can't find an ear to listen. At some point, we
just gave up and we're building a hole in the ground. We just
think that we could have put up another building. With a $25,
$30 rent on that and put a cap rate, it's worth millions of dollars.
Then there's a million dollars that goes back it in. It's probably a
$3 to $4 million swing, and there sits a 10 foot drain that you
could drive a bus through that doesn't have any water in it. So,
what we'll do is, we'll control it into this forebay and then
retention pond, and again, it sits at the east end of the property.
We'll ship it all the way to the west and put it into the 10-foot
drain.
Harb: And the economic development guys at Wayne County didn't
lend an ear?
Zarbo: No. And Mark went to a meeting and I went to a meeting
probably a year ago this summer where there was a guy at the
County who thought he heard and would listen for a bit, but it's
an older system. This is what the book says. At some point,
we'd still be talking about developing. We need to go. So we're
going to bite the bullet.
Engebretson: Anything else from the Board? Karl, I'm not dwelling on this
drainage situation. I'd just like to inquire as to how you control
the outflow from the detention portion of this pond. Is it just the
size of the pipe that's in there that will allow only so many
gallons per minute to flow through to the 10-foot pipe?
Zarbo: It's engineered and we use PEA and they might be able to get a
lot more technical than I can. Again, what you try to do is control
the rate at which it leaves. You try to control the flow that
leaves, and you try to control the quality. There's a fore bay
system there. For all the sophistication that Dr. Tilton did across
the street, the fore bay basically is a pretreatment if you will. So
it goes into the forebay and has some pretreatment, goes into
the retention pond, and then it's very controlled as it leaves. If
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 15
you think across the street, we take all of the water, including
Sears, and it enters a pond behind the bank, then goes over in
front of the coney island, and goes all the way to the northwest
part of the property and then it's controlled going back into that
10-foot drain. So there's multiple ways to control the rate and
the flow. So if you do get one of these crazy rains, it is very
controlled how it leaves the site.
Engebretson: Thanks for your comments, Karl.
Taormina: If there are no other questions from the Board, I think maybe
Mike and I have a question. Mine is more of minor question,
really. In the Brownfield Plan, Jared, you indicate that the BEA
costs are projected at about $5,000. Does this match with the
sub-table where you break down the proportionality between the
state and local and what's being collected as $5,750. Is that the
portion that will be used to pay the BEA?
Belka: Yes.
Taormina: Is the 750 a proportional amount of contingency added?
Belka: Yes.
Taormina: The two didn't match. I wasn't sure if they should match.
Belka: I think you just had a phase one so it's probably not even . . . it's
probably less than that, but at the time, that's . . .
Zarbo: It's within pennies of$5,000 plus the contingency.
Taormina: Okay. That was my question.
Slater: We simply have way more parking than we need. If you just look
across the street, it looks like a sea of asphalt, which to me is
very unattractive. Is there any thought to land banking this and
not putting the asphalt in now?
Zarbo: We went through that and it was too nice plus it was rejected
and then it was tabled and we then came back. We probably
spent three months on that. What originally was planned was
the outlot to the top right, we were going to land bank, and I
can't remember how many spaces. And I've got to tell you,
Mike, we don't want the parking. If you look at where the parking
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 16
is, it is pretty clear who the requestor is. It's LA Fitness and it
was a deal breaker. So I would tell you that the City Council
approved it but it was reluctantly and it was by one vote, and the
parking came up night after night after night.
Slater: I don't get it. Again, it's not my decision.
Zarbo: In the center piece, there is a little attempt to hide it with the out
buildings. Like across the street, but I would tell you that I don't
disagree with you. It got some conversation, though. Didn't it
Mark?
Taormina: The irony of it, Mr. Chairman, is we hear from developers about
how onerous our ordinance is when it comes to parking, like
recently with the Panera Bread petition as an outlot
development at Laurel Park Place. Here, it's just the opposite
where the City attempted to try to get the amount of parking in
line with what we believe would be the demand, and there was
significant push back by the Developer, well, primarily LA
Fitness and their insistence on a minimum amount of parking. I
think a lot of it is driven by letting their customers know that
there's parking available when they choose to pull in that site. I
don't know. I think maybe that is part of the philosophy behind it.
Maybe Karl knows more from a retailer's point of view.
Zarbo: They come up with these models and it's so different. We've
gone to you folks for years and talked about, I mean, the old
models were five per thousand square foot of GLS. I went to
Mark years ago about the books and said, man, that's got to
come down. It's got to go to four. It's got to go to 3.7. And the
reason is because the habit of a shopper has changed. You're
at a shopping center. Our center is way shorter period of time so
the spaces turn over quicker. You don't need as many. For
whatever reason, the fitness places take the worst case
scenario, which is as the weather turns and weeknights. In their
minds, the last thing they want is for you not to have a parking
space. If you go there on a July Wednesday when the softball
and the golf and the whatever soccer is, parking lots aren't full.
But they have that cold weather fear for the parking. So as Mark
indicated, it is not what we would typically want. I would have
less parking and have another building. I'd give you more
landscape. It was a deal breaker with them and we were turned
down initially and then it was tabled and then finally we got
through and that was really the last issue. I think this was in
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 17
front of the City Council four times. Patience of a saint on all of
you.
Engebretson: I remember when that was happening and I can understand
Mike's point. It makes a lot of sense but at the same token, as a
former business person, I can understand the business
operators point as well. It is what it is, and we're certainly not
going back to the City Council and say, please change your
resolution. I do hope that these are all 10 by 20 parking bays,
double parked.
Zarbo: We shortened a couple. Mark suggested some along the west
border. We shorted a little. We tweaked it and pushed LA
Fitness about as far we could.
Engebretson: If there is no further discussion, we actually have two motions
prepared by the staff, both which are needed here tonight. We
would like to act on both of them. Who would like to deal with
the first one?
On a motion by Scheel, seconded by Harb, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#05-2017 RESOLVED, that the Brownfield Plan for Livonia Market II,
together with Exhibits and schedules thereto, which was
presented to the Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority by
the City's Planning Department at its meeting of September 6,
2017, be approved and recommended to the City Council in
substantially the form in which it was presented to the Authority,
subject to approval as to form by the City's Law Department.
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
On a motion by Lendrum, seconded by Harb, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#06-2017 RESOLVED, that a Development and Reimbursement
Agreement, providing for reimbursement of eligible costs
pursuant to the Brownfield Plan for Livonia Market II, be
approved in substantially the form of the Development and
Reimbursement Agreement between the City of Livonia
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and Livonia Market II LLC,
which was presented to the Authority by the City's Planning
Department on September 6, 2017, and that the Board's
Chairperson, or in his absence the Vice-Chairperson, is
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 18
authorized to execute said Development and Reimbursement
Agreement on behalf of the Authority, subject to approval as to
form of said Development and Reimbursement Agreement by
the City's Law Department.
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
Zarbo: Can I just publicly say again, the Staff has been amazing on this
and it's been a long, long haul. We teed it up a few times and
it's gone away. You can't do this without those guys. I'm very,
very appreciative. You guys are really fortunate.
Engebretson: We're glad that you stuck with it, Karl.
Zarbo: I don't give up quite that easy.
Engebretson: You're known to be persistent.
Zarbo: Thank you all very much.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Engebretson: The next order of business is election of officers for the coming
year. We have one vacancy and that's the office of Treasurer
that was held by Joe Taylor. Mr. Taylor made a determination
that he needed to step down and so he did and so we have four
offices to fill. Chairman and Vice Chairman, Lynda Scheel and I
occupy those spots now. I talked to Ken about taking the
Treasurer role, but do you want to continue as Secretary?
Nominations are order for Chairman.
Harb: I move to have Jack continue on.
Engebretson: I will, but I'm certainly willing for somebody else to do it as well.
On a serious note, I don't want to stand in anybody's way, but if
there is no one else that wants to step forward, then I would
consider that done.
On a motion duly made, seconded, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#07-2017 RESOLVED, that Jack Engebretson is hereby re-appointed to
serve as Chairman of the City of Livonia Brownfield
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 19
Redevelopment Authority for a one-year period or until a
successor is elected.
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
On a motion duly made, seconded, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#08-2017 RESOLVED, that Lynda Scheel is hereby re-appointed to serve
as Vice Chair of the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority for a one-year period or until a successor is elected.
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
On a motion duly made, seconded, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#09-2017 RESOLVED, that Kenneth Harb is hereby appointed to serve as
Secretary of the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority for a one-year period or until a successor is elected.
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
On a motion duly made, seconded, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#10-2017 RESOLVED, that Bill Fried is hereby appointed to serve as
Treasurer of the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority for a one-year period or until a successor is elected.
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
Engebretson: Is there any other business to come before the Board?
Taormina: Mr. Taylor sends his best to his colleagues here. I talked to him
on the phone a short while ago. He sounded well. He sends his
best to everyone.
Engebretson: Thank you for that.
Scheel: I just want to mention that we have a list of our emails and
addresses and my email address needed to be correct.
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
September 6, 2017
Page 20
Engebretson: And Mark, I would like to change my address also to
J.r.engebretson(c�gmail.com.
Taormina: We'll get those changes made.
The 14th Meeting held by the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
on September 6, 2017, was adjourned at 5:54 p.m.
/6),/
Ken Harb, Secretary