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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 28, 2026 - 265th Regular Minutes signedMINUTES OF THE 265th REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 265th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan, was called to order at 3:05 p.m., Wednesday, January 28, 2026, in the 5th-floor Gallery of City Hall. Members Present: Maureen Miller Brosnan, Mayor Dan Laible, Chair Rhett Gronevelt, Vice Chair Patrick Mies, Secretary Mark Orosz Omar Faris Susan Harvey David Veselenak Members Absent: Stephanie Blatt Others Present: Mark Taormina, Economic Development & Planning Director Jacob Uhazie, Assistant Planning Director Stephanie Reece, Planning Program Supervisor Ted Davis, Director, Parks & Recreation Joe Shadik, DLZ 1. ROLL CALL A quorum was present. 2. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION 3. ADOPTION OF MINUTES On a motion made by Brosnan, seconded by Harvey, and unanimously adopted, it was: #2026-01 RESOLVED that the Plymouth Road Development Authority hereby approves the Minutes of the 264th Regular Meeting held on July 23, 2025. Mr. Laible, Chairman, declared that the motion was carried and that the foregoing resolution was adopted. 4. FINANCIAL REPORTS — APRIL 2025 THROUGH NOVEMBER 2025 Benjamin Grier spoke on the unaudited financial statements, year-end 2025. The Mayor introduced Mr. Grier to the group and gave a brief background. Mr. Grier said the PRDA had total revenue of $892,859, 99% of which was from property tax revenue, and just under $6,000 from a small grant and interest. Expenditures for the year included $642,877 in contract services for the irrigation lines, $14,515 in contracted maintenance, $56,038 in administrative fees, including charges to various city departments and the auditing firm. The utilities were $136,538, and the land improvements were January 28, 2026 2 $621,446. He stated that expenditures exceeded the budget by $418,000 for irrigation services and $221,000 for land improvements, mainly due to work at the Farmington and Merriman Road plazas. Mr. Grier explained that $378,000 will be reimbursed from bond proceeds for Shelden Park. He said one utility had some extensive work in the right-of-way, and they damaged the irrigation lines. He said efforts will be made to recover that money from the utility. He said that it is an uphill battle. It is being reviewed by the Law Department. Mr. Taormina said that at the next meeting, he would like to have an in-depth conversation about the irrigation system and how to better control its maintenance costs. He said he hopes last year was an outlier and that the primary reason for the damage is the inability to locate the irrigation system before the utilities do their work. There are no tracer wires in the main lines, so they can't be identified as part of the MISS DIG flagging process. Ms. Harvey asked when it was installed, and Mr. Taormina said it was one of the first things the PRDA did in the mid to late 90s. He said the question is: if the lines are being replaced, why aren't tracer wires being installed? He felt that Mr. Moore or TechSeven would be better able to answer that. Mr. Grier then went over the balance sheet. He said there is $1.1 million in cash and investments, another $135,000 in accounts receivable (claims from prior damage), and $89,000 in tax receivables. The total of liabilities was $225,000. The fund balance decreased from $1.7 million to $1.1 million due to expenses exceeding revenue by almost $600,000. He felt it was important to note that approximately $378,000 of that will be reimbursed from bond proceeds expected to be issued later this year. Mr. Taormina stated that the $378,000 would be reimbursed, assuming approval of the addendum with DLZ. Otherwise, the amount would be $350,500. Ms. Harvey asked whether the proceeds are expected to come in entirely in 2026. Mr. Taormina believes so. Mr. Faris asked whether the construction of the Farmington and Plymouth plazas came in at $221,000 over budget. Mr. Grier explained that, overall, the land improvements were $221,000 over budget, including the design and construction of Merriman Road, Farmington Road, and Shelden Park. Mr. Taormina explained that it probably showed over budget because the original budget did not anticipate the Shelden Park design. He said that the plaza work was done within budget. Ms. Harvey asked whether the Authority had approved the overage at some point, and Mr. Taormina explained that the overage was for irrigation, that the design services were approved by the Authority, and that the irrigation is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed. Mr. Laible recalled that there were two approvals for two different landscaping projects, with knowledge of the fund balance, and that the Authority was comfortable authorizing them. He went on to say that irrigation is one thing that stands out, and he is glad that efforts are underway to recoup some of those funds. He likes the idea of doing a deep dive into the irrigation piece at a future meeting. Mr. Taormina mentioned that at a future meeting, a revised five-year budget forecast will be presented to illustrate the PRDA's financial position. When Deborah Lichtenberg presented the last one, she had projected what it would look like, and a couple of things have happened since then. The Shelden Park expenditure was approved under a cost -sharing arrangement with the city. January 28, 2026 3 On the revenue side, the adoption of the new TIF plan was not reflected. He said it will generate additional revenue in the coming year. He feels it will give the PRDA an opportunity to plan additional capital projects. Mr. Gronevelt returned to the financials and said that Consumers should be contacted because they will want to be a good partner, and most likely, it was a contractor working for them. He said it is an MDOT right-of-way, and the city would need a permit to have the assets in its right-of-way, and Consumers has assets there as well. He said MDOT probably doesn't care too much about protecting other people's assets, but that it would be good to find out the permit conditions that Consumers has for their work and whether there are any restoration bonds or anything. Mr. Veselenak said it would be nice to know what other irrigation options are available to help prevent this, besides tagging the lines. He said we don't want to spend more money than we have to. On a motion made by Veselenak, seconded by Faris, and unanimously adopted, it was: #2026-02 RESOLVED that the Plymouth Road Development Authority hereby accepts and approves the Financial Statements of the Authority's Special Revenue Fund for April 2025 through November 2025. Mr. Laible, Chairman, declared that the motion was carried and that the foregoing resolution was adopted. 5. CONSIDERATION OF CONTRACT AMENDMENT WITH DLZ MICHIGAN, INC. FOR SCOPE CHANGES RELATED TO THE ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING DESIGN SERVICES FOR THE REDEVELOPMENT OF SHELDEN PARK. Mr. Ted Davis, Director of Parks and Recreation, spoke, thanking PRDA for its support of the Shelden Park project. He said the Council just approved the general contractor and that the estimate came in significantly lower. He said the budget is looking great. He said that what is being presented to the Authority is an amendment to the DLZ agreement. He said originally, they were looking at a pre-engineered pavilion as part of the project, which would include the pavilion, restrooms, and picnic tables. The pricing came back higher than anticipated. DLZ came back to Mr. Davis and offered to engineer the structure and have the contractor purchase steel and build it, rather than the pre-engineered one. He said he is requesting an additional $28,000 to the contract and that the entire amount is fully reimbursable to PRDA. He said that the contract is completely held by the PRDA. He said on the back end, there is a savings of about $100,000 overall with not doing a pre-engineered pavilion. Ms. Harvey asked if it is a net $72,000 savings. Mr. Davis said the savings will actually be $100,000 net. Mr. Veselenak wondered whether the November 17th figures were wrong, and Mr. Davis explained that they were estimates until the contractor's pricing came back. He then said the savings will be even higher, approximately $100,000. Mr. Faris asked who the contractor is. Mr. January 28, 2026 4 Davis said it is a company called KEO and that they were highly recommended. He said they specialize in Parks and Recreation and were the lowest bidder. Mr. Veselenak asked if the pricing is fixed at this point. Mr. Davis said they are still getting prices, but that they just received pricing on a vortex unit that came lower than anticipated. He said the park furnishings are right on track. He said he is going back and forth on the playground, but overall, the prices are lining up with the budget. He reiterated that any additional funds needed will come from Parks & Rec funds. Mr. Joe Shadik, DLZ, spoke up and explained a bit about pricing per square foot. He again said it will be about $100,000 in savings, even after their fee. Mr. Shadik explained that the structure would be a bit custom. After looking at the numbers, Mr. Orosz said that it is a roughly 50% decrease in material cost. Mr. Shadik said they had been seeing prices consistently go up and knew they couldn't do that, so they began exploring a stick frame and having the contractor build it, and that is where the savings came in. Ms. Harvey asked whether the warranty would be the same. Mr. Shadik said yes. Mr. Davis told the Board about the pavilion in 2022, which was $100,000, and in 2019, it would have been $50,000. He believes that the prices are going up because they can. Mr. Laible told Mr. Davis that he appreciates his looking for the lowest cost solution. Mr. Davis really believes that when the project is done, everyone will be happy with it. Mr. Laible explained that the difference is that there is a higher upfront cost, but they will come back to the Authority when the bond is put in place. On a motion made by Brosnan, seconded by Faris, and unanimously adopted, it was: #2026-03 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby approve Contract Amendment 01, dated November 17, 2025, with DLZ, providing scope changes to the Shelden Park Re -design in an amount not to exceed $27,824, increasing the total professional design fee to $378,324. Mr. Laible, Chairman, declared that the motion was carried and that the foregoing resolution was adopted. 6. UPDATE ON DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND TAX INCREMENT FINANCE PLAN Mr. Taormina told the board that the TIF plan is in effect. The base value has been set based on the 2025 taxable value of all properties within the district. The new tax roll is currently being computed, and once that is known, the revenue projection will be determined. Those figures will be provided at the next meeting. He went on to inform the board that the district boundaries had been changed and that the Council had opted not to add any new commercial properties to the district. The only boundary adjustments made affected residential properties. The amended development plan remains unchanged from the version adopted by the PRDA. The Mayor suggested having Linda Gosselin from Assessing attend the next meeting to help present and report about the anticipated revenue January 28, 2026 5 and where things are headed. Mr. Gronevelt asked about an exhibit and whether next year's budget would potentially increase by $100,000. Mr. Taormina said yes. He said it is likely because it was assumed at a 1% increase, which was conservative, and he believes it will be even more significant. 7. AJOURNMENT On a motion duly made, seconded, and unanimously adopted, the 265th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on January 28, 2026, was adjourned at 3:39 p.m. Patrick Mies, Secretary