The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About1,227 -March 18, 2025 signedMINUTES OF THE 1,227th PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia held its 1,227th Public Hearing and Regular Meetings 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: Patrick Droze Wafa Dinaro Sam Caramagno Glen Long Peter Ventura Ian Wilshaw Members absent: David Bongero Mr. Jacob Uhazie, 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 2025-02-02-04 Aletha Apartments Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2025- 02-02-04 submitted by Emmett Contracting requesting Special Waiver Use approval under Section 5.02 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to construct a Planned Residential Development consisting of two (2) buildings with 58 senior independent apartments on properties at 14821 and 14829 Farmington Road located on the west side of Farmington Road between Five Mile Road and Lyndon Street in the Northeast Y of Section 21. Mr. Uhazie: March 18, 2025 31780 Good evening, Mr. Chairman. As was mentioned, this petition is on the west side of Farmington Road, between Five Mile and Lyndon. The petition site consists of two adjoining vacant lots. The northern parcel is approximately 1.03 acres with 75 feet of frontage along. Farmington Road, and has a depth of 595 feet along its northern property line. The Southern parcel is 0.89 acres with 66 feet along Farmington Road and has a depth ranging from 588 feet to 584 feet. The combined site area is approximately 1.98 acres with a total of 142 feet of frontage along Farmington Road. Both parcels are currently zoned C-1 (Local business). Section 5.02 states that planned residential developments are allowed with an added degree of flexibility in the placement, bulk and interrelationship of the building and uses, and the implementation of new design concepts to encourage more efficient use of land and public services through a unified planning approach, while at the same time maintaining the overall intensity of land use and density of population. The project extends the existing Aletha apartments, which was approved in 2016. The original Aletha site is located northwest and consists of 10.31 acres with seven multi -family residential buildings containing the total of 192 senior independent apartments and a one story community office building. Bordering the site to the north is Luther Lane, a private drive that provides access to the Livonia Woods nursing home and the existing Aletha apartments. Northeast of the petition site is the nursing home and Aletha apartments, which are zoned NM3. To the southwest, abutting the property is the Silver Village senior housing complex, which is zoned NM3, as well. To the south is the Livonia Dermatology Plaza office complex, zoned C-1 and east, across Farmington Road, is the Heritage Office Complex zoned C-1, as well. The site plan shows two multi story apartment buildings with a total of 58 senior independent apartments. The eastern building plans show a three-story building with 18 units. Located to the east along Farmington Road is the smaller of the two buildings, measuring approximately 106 feet in width by 75 feet of depth and an overall gross floor area of 23,031 square feet. The east building has three types of units labeled A, B and C on the site plan. Every apartment would contain a living area, bathroom, kitchen and master bedroom. Units would include an additional study room. Unit styles A and B have one and a half bath and C would have one full bath. Floor Plans show that each level will have six units with a gross floor area of 7,639 square feet. First floor units facing west show private entryways. The remaining units are accessible from a common entryway to the east and west elevations that show a central hallway. A balcony would be included with the center units above the ground floor. They are shown here on the March 18, 2025 31781 screen. The west building is located at the rear of the property. The four-story building would have 40 units and is approximately 61.5 feet wide and 230 feet deep for a gross floor area of 52,112 square feet. The building has two -unit styles identified in the floor plan as styles A and B. Every apartment unit would contain a living area, bathroom, kitchen and master bedroom. "A" units would include an additional bedroom with two full baths, and "B" units would have the study room with one and a half baths. The lobby/mail room and elevator shaft are shown on the first floor main entryway facing south. The floor plans show the two lower levels with 10 "A" style units on each floor. The upper -level shows nine "A" style units and one "B" style unit on each level. Each floor measures 13,028 square feet, for a total of 52,112 square feet. A balcony would be included with each unit above the ground floor. First floor units would most likely be equipped with patios, and an additional common patio is located in the northwest corner of the Western building. In terms of architecture, each building would be similar in appearance and constructed out of the same exterior materials, mainly brick veneer. The east building shows a brick facade with bay windows made with cement board trim. Building dormers are trimmed with cement board. The parapet height measures 48 feet and is made of a continuous metal coping. The private unit entries are covered by aluminum awnings and stairs that have aluminum railings. The north and south elevations are mostly brick veneer with cement board shake siding running up the center of the building on the top level surrounding the third story windows. The upper -level bay windows are covered by a standing seam metal roof. The eaves are made of cement board patterns and smooth panels. The western building elevations show a mostly brick facade with bay windows made with cement board trim on both ends of the building. The upper level of cement board battens and smooth panels. Each unit has a balcony with aluminum railings. The parapet measures 58 feet and four one quarter inch and is made of continuous metal coping. The eaves are made of cement board battens and smooth panels. The gable roof of both structures would be covered with asphalt shingles. The main entry to the building is via a storefront door system. The plans do not show where the building's mechanical equipment, air conditioning units or utility meters are located. But as discussed at the study session, each individual unit will have access along the wall that will be covered by matching paint to blend into the facade. The development would be connected to Luther Lane via two drives, one from the north between the eastern building and the park open space, and a second 24-foot- wide drive from the west. Off-street parking is provided throughout the site, including a total of 58 car ports and additional 29 uncovered parking spaces. Located in the front of the western March 18, 2025 31782 building is room for 10 additional parallel parking spaces, and the site has four proposed ADA accessible parking spaces. The site plan provides 1.5 parking spaces per unit above the number of spaces required in the zoning ordinance. For reference, the original phase of the Aletha also has a ratio of 1.5 parking spaces per unit. A park open space area measuring 0.15 acres is shown along the north property line between the buildings. The open space is bordered by seven carport parking spots to the west and eight carports to the south. An entry drive from Luther Lane borders the east side of the park. A five -foot -wide sidewalk is shown on the east and south sides of the park/open space area, an interconnected network of pedestrian paths run along both buildings and around the open space area. The proposed path also connects the rear building patio Northwest across Luther lane to the original Aletha apartments. Storm water would be managed by an underground detention basin in the parking area between the eastern building and the park open area. The petitioner will need to provide storm water and drain edge treatment details to the engineering department before obtaining permits for the proposed development. The site plan also shows two dumpster enclosures, one for each building. The plans show the dumpster enclosures to be 10 feet by 12 feet masonry walls with a four inch concrete cap. The brick finish would match the primary building colors, and a pair of painted steel double door gates would allow access. A fully detailed landscaping plan is included, showing various plantings around the foundation of the east building and along the street frontage of Farmington Road. The zoning ordinance requires one deciduous or evergreen tree per foot of road frontage and one ornamental tree per 100 linear feet and eight shrubs per 40 linear feet. The site has 142 linear feet on Farmington Road. The landscape plan satisfies the frontage requirements. The landscape plan shows seven internal trees throughout the site and is 24.6% landscaped open area. The interior parking lot landscaping of 5% of parking area landscaping with a minimum of one tree per interior Island also complies with the zoning ordinance requirements. The landscape plan indicates the type, quantities and size of plant materials. A note should be added to the plan, indicating that sod would be added on all grass areas identified as lawn. The plan specifies that the landscape areas will be irrigated by an automatic underground irrigation system. And there are no photometric plans or sign packages for the site provided with the petition. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please. Mr. Uhazie: March 18, 2025 31783 The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated February 28, 2025, which reads as follows: `In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced petition. We have no objections to the proposed waiver use at this time, but would like to note the following items: 1. The subject parcels are assigned the addresses of #14821 & #14829 Farmington Road. Should additional addresses be needed, the Owner will need to contact this Department once approvals have been obtained. The existing parcels currently have access to public sanitary sewer, storm sewer and water main. The drawings do not provide any calculations for proposed flows from the development, so we cannot comment on impacts to the existing systems at this time. The owner shall submit drawings to this department once site plan approval has been granted fora complete Engineering review and permitting. Based on what has been provided, we have the flowing comments regarding the utilities: i) Water Main: The proposed water main will be dedicated as public, and maintenance easements will be required. If the water main is to be private, backflow prevention devices at each connection will be required. ii) Sanitary sewer: Mains will be private iii) Storm Sewer Detention is shown as proposed on the submitted drawings, but no other information is shown. Storm Sewer will need to meet the Wayne County Strom Ordinance requirements and may be subject to Wayne County review depending on the outlet location. 2.Any disturbances within the Farmington Road right-of-way will require permits through the Wayne County Department of Public Service, including driveway approach and sidewalk removals and placements. Existing approaches along Farmington Road will be required to be removed and the roadway curb shall be replaced. Based on the drawings, cross -access agreements will need to be provided at the time of permitting for driveway connections to the privately -owned Luther Lane. 3.The parcels will be required to be combined through the Department of Assessing. Paperwork for the combination shall be submitted once site plan approval has been granted." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The next letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated March 6, 2025, which reads as follows: " This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a request to construct a residential building on the property located at the above referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal with the following stipulations: - Install of a Sprinkler system with standpipe. - Sprinkler system, smoke detectors and Carbon Monoxide detectors to be monitored by a fire alarm per code. A further detailed plan review will take place when this division receives an official plan set" The letter is signed by Brian Kukla, Fire Marshal. The next letter is from the Mr. Wilshaw: Brad Emmett, Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Emmett: March 18, 2025 31784 Division of Police, dated March 3, 2025, which reads as follows: "1 have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Paul Walters, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The next letter is from the Inspection Department, dated Mach 10, 2024, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, this Department has no objections to this petition." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Director of Inspection. The next letter is from the Finance Department, dated February 26, 2025, 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, 1 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 February 26, 2025, which reads as follows: "All taxes are current for the property"The email is signed by Susie Nash, Treasurer. The last letter is from the Department of Assessment, dated February 26, 2025, and reads: "Plans have been submitted by Emmett Contracting requesting special waiver use approval to construct a planned Residential Development consisting of two (2) buildings for 58 senior independent apartments. The buildings and parking comprise two parcels- 081-99-0024-000 (14821 Farmington) and 081-99-0025-000 (14829 Farmington). The Department of Assessment recommends these parcels should be combined prior to building permits being issued. Please direct any questions to the Assessor's Office or Livonia.gov for the lot split and combination process." The letter is signed Kathie Siterlet, Residential Appraiser. That is the extent of the correspondence. That was a lot of information. Thank you for reading all that out. Do we have any questions for our planning staff from any of the commissioners? No questions. Okay, the petitioner is in our audience. If you'd like to come forward to our podium. We'll start with your name and address. Aletha Apartments, 10670 Warren Road, Plymouth, MI. I'm the owner of Emmett Contracting and petitioner for this project here. Good evening, Mr. Emmett, what would you like to tell us about your petition? It's been said already, but it's a continuation of the Aletha B Phipps apartments that I've been a part of for the previous five or six years. I'm an owner there, one of them, and this is sort of a third phase. There was two phases in the initial 200 or so apartments. I guess the genesis of the project for me was to come March 18, 2025 31785 up...we are in the pretty well rented out in the first two phases, and but the people that come to us, that sit in the leasing office, were passing up a certain amount of available tenants because we don't have two bedroom apartments. Pretty much we have, pretty much all 200 apartments or so are one bedroom, one bath. So, these are larger. We'll rent for a little bit more, but this parcel has been available, and I've known the owner, and so that's why we're proposing. We think there's a demand for the apartment and the unit that we had proposed to offer here. And I think throughout this planning process, the planning department had several meetings, rapid response meeting with the commissioners and some of the board members and regarding this, and it sort of morphed into what you see today, with the two buildings. One fronting along Farmington Road, to give sort of a more of a streetscape presence, I suppose you'd call it, and then that's sort of indicative of what the city would like to see going forward with the, you know, sort of city, the new city center proposals coming up with this property. So, we took heed... Robert the architect, sitting here with me. We went back to the drawing board from those meetings, and came up with these elevations that are relatively traditional in, you know, elevation and outside exterior, you know, I think we've got some very traditional elements in there. These are apartments for older people. So, I think traditional elements, like lots of brick and some limestone elements, elements like that are appropriate, right? They kind of like that. That's what they like about where we're at with the Aletha apartments that we have now. So, we have a green space area. It's sort of central to the development, which I expect to get used quite a bit. We have some amenities. To the tenant, they wouldn't know, you know that this is to them, just a third they'll go into leasing office. They'll get all the amenities of Aletha B Phipps apartments. So, we hope it's an asset to the community. I'm pretty optimistic about its rentability and success as a project. As far as my experience, I was the general contractor for all 200 units, and was there from day one, and Dave Phipps, my partner, who passed away somewhere in the middle of all that construction, but that was his family's property that we built all those apartments on. So, sort of a continuation with that. So, beyond that, I'm open to any comment or any question that anybody has. Mr. Wilshaw: Well, thank you, Mr. Emmett, let's see if we have some questions for you. Any questions for our petitioner? Ms. Dinaro: Can you tell me a little bit about the profile of the prospective tenants. Are they single? Are they couples? Mr. Emmett: Ms. Dinaro: Mr. Emmett: Ms. Dinaro: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Droze: Mr. Emmett: March 18, 2025 31786 Well, I can tell you a lot about the ones we have now, yes, and by and large, that's who these are good for, I would guess more married couples. So, this is a 55 and older, you know, developed community. Now it doesn't really, you know, it's not a home, it's just apartments, but it's just age restricted to 55 and older. And we have a lot of single women and single men in the first two phases. But it sort of precludes, when you have a husband and wife, they, you know, they may turn the extra bedroom that's available in this development into a study or a den, but it just, you need another space. So I would expect that we will get a lot of, obviously, they have to be 55 or older to be there, and I think we would get a fair amount of couples. And with that, you know, they're a lot of them are grandparents, and we see a lot of kids at the pool, so they're sort of...in this 40 unit building there is a sort of a common area ,birthday room, you could call it, on the second floor. So, I guess that I'd expect that to get a lot of use also. Thank you. Can you also tell me about a timeline? If this were to get approved, when would you break ground? When would you expect to start renting these out? This is one of probably six important steps to getting able to be able to do construction. And I would guess, if those all go well, and we know what we're doing. We've been through this a bunch, so I would guess that August is probably as optimistic of a start date. And then, you know, what we start on, whether it is underground or building foundations right away, that's depending on. Yeah, Thank you. Thank you. Ms Dinaro. Any other questions? Mr. Droze. I have just a couple of small questions. And again, commend you for your efforts to work with the feedback that was given by Commission. It seems like you're really kind of leaning into some of the ideas we talked about with the frontage along Farmington. One of the renderings I saw, it may just be the rendering, but look like there's some benches. Are you kind of planning any permanent benching along Farmington? I don't mind it, I guess, wondering if that would be included. So, we have internal to Aletha phase one and two, we have four or five benches along the walking path in there. I would expect that, while not shown here, we would have another bench, at least one. And then we have this sort of, I don't know it's 80 by 80 or 100 by 100, open area that's in sort of the center of the site there, Mr. Droze: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Droze: March 18, 2025 31787 I would expect picnic tables. I would expect something that creates shade, whether it's a, you know, pergola, or gazebo type thing. So those are...we see a lot of residents walking. Yeah, they like the loop. It's a good distance, so they walk throughout the development, go on Farmington Road. This will add to that loop distance. Yeah, I think it might even be nice to see, like, maybe a bike rack or two for people if they use bikes. Yeah, yep, yep. I do see bikes. You know, there that people have and do ride. And then a couple of questions about the carports. I noticed it looked, and it's not a big deal, but it looked like there was a variation between the civil site plan and the architecture plan. Mr. Emmett: Correct. Mr. Droze: Which one is the correct one? Mr. Emmett: So I believe, but we will probably...the civil is the incorrect one. So the civil, I believe that grouping of carports that are close to the 40 unit building will be located to the west. Mr. Droze: Okay Mr. Emmett: So there's a group of parking spots further to the west of that building, on the other end that's not quite right on the building. Handicap will be then right where those carports were shown. Mr. Droze: Okay. Mr. Emmett: So in other words, the, I don't know if the architectural shows the carports on the very west, but looking... kind of sanity checking in now, I would say that the carports will go on the way west troup of spots on the of the 40 unit building handicap will be on the east. Mr. Droze: Okay, and that kind of...that middle parking area adjacent to the public's like the kind of the common ground space? Mr. Emmett: Yes. Mr. Droze: One of them showed two car ports. The other showed one. Mr. Emmett: Yeah, okay. Mr. Droze: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Droze: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Droze: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Droze: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Droze: Mr. Emmett: Robert Miller, March 18, 2025 31788 And then I guess the elevations of those...is that going to be as shown in the one rendering with it almost looks like a, almost like a panel with some trim around it, or is that up for... That's up for debate. So, we have carports, a lot of them now. We have one carport per apartment now. So we have them. They're sort of a hip roof with a peak in the middle. Living with those, I chose that I like the way they look, but they slide snow and water right where the car and then, in March, it's snow thaw. There's a big, you know, snow drift right where the cars are trying to get out. It's a problem. I would propose that, well, that's similar what's shown in the civil that cross section of that I would just have it be more of a blade, just a straight, pitched, you know, away from the parking area. I think that's smarter for how it gets used. Yeah. Okay. And then I guess, will the building materials kind of mimic closer to what you have on the elevations, or would it be... On the buildings or the carports? The carports. Yes, the buildings, the end caps, the... all of that will be similar to what we show in the submittal here, with the window design on the end of the carports. Also advantage of that single mono pitch sort of roof is that the side that the cars don't enter from the where the bumper is, that that lowers the eave height, which controls the wind, and the use of it just increases the usability of it because that's one of the things...you have car ports but if they're tall, then all the snow t blows underneath, and they don't do what they're supposed to. Okay. And then my last question. I think the three story on Farmington has...it looks almost like little limestone lentils over the like a couple of the... Right. I was wondering if there's an opportunity on maybe just a portion of kind of, I'll call it the bumped out area with brick to maybe bring that same detail into the four story. Right now its all brick.So, just for consistency between the buildings. (speaking to his architect) Do you want to speak to this? with RM Architects. Yeah, we decided to change up the center portion of that, right, because we're trying to take this linear floor March 18, 2025 31789 plan, which is an apartment building, right, and make it feel vertical, right, which was the challenges we've talked about during one of our meetings. And in doing that, we felt that we wanted to try to integrate more of the center massing to it, so it felt more like, even though there's not this central entrance into the building, like you would experience that the feeling is there. So that center portion, we change that brick detailing from the cast stone to the soldier coursing, to try to give something a little bit more of a variation to that so it wasn't so repetitive. It's a completely subjective thing. And if we're talking about hopefully getting approval, and you want it to be cast stone, we will totally make a cast stone. Mr. Droze: Nope. No, I'll stay in my lane. I'm the engineer. Thank you. No further questions. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you for those questions. Is there any other questions for our petitioner? Mr. Ventura. Mr. Ventura: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, just one I noted in our write up. It said that a balcony would be included with each unit above ground floor. First floor units would most likely be equipped with a patio. As I drive through the existing development, there are first floor patios. Is there any reason you wouldn't do that in this new... Mr. Emmett: Mr. Miller: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Ventura: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Miller: I can't think of one. I can't think of one. I mean people love the patios. And they like their first floor units for that reason, because there's a patio there. So yeah, unless there's, yeah, I believe every one of these should get a patio. Yeah. The only thing I was thinking is, it gets closer to...it would be some grade reason, but I don't... The ones that are the four-story building, they all do, even the ones that face the parking lot, so there's a landscape buffer between that patio and the actual sidewalk. So there's three apartments. Can you make that clear again, I'm not... There are three apartments in the...so the three-story building we're talking about, and on the west facing side, they don't have patios, those three apartments. And its to do with the entrance, the ramp going up is why I think that there's a grade problem making it handicap compliant into the into it. Is that correct? Yeah, so right on the three-story building that's along Farmington, the three units that face the parking lot don't have patios. The Mr. Ventura: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Wilshaw: March 18, 2025 31790 ones that face Farmington do. We're too constricted with the site plan to get that to work, because we elevated the buildings out of the ground about two feet to give that town house appearance, rather than being at grade. Therefore, we needed to create a barrier free access to those and we do that by not creating a ramp, but sloping the sidewalk. Because if we change that to a one to 20 slope, as to one to 12, we don't have to do railings and all those things. So it takes away that ramp feeling and has more of a smooth, consistent sidewalk elevation. So that ate up that space to try to create any exterior spaces for that, and then the bumpers for the front bumpers of the part, I'm sorry, of the parking spaces facing that portion of the building as well. But every other unit in the development has ground floor patios. Great. Good explanation. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ventura, and we will note too, as you noted during the study plan, that there was no elevator in the three-story building. That's been corrected. It has, yes, that was an excellent good catch. Yeah, so it's very good that we caught it. We would have caught that in the build phase. (Laughing) Hopefully, yes, definitely. All right, good. Any other questions on this item? I don't see any other questions. Is there anyone in our audience wishing to speak for or against this item? Anyone wishing to speak, feel free to come forward. Mr. Emmett, I will just ask you to sit down for one second. We'll have you back up after John Schafer, 15638, Brookfield Street, Livonia, MI. I live just across the road here. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you for being here. Mr. Schaefer. Mr. Schafer: No real objection to the project, other than the height. Four-story apartments. I don't think really go in well. Three story apartments right on Five Mile mentioned green space. I didn't see a whole lot of green spacing on there. Look like whatever they could shoehorn in with three apartments in that area. Luther Lane goes back to Livonia Woods back there. I don't think that is currently being used. I don't know how that roadway intends to be used, if that's always going to be permanent or not. And then the other objection that I would have is if this is truly for senior apartments, and you have a four story apartment, if there is any sort of a fire, you're not allowed to use a elevator. So, in my experience as a rehab therapist, getting seniors down four stories when there's a need to evacuate is problematic. Typically, you do once a year March 18, 2025 31791 training where anybody who's in a third or fourth floor has to demonstrate the capability of leaving that apartment. Those routinely are not done. So going forward, keeping them nice for the next 25 years, how do they tend to keep them up? How do they keep the elevators in good working order? Is there only going to be one elevator per apartment? What happens when that elevator breaks down? Then all of a sudden you have a senior apartment, three, four stories high that now we have to deal with getting the seniors in and out. Um. I'm getting water or food up to them, as you see on TV. So those are my concerns. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay, we appreciate you expressing those. Thank you and anyone else in our audience, feel free to come up. Mr. Wilshaw: Good evening. ma'am. Patricia Stephanoff, 15396 Alpine Dr., Livonia, MI. I kind of, I have a question about...just a couple questions, but one in particular is the cost to the people that will live in these apartments. Is this considered a high income, middle income or low-income housing? Mr. Wilshaw: We'll try to get an answer for you. I can't answer these questions immediately, but once everybody's commented, we'll try to get some of these questions answered for you. Ms. Stephanoff: And another question, not pertaining to the apartments, if that's okay, is, I looked at the plan, and it was really, it was quite small. It was really kind of hard to read, just because of what I had. And I really didn't see, you know, the whole concept of having all these restaurants and shops and such, I really didn't see any additional parking for people that would come to patronize these businesses there. Mr. Wilshaw: This is strictly an apartment complex of residential housing. There's not going to be... Ms. Stephanoff: So that's not the topic. Mr. Wilshaw: Yeah, there's not gonna be any restaurants or shops. That's Ms. Stephanoff: It's going to be in that same area, correct? Mr. Wilshaw: Yeah, you're thinking of the entire city center redevelopment. Yeah, that's a whole other project. Ms. Stephanoff: That's a question for some other individuals. Okay, thank you. March 18, 2025 31792 Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you for coming. Anyone else wishing to speak on this item? No one else coming forward. Mr. Emmett, is there anything that you would like to say before we make our decision? You heard a couple comments and points made. Mr. Emmett: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Emmett: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Emmett: To somewhat address the gentleman's concern, so we, most of the apartment buildings, are four stories that are over at Aletha right now. We don't...people have to be self-sufficient first of all to be there, and that is one of the tougher things about what we do, is but making sure that people remain self-sufficient while they're there. That's a task there. We don't have medical services for folks so, so that's sort of a job that we take on, that this, that people are able to get in and out of the building. I do know just in the in the way of the elevator, the elevators generator backup. So there is...so elevators do break as anything, you know, machinery wise, but we have quick service. We have all you know, quick service elevator contracts and then in the event of a power outage, which is actually the bigger problem, all of our buildings, these new proposed buildings, will also be generator backup. So, they will operate the elevators as if nothing happened in the event of a power outage and that's happened, and those are prolonged periods of time, not just an afternoon when an elevator is down. So, we think that takes care of most of the problem, not all of it. And then one thing I'd say is our submittal doesn't do a real good job of showing the open space there, but Luther Lane is...we at Aleta apartments, the first two phases do own Luther Lane as part of it, and it will remain and be maintained by this development. And we repaved it as part of the construction, so it's, it's in real good shape. Now, a lot of the tree canopy, almost all the trees that are there are on the Luther Lane parcel, and will remain. Access to the Livonia Woods facility will still remain. Yeah, yeah, yep. They have an easement for that on Luther lane, on land that we own. Okay, and then as far as cost goes, do you have an idea? I don't know how to answer that exactly. I mean, our average rent there is about $1,500 that's currently. These aim to be in the $1,850 a month range. I don't know if that's upper level or lower level or what level that puts them, but yeah, it's, they're not subsidized in any way. Mr. Wilshaw: March 18, 2025 31793 So, it's not subsidized housing in any way. So,this is a private complex with no subsidy. That's right, low income or any of that kind of stuff. Thank you. Mr. Caramagno. Mr. Caramagno: Got another question for you. Who oversees and manages these properties? M. Emmett: It's an in-house manager. Jen Haines is her name, and she's known well down here, and she works well with the city. And, yeah, Jennifer Haines is the manager, and I'm the number two behind her. Mr. Caramagno: So, you're the ownership of the property, manages it. It's been that way since day one. And you oversee the lawn cutting, the maintenance of the building, and everything from A to Z? Mr. Emmett: Oh, yes. Mr. Caramagno: Okay. Very good. Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. If there's no further questions, I'm going to close the public hearing, and a motion is in order, On a motion by Carmagno, seconded by Dinaro, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-07-2025 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on March 18, 2025, on Petition 2025-02-02-04 submitted by Emmett Contracting requesting Special Waiver Use approval under Section 5.02 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to construct a Planned Residential Development consisting of two (2) buildings with 58 senior independent apartments on properties at 14821 and 14829 Farmington Road located on the west side of Farmington Road between Five Mile Road and Lyndon Street in the Northeast of Section 21., be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the Site Plan marked Sheet 1 dated February 10, 2025, as revised, prepared by Arpee/Donnan, Inc., is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 2. That the Landscape Plans marked L-1 dated February 14, 2025, as revised, prepared by Vert Verde Landscape Architecture, are hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 3. That all electric and gas meters and any other exposed utility services or meter boxes shall be properly screened with March 18, 2025 31794 deciduous type landscape material, subject to the approval of the Planning and Inspection Departments; 4. That all disturbed lawn areas, except for the detention basins, shall be sodded in lieu of hydroseeding; 5. That underground sprinklers are to be provided for all landscaped and sodded areas and all planted materials shall be installed to the satisfaction of the Inspection Department and thereafter permanently maintained in a healthy condition; 6. That the Elevation Plans and list of building materials as received by the Planning Commission on February 14, 2025, are hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 7. That the three walls of the trash dumpster areas shall be constructed out of building materials that shall complement that of the buildings and the enclosure gates shall be of solid panel steel construction or durable, long-lasting solid panel fiberglass and maintained and when not in use closed at all times; 8. That this site shall meet the Wayne County Storm Water Management Ordinance, and shall secure any required permits, including storm water management permits, and soil erosion and sedimentation control permits, from Wayne County; That all light fixtures shall not exceed twenty feet (20') in height and shall be aimed and shielded so as to minimize stray light trespassing across property lines and glaring into adjacent roadway; 10. That all of first floor apartments in both buildings will have patios, with the exception of the three west facing apartments on the first floor in the eastern most building; 11. That the car ports are consistent with the architectural site plan dated March 14, 2025 and are built with materials similar in nature to the approved building facades to the satisfaction of the Planning Department; 12. That only conforming signage is approved with this petition, and any additional signage shall be separately submitted for review and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals; March 18, 2025 31795 13. That the specific plans referenced in this approving resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department at the time the building permits are applied for; and, 14. Pursuant to Section 13.13 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, this approval is valid for a period of one year only from the date of approval by the City Council, and unless a building permit is obtained, this approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said period. FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 13.13 of Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion? Mr. Ventura: I'd like to ask the approver, the maker of the approval to amend it to include the fact that all of the first floor apartments in both buildings will have patios, with the exception of the three west facing apartments on the first floor in the easternmost building. Mr. Caramagno: I'm good with that. Mr. Wilshaw: Ms. Dinaro: Mr. Wilshaw: Maker and support are okay? I'm good with that. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Ventura, Mr. Uhazie, do we need to update the dates on the site plan given that we had some revisions made between the meetings? Mr. Uhazie: The site plan has remained the same. It was the floor plan that changed. Mr. Wilshaw: And those aren't referenced in the approving resolution, right? Okay, all right, thank you. Just wanted to make sure that we have all our dates correct. Is there any other discussion? Mr. Droze: I'd also like to request to potentially add an amendment to Mr. Caramagno's motion that the car ports are consistent with the architectural site plan dated March 14, 2025 and that the car ports themselves will be built with materials similar in nature to the approved building facades with, I guess, the opinion of that being deferred to the Planning Department. Mr. Caramagno: Is that in line with your conversation back and forth earlier? March 18, 2025 31796 Mr. Droze: Yes. Mr. Caramagno: Okay, yes, I'm good with that. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay, we're memorializing that. So, we want complimentary materials on the carport to the building and the supporters, okay? Ms. Dinaro: Yep Mr. Wilshaw: Excellent. All right, is there any other comments? Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to the City Council with an approving resolution. ITEM #2 PETITION 2025-02-02-05 Cava Restaurant Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2025- 02-02-05 submitted by Symmetry Management requesting waiver use approval under Sections 3.11 and 6.51 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to construct a 2,515-square foot, full -service restaurant with drive-thru facilities at 39200 Seven Mile Road, located at the northeast corner of Seven Mile and Haggerty Roads in the Southwest' of Section 6. Mr. Uhazie: Thank you. This petition is to operate a Cava drive-thru restaurant located in the northwest corner of Seven Mile Road and Chippewa Drive, just west of the 1-275 exit ramp. The existing zoning is C-2 (General business). West of the property is the Shake Shack, full -service restaurant with drive-thru window zoned C-2. Across Chippewa Drive is the historical Orson Everett house, zoned C-1. South across Seven Mile is the Schoolcraft College campus zoned PL, and north of the property is the Pentagon entertainment campus and parking lots for J Alexander's restaurant, AMC theaters and Hyatt Place hotel, all zoned C-2. The site plan shows a 2,515 square foot building near the middle of the site. The building has proposed outdoor seating consisting of five tables and 18 seats under a canopy. And the plans show the building to be 19.5 feet in height, complying with the ordinance. In C-2 districts, the minimum required front yard setback for a building is 15 feet. The proposed structure is approximately 66 feet from Seven Mile Road and the minimum required rear yard setback is eight feet. The proposed building would be approximately 101 feet from the northern property line. The minimum side yard setback from Chippewa drive is eight feet, and the building would be 84 feet from Chippewa drive. The March 18, 2025 31797 proposed building complies with all the minimum required setbacks. Access to the site would be from the existing right in, right out driveway off of Seven Mile Road. The site is also accessible from Haggerty Road via shared access with the Shake Shack site. The single traffic lane serving the drive -up window would run along the east side of the proposed building. To access the drive-thru lane vehicles would enter the site using the south driveway along Seven Mile turn right into the parking lot area to the east and then enter the stacking lane for the window to the north. Alternatively, cars could enter the west via shared access with the Shake Shack parking lot, vehicles would have to yield to traffic, turn left into the parking area to the east and then enter the stacking lane for the window to the north. Drive through lanes must provide sufficient vehicle waiting or stacking spaces, including the space at the pickup window. The service lane is required to be at least 10 feet. Drive -up establishments must also provide bypass lane for vehicles that wish to circumvent the drive- in window. The proposed width of the one-way aisle along the north side of the building would measure 20 feet, providing ample space for both the drive -up and bypass lanes. Parking for restaurants with drive up window facilities is one space for every 125 square feet of floor area, plus one space for every three outdoor patio seats, plus one space per employee. The number of outdoor seats is 18, and the number of employees is 14, for a total of 30 required parking spaces. The site plan shows 36 parking spaces, which is six more than required. Two of these spaces would be ADA accessible and are provided adjacent to the entrance to the southeast of the building. There are also eight proposed drive-thru pull ahead spaces and bollards on the west of the building and a 24-foot aisle way. The plan shows a total of 44 indoor seats. The landscaping plan shows 12 existing frontage trees along Chippewa Drive and Seven Mile Road, which would remain. The ordinance requires the 200 feet of frontage on Seven Mile Road to have five full size trees, two ornamental trees and 40 shrubs. The ordinance also requires the 218 feet of frontage on Chippewa drive to have five full size trees, two ornamental trees and 44 shrubs. There are also seven evergreen shrubs around the transformer pad northeast of the building, and three evergreen trees screening the dumpster enclosure. The plan proposes two ornamental trees and 84 shrubs. Fronted trees comply with the zoning ordinance. The ordinance also requires landscaping of 5% of the parking area. The plan shows 1,253 square feet, or 6.4%. The ordinance requires one tree per 300 square feet of landscaping, which would equate to three trees. The plan shows two existing trees and one proposed tree in compliance with the ordinance. The existing woods and wetland area to the north will not be impacted, complying with all open March 18, 2025 31798 space landscape requirements. All right of way and easement landscaping will comply with the ordinance as all entrances have existing landscaping. The proposed building facade consists mainly of E.I.F.S. materials, except for the last two feet eight inches, which was replaced by what appears to be a stone veneer. The finish is identified as Mojave, and the remaining facade is a limestone color. The exterior canopy vertical slats and privacy screening are shown on the elevation plans to be constructed from a cedar wood. The outdoor seating area would be enclosed by an exterior screen wall made of masonry breeze block. A new elevation plan was submitted from our last meeting that shows the cedar truss would be extended across the south facing wall. The dumpster enclosure is in the site's northeast corner, behind the building, and can be seen from the street. The plan shows the dumpster enclosure to be constructed of concrete with a brick finish. The brick veneer finish would match the primary building colors. The site storm water runoff would be detained underground. Due to the existing easement hindering the development of the proposed restaurant, the underground storm water system will be altered along the south of the building. The petitioner must provide details of drainage and storm water treatment to the Engineering Department before attaining any building permits. A photometric plan was submitted with several areas that do not comply with the zoning ordinance foot candles. The ordinance discourages the adverse effects of inappropriate lighting. The light trespass from the property shall not exceed 0.5 foot candles. At the property line measured five feet from the ground, the lighting plan shows a maximum of 0.2 foot candles at the property line. The height of the proposed light fixtures is listed as 18 foot poles with a 20 foot mounting height. All light poles should not exceed 20 feet. And for signage, the site would be allowed one ground sign not to exceed 30 square feet in area and six feet in height, with a minimum setback of 10 feet from any right of way. The plan shows an existing ground sign at the site, southwest corner of seven mile along Seven Mile Road. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please. Mr. Uhazie: The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated March 17, 2025, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced petition. We have no objections to the proposed project at this time, but would like to note the following items: 1. The subject parcel is assigned the address of #39200 Seven Mile Road. Should additional addresses be needed, the Owner will need to contact this Department once approvals have been obtained. 2. March 18, 2025 31799 The existing parcel is currently serviced by public sanitary sewer and water main, as well as private storm sewer. The Developer will need to submit full Engineering drawings and calculations to this Department for permitting once approvals for the site plans have been received. Based on the submitted drawings, we have the following comments: i) Sanitary Sewer: The drawings do not include a basis of design for the proposed sanitary sewers, so we are unable to determine if capacity in the existing system is available. Once proposed sanitary sewer flows are provided, we will be able to determine impacts to the existing systems. Also, after relocating the existing sanitary sewer as shown on the proposed drawings, the owner will need to provide easements over the path of the pipe for maintenance as it will be considered public. ii) Storm Sewer: The drawings indicate a private storm system draining into the existing wetland and open drain. Under the previous development to the west, a water quality structure was installed for both sites, so no additional water quality or detention will be required. The Developer will need to obtain a Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control permit from this Department due to the proximity to the existing wetlands. 3. The proposed Landscape Plan indicates the planting of two (2) honey locust trees on the site. We would encourage the developer to choose a different "large" or "medium" tree species from our approved tree list. With the proposed entrance off of Chippewa Drive, the existing tree to the south side of the drive will need to be removed due to the proximity to the proposed curb opening and site distance issues. 4. Any disturbances with the Seven Mile Road right-of-way will require permits through the Wayne County Department of Public Service, including driveway approaches and sidewalk removals and placements." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The next letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated March 6, 2025, which reads as follows: " This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a request to construct a commercial building on the property located at the above referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal with the following stipulations: Per fire codes. -Widths of, and clear access of roadways for emergency vehicles. -Water supply distances (fire hydrants). -Provide permits and official plan sets for kitchen cooking operations. A further detailed plan review will take place when this division receives an official plan set." The letter is signed by Brian Kukla, Fire Marshal. The next letter is from the Division of Police, dated February 26, 2025, which reads as follows: `1 have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. 1 have no objections to the proposal."The letter is signed by Paul Walters, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The next letter is from the Inspection Department, dated March 6, 2025, which reads as March 18, 2025 31800 follows: " Pursuant to your request, the above -referenced Petition has been reviewed. 1. The proposed plan shows E/FS installed at grade level. Planning and /or Council may wish to address this as it is susceptible to moisture damage and physical damage. A more durable product should be installed closer to the grade. 2. The gates on the dumpster enclosure shall be steel. 3. Signage must conform to the sign ordinance, or a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals would be required. This Department has no further objections to this Petition." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Director of Inspection. The next letter is from the Finance Department, dated February 26, 2025, 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 February 26, 2025, which reads as follows: "All taxes are current on the property" The letter is signed by Susie Nash, Treasurer. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any questions for planning staff? Mr. Droze: Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Droze: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Ventura: Mr. Uhazie, one question about what I'm looking at on the screen versus in the packet. I know there was some discussion at our last study session about cross access to Chippewa. Did they, in fact, get that approved that they can now connect to it? I have not heard any updates. That question is for the petitioner. Okay, that was my only question. Thank you. Mr. Droze, any other questions for staff? If not? Mr. Ventura. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Uhazie, at our study session, we talked about the fact that our write up called for or identified the entrance from Seven Mile Road as being limited to right in, right out. And there was some question as to whether or not that, in fact, had been approved that way when the Shake Shack was approved. Have they determined that that is the case. Mr. Uhazie: We've not been able to determine that yet. Mr. Ventura: Okay, thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Ventura. Any other questions for staff? Mr. Droze Mr. Droze: Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Droze: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Ventura: Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Ventura: Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Ventura: Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Wilshaw: March 18, 2025 31801 You mentioned, Mr. Uhazie, in your presentation that the cedar detailing was extended on the facade along the Seven Mile frontage. Is that information available, and maybe the applicant might have that? Well, it is shown in this elevation. lit's not in the renderings, though. I can zoom in. Use a little bit of imagination. Okay, thank you. All right. All set. Very good. Any other questions for staff?, Mr. Chairman, I'm gonna circle back now, question of the elevation and the write up. I'm a little confused here. Help me out. The write up talks about the lower portion of the exterior of the building. The original plans did have E.I.F.S. go all the way down to the to the ground level. That's why the Inspection Department also noted that the E.I.F.S. goes all the way down. We received revised plans that have like a stone veneer along two feet eight inches, replacing that E.I.F.S. along the bottom, but the original... So, the masonry is going to be as shown on the elevation in our package, and not as described. Yes, that was written before the updated elevation plans. And at our at our study session, we asked that additional masonry be added to the elevation of the building. Has that happened anywhere? No, this is all we've received before, as far as updated elevations. Thank you, Mr. Ventura. Mr. Droze, you're okay? All right, very clean. All right. If there's no other questions for planning staff, we'll go to our petitioner. Good evening, sir. Frank Jarbou, Symmetry Management, 812 S. Main St., Ste, 200, Royal, MI. This is a Cava deal, a new fast casual that's coming to town. This would mark, if graciously approved, it would be the sixth store. The first three, one is in downtown Detroit, second would be in Canton and the third is in Novi. We are working on one on 14 and Orchard Lake, and then we're working on one on Hall Road. This would be the sixth one here. So, they're very excited to come to March 18, 2025 31802 the market. Good brand. We've done all of their work so far, you know, as you can see, and I know that a couple different things I want to point out is...Mr. Ventura talked about the stone at the bottom, and what the applicant...this is basically corporate driven. They like the modern look. I'm sure we can work out something, if there's some additional stone that needs to happen. I kind of agree with you a little bitMr. Ventura on that too, as well. A couple other notes I'd like to make is this isn't a typical drive thru window. there is no menu board you can, you know, you can only place orders online, and then you would drive up and pick them up. So not a typical drive thru window, as you would see on other fast casuals. In the civil drawings, it talked about removing one of the trees for the access road to Chippewa. We are very diligently working on getting that access to Chippewa. I think we've made a little bit of headway this week getting that. I, you know, in the fact that we do, I think we would lose three parking spots, which would still keep us in compliant with the development. But other than that, I'd love to answer any questions, any concerns. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay, very good. Yeah, you are over parked slightly, so you would be able to lose those for the drive access. Okay, very good. Any questions for our petitioner? Mr. Droze. Mr. Droze: One question about access. Would that...because I believe there's a cross -access easement for the Shake Shack with that driveway, would they have access all the way to Chippewa drive, or it would just be to the main access point of Seven? Mr. Jarbou: No, that would be a cross access for both restaurants. Mr. Droze: Mr. Jarbou: And then I guess, relative to the, I guess the traffic control concerns about Seven mile, is that something that there could be signage to direct people that you know may want to use Seven mile to pass through, because I don't know if it would be intuitive for people at the Shake Shack necessarily, to continue east. Yeah, we would definitely put up new signage to and to Mr. Ventura's point about the right in, right out on Seven Mile, that's something that we talked about in the planning session, that we would more than happy to try. To put some maybe each put it right in the middle of the island. If they want to drive over it, go for it, you know. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Excellent. Thank you. Mr. Droze, any other questions for our petitioner? Mr. Caramagno. March 18, 2025 31803 Mr. Caramagno: I see the rubbish dumpster. It looks like it's a little over 18 feet wide, and you're going to put two dumpsters in there. Do you need that type of capacity? Mr. Jarbou: What most likely they would probably do is one for recycle and one for rubbish, okay? Mr. Caramagno: And in that, in that case, it looks narrow to have two dumpsters in there and allow for the truck to get in there to service properly. You're talking about 18 feet wide. You're not, not allowing for any room there. And if you look at it on the drawing here, when you, when you have to service that, there's an island that's just to the south of there that's going to interfere with any straight shot in them dumpsters. Can you blow it? Can you blow that up, Jacob? See that island right there, just to the south? Mr. Jarbou: Mr. Caramagno: Mr. Jarbou: Mr. Caramagno: Mr. Jarbou: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Jarbou: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Jarbou: Yes. So that's going to be...it's gonna be a bad situation. They'll be on your grass or whatever you've got planted there all the time. So either that thing needs to be clocked a little bit to get a straight shot and perhaps made a little wider, or you're gonna wind up having gate damage and all kinds of trouble there. We'll definitely take a look at that. Definitely. I mean, we normally put a truck radius on that. I haven't seen the plan with the truck radius, and we'll definitely take a look at that. Yeah, I guess I got some experience with this and that does not appear to have enough to avoid doing damage. I'll tell you that. Yeah, we'll definitely take a look at that. Okay, Appreciate that. Thank you. You're definitely looking at an expert in that. Yeah, I know that. All right, any other questions for a petitioner? No other questions for our petitioner. Is there anyone in the audience wish to speak for or against this petition? No one jumping up. Anything else you'd like to tell us before we make our decision? No, we're not new to the to the community. We've known...we were the...we did the development on Middlebelt and Plymouth with the "ghost grocer" that's yet to take occupancy. You know, I March 18, 2025 31804 like to say that publicly, because I can't say their name publicly. So, we're not new to the community. We've done this time and time again. We're also the developers, actually the general contractor that built the Aldi locally. Mr. Wilshaw: All right, very good. Well, thank you for coming tonight and working with us on this item. We'II see what the decision is here. Thank you. If there's no other comments or questions, I'll close the public hearing, and a motion is in order. On a motion by Droze, seconded by Ventura, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-08-2025 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on February 4, 2025, on Petition 2025-02-02-05 submitted by Symmetry Management requesting waiver use approval under Sections 3.11 and 6.51 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to construct a 2,515- square foot, full -service restaurant with drive-thru facilities at 39200 Seven Mile Road, located at the northeast corner of Seven Mile and Haggerty Roads in the Southwest % of Section 6, be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the Site Plan identified as Sheet Number C-2 prepared by Stonefield Engineering & Design., dated February 14, 2025, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 2. That the Landscape Plan identified as Sheet Number C-7 and the Landscape Notes and Detail Plan identified as Sheet Number C-8, prepared by Stonefield Engineering & Design., dated February 14, 2025, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 3. This waiver use is granted to this petitioner only, and any new user of this property is required to seek and receive City Council's consent to such user's operating the subject facility prior to occupancy by such user; 4. That the subject site has the capacity to accommodate the proposed use; 5. That appropriate recordable legal instrumentation, such as a cross -parking agreement, that gives notice and outlines the terms of how the subject property(s) would share parking and access, be supplied to the City; March 18, 2025 31805 6. That the walls of the dumpster enclosure shall be constructed out of the same brick used in the construction of the building and when not in use closed at all times; 7. That the petition work with the Planning Department to adjust the dumpster location to allow more direct garbage truck access; 8. That this approval is subject to the petitioner being granted a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals for excess signage and any conditions related thereto; 9. That items specified in the correspondence dated March 3, 2025 from the Department of Public Works shall be resolved to that department's satisfaction; 10. That items specified in the correspondence dated March 6, 2025 from the Inspections Department shall be resolved to the department's satisfaction; 11. That a trash receptacle shall be provided for the outdoor patio area and shall be emptied regularly as needed; 12. That a greenspace buffer should be planted around the outdoor patio to the satisfaction of the Planning Department; 13. That additional masonry elements be added to the facade to the satisfaction of the Planning Department; 14. That the petitioner will work with the Planning Department and Engineering Department to further restrict left turns on to Seven Mile Road; 15. That the hours of operation of the interior restaurant and drive -up window shall be limited to no later than midnight on Sunday through Thursday and no later than 2:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday; 16. That the specific plans referenced in this approving resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department at the time the building permits are applied for; and 17. Pursuant to Section 19.10 of Ordinance No. 543, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Livonia, this approval is valid for a period of one year only from the date of approval by the City Council, and unless a building permit is March 18, 2025 31806 obtained and construction is commenced, this approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said period. FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 13.13 of Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to the City Council with an approving resolution. ITEM #3 PETITION 2025-02-08-01 One Hundred West Apts. Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2025- 02-08-01 submitted by Robertson Brothers Homes requesting site plan approval under an amended Consent Judgment to construct a residential townhouse development consisting of fifteen (15) buildings and a total of one hundred (100) dwelling units on the properties at 37640 Seven Mile Road located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between Victor Parkway and Newburgh Road in the Southeast'/ of Section 26. Mr. Uhazie: The subject site consists of two parcels that total 10.18 acres and currently sit vacant, located at the corner of Seven Mile and Victor Parkway. The subject parcels are zoned RUF (Rural Urban Farm), but the site has a long legal history that includes a consent judgment with several amendments. Multi -family housing on the site is allowed under the consent judgment, which was approved by City Council on December 13, 2023 The site also qualifies as a brownfield due to arsenic and selenium found there. Moreover, test boring throughout the site reveal significant areas of organic peat and other poor soils. The submitted site plans are consistent with the conceptual plans approved in the amended consented judgment. The number of units per building ranges from four to eight. The buildings are arranged around an internal private road system and generally arranged in a figure eight pattern. A single drive from Victor Parkway would serve the development at a point roughly 250 feet north of Seven Mile Road. Following best access management practices, the proposed site driveway is aligned with an opening in the median opposite the existing STM microelectronics driveway on the west of Victor Parkway. The buildings along the perimeter have fronts facing Seven Mile Road to the south, Victor Parkway to the west, and the drainage course March 18, 2025 31807 to the north, and the stormwater detention pond to the east. As authorized in the amended consent judgment, building number 11 at the property southwest corner is approximately eight feet from the right of way of both Seven Mile Road and Victor Parkway. In the southeast corner, building number six is shown 15 feet from the right of way of Seven Mile and the minimum spacing between buildings would be 15 feet. This complies with the amended consent judgment. Parking of the site is located between the rear of the buildings, which has a distance of 48 feet, sufficient for 24 foot wide, two way drive aisles and perpendicular parking on one side, but not both. Including the garages, total parking is 234 equal to 2.34 spaces per unit. Additional parking is shown in other areas, including along Horizon Way between building number 13 and 15 and Lester Drive between buildings number 7, 9, 10, and 14. Sidewalks are provided throughout the site. The network of walks is interconnected between the fronts of the buildings, including the courtyard along the major roads and extending north across the drainage within what is labeled as the northern park amenity. The area north of the drainage course was recently acquired and comprises approximately 3.79 acres, all of which would remain undeveloped. The landscape plan shows a passive recreational amenity, including an unpaved aggregate walking path, seating, and natural landscaping plants. Storm water from the development would be directed into an open detention basin in the site's southeast corner, adjacent to Seven Mile Road. The basin's location is logically based on the site's topography and the fact that it is at the downstream end of the drainage course. It roughly measures 18,530 square feet in surface area. The basin would be maintained with seed mix of native grasses and intended to be left natural instead of manicured. Landscaping plans show compliance with Section 10.03 regarding minimum frontage landscaping, parking lot landscaping, green belt buffering and open landscaping requirements. The plant schedule identifies 11 different species, including a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees. One note from Engineering is the request to remove the pine trees in the east right-of-way, and diversify the species listed from just maples. The town homes include 65 two bedroom and 35 three -bedroom units for 100 apartment dwellings. The overall density drops to 9.82 dwelling units per acre, which qualifies the site under a medium density residential land use classification. As a comparison, the density of the recently approved townhome apartment development at Seven Mile and Farmington Roads is 14.97 dwelling units per acre. Building lot coverage for 100 West is listed at 14%. There are two primary unit types listed, a two - bedroom apartment called the Davenport and the three -bedroom unit called the Sherwood. Both models will have three levels. The Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Uhazie: March 18, 2025 31808 three -bedroom units are 20 feet wide and offer a two -car garage, whereas the two -bedroom units are 16 feet wide and provide only one car garage. Regarding the four area, three -bedroom units would contain 1,644 square feet of living space and the two bedroom apartments would contain 1,327 square feet. The ground floor of the units contains the garage, utility closet, flex room and foyer. A staircase from the ground floor provides access to the second floor, which contains the living room, kitchen, dining, pantry, closet and powder room. The second level measures 680 square feet on the three -bedroom unit, and 548 square feet on the two bedroom unit. Every apartment would have a deck balcony supported by columns located off the living room accessible by a door wall. The third floor includes the bedrooms, laundry closet and two full baths. The building height is approximately 29 feet from the finished grade of to the eaves. The peaked roofs have a relatively shallow pitch. The primary exterior building materials are face brick and hardy siding for the walls and asphalt shingles for the roofs. Per the consent judgment, brick covers the lower level, except for the door, window and garage openings. It also covers the garage half of the second level on the end units and the insets between the units extending to the second level. Hardy siding covers the upper two floors to the rear of the building. It's also shown on the front side and side elevations along portions of the first and second levels of the buildings. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Yes, please. The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated February 28, 2025, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced petition. We have no objections to the proposed project at this time, but would like to note the following items: 1. The subject parcels are assigned the addresses of#37640 Seven Mile Road and #19290 Victor Parkway. Should additional addresses be needed, the Owner will need to contact this Department once approvals have been obtained. 2. The existing parcel is currently serviced by public sanitary sewer, storm sewer and water main. The Developer will need to submit full Engineering drawings and calculations to this Department for permitting once approvals for the site plans have been received. Based on the submitted drawings, we have the following comments: 0 Sanitary Sewer The drawings do not include a basis of design for the proposed sanitary sewers, so we are unable to determine if capacity in the existing system is available. Once proposed sanitary sewer flows are provided, we will be able March 18, 2025 31809 to determine impacts to the existing systems. Also, since ownership of the project is continuing under one entity, the sanitary sewer system will remain private, and not public as shown. ii) Water Main: The drawings indicate a public water main with a single feed from Victor Parkway. If the water main is going to be dedicated to the public, we would require a looped system to be fed from the Seven Mile Road water main as well as the proposed Victor Parkway connection. If the main has only one feed and is servicing a single property, it will be considered private. iii) Storm Sewer: The drawings indicate a private storm system draining into the existing wetland and open drain. The drawings do indicate detention is being provided, but no calculations are included. During permitting, we will be reviewing the proposed system to ensure that it conforms to the Wayne County Storm Water requirements. Also, the Developer will need to obtain permits from EGLE for discharging the storm system to the wetlands. 3. Due to the proximity of the site entrance to the Seven Mile Road and Victor Parkway intersection, additional signage may be required to prevent vehicles from blocking the northbound Victor Parkway lanes when existing the site. We would request that the Traffic Commission review the proposed layout, and determine any additional signage or turn movement restrictions that may be needed. 4. The proposed Landscape Plan indicates that the existing trees along Victor Parkway are to be saved. We would like to request that the removal of the existing pine trees on the east side of the roadway as they are not a permitted right-of-way tree, and are currently outgrowing the greenbelt areas. Also, we like to request that the Developer add additional species of trees off of our approved species list, instead of the heavy reliance on two species of Maples. We would prefer to have four or five varieties of trees to provide more diversity. 5. Any disturbances with the Seven Mile Road right-of-way will require permits through the Wayne County Department of Public Service, including driveway approaches and sidewalk removals and placements. Please note that removals of the existing approaches and replacement of the curbs at the openings will be required for the Seven Mile Road frontage." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The next letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated March 14, 2025, which reads as follows: This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a request to construct a residential building (townhomes) on the property located at the above referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal with the following stipulations: 1. Two separate roadways are required for entry and egress into the complex. Alleviates traffic issues involving the entry/egress of multiple emergency vehicles during a largescale incident. 2. Assess andaccommodate roadways for March 18, 2025 31810 turn radius of the fire departments largest fire suppression (Tower) truck. See attached. 3. Code will need to be researched and provided by the builder and/or a licensed, certified architect for the potentially required install of residential sprinklers for townhomes. A further detailed plan review will take place when this division receives an official plan set" The letter is signed by Brian Kukla, Fire Marshal. The next letter is from the Division of Police, dated February 26, 2025, which reads as follows: `1 have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. I have no objections to the proposal."The letter is signed by Paul Walters, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The next letter is from the Inspection Department, dated March 12, 2025, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above -referenced petition has been reviewed. This Department has no objections to this petition." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Director of Inspection. The next letter is from the Finance Department, dated February 26, 2025, which reads as follows: "/ 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 February 26, 2025, which reads as follows: `All taxes are current on the property" The letter is signed by Susie Nash, Treasurer. The last letter is from the Department of Assessment, dated February 26, 2025, and it reads: "Plans have been submitted by Robertson Brothers Homes requesting site plan approval to construct a residential townhouse development fifteen (15) buildings on two parcels at 37640 Seven Mile (Parcel # 024-99-0016-007) and 19290 Victor Parkway (parcel # 024-99-0016-008). The Department of Assessment recommends these parcels should be combined. Also, please note each parcel is under different ownership. Please direct any questions to the Assessor's Office or Livonia.gov for the lot split and combination process." That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions for the Planning Director? Mr. Droze: Mr. Uhazie: There was a comment in the fire department letter regarding two points of access. Is that...has that been shared with the applicant? Is that something that can be worked out, or is that... I believe they've had discussions, and that is something they are working on, but we have not seen updated plans yet. I believe they are aware of it. March 18, 2025 31811 Mr. Droze: Okay. Thank you. Nothing further. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Mr. Droze. Any other questions for planning staff, if not, if the petitioners in the audience, feel free to come forward. Tim Walker, Vice President of land acquisition for Robertson Brothers Homes. Wwith me tonight is Darian Neubecker, our President and Jack Flynn, our land analyst. We are partnering on the site with Etkin, who's the property owner of the property to the south, and then we are under contract for the property the north as well. So, I do have a presentation I'd like to run through it if you would be okay with that. I can answer some of the questions you probably have as well already asked some of them, and I think we can answer it if that's okay. So Jacob, 1 don't know if you have it up. Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Walker: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Walker: Just give me one second. We will get the PowerPoint up, and you can walk him through it. Appreciate it. He is good at changing slides at the appropriate moments. I'm glad 1 brought a copy up here, because I would not be able to see that. All right, perfect. Thank you. So, we're calling the project 100 West. We're not all that creative on our projects. There's 100 units, sort of the west side of the city. The site context, I think everybody's familiar with the site. There's a long history on the project which Jacob went through some of it. Obviously, Mark has gone through with you as well. I'm not going to get in all the details on that, but just from a context and surrounding land uses, it really kind of is a mixed bag. You've got a lot of office. You've got a lot of retail. So, you've got a daycare, and then you have some residential as well. So, it's sort of a transitional land use between all of those on the property, which we were really excited about, and, of course, easy access to 1-275, as well. We did have a neighborhood meeting a couple of weeks ago. Well, about 12 people showed up, and we had a pretty good meeting over there at the main library, and answered a lot of questions and got to know the group a little bit. And we've actually offered to have continual conversations with them as far as neighborly issues, as far as potential screening and things like that. So, the site plan, I know Jacob had gone over it a little bit, but a couple things 1 want to point out. There is that single entrance on Victor Parkway, and it's really where the opening is in the median already, so it just made sense to do that. We did not want to have a second access on Seven Mile. 1 don't think the city wanted it either. 1 don't think March 18, 2025 31812 MDOT wants it. There is an existing driveway. There were multiple ones. There's only one existing driveway now. We have had conversations with fire recently, since the study session and they have preliminary signed off on a emergency vehicle access on seven mile where the existing driveway is. So we'll have those conversations with MDOT to make sure that's still something that that's acceptable. We're proposing it as only an emergency vehicle access. So that would be essentially just... do you see where building seven is. I don't know if you can see it any better than I can, but where building seven is, which is the second building from the right, just really south of that, to the West, a little bit. That's where that comes in. And then we've worked with the fire marshal on access as well for the fire trucks and it meets that. So that just happened recently. These units, and I'll get into this floor plans a little bit here, but they are unstacked, so it's not a typical...these are for rent, but it's not your typical apartment. It's not like a garden style apartment where people are living on top of each other. It's not that at all. They are three story, but you own basically all three stories. Every unit has a single car garage or two car garages. That's part of the unit itself, and then there's guest parking as well. I do say 2.34 units are spaces per units can be a little bit less than that, because we have to remove some spaces for the emergency vehicle access. We would ask, and I know Mark has, I think, put in a condition of approval that we would continue to work with planning staff on that emergency vehicle access. Obviously, you've got the daycare to the right as well. We're buffered from that. And another thing to really point out is that passive park amenity area, when we first started looking at this and going through the consent judgment amendment process, we did not have that. I think the city had asked us to take a look at that and see if there's something we could acquire. It is buildable to some degree, about really the bottom right corner is buildable. Otherwise, there's a quite a bit of a buffer to the neighborhood to the north, as required, and then an unbuildable area to the west as part of the consent judgment. There's actually a deed restriction we're proposing. We're not going to build on this at all. So, what you see is what we're showing. It'll be a passive park. We might have some kind of light amenities there, but the purpose really is to have some clarity for our neighbors and have some clarity for us, because were going to own this as an apartment. We want to make sure there's nothing coming that's objectionable to us to the north as well. So, it just made sense for all the parties involved. So that's our plan. Is to integrate it and just be open space and never be developed. This is a slide that just shows just how far we are really from the neighbors. We showed this in the neighborhood meeting. It's almost 500 feet from the back of the closest home to where our March 18, 2025 31813 closest unit is, so that's obviously quite a bit of distance, plus a lot of green space in between. So, we feel that this is obviously an appropriate buffer to that, and I think a lot of them did appreciate the open space that that we're providing to the north of that. And I also show the elevations on it. We do drop quite a bit from where they're out. So they're much higher up, so we're going to be lower in that respect. As it gets down, it really goes from 755 it drops about 20 plus feet, which is pretty significant. So, this next slide here came about from the study session, and one of the things we thought was a very good suggestion, was potentially massaging that corner to see if we can do something with that that makes it more usable, more user friendly. We have looked at that we really can't make it work without losing a unit or two, and even losing one unit, it's and that's what I'm showing on the top right. It's very difficult to do that, just the configuration of it and being able to put all that in there. We had our engineer look at that. We want to keep, we want to continue, to still explore this. And I know Mark, I think he put a condition of approval to keep working with planning staff to try to do something similar to that, but again, where we may have to pick up a unit or two somewhere else to make that work, or, you know, maybe shift these buildings around. So, we'd ask that we'd be able to work with staff on, you know, potentially doing something like that, because we do think that's a good idea. The bottom part is just to kind of show there really is screening already on Victor Parkway. I'm not sure if that one of the comments from engineering was to remove all of that, but we think that's a nice buffer, even if we can't do anything at the corner that blocks that side. So that's why I took a picture there. There's some pretty mature trees along Victor Parkway existing. So, I'll go quickly on these slides because I don't know how relevant it is. Other than, again, we have a hodgepodge of different uses. We've got rural neighborhood zoning to the north, but also C-4r height commercial. So, it is kind of interesting the mix in this area. So again, that just kind of speaks to the transitional use that we're providing. There is a consent judgment on all of the two parcels that we're buying, plus also that daycare was part of the original consent judgment. So, I just wanted to point that out that that's kind of the reference of the land zoning, and then the land use, next one, please. Again, just shows the right now in future, land uses is commercial. So that's obviously more intense than what we're proposing. There's a lot of that around there as well, regional commercial, corridor commercial. Next slide. So, I just wanted to get quickly on the summary. It's 10 acres, a little bit over 10 acres total. Again, under 10 units per acre. Consent judgment is the zoning. The consent judgment actually was amended for exactly what we're proposing. So, the exact plan actually...so this has been vetted out by the City March 18, 2025 31814 Council, but obviously we wanted to make sure that you as a Planning Commission had the ability to weigh in on certain things, which you did, and we've certainly looked at it. It's kind of a buzz word, missing middle. It is, I think, important. It's something that you don't have much of in your community as you've matured. It's something that I think is needed in your community. You know, we're actually building the Asian village in Novi right now. It's a similar type of product that this is, and we just think...we've actually had very successful sale... rents there recently. I think we have our first people moving this month, and they're really looking for that type of flexibility, but also quality home. It's not a typical apartment. It's really a home that you can rent. They're about 1,330 square feet to about 1,600 square feet, and again, that's one car and two car unit attached. And then open space at...we typically don't have 68% open space on our projects. It's a lot of open space, and I think it really does kind of fit in well. And it's not just the open space in north we have the open space, as you saw on the site plan, in between the buildings as well, which creates kind of a gathering area that's been really useful on the projects that we've built, the town home projects. And I mentioned before, the height, three stories and 35 feet to the midpoint would be the max. The next slide here just kind of shows some of those things. But I wanted to hit really on housing option. We do think that this is something that Livonia could really use, as far as bringing those people in that don't have that type of option, or looking for quality housing for rent. But we'll have screening along Seven Mile, the park amenities is huge, and then the buffer area to the neighboring properties, which I think they do appreciate. The next slide, again, I didn't want to get in the history too much, but there's been a lot proposed on this site. You know, obviously the four-story apartment buildings didn't go too well, but there's been a lot of proposals on it, and we feel that what we're proposing really is kind of the, I think the best use, as far as trying to learn from the mistakes of the previous plans and provide something that's needed in the community. And I only have a couple more, I swear. Some of the highlights, again, we really...when Etkin and Robertson teamed up on this, we really wanted to study the site and understand what's best for the site. Obviously, the office market just is not there. It's not going to come back, probably for a long time. Didn't make sense to do any kind of industrial type of use. Didn't really feel like a retail site. I think maybe it could then, but we all really kind of felt that this would be the best use for it. It's a walkable, inviting community. We've got sidewalks throughout, plus the connection to the north, which is, is more than we typically do, and I think that that's a great amenity for it. And then I'II hit on it again. That open space to the north, I think, is a real, you know, shining spot of the of the March 18, 2025 31815 proposal. The next slide here, it had come up in the study session. So, we had...we've added another color pack, and just so it's not all one color scheme as that's something that I think was important to you. First of all, these colors don't come out great on these renderings. So that's why I have a color of the actual home that we're proposing, which we're building right now in Pittsfield township in the Ann Arbor School District. You can see that brick is a lot darker and a lot richer and comes out a lot better than the pink on the top left. We're showing another color pack to the right there, it's coming out a little bit yellow, but it's more of a gray look. So it you've got kind of a contrast between the red brick and the gray brick, which I think will be a really good addition to, rather than all the same color scheme we could introduce that we can go from one color to the next color, from building to building, if that's something I think. Probably makes the most sense. And then just quickly on the floor plans, Jacob went over this already, but I think what is important again, you don't have anybody living on top of each other, and it is very wide open. So, if you come to some of our townhome communities, you'll see, you get, you get up to that second floor, and it's just wide open with Windows. And that's something people are really looking for in their in their homes, and then all of them have the either two bedroom or three bedroom on the third floor, you know. Well see...we typically, with this type of rental, you'll see anyone from young couples, young professionals, could be singles. Could be divorcees. We see a lot of age targeted, if you will, kind of early downsizing couples and anything in between. And we will...we do see families as well, especially in our three bedrooms. So, we think we'll kind of have a spectrum of users in the community that you just wouldn't normally get in just a typical garden style apartment. So, that's it. The last slide is just the site plan. So, we're happy to be here, happy to take any kind of feedback, but hopefully you can see we try to address some of that, and we're really excited to hopefully get started this year. So thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Walker. You've certainly covered a lot of information and hopefully answered some of our questions already, although I'm sure we'll have some additional ones of your team. So, let's see if there's any questions for you. Ms. Dinaro: You did answer a lot of my questions, but the one question you haven't answered is, what kind of environmental remediation are you doing on the site? Mr. Walker: Yeah, so that's a good question. So, we have challenges with the ground itself, the soils itself. There was some environmental Ms. Dinaro: Mr. Walker: Ms. Dinaro: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Long: Mr. Walker: Mr. Long: Mr. Walker: March 18, 2025 31816 contamination because it was basically a fill location, so we have gone through the Brownfield process for that. In addition, there was some peat we had to deal with, and of course, the fill so we have to have some extra deep foundations to handle that. We'II take a lot of it off site to a class two landfill, and then obviously, work with environmental professionals to make sure that everything's remediated per the brownfield plan, which has been approved. Great and EGLE is involved in in the remediation? Of course, yes, they're involved in the whole process, you know, from the start to finish. So yes. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Dinaro. Any other questions of our petitioner? Mr. Long. Thank you for your presentation. You mentioned at the end there kind of your target market of who you plan to market these things to. Can you talk a little bit about the process, the decision process, of what made you land on rental units versus a condo? Sure, so we build more for sale, and we don't own the property, it's Etkin, and, you know, in discussions with them, you know, they really build long-term assets. So that really was a condition of us getting involved with Ekin on the property. It's something that's important to them to have a long-term asset. So, we think there's certainly a market for that. We obviously could have gone either way, but as far as the proposal we have here, this is, again, what our partners are looking at as the landowner, and we also feel that there's quite a market there for either but especially for rentals. I know that we're still early in the process, but what's the anticipated rental for these units? Well, probably in the neighborhood of, you know, $2,100 to $2,500 I'm sure by the time we open it'll be above that, but that's what our best guess is. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Mr. Long. Any other questions of our petitioner? Mr. Caramagno: Guess I will ask the same questions I had earlier. Management of the property. Who will be the overall manager of the property facilities? Upkeep. Mr. Walker: March 18, 2025 31817 We'll have a third party management company that we will hire. That's what we're doing with our Novi site. So, it's not anything that's atypical in that respect. We don't...Robertson doesn't, we don't do our own management, so we'll have a third party manager, just like we do on our Novi project. Mr. Caramagno: Who do you use in other projects? Who do you use to manage It? Mr. Walker: Pm sorry. KMG. Mr. Caramagno: KMG, does your properties? Mr. Walker: Yes. Mr. Caramagno: Okay, they take care of everything, A to Z? Mr. Walker: Yes. Mr. Caramagno: I don't see any dumpster enclosures. What's the plan for garbage and recycle here? Mr. Walker: It's a fantastic question. I should have touched on that. So our town homes are not like, again, a typical apartment where you would have a dumpster. So, what we do is we have recycling and trash in each garage, and it's brought out on trash day, just like a single family. So, half the communities we build in, and I don't know what Livonia would do here, but half our communities the city does provide that service, the other half the HOA does. So, we'll either way, we'll figure that out. But they would be trash and recycle in the garage, and they would take it out on trash day. Mr. Caramagno: Okay, good. Any other amenities outdoors, other than that walkway? Anything else you would put into this property for leisure? Mr. Walker: So, we will vet out those areas in between. We typically do things, as far as you know, having outdoor grills and seating areas and like that. So, we will flush that out more as we get into the final site plan. And then for the northern section, we were thinking something like maybe a bean toss area, something like that, where it's, you know, not it's active, but it's not necessarily something that's going to cause any commotion. So those are the things we're thinking about. Mr. Caramagno: Good. Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Walker: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Walker: Mr. Wilshaw: March 18, 2025 31818 Thank you. Mr. Caramagno, any other questions? Mr. Walker, is this going to be a pet friendly property as well? Yeah, that's one of the reasons why we did, like the northern section, people could walk their dogs. I know that's something that would be very useful for that. We'll probably have pet stations along that. That's something I'm sure we'll end up doing so of course, that's something that, again, with this product, you can have a pet that you can walk. So, okay, so you may need to provide a trash can in that area as well. I'm sure that...yes, and I can certainly put that down as a as a reminder for our team. Very good. Thank you. Yes. Any other questions from the Commission. If not, I'll go to our audience. Anyone in our audience wishing to speak on this item, either for or against, feel free to come forward to our podium and let us know your thoughts. Rick Rondy, 37793 Northland, Livonia, MI. I am directly behind this project. I mean, I have some concerns with it, but I also understand that, you know, we live in a capitalist society, and they have a right to make a profit with their real estate. I'm not thrilled about a three-story structure behind my house. You know, the added traffic, all these things. But what makes it palatable, frankly, for me, is that they've expressed a willingness to not build between the stream and north of that. My question is, if they're sincere about that, what can be done to ensure that nobody ever builds there. Can it be a deed restriction? Can the city impose something because they're developers? They're going to develop this. They could sell it five years from now, and the next guy comes in and looks at it and says, oh, what a nice piece of property. These houses, you know, these apartments, worked out good. We'll put, you know, five more buildings in there. So just wondering what can be done with that process again, if they're sincere with that? Mr. Wilshaw: That's an excellent question. And what we're approving with this petition tonight is a site plan. So that is the overall plan for the site. If the site plan were to change in terms of any significant alterations, such as adding additional buildings in the area, it would require that they come back to the city requesting an amendment or change to that site plan. So, you would see this process occur again publicly if there were any significant Mr. Rondy: Mr. Wilshaw: March 18, 2025 31819 changes. It sounds like from at least the verbal assurances that they made at this meeting that they don't have that intent to do that, but that's currently the process, and they wouldn't be able to just pop some additional buildings up without us approving them at this stage of the game. I've been living there probably 25 years, and I think this is the fourth or fifth meeting I've come to on that property. I think if you can keep me from coming to any more meetings that would be great. Understood, definitely understood, Mr. Rondy. Well, thank you. Thank you for your comments. Any other people? Certainly, yeah, feel free. Darian Neubecker, President Robertson Homes. So, one of the commitments we made in our neighbor meeting, and actually I've been in drug correspondence with Mark Taormina is we will explore and we will commit to either revising a deed. We're going to do the simplest way to put a permanent deed restriction in place that doesn't allow us or any future developers. So, I want to bottom line that that won't happen, and we will commit as part, either through an amendment to the approval or I...just know that I've had those conversations, and we are going to certainly put a deed restriction in place. We're trying to figure out the easiest way, whether we modify conservation easement or deed restrictions, but there will be something that will not allow this to come back. Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Neubecker: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Schafer: Mr. Wilshaw: So, we appreciate you making that comment publicly. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Any other folks in our audience wishing to speak for or against. Go ahead, sir. Good evening again. Thank you. I like to say that the renderings look very nice, so I'd be in favor of that. One of the questions that I have is you mentioned in terms of a medium density property and a number of 14, does that include the north parcel as well? Like, is it really a higher density and just because the park is behind it? Does that average it out to medium density? Let me go to Mr. Uhaiie to answer that question. The density is... we rate it in the city, Is that taking into account the entire parcel, or just the buildable area? March 18, 2025 31820 Mr. Uhazie: This one, I believe it's taken into the entire parcel, all the parcels owned by the site. So, it'd be all to the north, as well. Mr. Schafer: Okay, yeah, because it seems like it's kind of cheating the system of having a medium density, if they're building on half of it in higher density, and then having no density over in the northern half Mr. Wilshaw: Understood. Mr. Schafer: And I mean, I don't know where exactly to voice this, not on this particular project, but it seems like in the city, they're going in higher and higher density. And I'm opposed to that. I'm opposed to third, three story high buildings, let alone four-story high buildings. I think the gentleman's comment earlier about, okay, so this is set up now and then. What's to stop somebody from coming in in the future, not speaking against you personally, but that's exactly what we're talking about that Livonia Woods property. We have four-story tall apartments, and now they grab the land just south of that in two parcels that's fairly small and skinny and are going to shoehorn in a couple more four story apartments. I do not like the direction that the city is going and using these properties for that. These are private properties, I understand, and I know that there's a vision to go forward, and, you know, build more of these type of properties for the city. But as far as public properties, I would be very, very against density properties in that manner. Mr. Wilshaw: Understood. Thank you for your comments. Hi, good evening. Ma'am. Vicky Johnson, 32209 Jamison Court, Livonia, MI. The city is going to you know where. Rentals everywhere. Nobody's really investing in the city. A rental fly by night. People come in here and there, empty, empty apartments. Might as well put up another drive-thru fast food or another car wash. Disgusting, just disgusting. And it's not even...it's not even pretty. It kind of looks like a gulag. Thanks. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you for your comments. We appreciate that. Any other folks wishing to speak, please come forward. Diana Babcock, 18320, Glastonbury. I'm in the subdivision right across from where this is going to be. My concern is traffic, like people coming out of Parkway, Victory Park, going across Seven Mile to miss the Seven Mile traffic. They're cutting through our subdivision, going very fast, and I think that's going to become a problem even worse than it is today. March 18, 2025 31821 Mr. Wilshaw: Okay, thank you for your comments. Diane Orou, 19069 Glengarry Drive, Livonia, MI. I'm the first house across from where they're going to build us. We can't be...we have kids playing in the street and with that many cars or that many places being built for apartment rentals, our streets can become a turn around. I just don't want to see it. We've got to find something else for that corner, and not apartments. The traffic is horrible on Seven Mile so I'm against it. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. I appreciate those comments. Tim Orou, 19069 Glengarry Drive, Livonia, MI. I live at the same address, and first off, thank you for getting rid of the house behind me. As you remember from the last meeting. I agree with my wife. It is right now the traffic's very heavy. The Seven Mile area, right by the light, lot of traffic accidents. And probably should do some research, see how many accidents we have. I take 1-275 to work. And if I don't leave by 6:30 I have a very difficult time turning left. So, if we're going to be adding and I know they're calling it a fire entrance off a Seven Mile. If that's actually going to be a way to the apartments, that's probably going to increase more traffic, more left turns. That's really a big concern, more so than what the planning is to have the apartments there, but I would, I'm also against it, but really it's the noise is so bad right now, and then the additional traffic. And I would guess you'd have more accidents in that area. But I mean, you do what you do, but I'm not as opposed to the apartments, as much as I am with the traffic, the noise, and as my wife mentioned, we get a lot of turnarounds. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay, yeah, I'm hearing about traffic concerns from multiple residents here. As far as the actual entrance on, you know, directly to Seven Mile that would... if that was required as part of an emergency entrance for fire vehicles, it would be secured in some way so that wouldn't be publicly accessible. Mr. Orou: Mr. Wilshaw: If there was only that, or if it was an actual entrance into the apartments. That's where, that's part I didn't quite understand, right? Yeah, I think it's just strictly as an emergency entrance. So, it'd be restricted in some way, either a gate or what have you. We'll talk to the petitioner about that. Mr. Orou: March 18, 2025 31822 I mean, that's really, eventually somebody's going to have to do something to that property. We get that, it's just...take everything else in into consideration, and maybe there's some alternate ways we can reduce the traffic in the north. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay, understood. Thank you, sir. Vicki Oliver, 18414 Glastonbury, Livonia, MI. It's the subdivision across Seven Mile from the proposed development. And I just want to say, you know, like when you enter our sub from Seven Mile, there's the partition in the middle. I see so many cars just pull in and turn around and go out because they don't want to make the left-hand turn, or they don't want to. You know, everything's backed up. Coming up Newburgh I have seen the left turn lane backed up almost to Caliburn to turn left on the Seven Mile and 100 more homes, residents are going to make the traffic so much worse. I usually come Blue Skies if I'm going to turn left, because I can't turn left from Glengarry as it is, and just from my house to get to Target can take almost 15 minutes sometimes. And you know how far that is from Seven Mile and Victor Parkway to Target. It's not very far, but between the lights and the traffic all backed up, and now you're putting in yet another restaurant there. I just see traffic, traffic nightmare, that's and they do...l see the cars also race through our subdivision to avoid Seven Mile and Newburgh, thank you. John Fitch, 37773 Northland, Livonia, MI. Before I start yelling about how much I don't want it, I would say that I've been talking a lot with the people that are building. They have been trying to work with us, but it's still a three-story high brick wall you're putting across my backyard. That's been a beautiful nature spot. One of the things that got me there. I'm not a big fan of the design that they're showing for these condos. I mean, down the street, just by the post hall, we've got beautiful condos over there. These look more like my army barracks, and I don't want to pick on them, but I've told them that too. Traffic's a big, really, big concern. And like they mentioned before, appreciate the fact they plan to keep a green area there, but I don't know how long they'll be there. Buildings get built, they move out. Next guy comes in and wants to build, and if that green space is the way you're going to approve this, is that going to lock that green space in so that five years from now, when somebody else buys it and wants to build it, you go through this whole thing again and then tell me, well, now the green space ain't as important as it was when you approved this. So now I think we got way too much traffic over there, but understand we're going to build something. I'd prefer if it was real condos and not rentals, because to me, that just looks like an apartment building, March 18, 2025 31823 and I'm going to be looking at it from now on, instead of what I'm looking at now. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you very good. Thank you, sir. Anyone else wishing to speak? Mr. Wilshaw Hi, good evening, sir. Dave Osmond. I live in the Caliburn Manor subdivision as well, right across from this facility. Traffic, as everybody said, is probably our biggest concern. Right now, at certain times, rush hour, morning, evening, that Seven Mile is crazy. And now, in addition to what you guys are, what is being proposed at the other end of our sub we have all the pre-K traffic as well. They just put that in. So, there is this conversion of different traffic problems that are going to be huge for us. I mean, we bought these houses to live and enjoy, okay? And if you have to just, you know, try to get in and out of your sub in traffic, it's just not fun anymore. It's just not a place to be. Livonia is an amazing community, and we want to keep it that way. Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Osmond. Anyone else wishing to speak? (Someone from the audience is speaking from the seat) Mr. Wilshaw: Ma'am, could we ask that you just come to the microphone to speak, just so that we can get your comments on the record. We do have a vast TV audience that would like to hear you as well. Usually about three to five people watching. Good evening. Ann Sante!, 18325 Glastonbury, Livonia, MI. I'm on the corner of the intersection where people are short cutting through, and the traffic in the two years I've been there has probably tripled already, and to think of another 100 families moving in and using it and abusing it is just deplorable. I'm concerned about our property values being devalued, which is going to affect the income for the city long term. So, I feel like that is just a terrible use of our of the land, okay. Mr. Wilshaw: Well, thank you for coming up and giving your comments. Anyone else wishing to speak? I think that covers everybody. Thank you for those comments. And I'm going to ask that Mr. Walker come back if he would like to address any of the items that were raised, especially regarding traffic concerns, which is certainly one of the primary concerns I think that we've heard this evening. Mr. Walker:' March 18, 2025 31824 Yeah, of course. And I appreciate the opportunity, so I appreciate all the comments. You know, obviously something's going to be built, there, and it's just at a corner of a major intersection along a busy commercial corridor. So, no matter what, something will happen that will generate traffic, you're not going to have everybody rushing at the exact same time. People have different schedules and that sort of thing. And we did have, obviously, a traffic study done. So, I understand change is always, you know, hard. It's part of what we do. We try to mitigate it as best we can. So that's what I would say to that something's going to happen there. As far as the homes themselves, these are the exact same as we build for sale. It is. It's just of a rental nature. And again, it's not your typical renter. It really is somebody that's looking to be in your community, but maybe not, you know, invest for the 10- year period. They might be there for four or five years. They don't want to get kind of saddled with a mortgage. So, you know, from a...we don't have a history of coming in and bringing down home values. Typically values, home values, go up when we build, because that's showing new investment. It's a big investment, right? It's a $30 million investment in your community. So, you know, from that standpoint, I don't believe values will go down. So, I know those were kind of the biggest ones I hear the comments about design. Again, this is something that we build for sale. You know, those homes usually are in the $350,000- $400,000 plus. So it is a high quality product, and it's something that does belong. This isn't smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. This is on a major roadway. So I'm happy to answer any other ones that maybe I missed. Just to reiterate what Darien said, we will not build on that northern section. We will have a deed restriction. We will go out of our way to make sure that there's something in place, that you will have comfort that nothing will ever happen there. So, I guarantee that, and it'll be something on the record now that we will make sure, you will make sure we do before final approval. So, there's any other thing that I missed, please let me know. Mr. Wilshaw: The land use to the north was definitely a big concern, and I appreciate the fact that you're committing to purchase that property, which you didn't have to do as part of this process, but you are and then essentially restricting it, limiting it to its proposed use of an open park area. There is, as part of the consent judgment, a requirement that a certain amount of feet of that property remain open space, regardless of what happens, but you're taking that significantly further by locking that property, and so I do appreciate that comment. I think that covers everything at this point. Is there any questions or comments from any of the commissioners for Mr. Walker before we make our decision? March 18, 2025 31825 Okay? No additional comments or questions? If not, thank you, sir. Thank you. A motion would be in order. On a motion by Ventura, seconded by Droze, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-09-2025 RESOLVED, That the City Planning Commission does hereby recommend to City Council that Petition 2025-02-08-01 submitted by Robertson Brothers Homes requesting site plan approval under an amended Consent Judgment to construct a residential townhouse development consisting of fifteen (15) buildings and a total of one hundred (100) dwelling units on the properties at 37640 Seven Mile Road located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between Victor Parkway and Newburgh Road in the Southeast '/4 of Section 26, be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. The Preliminary Site Plan, identified as Sheet P-2, dated February 12, 2025, prepared by the PEA Group, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to, consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the Consent Judgment between the City of Livonia and Victor East, LLC, except that minor deviations are allowed in the size and placement of the buildings to improve circulation and provide additional site amenities, subject to the approval of the Planning Department. 2. The Petitioner shall work with the Fire Marshal to provide secondary emergency access to the development. 3. The Overall Landscape Plan, identified as Sheet L-1, dated February 10, 2025, prepared by the Land Design Studio, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to. 4. All disturbed lawn areas, including road rights -of -way, shall be sodded instead of hydroseeding. 5. Underground irrigation shall be provided for all landscaped and sodded areas, and all planted materials shall be installed to the satisfaction of the Inspection Department and thereafter permanently maintained in a healthy condition. 6. All parking spaces, except the required handicapped spaces, must be double -striped and ten feet (10') wide. 7. The Exterior Building Elevation Plans, identified as Sheet Numbers A-3, A-6, A-7, A-9, and A-11, prepared by Biran Neeper Architecture P.C., are hereby approved with an allowance of color variations to the brick and siding March 18, 2025 31826 materials and other minor elevation details to provide greater variation in the appearance of the buildings. 8. The maximum height of any pole -mounted light fixtures shall be sixteen feet (16') and shall be located and shielded to prevent light trespass and glare on adjacent properties. 9. The exterior walls of any trash enclosures added to the site shall be constructed out of the same brick used in the construction of the buildings, and the enclosure gates shall consist of solid panel steel or durable, long-lasting solid panel fiberglass. 10. Under Section 13.13 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, this approval is valid for one year only from the date of approval by the City Council. Unless a building permit is obtained, this approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said period. A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following: AYES: Dinaro, Droze, Bongero, Ventura, Caramagno, Wilshaw NAYS: Long ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to the City Council with an approving resolution. ITEM #4 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,226th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the Minutes of the 1,226th Public Hearing and Regular Meeting held on February 25, 2025. On a motion by Dinaro, seconded by Long, and unanimously adopted, it was #03-10-2025 RESOLVED, That the Minutes of 1,226rd Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on February 25, 2025, are hereby approved. March 18, 2025 31827 A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following: AYES: Dinaro, Droze, Long, Ventura, Caramagno, Wilshaw NAYS: None ABSENT: Bongero ABSTAIN: None Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,227th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on March 18, 2025, was adjourned at 9:13 p.m. ATTEST: lan Wilshaw, Chairman CITY P ,'NNING COMMISSION Sam C: ramagno, Secretary