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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSTUDY - 2018-08-20 REV 8-28-18 CITY OF LIVONIA – CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD AUGUST 20, 2018 Meeting was called to order at 8:20 p.m. by President Toy. Present: Jim Jolly, Brandon Kritzman, Scott Bahr, Cathy White, Kathleen McIntyre, Brian Meakin and Laura Toy. Absent: None. Elected and appointed officials present: Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Leo Neville, Assistant City Attorney; Susan M. Nash, City Clerk; Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation; Curtis Caid, Chief of Police, and Mayor Dennis Wright. Brandon Kritzman wished his daughters Jackie and Hannah happy birthdays, as well as his wife. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. NEW BUSINESS: 1. BLOCK PARTY: Krista Leavens, re: to be held Saturday, September 29, 2018, from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Grandon Street, between Harrison and Brentwood, with no rain date requested. Krista Leavens, 9249 Harrison, presented this request to Council. She stated she would like to change the date of her block party to September 22, 2018, with blocking Grandon Street between Harrison to Brentwood for safety purposes, they are having small activities, bounce houses, face painters and other thigs at the nd 32 Anniversary of their block party. Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. nd Meakin asked if he heard her say it was the 32 year and Leavens responded, yes, that their parents originally started it and passed down the torch, and Meakin then congratulated her. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2. BLOCK PARTY: Andrew Sherwood, re: to be held Saturday, September 15, 2018, from 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., on Woodring Street between Orangelawn and West Chicago, with no rain date requested. Andrew Sherwood, 9611 Woodring Street, presented this request to Council, th asking permission to hold a block party on September 15 between 1:00 and 10:00 2 p.m., blocking off Woodring Street between West Chicago and Orangelawn. He stated they will have live music, games. Kritzman asked if the blockading being requested was the same amount as the previous year and Sherwood responded in the affirmative. Kritzman asked how that worked out and Sherwood stated last year they managed just fine. Kritzman offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Bahr asked how many years they had been conducting a block party and Sherwood responded they have held two or three in the last five or six years. Bahr stated he endorses these types of activities, strengthening the community. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3. REQUEST TO APPROVE AND RECOGNIZE THE CLARENCEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL HOMECOMING PARADE TO BE HELD ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2018; REQUEST TO APPROVE THE PARADE ROUTE AND THE CLOSING OF CERTAIN CITY STREETS; AND REQUEST TO DESIGNATE AND AUTHORIZE SENIOR POLICE OFFICER MICHAEL ARAKELIAN TO SIGN THE WAYNE COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION PERMIT ON BEHALF OF THE CITY TO CLOSE A PORTION OF MIDDLEBELT ROAD, WITH THE CITY TO ASSUME LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE CLAIMS WHICH MAY ARISE AS A RESULT OF THE ROAD CLOSURE: Kevin Murphy, Athletic Director, re: same. Troy Nelson, 20155 Middlebelt, Clarenceville High School Principal, presented this request to Council. He stated they are asking to hold a Homecoming Parade as they have for many years in the past, going from Botsford Elementary through the neighborhood, and then coming out on Middlebelt and going up to the Middle School. McIntyre pointed out that long time Livonia Police Office Mike Arakelian is mentioned in the letter, showing that is an additional duty that the Livonia Police Department does to make the quality of life good in the City and maintain good public safety. White offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. REQUEST TO WAIVE THE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Michael Soave, President, Soave Homes, Inc., re: for the newly constructed home located at 15104 Lyons Street. Brian Duggan, 14315 Denne, presented this request to Council. 3 Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, stated they provided a letter to City Council indicating that there is some sidewalk on the west side, but left it to Council to make the final decision on the matter. Duggan stated the sidewalk on the west side is butting up to a commercial building and that there are no sidewalks according to Google maps, on any residential lots from the commercial building on Five Mile back. President Toy inquired about the cost of putting in a concrete sidewalk and Duggan responded it would run from $1,500 to $2,000 roughly. Bahr stated that Duggan pointed out legitimate points about the scarcity of sidewalks on this street. He indicated as far as the Master Plan for the City is concerned, that this is a street that he would expect to see sidewalks and he offered a denying resolution for the Regular Agenda. Bahr then stated that Special Assessments are a valuable way to address installing sidewalks. Kritzman then stated as Duggan had pointed out, that there is a commercial property immediately adjacent to this site that’s an empty lot, it is a developable commercial property, and if there was a commercial development going on that site, a sidewalk would be required and he believed having a sidewalk is the right way to go. Toy asked what the zoning of this property is and Duggan replied he believes it’s R-U-F and Toy stated the lots are rather large in this neighborhood and Duggan agreed stating especially this one because it is L-shaped. Toy then inquired if the commercial property is for sale and Duggan replied he does not have knowledge of that but the place next to it was the old Bank’s Vacuum store. Duggan stated he understands Bahr’s comments, but that he grew up at Six Mile and Inkster, and he remembers his father saying if he wanted sidewalks he would bought a house with a sidewalk. He indicated there are fifty to sixty people who have bought houses in the neighborhood that probably purchased their homes because there were no sidewalks. DIRECTION: DENYING REGULAR 5. REQUEST TO WAIVE THE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Brian Duggan, GRI, Broker/Owner of Duggan Realty, re: for the newly constructed home located at 18071 Floral Street. Brian Duggan, 14315 Denne, presented this request to Council. He stated this property is over by Six Mile and Inkster and that there are three streets in that area where no sidewalks exist. He indicated it is in the middle of a subdivision in the middle of the block, and there are no sidewalks on either side from the beginning 4 of the road to the end of the road, as well as on Lathers Street and half of Deering Street. Bahr offered an approving resolution on the Regular Agenda. Zilincik thanked Duggan for coming in early on the sidewalk waiver and also that previously Council approved an ordinance change that will be coming effective in September and advised him that the fee for a sidewalk waiver would change from $100 to $250 and he did recommend to Council to approve this waiver. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 6. AWARD OF BID: Department of Parks & Recreation, re: for the reconstruction of #12 green and #13 tee box at Idyl Wyld Golf Course, from budgeted funds. Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, presented this request to Council. He stated the Department has taken proposals for reconstruction of the #12 green and #13 tee box at Idyl Wyld Golf Course. He stated he is excited about this potential project and how it will improve pace of play, that specifications were prepared by the Department and TJW, Inc. and that Tom Welsh is actually present at the meeting to answer any questions of Council. Davis stated they are asking Council to award the proposal to Water Management Specialist in the amount of $28,486.00. Meakin congratulated Davis on getting the proposal together, that it has been a th number of years that the13th green has been in horrible shape and the 12 green is very difficult to play and appreciated his efforts in getting them fixed and improving the course. He then thanked Tom Welsh for all the work he has done on the City’s golf courses and Toy joined in on thanking him also. Toy asked Davis to remind people of the upcoming event. Davis stated there is an Anniversary Golf Outing coming up and invited Welsh to come to the podium to talk about it. Tom Welsh, TJW, Inc., the management company for the golf courses, came to the podium and stated that there is an event coming up for the anniversary of the golf courses, it being 50 years for Whispering Willows, 30 years for Fox Creek, and th 90 plus for Idyl Wyld and a party will be held on September 7, 2018, where they will play golf followed by dinner at the Tin Cup afterwards. He indicated that the 12th green has been a problem for a long time and it’s long overdue and will make a huge improvement for the course and appreciates the help given by the City including Ted Davis and thanked the Council. McIntyre inquired from Davis if he had an update for them on how the end of summer dog swim went today at Botsford Pool. 5 Davis replied there were far more large dogs at Botsford than small dogs at Sheldon. He stated he believes there were three or four at Sheldon when he was there and they were all wearing life jackets. When he was at Botsford he stated there was at least thirty dogs running around at 6:00 p.m. and stated he felt this first time activity was a success. McIntyre commended Davis and his department for doing something new and fun and doing it in a way that doesn’t adversely affect the pools. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 7. REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO WAIVE THE SEALED BID PROCESS AND PURCHASE FROM SOLE SOURCE PROVIDER: Division of Police, re: to upgrade the Viper 911 System to Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), from budgeted funds. Chief Curtis Caid presented this request to Council. He stated this is a request for authorization to upgrade the Viper 911 System, indicating approximately three years ago they transitioned to their current Viper 911 System which was very robust with a number of redundancies that allows the Wayne County Community to receive texts to 911 because of the system. When they purchased the system they understood there would be a next phase which is this request and a mandate from the Conference of Western Wayne for its communities to upgrade to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) which includes software and equipment and further down the road this will increase their capability to receive video and photos through 911. He stated this is another step forward in providing emergency services to the community and will give them, once it is implemented and other communities are up and running, an ability that they don’t currently have. The technology is increasing rapidly and the ability for them to continue with this service with Council’s approval, is paramount to the Western Wayne Communities as a whole. Again, this is a project that they’ve been asked to move forward through the Conference of Western Wayne. McIntyre asked Chief Caid if the current system can accept video and photos and Caid replied no but that the upgrade to SIP will allow them to. Vice President Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. President Toy asked if anyone in the audience wished to comment on this item. Rob Donovic, 9881 Garvett, stated he does not work for the Livonia Police Department but works for a local police department in the Detroit Metro area and that he has answered many 911 police calls and he stated that a picture or a video of some sort coming through dispatch into the LIEN system through their computer system would be a tremendous help in catching criminals faster, give better information on a suspect, giving them a better idea of who they’re looking for at 6 3:00 at night and stated this would be best for the community and for the law enforcement officers working in the community as well. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 8. REQUEST TO ACCEPT STORM WATER FACILITIES MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT: Engineering Division, re: from SS Detroit, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company, in conjunction with the development of the Simply Self Storage, located at 11960 Farmington Road, in the Southwest ¼ of Section 27. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated this is a storm water agreement between the Simply Self Storage and the City of Livonia and that they are looking for Council’s approval to have it approved and then have the Mayor execute it upon the final approval. He indicated this is basically a housekeeping issue for them to get the approvals through the Engineering permit to release the bonds. Vice President Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 9. WAIVER PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2018-07-02-15 submitted by MA Designers Inc. to operate a full-service restaurant (Burgerim) within the Livonia Plaza Shopping Center, located on the south side of Five Mile Road between Merriman Road and Henry Ruff Road (30991 Five Mile), in the Northwest ¼ of Section 23. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, asked to verify if the Petitioner was present in the audience. Meakin offered to move this item to the Next Study Meeting of Council to allow the Petitioner to be present. At the direction of the Chair, this item was moved to the Study Meeting of September 5, 2018. 10. WAIVER PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2018-06-02-14 submitted by Mike and Anna Chen, to operate a full-service restaurant (China House Inn), located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between Farmington and Norwich Roads (33602 Seven Mile Road), in the Southeast ¼ of Section 4. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented this request to Council. Taormina stated that China House currently operates at the Maioranna Plaza on Seven Mile Road east of Farmington Road, part of the Joe’s Produce complex. 7 He indicated they will be vacating that location and moving to a smaller shopping complex west of Farmington Road immediately adjacent to the former K-Mart property. This is a site that has three or four tenants currently and they would operate a space that would be about 2,800 square feet, two units combined. The shopping center altogether is about 8,600 square feet. Other tenants include Tomii Chinese Acupressure, Irish Rose Florist, and then Elite Catering. The zoning is C-1, Local Business, this approval would require the City Council to waive the limitation on seating. Typically in a C-1 District you limit seating to thirty, consistent with a limited service restaurant. This technically because it would have fifty seats would be classified as a full service restaurant, thereby requiring you to waive that or modify that special requirement of the ordinance. The space is currently vacant, they are not proposing any modifications to the building itself other than maybe a wall sign. The Planning Commission reviewed this item and while there is a slight deficiency in parking, they do not feel that it will be a problem at this particular shopping complex given the mix of existing tenants and the fact that China House, Inc. relies on over 60 percent of its business for carry-out. The other issues related to landscaping and enclosure of the dumpster as well as enclosure of the grease container have been addressed in a sketch that I think has been presented to the Council as New Data this evening. He stated he has been working with Ted Constantine on this issue and they feel the issues the Planning Commission was concerned with will be resolved, and therefore they are recommending approval. President Toy asked if the Petitioner was present. Anna Chenn came to the podium and stated she is the owner of China House, Inc. Ted Constantine appeared as an agent for the Soave brothers, Mike and Dominic Soave. President Toy asked Chenn to describe to Council what she is intending to do. Constantine replied that Mike and Anna Chenn would like to relocate their restaurant to 33602 Seven Mile Road. There are some issues that both Mark Taormina and he have resolved along with some issues in the egress fire exits and Jerome Hanna has addressed that and his concerns were satisfied. He thinks they are now on target if Council allows them to go ahead and proceed with the waiver use. President Toy stated that she has visited China House many times and that the food is excellent as well as the service. She stated it is very nice inside and very clean and to continue that in their new location would assure its success. 8 Vice President Jolly stated there was information contained in their packets that dates back to 1978 in regard to this building and it looks like the same issues that caused concern back then are the same today. He stated he feels this is a great addition to the center and will support it. Vice President Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Taormina stated this should be put on the Regular Agenda as there will be a resolution needed to modify the seating which has to be voted on separately. President Toy asked what the hours of operation will be and Chenn responded 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., seven days a week. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 11. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LIVONIA CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS AMENDED: Department of Law, re: to Subsection 33, Section 170 of Title 5, Chapter 03 (General Licensing Procedure), to eliminate the current ordinance which sets forth a $3.00 fee for a one (1) day peddler, canvasser and solicitor license. Leo Neville, Assistant City Attorney, presented this request to Council. He stated that this provision is very antiquated in that section. In speaking with the Clerk’s office, there was no recollection as to when the last time somebody was in need of a one-day peddler’s license and they thought it was an opportunity to clean up the ordinance relative to any unnecessary fee. Bahr stated he loves it when Council cleans up excess legal language and offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Vice President Jolly stated he understands the need to not have laws that are not used on a regular basis but in his experience there are times when situations such as this are still good because in theory there would be a record made of somebody coming in to get such a license in terms of what their name is, who they are, and what they’re doing. Clerk Nash responded by saying there have been no requests for a one-day license for a very long time so that was one of the reasons for cleaning this up. Second, if they were to keep it, the price of $3.00 would not even come close to covering the costs of going through the Police Department and each peddler can have an assistant which then they only pay half for so that equates to $1.50. So this is a situation of since no one really has come forward for one and there’s always been a fear of what if someone did come forward for a one-day one and they’re out there all the time, who is looking at the date. 9 Vice President Jolly stated he appreciates that and they are all good reasons to get rid of this particular provision but his concerns will still be met because they will get a longer lasting license, and Nash responded yes. Vice President Jolly then said there will still be a record and such of who those people are and Nash responded yes, for a $30.00 fee. Vice President Jolly then asked if peddlers are caught peddling in violation without a license, are they subject to the misdemeanor ordinance and Nash replied that it would go through the Inspection Department. Vice President Jolly then stated but for the fee there is no reason for this to exist and Nash confirmed that statement. Kritzman stated he wondered why they were going through this ordinance revision and literally striking just one line and asked was an assessment done on the rest of the ordinance, citing he wanted to know the difference between a peddler and a transient merchant, and indicated if they were going to eliminate the one day license for peddlers why would they not eliminate the one day license for $1.00 for transient merchant. Nash stated that one will probably get eliminated, too, but they just haven’t gotten to that one but this one came up most recently. Kritzman reiterated why aren’t they taking a more wholistic look at this and that he’s not certain how they’re applying the ten cent charge per theater seat. Nash stated that is the fee, they try not to gouge. Kritzman asked if that was an annual fee and Nash responded yes. Nash then stated that in a lot of the licenses, as Vice President Jolly pointed out, what it does, like the peddler’s license, then that gives us the name of someone who is in the community doing said business. If it’s, for example, a theater doing said business, that prompts the next step that gets our Fire Department, and our Inspection Department and our Fire Marshal in there checking codes, making sure that a building is where it should be and that it’s safe. Kritzman stated it strikes him as odd to eliminate the one day peddler and not the one day transient merchant. He then asked if this item could be revisited by the Law Department or simply just make a change to the resolution or if there is some reason to not do that. Assistant City Attorney Neville responded that this came up in ATM 360, because they had a peddler’s license and then also whether they were going to classify as a pawnbroker, so in the course of addressing that, he and Clerk Nash were talking 10 to some of the different Department Heads, he asked then whether or not they had any other fees that he would want to revisit or visit and maybe do an amendment to those ordinances. And the ones that have replied we tried to address that. If you want us to bring another resolution, a proposed amendment, or whatever your preference is, we’re glad to or sit down and go through and perhaps offer another amendment to the Livonia Code of Ordinances, probably with more than one subsection. Vice President Jolly stated that he would prefer that this particular ordinance be visited in total to take care of anything that needs to be updated all at the same time and he made a motion to direct the Law Department to prepare such an ordinance that combs through the entire ordinance at hand, not just a particular section of it, and when the appropriate language is done, Council can review it from there. Neville stated that was fine, the Law Department will be glad to do that. President Toy asked Jolly if he was using that as a substitute to Councilman Bahr’s approving resolution and he responded yes. Neville stated the action would be to withdraw this particular proposed amendment and just bring it back in bulk after everything has been gone through. Jolly stated that can be done that way and that he preferred it to be the total ordinance so then it can be stated as updated in 2018. Meakin asked if Jolly meant the entire ordinance book or just the Section 33, Section 170 of Title 5. Jolly replied this particular ordinance as opposed to one line of this particular ordinance and Meakin agreed. Neville stated they visit those areas that talk about fees for permits and things of that nature. At the direction of the Chair, this item was referred back to the Law Department for further review of the entire section of the Ordinance and will be brought back to Council upon completion of their review. DIRECTION: REFER TO LAW DEPARTMENT REGULAR 11 AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. As there were no further questions or comments, President Toy adjourned the Study Session at 9:10 p.m. on Monday, August 20, 2018. DATED: August 28, 2018 SUSAN M. NASH CITY CLERK