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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1,180 - December 14, 2021 signedMINUTES OF THE 1,180th PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia held its 1,180t" Public Hearing and Regular Meeting in the Livonia City Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan. Mr. Ian Wilshaw, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Members present: David Bongero Sam Caramagno Betsy McCue Carol Smiley Peter Ventura Ian Wilshaw Members absent: Glen Long Mr. Mark Taormina, Planning Director, and Stephanie Reece, Program Supervisor, were also present. Chairman Wilshaw informed the audience that if a petition on tonight's agenda involves a rezoning request, this Commission makes a recommendation to the City Council who, in turn, will hold its own public hearing and make the final determination as to whether a petition is approved or denied. The Planning Commission holds the only public hearing on a request for preliminary plat and/or vacating petition. The Commission's recommendation is forwarded to the City Council for the final determination as to whether a plat is accepted or rejected. If a petition requesting a waiver of use or site plan approval is denied tonight, the petitioner has ten days in which to appeal the decision, in writing, to the City Council. Resolutions adopted by the City Planning Commission become effective seven (7) days after the date of adoption. The Planning Commission and the professional staff have reviewed each of these petitions upon their filing. The staff has furnished the Commission with both approving and denying resolutions, which the Commission may, or may not, use depending on the outcome of the proceedings tonight. ITEM #1 PETITION 2021-11-01-08 Schoolcraft Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2021- 11-01-08 submitted by Schoolcraft College, pursuant to Sections 13.13 and 13.15 of the Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance, requesting to rezone the property at 17950 College Parkway (Formerly Unit 15 of College Park Condominium), located on the east side of Haggerty Road between Six Mile and Seven Mile Roads in the Southwest'/4 of Section 7, from C-1, Local Business to P-L, Public Lands. December 14, 2021 30305 Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Taormina, did you want to talk about the items #1 and #2 sort of collectively? We will still read them out separately and have votes separate, obvious, but... Mr. Taormina: I can do that. an you. This is a request to rezone property. In this case, it is from C-1 (Local Business) to PL (Public Lands). This property was formerly described as Unit 15 of College Park Condominium. The property is 2,45 acres in area. It includes roughly 415 feet of frontage along South Drive, which is a private roadway, that is part of the Schoolcraft College campus. The depth of the site is approximately 245 feet along its east property line. The site is currently vacant. It was approved as Unit 15 with the Master Deed and Bylaws for College Park Condominium in 2003. This request to rezone the property back to its original PL zoning classification is largely due to the fact that the property was returned back to Schoolcraft College, and they have future plans to develop the site for college related purposes. So, while this is Unit 15, the companion petition to this involves what was previously described as Unit 11 of College Park Condominium. This site is a little bit smaller. It is roughly 0.50 acres in size with 200 feet of frontage along College Parkway and a depth of 100 feet. In this case, the zoning of property is C-4 (High Rise Commercial), with a request to rezone the property to the PL (Public Lands) with the same reasons as previously mentioned. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please. Mr. Taormina: These three letters apply to both petitions. The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated November 29, 2021, which reads as follows: `in accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced petition. The subject parcel is assigned the address of #17950 College Parkway. The legal description contained with the petition appears to be correct, with the exception a typo on one of the bearings. If the petition is approved, the legal description on file with the City Assessing Department should be used, as it is the same as the one submitted, without the typo. This department does not feel the change in zoning is appropriate for the subject property, as it would allow for building specifications (signage, coverage, setbacks, etc.) that would be less stringent than those that were required for the neighboring parcels within the same development. Although we do not foresee any negative impacts to the existing utilities should the site be developed, the owner will need to provide calculations showing that the proposed development does not exceed the design capacities that were December 14, 2021 30306 provided by the overall development. The existing parcel currently has access to public water main and sanitary sewer owned by the City of Livonia. Privately -owned storm sewer is available within the existing College Park Development, with detention for the subject parcel already being provided." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The next letter is from the Finance Department, dated November 16 , 2021, which reads as follows: "1 have reviewed the addresses connected with the above noted petition. As there are no outstanding amounts receivable, general or water and sewer, I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Connie Kumpula, Chief Accountant. The next letter is from the Treasurer's Department, dated November 17, 2021, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Treasurer's Office has reviewed the name and addresses connected with the above noted petition. This is listed as an exempt parcel, there are no taxes due, therefore I have no objections to the proposal."The letter is signed by Lynda Scheel, Treasurer. The is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Mr. Ventura: Mr. Taormina, can you address the part of the first paragraph of Mr. Lear's letter, where he talks about not being in favor of this petition because of differing setbacks, signage requirements, etc.? How big of an issue is that? Mr. Taormina: For these properties, it should not be a major issue. The college is afforded special privileges under the PL zoning, as it relates to several zoning provisions. When I say privileges, I mean relaxed standards relative to setbacks and other things, which is inherent with publicly owned properties. The uniqueness of those properties and most of the projects that are developed by the college are done under their own governmental authority. Mr. Ventura: Is there a way to split the baby here? I mean if we made an approving resolution tonight and appended it to the effect of the zoning ordinance, in regard to signage, setbacks, etc., would be complied with, would that be kosher? Or. Taormina: It would not be. I would not recommend doing that, simply because that would introduce a conditional component to a rezoning. I would not recommend that we entertain that type of language without first conferring with the Law Department. Or. Ventura: Thank you, Mr. Taormina. December 14, 2021 30307 Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Ventura. Any other questions for the planning staff? If not, we will go to the petitioner who is in the audience. You are welcome to come forward to our podium. Good evening, Mr. Auon. Kevin Auon, Seyburn Kahn, representing Schoolcraft, 2000 Town Center, Suite 1500, Southfield, MI, 48075. Good evening. I think I would like to address that last letter if we can and just generally... our plan for the property is unknown at this time. We don't have plans. We have kicked around ideas. This unit, the one that is down here that is a little bit of a wonkier space, the smaller one that is on the screen right now, that is Unit 11. A potential thought for that was a storage facility. Schoolcraft is running out of space. We don't really have intended uses for any of the spaces that we are going to talk about. This applies across the board. We are trying to bring it back into the fold for Schoolcraft's property. One of the things that keeps popping up are the issues of this zoning and ordinance and signage and all of that and the setback requirements. I know it is a little bit odd, because it is normally a commercial entity that comes in and talks to the Planning Commission and City Council and is going through the process. Schoolcraft is a little unique. We are our own sub -division of the state. A local unit of government ourselves. We have elected officials. We have our own jurisdiction. We have our own Constitutional and Statutory authority. All of that is very well delineated and all we are trying to do is administratively put this land back into Public Lands, because it is going to be solely used for school purposes. Mr. Wilshaw: Alright. Thank you. Let's see if we have any questions for you from any of our commissioners. Any questions for our petitioner? Mr. Caramagno: So, why now being you have no plans? What is the urgency of moving this property now versus when you know what you are going to do with it? Or. Auon: There is no true sense of urgency to get it done now. It is just that we are going through the process of cleaning it up and as we are now dealing with this and we see that this land was not in Public Lands, we wanted to go ahead and get that into Public Lands. At the study meeting it was brought up that there were two other parcels that Schoolcraft owns that are really being used for the training for First Responders for the most part and that is going to be the sequel here. We are going to move to have those lands moved into Public Lands too so that it is consistent across the boards. I appreciate, Mr. Taormina, that you had brought that up. I was able to approach it with the president of the school and December 14, 2021 30308 have that discussion with him. He said yeah, absolutely, let's get it in Public Lands. It is our property, and we want to use it for our purposes. This is what we are trying to do. So, it is more administrative, and it stops us from also having the ability to sell it to a commercial entity, who will then use it for commercial purposes. This is solely going to be used for school purposes. If we ever wanted to use it for commercial purposes unrelated to the school, we would have to come before you and the city would have to accept that back out and rezone it. Our point is to just get it done because it is the school's property, and we want to use it for school purposes. It falls under our Statutory and Constitutional authority anyways. Mr. Caramagno: Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Caramagno. Any other questions for our petitioner? No other questions for our petitioner? There is no one else in our audience wishing to speak for or against this item I don't believe. The rest of the folks in our audience are from Schoolcraft. I don't know if any of them wish to speak, but I believe Mr. Auon is representing them adequately. Mr. Caramagno: I don't know if this is for Mark or for the Schoolcraft folks, but, Mark, in general the properties on the Schoolcraft property are reasonable in size, setback, signage, etc., in general with some exceptions or is that not true? Mr. Taormina: That is true. There have been no real issues relative to the commercial development that has occurred, and nothing on the main campus property from a zoning standpoint. There are some issues related to the signage along 1-275. Aside from that, there is really nothing that I can think of. Mr. Caramagno: Nothing too outrageous then? No? Or, Taormina: No, Mr. Caramagno: Thank you. Or. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Caramagno. Any other questions for either Mr. Taormina or our petitioner? If not, Mr. Auon, is there any final comments you would like to make before we vote on this first item? Or. Auon: No, sir. December 14, 2021 30309 Mr, Wilshaw: Okay. You can stick around, and we will get a motion on this first item, which is the Unit 15, or the formerly known Unit 15 and then we will move on to the next one. A motion would be in order at this time. On a motion by Smiley, seconded by McCue, and unanimously adopted, it was #12-69-2021 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on December 14, 2021, on Petition 2021-11-01-08 submitted by Schoolcraft College, pursuant to Sections 13.13 and 13.15 of the Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance, requesting to rezone the property at 17950 College Parkway (Formerly Unit 15 of College Park Condominium), located on the east side of Haggerty Road between Six Mile and Seven Mile Roads in the Southwest'Y4 of Section 7, from C-1, Local Business to P-L, Public Lands. the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2021-11-01-08 be approved for the following reasons: 1. That future use and development of the property is intended for Schoolcraft College purposes and P-L zoning is a more appropriate zoning. 2. That the proposed change of zoning will provide the college an opportunity to develop the subject property in a manner that is consistent with their needs. 3. That P-L zoning is compatible to and in harmony with the existing zoning of College main campus, and 4. That the proposed change corresponds to the College's ownership of the subject property. FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 13.13 and Section 13.15 of Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. ITEM #2 PETITION 2021-11-01-09 Schoolcraft December 14, 2021 30310 Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2021- 11-01-09 submitted by Schoolcraft College, pursuant to Sections 13.13 and 13.15 of the Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance, requesting to rezone the property at 17420 College Parkway (Unit 11 of College Park Condominium), located on the east side of Haggerty Road between Six Mile and Seven Mile Roads in the Southwest'/4 of Section 7, from C-4, High Rise Commercial to P- L. Public Lands. Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Taormina has already given us the background on that item with the first one. Is there any further information on this particular petition? Nope. Is there any comments or statements that our petitioner would like to make? Mr. Auon: No, sir. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Is there anyone is the audience wishing to speak for or against, this is a public hearing, so we want to make sure we cover our basis? If not, is there any questions from any of our commissioners? If there are no questions from our commissioners, a motion would be in order. On a motion by McCue, seconded by Bongero, and unanimously adopted, it was #12-70-2021 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on December 14, 2021, on Petition 2021-11-01-09 submitted by Schoolcraft College, pursuant to Sections 13.13 and 13.15 of the Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance, requesting to rezone the property at 17420 College Parkway (Unit 11 of College Park Condominium), located on the east side of Haggerty Road between Six Mile and Seven Mile Roads in the Southwest'/4 of Section 7, from C-4, High Rise Commercial to P-L, Public Lands, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2021-11-01- 09 be approved for the following reasons: That future use and development of the property is intended for Schoolcraft College purposes and P-L zoning is a more appropriate zoning. 2. That the proposed change of zoning will provide the college an opportunity to develop the subject property in a manner that is consistent with their needs. 3. That P-L zoning is compatible to and in harmony with the existing zoning of College's main campus, and December 14, 2021 30311 4. That the proposed change corresponds to the Colleges ownership of the subject property. FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 13.13 and Section 13.15 of Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance, Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. ITEM #3 PETITION 2021-11-01-10 Schoolcraft Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2021- 11-01-10 submitted by Schoolcraft College, pursuant to Sections 13.13 and 13.15 of the Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance, requesting to rezone the property at 13001 Merriman Road, located on the west side of Merriman Road between Glendale Avenue and Schoolcraft Road in the Northeast '% of Section 27, from M-2, General Manufacturing to P-L, Public Lands, Mr. Taormina: This is a request by Schoolcraft College to rezone a property that it owns and utilizes for educational purposes. In this case, the property is on Merriman Road on the northwest corner of Glendale Avenue and Merriman Roads. This property is just over 3 acres in area. It has 190 feet of frontage on Merriman by a depth of roughly 765 feet. This property contains a roughly 40,000 square foot former manufacturing facility. It is now used as part of the college's manufacturing and engineering center. The subject property is shown on our Master Plan as Tech and Manufacturing. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please. Mr. Taormina: The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated November 29, 2021, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced petition. The subject parcel is assigned the address of #13001 Merriman Road, and the legal description contained with the petition appears to be correct. This department does not feel the change in zoning is appropriate for the subject property, as it would allow for building specifications (signage, coverage, setbacks, etc.) that would be less stringent than those that were required for the neighboring parcels within the same December 14, 2021 30312 development. The existing parcel currently has access to public water main and sanitary sewer owned by the City of Livonia. Privately -owned storm sewer is available within the existing parcel. At this time, there is nothing that would indicate negative impacts to any of the existing utilities since the petition is for zoning purposes. Should the site be re -developed, or additional construction planned, the owner would need to submit drawings to this Department to determine if permits will be required." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The next letter is from the Finance Department, dated November 161 2021, which reads as follows: "I have reviewed the addresses connected with the above noted petition. As there are no outstanding amounts receivable, general or water and sewer, I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Connie Kumpula, Chief Accountant. The next letter is from the Treasurer's Department, dated November 17, 2021, which reads as follows: `in accordance with your request, the Treasurer's Office has reviewed the name and addresses connected with the above noted petition. This is listed as an exempt parcel, there are no taxes due, therefore I have no objections to the proposal."The letter is signed by Lynda Scheel, Treasurer. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Mr. Ventura: Mr. Taormina, in the event that Schoolcraft College were to sell this building, it would come before us to be rezoned back to Tech and Engineering or one of the zoning categories other than PL and then it would be subject to all of the ordinances for the City of Livonia? Mr. Taormina: Most likely M-2 and yes, that would be correct. Mr. Ventura: Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank Or. you, Mr. Ventura. Any other questions? If not, we will go to our petitioner again. Good evening. Auon: Good evening, again. So, this building is actually fully built out. It is a fantastic facility for vocational and trades. It has our plastics. It has CAD. A lot of hands-on learning takes place here. If anyone here hasn't visited this building, we welcome anyone and we will give you a visit to walk through, because this is truly a gem. It is unfortunate that it is not on the main campus, a little bit further away, but this area has become almost a little satellite with some of our other hands-on programs like that. Again, same as before, it is for Schoolcraft December 14, 2021 30313 purposes. We want to keep it there in Public Lands, as Mr. Taormina pointed out. If we wanted to change this and change the building, we would have to get it pulled out of Public Lands. We have no intention of doing that at this time. Obviously, who knows what the future holds. It actually makes it harder to sell once we put it into Public Lands, because it is a process to get it oA to come back here for anyone who would have to buy it. It is almost kind of cementing it as our uses and gives a lot more control back to the Planning Commission if it ever goes back to any type of commercial use. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Any questions for our petitioner regarding this property? I don't see any of questions from any of our commissioners. There is no one in our audience, I believe, wishing to speak for or against this. Again, we will give you final word. Is there any final words you would like to make? Mr. Auon: No, sir. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. With that, I will go to the commission and look for a motion. On a motion by Bongero, seconded by McCue, and unanimously adopted, it was #12-71-2021 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on December 14, 2021, on Petition 2021-11-01-10 submitted by Schoolcraft College, pursuant to Sections 13.13 and 13.15 of the Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance, requesting to rezone the property at 13001 Merriman Road, located on the west side of Merriman Road between Glendale Avenue and Schoolcraft Road in the Northeast '/4 of Section 27, from M-2, General Manufacturing to P-L, Public Lands, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2021-11-01-10 be approved for the following reasons: 1. That the current use of the property is for educational purposes for which P-L zoning is a more appropriate zoning. 2. That a change to P-L is compatible to and in harmony with the surrounding industrial and P-L zoning in the area, and 3. That the proposed change corresponds to the College's ownership of the subject property. December 14, 2021 30314 FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 13.13 and Section 13.15 of Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution. ITEM #4 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,179th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the Minutes of the 1,179th Public Hearing and Regular Meeting held on November 30, 2021. On a motion by Smiley, seconded by Ventura, and unanimously adopted, it was #12-72-2021 RESOLVED, That the Minutes of 1,179�h Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on November 30, 2021, are hereby approved. A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following: AYES: Bongero, McCue, Smiley, Ventura, Caramagno, Wilshaw NAYS: None ABSENT: Long ABSTAIN: None Or. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,180th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on December 141 77 adjourned at 7:27 p.m. // CITY PLANNING COMMISSION -� � ' / 4Sam aiamagno, Secretary i ATTEST: Ian Wilshaw, Chairman