Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-06-17 CITY OF LIVONIA – CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD JUNE 17, 2019 Meeting was called to order at 8:20 p.m. by President Laura Toy. Present: Brian Meakin, Jim Jolly, Brandon Kritzman, Scott Bahr, Cathy White, Kathleen McIntyre, and Laura Toy. Absent: None. Elected and appointed officials present: Scott Miller, Planner IV; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Paul Bernier, City Attorney; Susan M. Nash, City Clerk; Brandie Isaacson, Director of Housing; Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation; Don Rohraff, Director of Public Works; and Mayor Dennis Wright. Councilmember Meakin led the meeting in the Pledge. President Toy stated there is New Data on Item #11 and Item #13. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None NEW BUSINESS: 1. BLOCK PARTY: Daniel Munoz, re: to be held Saturday, July 20, 2019, from 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Auburndale Street, between Jamison and Barkley, with no rain date requested. Daniel Munoz, 14809 Auburndale, presented this request to Council. He stated this is the first time he has organized this event and is a lifelong Livonia resident. He stated the neighbors have wanted to do this since he moved in the area and now they have kids so it’s the perfect time. He said there will be a bounce house, grill, tables and chairs, couple games for the kids, music, nothing big. Councilmember Bahr stated the strength of this community is its citizens and this community is stronger when they get to know each other better. He then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2. BLOCK PARTY: Venessa Lagerstrom, re: to be held Saturday, July 27, 2019, from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Summers Street, at Mayfield in Kimberly Oaks Subdivision, with no rain date requested. Venessa Lagerstrom, 14066 Mayfield, presented this request to Council. She stated that Kimberley Oaks Civic Association does an annual neighborhood picnic 2 so this year they are trying out doing it as a block party in the street so they’ve chosen Summers Street. There will be a bounce house, barbecue, games. Councilmember Meakin offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. He stated he grew up in Kimberley Oaks and they had parties throughout the subdivision but not a big one like this. He said it’s a great idea and Summers is a perfect street because you’ve got the two ends that you can just block off. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3. BLOCK PARTY: Patricia Stephanoff, re: to be held Saturday, September 7, 2019, from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Alpine, between Woodvale and Fairlane, with no rain date requested. The Petitioner not being present, Councilmember McIntyre stated the paperwork appears to be in order, and they like to see block parties with neighbors getting to know each other and spend time together. She then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. REAPPOINTMENT OF TIMOTHY J. KLISZ TO THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS: Kathleen M. McIntyre, Councilmember, re: for a three-year term to expire on July 12, 2022. Councilmember McIntyre presented this request to Council. She stated it is her pleasure to offer the reappointment of Timothy Klisz to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a three-year term that will expire on July 12, 2022. She said it was her privilege and pleasure to appoint Mr. Klisz the last time for a three-year term and he’s been an outstanding and very engaged member of the Zoning Board and brings a lot of experience and a legal background and she is delighted that he accepted the invitation to be reappointed and she is asking Council for their approval. Tim Klisz, 18210 Manor Lane, came to the podium and thanked Councilwoman McIntyre for her continued support. He said it’s been a great three years; he thinks the Zoning Board has done for very good for the City and he would like to continue to act in that capacity and he appreciates the kind words. Vice President Jolly commented that Klisz is one of the best members of the community, he’s a great attorney, he adds value and is involved in sponsorships and all different activities throughout the City, that has looked up to him for many years and is glad to see his continue his service. He then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3 5. AUDIT REPORT: Livonia Housing Commission, re: for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018, excluding Silver Village, Newburgh Village, the CDBG Program and single family City-owned properties. Brandie Isaacson, Director of Housing, presented this request to Council. She stated she is in front of Council to present the Fiscal Year ending December 31, 2018 Audit Report for the Livonia Housing Commission. She stated the report actually excludes the CDBG Programs, Silver Village and Newburgh Village because those programs are included in the City of Livonia’s Plante Moran Annual Audit. This audit reviewed their public housing program, Housing Choice Voucher Program, which is commonly known as Section 8, and their Capital Fund Program which is a grant that they receive to maintain the physical structures of their housing program. She said this year they received a clean, unmodified opinion with no audit findings. In addition to this, they do undergo additional reviews from HUD, one is a Public Housing Assessment, the other is a Housing Choice Voucher Assessment. Their PHAS score was 94, and their SEMAP score was a 93, which makes them a high performance. She thanked the Housing Commission staff because it is their efforts that makes the Housing Commission a success, and Jim Inglis, former Executive Director, this was actually during his term and she thanked him. Councilmember Meakin congratulated newly appointed Director Isaacson on a clean report. He then offered a resolution to received and file the Audit Report. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 6. REQUEST TO APPROVE AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CHARTER COUNTY OF WAYNE AND THE CITY OF LIVONIA: Department of Parks and Recreation, re: utilizing grant funds of $151,810.00 to be used for improvements at Bicentennial, Clements Circle, and Dooley Parks. Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, presented this request to Council. He stated he is asking Council to approve the IGA between Wayne County and the City of Livonia. Some of the projects that they’re looking to complete next year are Bicentennial Park, complete renovation of both sets, the east and west tennis courts, they’ll replace four tennis courts and put six pickleball courts on the west side. Clements Circle and Dooley Park they are regrading certain sections of the path there, there are some storm water management issues that hopefully they can alleviate with this and making it more accessible for patrons to utilize. This grant would be for $151,810.00 and also there will be a subsequent budget request in City matching funds of $173,190.00 for these projects for next fiscal year. President Toy asked if these are the grants that come from the Commissioners and Davis replied yes, they are. 4 Davis then thanked Wayne County Commissioners Marecki and Webb for their continued support in the City’s projects. Councilmember Bahr stated that the Dooley Park project he’s very familiar with because he actually spearheaded the putting in of that path about ten years ago and it startled him that it needed work already because that’s a pretty new feature. He then asked if the path wasn’t constructed correctly in the beginning or something that has worsened over time. Davis replied it’s not really the path, and even at Clements Circle it’s not the path itself that’s gone bad, it’s simply there are low lying areas and water is pooling there. There is a similar issue at Bicentennial Park where again it’s a low lying area, it’s a flood plain; basically that needs some work on and that he will be coming before Council later on this year asking for a budget amendment and Council to approve some work there. But it’s not the path, again, it’s simply a low lying area that they’re going to try to fix the issue, raise up the path a little bit, take out a section, raise it up, maybe do some culverts underneath to let storm water flow, but really they just want it to be accessible. This year has been exceptionally rainy but he thinks if they hit the 90% passable mark, they’d be doing much better than what they’re currently doing. Vice President Jolly inquired about the Tatigian path blacktop, he understands the weather has been horrible and it’s a very, very wet spot, but does Davis have an outlook for when that may get done. Davis replied that there is a significant amount of work that still needs to be done out there, mainly they’re going to have to excavate part of it and then put in stone as a base material. It needs to dry up more where the machinery is not going to sink in. He stated he can’t be more specific than that. Jolly then asked if it would occur in 2019, and Davis replied, yes, but more towards August, September, depending on weather. President Toy stated that at Rotary Park the drains are all blocked with leaves and there are terrible mosquitoes over there off of Bennett and a couple other streets and residents are having a lot of problems. Davis said if they could get some dry days, seeing that it was the wettest April and May, and June hasn’t been much better, they’re pretty soaked. He said if you look at the topography of our parks, unfortunately they serve as really de facto flood planes for neighborhoods. That’s where storm water pools. He said he would love to have better news and if we went into drought conditions right now for the next month and a half, two months, he knows people’s lawns would suffer, but he would be happy. Vice President Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5 7. REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE ONE (1) 2019 FORD TRANSIT 350 CARGO VAN THROUGH THE STATE OF MICHIGAN BID PROCESS AND THE MACOMB COUNTY PURCHASING PROGRAM: Public Service Division, re: to be used primarily by the Water Maintenance Section, also to assist the Roads and Engineering departments on other infrastructure issues, from budgeted funds. Don Rohraff, Director of Public Works, presented this request to Council. He stated this van will be used by the Water and Sewer Section to camera and videotape storm and sanitary sewer lines. This is done for routine maintenance emergencies, and to look for problematic issues. The inspections are done for other DPW sections including Roads, Maintenance Division and Engineering. This van will be purchased through the State of Michigan Contract Pricing, with Signature Ford being the supplying dealer. Upfitting for the vehicle will be done by Jack Doheny Company. The cost for the upfitting portion is $180,000.00 and this will be accomplished through the Sourcewell, which was formerly the MJPA contract. Upfitting will consist of camera equipment, the videotape equipment for the underground sewer lines, independent power equipment to run the camera truck and computer, software programming, cable and reels for the lines for the robot camera. The current Water and Sewer camera is a 2007 and it will be disposed of through the auction process. The equipment in the current camera van is very old and as you know as technology rolls along, they’re just not servicing this product anymore and it’s very expensive to try to repair. So the combined cost for this vehicle with upfitting is $214,460.00, which comes from budgeted Water and Sewer funds and it is the recommendation of the Department that Council proceed in authorizing the purchase of the 2019 Ford Transit from Signature Ford for a total of $34,087.00; and also authorize the upfitting of the cargo van by Jack Doheny Company in the amount of $180,373.00 and lastly, waive the formal bidding process in accordance with the Livonia Code of Ordinances since there is no advantage to the City resulting in a competitive bid. Councilmember Bahr stated that is obviously a huge upfit charge in comparison to the vehicle price. He then asked to be provided images of the upfitting equipment prior to the Regular Meeting to help Council understand. Rohraff replied included in that portion is the camera itself which is about 125,000 to $130,000.00, quite expensive. And then every unit is built individually customized per community or per user. He then said he will do his best to get some pictures of a very similar product that they have looked at to give it to Council before their next meeting. Councilmember Bahr then offered an approving resolution for the Regular Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 6 8. REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE ONE (1) 2020 FREIGHTLINER SELF LOADING SINGLE AXLE DUMP TRUCK THROUGH THE ROCHESTER HILLS CO-OP AWARD AGREEMENT: Public Service Division, re: a replacement vehicle to be used in conjunction with the Roads and Forestry Departments, from budgeted funds. Don Rohraff, Director of Public Works, presented this request to Council. He stated this item is a Dump Truck, 2020 Freightliner Single Axle Dump Truck that is being purchased through the Rochester Hills Co-Op with the supplying dealer being Wolverine Freightliner. The upfitting will be done by Versalift Midwest through the MI-DEAL bid process. The upfitting will consist of adding a bucket type attachment to the front of the truck. This piece of equipment will help and does help in the cleaning of debris from the Forestry, Roads and Parks Divisions. Instead of having to send out several pieces of equipment, front end loaders and additional operators to help clean up with the wood debris, stump chip piles, soil diggings. This truck is extremely useful in what we do when we go out there. The materials are pushed into the front of the bucket and that bucket actually lifts up over the truck and dumps itself into the dump in the back. The final cost for this truck with the attachments is $236,579.00. The current self-loading dump truck that we have is a 1997 GMC that is not in the best of health and the repair and maintenance costs have more than exceeded the value of that vehicle and that will be disposed of through the auctioning process. It is the recommendation of the Department to authorize the purchase of one 2020 Single Axle Freightliner through Wolverine Freightliner. The cost of the truck being $80,880.00, and coming from the approved Capital Outlay Budget; also authorize the outfitting of this truck by Versalift in the amount of $155,699.00, again, through approved Capital Outlay budgeted funds. And finally, waive the formal bidding process in accordance with the provisions of the Livonia Code of Ordinances since there will be no advantage to the City resulting in a competitive bid. Councilmember Meakin stated he knows Mr. Garrison and his crew can work miracles sometimes but sometimes the repair costs outweigh the cost of buying a new vehicle, so after twenty-three years it’s time for a new vehicle in this area. He then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. President Toy stated she was able to visit the garage the other day and she was so impressed with what they’ve done with an old truck that they added the back on as a tow truck for their big rigs, and it was amazing how they re-used and repurposed that whole vehicle. Rohraff replied they are putting together a portfolio timeline of what the truck looked like in the beginning and the only thing that he can think of that that truck actually looked like was Mater from The Cars movie, that’s exactly what it looked like, the rust, and they were able to pull pieces off of that and we used and repurposed an old dump truck frame, it’s amazing what it ended up looking like but he will get those pictures together and forward them to Council. 7 President Toy asked if the cost savings were about $50,000.00 and Rohraff replied it was a little bit more than that. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 9. REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE THREE (3) 2020 FREIGHTLINER SINGLE AXLE DUMP TRUCKS THROUGH THE ROCHESTER HILLS CO-OP AWARD AGREEMENT: Public Service Division, re: replacement vehicles for use by the Roads Department, from budgeted funds. Don Rohraff, Director of Public Works, presented this request to Council. He stated these are dump trucks, 2020 Freightliner Single Axle Dump Trucks, being purchased through the Rochester Hills Agreement, with again, the supplying dealer being Wolverine Freightliner. The cost of each truck is $90,678.00. These are the front line trucks that are used in snow and ice removal and snow emergencies. The upfitting for these vehicles we’ve done by Truck and Trailer Specialties, they’ve outfitted our vehicles the last few years and do a great job. The total cost for all three of these trucks for the upfitting is $276,215.00. The upfitting includes the computerized Comp-U-Spread snow fighting systems that goes on them, the controls for the salt application process, all equipment needed for the salt application, brine tanks for adding additional brine to the roads, front snowplows, specialty lights and everything that comes with that. These three dump trucks will be disposed of through the auction process. Their life expectancy has been reached and again the repair costs are starting to exceed the value. It is the recommendation of the Department for Council to authorize the purchase of three single axle Freightliner dump trucks from Wolverine Freightliner with the cost of $272,034.00 through the approved Capital Outlay Budget; and also authorize the upfitting by Truck and Trailer Specialties in the amount of $276,215.00, again through the approved Capital Outlay Budget; and again finally, waive the formal bidding process through the Livonia Code of Ordinances as there are no advantages through the competitive bidding process. Vice President Jolly stated he has great trust that Mr. Rohraff is well informed of what he is requesting and the paperwork looks to be in order as well. He then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Jolly then asked Rohraff how Livonia compares as far as the fleet of trucks that we have to other communities, and Rohraff replied that they’re never caught up to where they should be. Jolly asked if we are reasonably well-outfitted and Rohraff replied that they are spending a lot of money, they are getting a lot of new vehicles, front end line snowplows and things like that, but there was a period of time when they weren’t buying anything. So they’re in the process of trying to switch over all of the old stuff to have everything that we need moving forward. When you think about the average lifespan of a lot of these vehicles only being ten years and you take a five year break from buying anything, you’ve got some catching up to do. 8 He stated they are getting fairly close to having all of the older models moved where we can actually start to just have to do a couple a year as we move forward and not have to do so many. To answer the question about other communities, Farmington Hills is probably the A++ if you’re looking at snow removal type equipment and what they do and that Livonia is probably right below them in what we produce and what we do with the number that we have and the equipment that we have. Councilmember Meakin asked if the vehicles will be delivered in time for winter and Rohraff replied yes, but Meakin didn’t ask which year. Rohraff stated that these vehicles typically run on a sixteen to twenty month window. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT Councilmember Bahr then stated after reviewing the materials further, he would request that Item 7 would be put on the Consent Agenda rather than the Regular. 10. REQUEST TO APPROVE AN INTERGOVERMENTAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CHARTER COUNTY OF WAYNE AND THE CITY OF LIVONIA: Engineering Division, re: for the improvements of Inkster Road from Five Mile Road to Six Mile Road with the proposed City’s participation to be estimated at 4.54% in the amount of $61,726.00. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated that Wayne County did some rehabilitation on Inkster Road from Six to Seven, they’re migrating southward between Five and Six. They provided us with the IGA, Intergovernmental Agreement, to request the project amount is estimated at $1,339,600.00. As part of that request they’re asking the City of Livonia to execute the IGA on behalf of the Mayor and the City Clerk and request that we provide an advanced check in the amount of half of the amount of which we owe, which is $61,726.00, which were previously budgeted in last year’s budgeted funds and asking for your approval and requesting to put half that amount to Wayne County for capital advance. He stated once they get the information from the preconstruction meeting, he’ll be happy to put that information on the website of when the construction will occur which we anticipate July to September. Councilmember White offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda, stating any time we can improvements to Inkster Road, it’s a good thing. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT Councilmember Meakin asked about the rest of the Wayne County Roads that are in horrible condition. Zilincik responded they have a Federal Aid Committee th meeting coming up on June 27, but he does know that Merriman Road from Plymouth to Schoolcraft is slated for 2020. And then continuing on the Merriman 2021 from Joy to Plymouth but as far as that goes, they will find out more 9 information in June but that’s what’s on the schedule. The City of Livonia is doing Ann Arbor Trail, Eckles to Newburgh, it’s part of the MDOT Local Agency Program. Other than that we’re going to partner up again, they are trying to do some heavy maintenance at Merriman Road at Five Mile but again, we look for opportunities as we always do, do what we can like we did on Farmington Road, and continue that progress down further. Councilmember Meakin thanked Zilincik for all he does and that it is appreciated and that Council would be happy to contact Wayne County as well. Zilincik stated that Council always approves the funding to help them get to that point where they need when it is brought before them and he does appreciate Council’s efforts and support behind the scenes. 11. REQUEST TO ACCEPT STORM WATER FACILITIES MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT: Engineering Division, re: from Laurel Park Retail Properties, LLC, a Delaware Corporation, in conjunction with the construction of a storm drainage system that provides adequate drainage from property developed at 37800 Six Mile Road (Panera Bread), in the Southeast ¼ of Section 7. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated this is a housekeeping issue with Panera Bread that opened up, trying to get the Storm Water Agreement approved and looking for Council’s acceptance and then send it through the City and subsequently recorded at Wayne County Register of Deeds. Councilmember McIntyre offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 12. VACATING REQUEST: Engineering Division, re: to vacate southern 33’ of Surrey Avenue to facilitate the relocation of the entrance and exit gates to the DPW complex. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated they are going to refer this to the Planning Commission for their consideration for vacating the end of Surrey, which is at the end of the DPW complex. Obviously as part of this they want to make sure that security of the proposed DPW complex building, basically there’s no issue on the easements that would be required will not be needed because we’re maintaining the utilities at that end. So in lieu of the proposed DPW complex, to allow for the vacation at the end of the street, to allow for the security of the proposed DPW complex building. It will take its course obviously through the Planning Commission and come back to City Council, but they don’t see any issue at this time. Councilmember Kritzman offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. 10 DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 13. WAIVER PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2019-04-02-05 submitted by Piano Shoe Properties L.L.C., to utilize a Micro Brewer license, redevelop site, expand parking lot and modify exterior façade of the existing building on property located on the south side of Seven Mile Road between Inkster Road and Harrison Avenue (27717 and 27719 Seven Mile Road) in the Northeast ¼ of Section 12. Scott Miller, Planner IV, presented this request to Council. This site is zoned C-1 (Local Business), relatively new to the C-1 District regulations, Section 10.03(j) which allows with waiver use approval establishments having liquor licenses including Class C, Small Distillers, and Micro Brewer. Under State law licensed Micro Brewers which produce less than1,000 barrels per year could qualify to sell directly to licensed Michigan retailers. They can also sell beer to consumers for on premise consumption or for take-out and as well as offer free samples. One of the stipulations under this new regulation is that no knew establishment can be located within 1,000 feet of any other licensed establishment. There are two Class C licensed businesses located within 1,000 feet of the subject site. On the north side of Seven Mile, approximately 267 feet to the west is Corsi’s Restaurant and Banquet Hall. On the south side of Seven Mile about 404 feet to the west is the Up-North Craft Bar, which was formerly Sands Lounge. Council will have to waive the separation requirement. There is also another separation requirement that no Micro Brewer shall be located within 400 feet of any church or school. There are no churches or schools within 400 feet of this proposed location. The site contains a small commercial building, a parking lot located on the north end of the property adjacent to Seven Mile Road. The balance of the site is undeveloped and is maintained as lawn. The existing building will remain and be used mainly for the brewing operations and indoor customer seating. Additional seating will be available in an outdoor biergarten that would be on the east side of the building. This biergarten would measure 36 feet by about 59 feet. The existing parking lot would remain next to the building and would contain approximately two parking spaces. A new nineteen space parking lot would be created on the south end of the property. Access to this new parking lot would be in the form of a single driveway off of Deering Avenue. A six foot (6’) wide sidewalk would connect the new parking lot to the side of the building. A new concrete approach off Deering would also be created directly behind the building. This would be used as a loading zone and access to the trash dumpster. There also would be a 10 foot by 18 foot prefabricated walk-in cooler unit attached to the back of the building. Inside the building would be the brewery, small bar area, and a room for additional customer seating and bathrooms. The outdoor biergarten would be a combination of paver and grass. The area would be enclosed by 4-1/2 feet high decorative metal fence. Seating for this area would be approximately thirty people. Between the parking lot and the biergarten would be a Bioretention area for managing the 11 site’s storm water runoff. Additional smaller Bioretention area is shown in the northeast corner of the site. Customer parking would include 27 seats inside and 30 seats in the biergarten. This requires twenty-four spaces and the site plan only shows twenty-one spaces; they are deficient three spaces. The Petitioner has indicated he is pursuing an arrangement with the neighboring commercial business to rent parking spaces. The existing building is constructed on masonry block and this would be repainted. The existing matching roof on the front of the building would be removed. New doors and windows will be installed on the east elevation and a new metal canopy would be over the portion of the sidewalk on the east side. President Toy called the Petitioner to the podium. Andrew Schumacher, 17555 Dolores Street, Livonia, came to the podium. He stated they are trying to create this Micro Brewery here for the manufacture and sale of beer and as part of that it will be an onsite tap room with a family friendly atmosphere. And then in general just have a place for people to come and enjoy themselves, kind of a not at work, not home atmosphere, kind of a third location. So there can be some low key games inside, it’s a place to talk, it’s a place to catch up with family and community. They will have some bike racks outside, although they’re not shown on the plans right now. There won’t be music outside or inside and otherwise it will just be primarily used as a brewing space. Vice President Jolly asked Schumacher what his position is with this entity and Schumacher replied that he is the co-owner trying to start this business. Jolly then asked if he has experience making beer and Schumacher stated his background is engineering, both his partner and himself are chemical engineers. Jolly said that is a useful skill in making beer and Schumacher agreed. Jolly stated there are a couple brewers, North Center in Northville, they have a degree as a chemical engineer and lives in Livonia as well. President Toy asked Schumacher how long he has been a Livonia resident and he replied three and a half years. Councilmember White asked if food was going to be served and Schumacher replied no, they’re not big enough to have a kitchen, but will encourage patrons to bring in their own food and thought about having a partnership with Taormina’s across the street for pizza, they can bring it in potentially deliver to the table where people are. White then asked if they had the capacity to have food trucks at all and Schumacher replied they do; the north parking lot could potentially have food trucks there. 12 Councilmember Kritzman stated he usually beats up on the design element as he is an architect, and in looking at the building currently, he asked Schumacher if he had done any exploration as to what’s behind the mansard roof area with the shingles. He said the Petitioner is making some steep assumptions about what’s going on back there. Unless he’s mistaken the plans call for the existing mansard roof area to be completely removed and the intent is just painting the existing block, repairing some of the cracked plaster areas. Schumacher stated that the building is going to need a new roof, the walls are going to need a little bit of shoring up or a lot in some areas, it’s going to need new electrical, new plumbing, right now it is an unfunctional building. Kritzman confirmed that the Petitioner’s intent is to simply paint the existing shell, they’re not changing the exterior materials. Schumacher replied that the materials will stay the same, it will stay cinder block. Kritzman stated there’s only been a few times in his time on Council where he’s said, I think that’s okay, and that he thinks this is actually one of those. Where we’ve got an existing building, we’re not talking about new construction, there’s some inconsistencies to the drawing set, but the dumpster enclosure details actually call for brick on concrete block to match the building. So there are some things that may need to be addressed as those drawings are in essence the contract with you as to what you are to be building and unless that’s modified in the language somewhere in a resolution, the drawings as they currently sit have you doing an exterior brick façade, not on the building but on the dumpster enclosure. He stated he wants to hear from the Petitioner and/or his designer some additional information about what roof top screening you’re anticipating, and I know that you show the dashed boxes on the drawings indicating that there will be roof top materials up there. The drawings are kind of boring from a building and design standpoint and we look to a project like this for the economic development impact that it will have on a neighboring area. And I think certainly having a business in that space will be a positive. Having a social aspect to that space will certainly be a positive. But that he would encourage the Petitioner and his architect to go back and see if there’s a way to bump some of the appointments of it. Some of it may be as simple as adding a trim to the top, you’re going to have to replace the roof, you’re going to have to add a new coating at the top. Maybe take a look at what that cover is and how that ties into your exterior canopy. For example in the rendering that’s being shown right now, there doesn’t seem to be any accent up there, there’s a perfect opportunity for you to do something to tie into that. Maybe instead of the black at the bottom, you’re adding a base material, at least along the Seven Mile façade, a little stone or some other accent. He encouraged the Petitioner to explore that and stated that the outdoor canopy with the wood tones on the underside of it would be a nice touch. And if you can go with that kind of industrial basic sort of look, that will work, and that will allow you 13 to embrace the existing building without modifying it too much. Maybe put a couple dollars here and there in some smaller refined details. The Petitioner stated they want to go simple and clean without looking cheap, if you understand what he means. Councilmember Meakin stated this is a wonderful development for this location, it’s been a vacant building for a long time. Seven Mile has had some struggles for the last twenty years and they appreciate his investment on Seven Mile and hopefully it will attract other businesses to move onto Seven Mile. It’s something new and exciting, attracts young people to Seven Mile, that will be wonderful. He then offered an approving resolution for the Regular Agenda so he can address some of the issues that Councilman Kritzman and then make those changes for the next meeting, it would be appreciated. Councilmember Kritzman addressed the walk-in cooler, with the prefinished exterior on it and asked the Petitioner if he planned on painting that or going with the default stainless steel. Schumacher responded he is looking at a fiberglass cooler at this point which can be painted to match the building. Kritzman stated if he was going to go with the standard prefinished stainless steel, that might be an opportunity to tie some additional standard steel details in on the other portions of the building, just trying to tie it all together. Typically they do not like to see those things just scabbed on to the back of the building. Schumacher replied they’re trying to make it look cohesive, they’re still working on a little bit of what the architectural materials and the palate will look like, so we can pull that together. Vice President Jolly asked if there will be a sign on the building and Schumacher replied it will be on the front. Jolly asked if it was shown on the drawing and the Petitioner said not at this time because the brewery is not legally set up or determined what that will be yet, no name is selected yet. President Toy asked if they will name their own beer and the Petitioner replied the brewery will name the beer, yes. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 14. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LIVONIA CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS AMENDED: Department of Law, re: to Section 010 of Chapter 16 of Title 12 (Parks and Playgrounds) to revise stated location of Parkview Park. 14 Paul Bernier, City Attorney, presented this request to Council. He stated he really can’t explain this. They’re trying to give a name to a park that doesn’t exist. So there’s a lot of conflict as to what the park’s actual name is and nobody can really explain what the park is, the name should be, if it’s undeveloped park or some other park name so we’re trying to name it what we think it was. Councilmember Bahr stated he had read through this, it’s kind of a funny one, and it’s really a cleaning up issue, the ordinance. He then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 15. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 543: Zoning Board of Appeals, re: to permit high-end internet-based car sales within M-1 (Light Manufacturing) districts. Greg Coppola, Zoning Board of Appeals Commissioner, presented this request to Council. He stated they are looking for some direction from City Council. They’ve encountered a few of these interesting dealerships pop up over the last couple of years. These are all high end vehicles; they’re sold via the Internet and many times the buyer never visits the site to purchase the car. He stated from his feeling; this type of business was never really contemplated when the zoning was set up. It doesn’t generally fall into what you would define as a dealership, it’s really kind of a wholesale type of operation. So they thought it might be worth bringing it before Council for consideration. Whether you agree to just keep it as is, and we’ll deal with it on a one on one, have it as a waiver use, or just permitted use in a Commercial zone. Again, what’s unique about this, there’s no outside displays, there’s no window displays, they do no repairs, it’s realistically it’s like warehousing vehicles. These are generally high end vehicles, either collector cars or the expensive vehicles like a Ferrari or Maserati, something like that. Generally the vehicle values are well into the six figures. And again, not a lot of traffic, doesn’t take walk-in traffic, generally everything is by appointment, and a lot of the vehicles are sold without the buyer actually visiting the car in that location. So we thought that it would be at least something for consideration because we’re starting to see these. It’s a great use of what I’ll call warehouse space that is somewhat antiquated and not useful anymore, low ceiling, not good access, some other ways where if it wasn’t used for this, it may not be used really for anything. We’ve seen that a couple times with some gym waiver uses we’ve asked for, too, where they’ve done these high impact gyms where they’ve used that really at this point it’s too small, low ceilings, doesn’t have the proper power, all the things that makes it kind of antiquated and not useful for what it was originally built for. They thought it would be worth bringing it before Council, get their direction, how they want us to handle this, whether it makes sense to allow this to be a permitted use for this particular type of use, whether we have a waiver use or just we continue to do what we’re doing. 15 Councilmember Meakin thanked Chairman Coppola for bringing this to Council’s attention. They have seen this a few times and he thinks it’s worth further study. He then proposed that this be sent to the Law and Education Committee because it’s going to take an ordinance in order to add this verbiage into our books. Councilmember Kritzman stated that in the letter we may want to refer this to the Planning Commission and wouldn’t that be the next step. He then offered a resolution to send it to the Planning Commission for their review and recommendation. DIRECTION: 1)REFER TO LAW & EDUCATION COMMITTEE REGULAR 2)REFER TO PLANNING COMMISSION AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION None. As there were no further questions or comments President Toy adjourned the Study Session at 9:19 p.m. on Monday, June 17, 2019. th For the 1,876 Regular Meeting of July 8, 2019 DATED: June 26, 2019 SUSAN M. NASH, CITY CLERK In accordance with Title II of the American with Disabilities Act as it pertains to access to Public Meetings, the City Clerk’s Office of the City of Livonia, upon adequate notice, will make reasonable accommodations for persons with special needs. Please call (734) 466-2236 or email clerk@ci.livonia.mi.us if you need assistance. Council agendas are available on the City’s website – www.ci.livonia.mi.us - under Government, City Council, Agendas.