HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2013-05-14MINUTES OF THE 1,039rH PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING
HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA
On Tuesday, May 14, 2013, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia
held its 1,039'' Public Hearings and Regular Meeting in the Livonia City Hall,
33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan.
Mr. Lee Morrow, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Members present: Scott P. Bahr R. Lee Morrow Lynda L. Scheel
Carol A. Smiley Gerald Taylor Ian Wilshaw
Members absent: None
Mr. Mark Taormina, Planning Director, and Ms. Margie Watson, Program
Supervisor, were also present.
Chairman Morrow 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 tum, 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 wnting, 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 fling.
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 2013-04-01-01 APPLE/KROGER
Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2013-04-
01-01 submitted by TSFR Apple Venture, L.L.C., pursuant to
Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as
amended, requesting to rezone property at 13301 Middlebelt
Road, located on the west side of Middlebell Road between the
CSX railroad right-of-way and Schoolcraff Road in the Northeast
1/4 of Section 26, from M-1 (Light Manufacturing) to C-2
(General Business).
May 14, 2013
25743
Mr. Taormina: This is a request to rezone property located at the
southwest corner of Industrial Road and Middlebelt Road.
This properly is about 2.95 acres in area. It includes 361
feel of frontage on Middlebelt Road and 375 feel of
frontage along the south side of Industrial Road. The
request to rezone this industrial property to commercial is
in anticipation of redeveloping the site for retail and service
commercial purposes, including the development of a new
full-service restaurant. The pattern of zoning in the area
includes similar zoned properties both to the north and to
the south. There is a C-2 zoned district immediately to the
north on the opposite side of Industrial Road that includes
a TCF Bank, as well as a vacant commercial center that
was most recently occupied by a Walmart store.
Immediately to the south is C-2 zoned property. That is the
site of the Menards store that is set to open later this
summer. Looking further to the east across Middlebelt
Road is the site of the Millennium Park commercial
development, which includes a Home Depot, a Meijer, as
well as several other shops and restaurants. To the west,
the blue areas signify the M-1 zoning areas, the light
industrial park that exists in the area including immediately
adjacent to the site, Michigan Dairy, and then to the north
and west is the location of a UPS regional service center.
The subject parcel is currently owned by the Kroger
Company. It was part of the larger site that was acquired
by Kroger, maintaining the Michigan Dairy site. This is
actually a remnant of that parcel that was acquired by
Michigan Dairy. We have a plan that shows how the site
might look if it is rezoned to C-2. This plan shows two
buildings on the property. One is a 5,430 square fool free-
standing full service restaurant. The building is shown on
the upper part of the drawing. Then there is a multi -tenant
building that totals about 6,000 square feel. The plan
shows about 4,000 square feel of retail, the two lop units,
and then a 2,000 square fool fast-food restaurant with
drive -up window facilities on the south side. There is
parking arranged on all four sides of the development. No
additional curb cuts are shown to Middlebelt Road so it
would rely on access both to the south and to the north on
Industrial Road. Looking at the Future Land Use Plan, the
site is currently identified as industrial. With that, Mr.
Chairman, I can read out the departmental
correspondence.
Mr. Morrow: Ifyou would read thatthat, please
May 14, 2013
25744
Mr. Taormina: There is one item of correspondence from the Engineering
Division, dated April 23, 2013, which reads as follows: 7n
accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has
reviewed the request by TSFR Apple Venture, L.L.C. (The
Kroger Company of Michigan) to rezone property from M-1
(Light Manufacturing) to C-2 (General Business) at 13301
Middlebelt Road. The written legal description for this parcel has
been taken from the assessor's information and should be as
follows: Commencing at the Northeast X of Section 26, Town 1
South, Range 9 East, City of Livonia, Wayne County, thence
South 02 degrees 00 minutes 00 seconds East 1,320.17 feet
along the East line of said Section 26 and the centerine of
Middlebelt Road (variable width); thence South 87 degrees 52
minutes 20 seconds West 60 feet for a Place of Beginning,
thence South 02 degrees 00 minutes 00 seconds East 361.18
feet along the Westerly right-of-way line of said Middlebelt
Road, thence South 87 degrees 52 minutes 20 seconds West
355.90 feet, thence North 01 degree 55 minutes 50 seconds
West 317.00 feet, thence 49.94 feet along the arc of a 58.60
feet radius circular curve to the left, with a central angle of 48
degrees 49 minutes 36 seconds, having a cord which bears
North 26 degrees 20 minutes 37 seconds West 48.44 feet,
thence North 87 degrees 52 minutes 20 seconds East 375.49
feet along the Southerly right of way line of Industrial Road (60
feet wide) to the Place of Beginning, being a part of the
Northeast X of said Section 26, containing 2.95 acres of land,
more or less, subject to easements, conditions, restrictions and
exceptions of record, if any. The address for this site is
confirmed to be 13301 Middlebelt Road. The Engineering
Department will require storm water management for any
proposed improvements associated with the site meeting
Wayne County Storm Water Ordinance. Any proposed work
within Middlebelt Road right-of-way would require a permit from
will require a Wayne County Road. Industrial Road is under the
City of Livonia jurisdiction. A soil erosion and sedimentation
control (SESC) permit would be required if the pmject area is
one acre or more and would be handled through the
Engineering Department There are easements forstorm sewer
along the south side of Industrial Road along with an existing
16 -inch water main under the jurisdiction of the City of Livonia.
In addition, there is an existing 184nch sanitary sewer that runs
north and south along the west side of Middlebelt Road under
the jurisdiction of the City of Livonia." The letter is signed by
Todd Zilincik, P.E., City Engineer. That is the extent of the
correspondence. Thankyou.
May 14, 2013
25745
Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions of the Planning Director. Seeing none,
I'd like to have the petitioner come forward. We will need your
name and address for the record please.
Dave Johns, Vice President, Schostak Brothers, 17800 Laurel Park Drive North,
Livonia. I'm here to represent TSFR Apple Venture. We're here
tonight obviously for the request for the rezoning. As you can
see, there are two buildings, both with the free-standing
restaurant and then the end cap restaurant opportunity adjacent
to some retail uses that we've come up with. It is a concept
plan at this point in time. It would be coming forward through
the standard procedures, but I'm available to answer any
questions that you may have.
Mr. Morrow:
Commissioners, are there any questions for the petitioner?
Mr. Taylor:
Through the Chair, can you divulge the type of restaurants
you're going to put in there or is that not good information right
now?
Mr. Johns:
No, the information is good right now. TSFR Apple Venture
operates an Applebee's concept. We have a number of
restaurants. We have 65 in the Stale of Michigan that we
operate at this point of time as of last year. We also have,
within a related entity, we have a Del Taco restaurant division,
and a number of restaurants within the local area as well. So
the large free-standing building is a footprint of an Applebee's
and the end cap adjacent to the retail users is a footprint for a
Del Taco restaurant.
Mr. Taylor:
Thankyou.
Mr. Johns:
Yes.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Just out of curiosity, why this particular location as opposed to
any of the existing C-2 zoning that is in the area such as the
northeast corner of Middlebell and Schoolcrafl?
Mr. Johns:
This site has more direct access to the traffic light that's on
Industrial Drive and Middlebell. Its better connectivity and
better flow for the site itself.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Thankyou.
Mr. Morrow:
Anyone else? With that I'm going to go to the audience. Is
there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
against the granting of this petition? Seeing no one coming
May 14, 2013
25746
forward, I'm going to close the public hearing and ask for a
motion.
On a motion by Taylor, seconded by Bahr, and unanimously adopted, it was
#05-21-2013
RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on May 14, 2013, on
Petition 2013-04-01-01 submitted by TSFR Apple Venture,
L.L.C., pursuant to Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning
Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting to rezone properly at
13301 Middlebell Road, located on the west side of Middlebell
Road between the CSX railroad right-of-way and SchoolcraR
Road in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 26, from M-1 (Light
Manufacturing) to C-2 (General Business), the Planning
Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that
Petition 2013-04-01-01 be approved for the following reasons:
1. That C-2 zoning is compatible to and in harmony with the
surrounding zoning districts and land uses in the area;
2. That C-2 zoning would provide opportunities for a greater
variety of uses to serve the area as well as the City as a
whole;
3. That C-2 zoning is consistent with the developing character
of the area; and
4. That C-2 zoning would provide for the development of the
subject property in a manner that is consistent with its size
andlocation.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 23.05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended.
Mr. Morrow:
Is there any discussion?
Mr. Bahr:
I'll just make a comment. I think this is a really reasonable use
for this land, especially with the Menards development. It's
surrounded by G2. Its basically landlocked land at this point
that I think is probably suitable for this type of development only.
So I think it's a really suitable use for the land. I'm really excited
that you guys have come forward to do this. Thanks.
Mr. Taylor:
Just a quick note on the C-2 zoning. The Planning Commission
just recommends, and I'm sure you know what the process is.
The Council has to have a public hearing, and a first reading
May 14, 2013
25747
and a second reading, so its about a three month procedure to
get this zoning done. So it gives everybody in that area a
chance to make sure that the zoning is correct and that they
agree with the zoning. I just wanted to put that information out.
Thankyou.
Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carded and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving recommendation. Thank you for coming and thank
you for coming to Livonia at that site.
Mr. Johns: We appreciate your assistance.
ITEM #2 PETITION 2013-04-02-09 SOMETHING SPECIAL 4 U
Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2013-
04-02-09 submitted by Patricia A. Cooper requesting waiver use
approval pursuant to Section 11.03(t) of the City of Livonia
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to operate a second-hand
store and resale shop (Something Special 4 U Boutique) at
29423 Six Mile Road, located on the south side of Six Mile Road
between Middlebelt Road and Oporto Street in the Northeast
1/4 of Section 14.
Mr. Taormina: This is a request for waiver use approval to operate a second-
hand store and resale shop on commercial zoned properly that
is located on the south side of Six Mile Road approximately 200
feel west of Middlebell Road. The zoning of the properly, as
well as the surrounding properties, is C-2, General Business.
Second hand stores are allowed as waiver uses under Section
11.03(() of the Zoning Ordinance. There are a couple special
provisions that apply to these types of retail operations.
Number one, that there not be any outdoor sales, storage or
display of merchandise, and that ingress and egress be
available from a public street having an existing or planned
right-of-way width of at least 120 feet. Six Mile Road does
qualify under that provision. The second hand store would
occupy a unit that is about 4,200 square feet in area. This
building is located between what was the former Shooters
Service building, which is right at the southwest corner of
Middlebell and Six Mile, and another multi -tenant retail building,
which is identified as 29425 Six Mile on the plan. As you know,
Shooters Service is no longer located on the south side of Six
Mile Road. They moved across the street on the north side, and
the building where they were previously located has since been
occupied by a business called Sign City. The highlighted area
May 14, 2013
25748
on the plan is the building where Something Special 4 U
Boutique would be located, and immediately to the right of that
is the footprint of the building that is occupied by Sign City.
There is additional retail to the west, as well as another
shopping center complex that I believe is referred to as Milo
Plaza. All three of the buildings have a zero setback along Six
Mile Road. The buildings that are owned in common include the
petitioners site, the building to the west and Milo Plaza. There
is parking available directly in front of this plaza, and then there
is additional parking provided at the rear of the other two
centers. I believe there is a shared parking and access
agreement between the various parcels of land. A rudimentary
plan was submitted that shows an open floor plan with racks
and tables that would be used to display merchandise. Most of
the display, as we understand it, would be devoted to clothing,
with smaller areas set apart for the display of furniture and other
houseware items. We're not aware of how donations would be
accepted, and if so, how this aspect of the business would be
handled. In terms of parking, retail stores of this nature typically
require one space for every 150 square feel of useable floor
area. The proposed store would require 22 parking spaces.
The subject building, as well as the adjacent retail buildings to
the west, because they are under common ownership and share
adjacent parking, provide a total of about 100 parking spaces to
serve the three commonly -owned buildings. There is ample
parking although it is not readily available to the unit. Persons
visiting this center more than likely are going to have to park at
the rear and then walk around to the front of the store. There
are no changes shown relative to the exterior of the building.
The only exception to that would be the possible installation of a
sign. They would be allowed approximately 40 square feel of
sign area based on the ordinance. With that, Mr. Chairman, I
can read out the departmental correspondence.
Mr. Morrow: Please
Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated April 11, 2013, which reads as
follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering
Division has reviewed the above -referenced waiver use
approval request. The written legal description is correct. The
address for this site is confirmed to be 29423 Six Mile Road. It
appears that Something Special 4 U Boutique will occupy the
building and no site work is anticipated outside the building.
Thus, no anticipated review would be required by the
Engineering Department." The letter is signed by Todd Zilincik,
P.E., City Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire &
May 14, 2013
25749
Rescue Division, dated April 26, 2013, which reads as follows:
"1 have reviewed the 1 have reviewed the petition for a waiver
use approval on the property at the above referenced address
and have noted the following. (1) Chapter 37, Existing
Mercantile, and Chapter 7, Means of Egress, must be
conformed to which includes Emergency Exit Signs, Emergency
Lighting, Exit Pathways, Occupant Load, and Extinguisher
Requirements. (2) Occupant Load shall be based on NFPA 1,
2009 edition, Chapter 14, Table 14.8.1.2. These issues and
other code requirements will be addressed during the plan
review process. Providing that all details in regards to Existing
Mercantile Occupancy are followed and inspected prior to
tenant use, this department has no objections to this petition."
The letter is signed by Daniel Lee, Fire Marshal. The third letter
is from the Division of Police, dated April 10, 2013, 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 John Gibbs, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth
letter is from the Inspection Department, dated April 29, 2013,
which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above -
referenced petition has been reviewed. The following is noted.
A cross parking agreement would be required with the property
located at 29441 Six Mile Road. This Department has no
further objections to this petition." The letter is signed by
Jerome Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection. That is the
extent of the correspondence.
Mr. Morrow: Thankyou. Are there any questions ofthe Planning Director?
Ms. Smiley Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The parking lot, do you think it needs
some repair out there? They had no comment about that.
Mr. Taormina: The area in the back does need repair. I think we have included
a provision in the prepared resolution dealing with that. If not, I
would recommend that be included. Visiting the site, it would
appear that some of the areas directly behind this building need
to be patched and then restnped.
Ms. Smiley: I know you said there were 100 spots and they would really
need that area that's bad. Thank you.
Mr. Morrow: Are there any other questions? Is the petitioner here tonight?
Would you come forward? We will need your name and
address for the record please.
Patricia A. Cooper, 18512 Deering, Livonia, Michigan 48152. Good evening.
May 14, 2013
25750
Mr. Morrow:
Thank you. You can add to what you've heard tonight or make
any comments that you want to make.
Ms. Cooper:
All right. I'm just here because I have been working on this
project for three or four years now. It's like a dream of mine
that's hopefully about to come to light. Just hard work and
everything and dedication from friends and donations and
everything has got me to this point. I've been really working
hard on it. I was unaware of this protocol before I did everything
first, the store. So I'm here to see if everything could work out
for me to gel the store open. I'll follow any rules and everything
to gel this store open. Its just a long lens dream. I just want to
give back. I do go to school for social work and I got really
involved in that and helping the community, and I do see a need
to give back as far as helping girls, the high schools here in
Livonia, giving discounts, a 10 percent discount with lheirschool
ID. We were going to have like a pajama donation to the senior
citizens village. We thought that would be nice, and donations
that's not good for our store, we would donate to other facilities
as far as women's shelters, girls' homes, senior citizens and
everybody who is in need of those as well. It's just a long lens
project I'm hoping to come to light. I see there's another one
closer down off of Plymouth. I just felt like there wasn't anything
like that in this area. I also work at St. Mary Hospital and I have
tons of female friends and everybody who donate from there,
and just donations from everywhere basically. I pick up, me and
my son, we go pick up runs and stuff on Saturdays. If I
accepted donations, they would be only during business hours,
and I do plan on doing light consignment, with just a few people.
This store is not that big. I only have eight racks so its not like
a Value World. I want to be professional and small and clean. I
want a boutique style, not like a big resale shop.
Mr. Morrow:
Okay. We'll see if the Commissioners have questions.
Ms. Smiley:
Yes. My question is about how you're going to get your
inventory. Will people bring it to your store and have you
allowed for how you're going to do that with all the other traffic
and things going on in that corner?
Ms. Cooper:
Yes, I have friends and everybody. I do go and pick up a lot of
my own donations. I will accept them at the store but it's going
to be limited items because basically we're more into just
women's clothing. I don't have any furniture or anything like
that. It's just going to be clothing and basically purses and
shoes and stuff like that. Nothing big or anything.
May 14, 2013
25751
Ms.
Smiley:
Thankyou.
Ms.
Scheel:
Good evening. Could you tell me what the hours of operation
you plan?
Ms.
Cooper:
My hours of operation will be from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and
on Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Ms.
Scheel:
So 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. is six days a week then?
Ms.
Cooper:
Yes, and we're closed on Mondays.
Ms.
Scheel:
So 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. is five days. So Tuesday through
Saturday?
Ms.
Cooper:
Yes. I'll be from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and on Sunday 11:00
a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Ms.
Scheel:
Okay. And then will you have fitting rooms so people can try on
clothes there?
Ms.
Cooper:
I do have a small makeshift filling room that we made up. Yes,
just to give people options. I scouted and I got 50-50 response
on a resale fitting room.
Ms.
Scheel:
Okay. Thank you.
Mr.
Wilshaw:
Good evening.
Ms.
Cooper:
Good evening.
Mr.
Wilshaw:
You have a very busy life from what I can see working at Sl.
Mary Hospital and going to school and so on, and you're
proposing basically a six day a week operation. I assume
you're not going to be able to do it just by yourself. Are you
going to have employees?
Ms.
Cooper:
I'm just going to do it on the weekend only, and I have two
grown daughters and I have two female associates that I work
with as well.
Mr.
Wilshaw:
Okay. So you're going to have essentially about five employees,
you think?
Ms.
Cooper:
Just four to start with, yes.
Mr.
Wilshaw:
Okay.
May 14, 2013
25752
Ms. Cooper:
My son would be the stock boy so he's number five.
Mr. Wilshaw:
That's good. Put them all to work, right?
Ms. Cooper:
Yes. Pay his cell phone bill.
Mr. Wilshaw:
That's very good. Thank you.
Mr. Taormina:
Just quickly, the space that you're leasing is that both units? It
would appear that there are two units there and I couldn't tell
whether or not you're going to be occupying both.
Ms. Cooper:
No, just Suite B. Just that one unit.
Mr. Taormina:
So only 20 feel is the width across the building that you'll be
leasing. Do you know what the frontage is?
Ms. Cooper:
Idon't.
Mr. Taormina:
I think we probably reported in error that it was 40 feet. I think
what they're leasing is only 20 feel. So it's half the building that
we identified on the plan.
Mr. Morrow:
Its not the 4,000 square feel?
Mr. Taormina:
No, it's actually half of what is shown on that plan. It's probably
less than 2,000 square feet. Do you know the square footage of
the space?
Ms. Cooper:
Its only 750 square feet.
Mr. Taormina:
So you're not leasing the back part either?
Ms. Cooper:
No, I'm not.
Mr. Taormina:
So it's just a small space. I couldn't tell because I couldn't get
in. It wasn't open. So it's maybe a quarter of what's shown on
the plan.
Ms. Cooper:
Right.
Mr. Taormina:
There s storage in the back that you won't be using.
Ms. Cooper:
Right.
May 14, 2013
25753
Mr. Taylor:
Mark, we spoke at our study meeting about how many of these
types of businesses we have. Were you able to find that out by
chance?
Mr. Taormina:
I do not have a full count. We have very few that are of this
size, maybe only four or five scattered throughout the
community. I know of one on Seven Mile and Farmington.
There's two on Plymouth Road and there may be one or two
others.
Mr. Taylor:
What happened to the Goodwill on Middlebelt? They talked
about Seven Mile and Middlebelt. Wasn't that a Goodwill?
Mr. Taormina:
Theyre still looking for a site. That site has some complications
associated with it, but that's much larger. That's 15,000 square
feel.
Mr. Taylor:
I understand that. I'm just not loo sure that I'm happy about this
many used clothes stores coming in. Thank you.
Mr. Morrow:
Does most of your traffic come through the rear? Is that where
it comes from?
Ms. Cooper:
I haven't even opened yet, but there's a parking lot right here on
the side of me and this may be about 20 spaces. Its not a big
store. I would just have people maybe just in and out.
Mr. Morrow:
So your primary entrance will be through the front door?
Ms. Cooper:
Yes, sir.
Mr. Morrow:
Okay. Because there's no parking in front. It would be on the
side and to the rear. And if you could just tell me a little bit more
how you screen your merchandise as to what you bring in.
Ms. Cooper:
I have several friends throughout my life and my jobs and
everything. I've always admired the way they dress and
everything, and they've always donated things for me. I've been
in my social work for almost four years now, and I've given back
to other donation places and everything like that. And I just got
the idea that maybe I want to do my own because I have so
many friends and I love to shop and everybody I know love to
shop but we like to do it at a cheaper price. I just saved up all
these years and kept with all my friends and had them still
donate to me and, you know, nice things. I don't want any
damaged goods, any ragged clothes or anything like that, and I
do screen them pretty well. A lot of things still have the price
May 14, 2013
25754
tags on them. I just dont want anything and that's why I said I
do have my plans where if its not a good fit for my store, I like to
give it to another store or someone who needs it more for a
shelter or something like that.
Mr. Morrow:
Does yourslore have restroom facilities?
Ms. Cooper:
I don't have a restroom facility in the store, no, but there is a
restroom like right outside my door.
Mr. Morrow:
Its not a part of your store but its available to you or the public?
Ms. Cooper:
Yes.
Mr. Bahr:
This has been covered on a few occasions. I'm just still a little
bit unclear. You do gel some sluff donated.
Ms. Cooper:
Yes.
Mr. Bahr:
You made reference earlier to going out and doing runs to gel
materials. So what percentage of your merchandise is people
walking into the store with donations?
Ms. Cooper:
Well, considering the store is not open, I have not had the
opportunity yet. So I'm still at the point of just getting my own
donations from my friends, and they actually come over to my
house, close knit friends. If I gel donations at the store, they will
be screened and I will lel people know its limited donations,
limited consignment, because of the size of my store.
Mr. Bahr:
Do you have any marketing plans, if you will, because I imagine
at some point your current stock or the sluff from your friends is
going to run out. You're going to have to have some sort of
operation to keep the inventory turnover, unless you just have a
lot of friends with a lot of clothes.
Ms. Cooper:
I actually do and I go shopping a lot as well. I do go to other
stores and my family from Atlanta, they send me items and
everything like that. And I go shopping all over the city and
slate too, and I buy a lot of things for the store, and I have
accumulated a lot of things as well.
Mr. Bahr:
I know we often have concerns with these kinds of stores, and I
understand those concerns. I do think that in this case that
particular properly is so limited in its use, personally I see the
risk that we often see with these types of businesses of actually
May 14, 2013
25755
being very low for this particular property. As for me, I wish you
luck.
Ms. Cooper:
Thank you so very much.\
Mr. Wilshaw:
Just a couple points of interest for your knowledge and just to
make sure you're okay with it. One of the things that we
mentioned as Mr. Taormina was reading out this peffon was
that the condition of the parking lot is less than ideal and we're
probably going to have a stipulation in our approving resolution,
if we do that, that the parking lot would be repaired to the
satisfaction of the Inspection Department, which is not
something that you're going to have to do, but the owner of the
property is going to have to do. This is an opportunity for us to
kind of make sure that gets taken care of. Are you in good
enough contact with the owner of this property to be able to
convey that information to them?
Ms. Cooper:
Yes, I have. I've had the building now since March 1. I'm
waiting to open, and I do talk to him regularly and everything like
that.
Mr. Wilshaw:
So you can twist his am and let him know that he needs to get
this taken care of?
Ms. Cooper:
Yes, if he wants the rent money. Yes, sir.
Mr. Wilshaw:
That's an excellent negotiating tactic there.
Ms. Cooper:
Can you tell me what type of parking lot? Is t like just making it
bigger orjust repairing?
Mr. Wilshaw:
Just repairing the potholes and then restriping spaces so people
can tell where to park and things like that.
Ms. Cooper:
Okay, sir. That would be a benefit for me as well.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Definitely. The other thing is, it's very common for us, because
of the concern that we have about these types of businesses,
we know from talking to you what type of business owner you're
going to be, but if you were to sell your business in the future
and this is a waiver use. This runs with the property. It's not
just for you. If you were to sell your business and another
tenant was to come into this space and wants to run a similar
type of business but not run it nearly as well as you and your
family are going to run it, that's a situation where it could
become difficult for us as a city. So one of the things that we
May 14, 2013
25756
will often ask for, and you may hearth is offered, and that's why I
want to at least talk to you about it, is a condition that would say
that this waiver use is for you and your business, and if for some
reason this business was to change hands, any new business
owner would have to come before the City Council and gel
approval again to run the business there. And that's something
that you have to voluntarily work with the City Council on. It's
not something we can force you to do, but it's something that
you have to work with the Council on to make sure that that
condition, the understanding, is in place. So are you okay with
that? Do you understand what I'm saying?
Ms. Cooper:
I have no problem with that at all. I'm going through it; they
should loo. And that's just the way it is with business.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Exactly. Well, good. I just wanted to explain those things so
that as you hear these things being read out, you understand
what we're offering and why we're offering these things.
Ms. Cooper:
Yes, I do understand, sir.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay. Very good. Thank you.
Mr. Morrow:
I appreciate that, Mr. Wilshaw.
Mr. Morrow:
Anything else? Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to
speakfor or againsllhe granting ofthis petition? Seeing no one
coming forward, I will close the public hearing and ask for a
motion.
On a motion by Bahr, seconded by Scheel, and adopted, it was
#05-22-2013
RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on May 14, 2013, on
Petition 2013-04-02-09 submitted by Patricia A. Cooper
requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03 (t) of
the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to
operate a second-hand store and resale shop (Something
Special 4 U Boutique) at 29423 Six Mile Road, located on the
south side of Six Mile Road between Middlebelt Road and
Oporto Street in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 14, which property
is zoned C-2, the Planning Commission does hereby
recommend to the City Council that Petition 2013-04-02-09 be
approved subject to the following conditions:
May 14, 2013
25757
1. That the utilization of the building shall be in accordance
with the Floor Plan, as received by the Planning
Commission on April 8, 2013;
2. That there shall be no outdoor sales, storage or display of
merchandise, and no storage of merchandise or other
materials in any type of temporary or portable unit,
structure, trailer or donation receptacle;
3. That the owner of the property(s) undertake the necessary
repairs to the parking lot to the satisfaction of the
Inspection Department;
4. 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;
5. That no LED lighthand or exposed neon shall be permitted
on this site including, but not limited to, the building or
around the windows;
6. That the specific plan referenced in this approving
resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department
at the time of application for building permits, occupancy
permits and zoning compliance permits; and
7. Pursuant to Section 19.10 of Ordinance #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 City
Council, and unless a building permit is obtained, this
approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said
period.
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons:
1. That the proposed use complies with all of the general
waiver use standards and requirements as set forth in
Section 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance #543;
2. That the subject site has the capacity to accommodate the
proposed use; and
3. That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony
with the surrounding uses in the area.
May 14, 2013
25758
FURTHER, the Planning Commission recommends the
approval of a Conditional Agreement limiting this waiver use to
this user only, with the provision to extend this waiver use
approval to a new user only upon approval of the new user by
the City Council.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 19.05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended.
Mr. Morrow: Is there any discussion? Hearing none, roll call please.
A roll call vole on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES:
Bahr, Scheel, Smiley, Wilshaw, Morrow
NAYS:
Taylor
ABSENT:
None
ABSTAIN:
None
Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving recommendation, and they will ultimately make the
final determination of whether it's approved or denied. Thank
you for coming.
Ms. Cooper: And thank you for your time.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Good luck.
ITEM #3 PETITION 2013-04-02-10 DANCE INNOVATIONS
Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2013-
04-02-10
01304-02-10 submitted by Kevin Crute requesting waiver use
approval pursuant to Section 16.11(f) of the City of Livonia
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to operate a dance studio
(Dance Innovations) at 12864 Farmington Road within the
Livonia Trade Center, located on the east side of Farmington
Road between the CSX railroad right-of-way and SchoolcraR
Road in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 27.
Mr. Taormina: This is a request pursuant to Section 16.11(f) of the Zoning
Ordinance to operate a dance studio within an industrial
building. The location of this property is on the east side of
Farmington Road between Industrial Road and Glendale
Avenue. This is actually the site of what is referred to as the
Livonia Trade Center, which is a four building complex. Just a
May 14, 2013
25759
point about these types of uses going in industrial zoned areas.
Gymnastics training facilities and uses like those can be allowed
in the M-1 zoning district because of unique characteristics that
make them better suited for industrial buildings, such as the
requirement for higher ceilings, but they are allowed only where
there's a showing that all parking and ingress/egress to the
facility is designed so as not to interfere with industrial traffic in
the area. We've had a number of these as of late, and the
primary concern as we review these is how these uses, which
do generate traffic not commonly using industrial roads, is a
determination that there won't be interference with that industrial
traffic and that it will be done in a safe manner. There are four
buildings that make up Livonia Trade Center. They are
arranged with two buildings across from each other. Two
buildings front on Farmington Road and the two other buildings
front on Westmore Avenue, which is to the east. Buildings "A"
and "B," which are located on the westerly half of the property
near Farmington Road, measure about 28,000 square feel, and
the other two buildings fronting on Westmore are a little bit
smaller. Theyre each about 22,000 square feel. Entirely
surrounding the subject property are industrial uses. Dance
Innovations would occupy a unit that measures about 3,440
square feel located at the easterly end of Building "B." This unit
has exterior doors, both on the north and south elevations of the
building. The door on the north side is accessible by means of
a pedestnanonly walkway that runs between this building and
Building "A" The buildings are arranged facing one another.
The area that separates Building "A" from Building "B" is not
accessible by vehicle but is a pedestrian walkway. All the drive
aisles and parking spaces are identified on the plan. What you
can't see are the sidewalks that run between the four buildings.
The front part of the unit is where patrons would enter the
space. The area upfront includes a lobby, wane -up room and
small studio, and restroom areas. The larger area in the back is
the actual shop area with the higher ceiling which is probably
where most of the activity would take place as part of the dance
studio. The petitioner is not planning any exterior building
modifications in connection with this proposal. In terms of
parking, the ordinance requires one space per employee plus
sufficient off-street parking for the safe and convenient loading
and unloading of students. Livonia Trade Center has a total of
about 250 parking spaces available, which are shared and in
common by all four buildings. Because the business would
operate primarily on the weekends and in the evening, we
anticipate that most of the parking would be located between
the buildings, probably the most accessible to get access to the
front of this unit. We're not certain whether or not they'll allow
May 14, 2013
25760
for customer access from the back, but there is an overhead
door at the back as well as a separate entrance. I'm not sure
whether or not that will be open to the public. With that, Mr.
Chairman, I will read out the correspondence.
Mr. Morrow: Please.
Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first dem is from
the Engineering Division, dated April 16, 2013, which reads as
follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering
Division has reviewed the above-referenced waiver use
approval request. The written legal description is correct. The
address for this site is confirmed to be 12864 Farmington Road.
It appears that Dance Innovations will occupy the building and
no site work is anticipated outside the building. Thus, no
anticipated review would be required by the Engineering
Department." The letter is signed by Todd Zilincik, P.E., City
Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue
Division, dated April 26, 2013, which reads as follows: "1 have
reviewed the petition for a waiver use approval on the property
at the above referenced address and have noted the following:
(1) This proposal is a change of use for the address in question.
This requires that the location must conform to current NFPA
standards for New Assembly use. (2) Chapter 12, New
Assemblies, and Chapter 7, Means of Egress, must be
conformed to which includes Emergency Exit Signs, Emergency
Lighting, Exit Pathways, Occupant Load, and Extinguisher
Requirements. These issues and other code requirements will
be addressed during the plan review process. We advise that
no use of this facility be conducted prior to inspections and
approval of any/all NFPA codes relating to New Assemblies.
Providing that all details in regards to New Assembly
Occupancy are followed and inspected prior to tenant use, this
department has no objections to this petition." The letter is
signed by Daniel Lee, Fire Marshal. The third letter is from the
Division of Police, dated April 15, 2013, which reads as follows:
9 have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. I have
no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by John
Gibbs, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the
Inspection Department, dated April 30, 2013, which reads as
follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced
petition has been reviewed. The following is noted. (1) The
parking lot needs to be repaired or replaced and restriped. (2)
The petitioner's proposal is a change in use. This would require
that the proposed space must conform to all current barrier free
codes, building codes and all mechanical codes and standards.
This will be addressed further at time of plan review if this
May 14, 2013
25761
project moves toward. This Department has no further
objections to this petition." The letter is signed by Jerome
Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection. I'll just note in
reference to Mr. Hanna's letter regarding the parking lot repairs,
a number of repairs were undertaken to the parking lot just in
the past week. That may be ongoing. I'm not sure that theyve
striped the lots, but the repairs ...
Mr. Morrow:
It is ongoing.
Mr. Taormina:
That's correct. Is that the extent of the correspondence?
Mr. Taormina:
Yes, it is.
Mr. Morrow:
Are there any questions of the Planning Director?
Ms. Smiley:
How about lighting, Mark? What kind of lighting is out there in
the parking lot?
Mr. Taormina:
That's something that I have not had a chance to look at in the
evening. I will tell you that there are wall packs installed above
each one of the units. The typical unit dimension is probably 40
feel in width. So each one of these units extending across the
back of these buildings has a wall pack. The same exists,
probably to a lesser extent, along the sides of the buildings, and
then there are globe lights provided along the pedestrian
walkway leading to the front of each of the units. I haven't had a
chance to go back there to see how well lit that area is. By the
number of lights, it could very well be adequate. I would think
that there's going to be a lot of nighttime operations here and
people trying to find this space for the first time. Sufficient
lighting is going to be important for this and should be included
as part of the resolution.
Ms. Smiley:
Okay. And then my next question is signage. I mean how
would you know it's back there?
Mr. Taormina:
They are going to be very limited in signage given the size of
this complex. Not every tenant can have an identification sign
along Farmington Road. Whether or not the owner of the center
is going to make special exception to a couple of the tenants, I
don't know. But as it stands now, they're probably only going to
have enough area to identify Livonia Trade Center. The sign
that's out on Farmington Road is aging. It should be lit. It's not
a lit sign. That should be replaced with something that people
are going to be able to see. They're going to have to look for
"Livonia Trade Center" as it stands now to identify the location.
May 14, 2013
25762
Now once you gel in the site, they can probably do a number of
things to direct traffic to the individual business uses within the
center, and that's something that the ordinance would allow for,
but in terms of the main identification sign on Farmington Road,
that's very limited. "Livonia Trade Center" is going to be the key
to find the site.
Ms. Smiley:
Okay. Thank you, Mark.
Mr. Morrow:
I'm going to ask the petitioner to comment on your lighting
concerns for the evening hours so you can get some feedback
on that. Anything else of the Planning Director? Is the
petitioner here? Please come forward. We will need your name
and address for the record.
Kevin Crule, Farmington Road Business Center, L.L.C, 11844 Hubbard, Livonia,
Michigan 48150. And this is the owner of the studio.
Jennifer Monroe, 46910 Six Mile Road, Livonia, Michigan.
Mr. Morrow:
You can expand on what you heard from Mr. Taormina or
anything else you want to say.
Mr. Cmte:
As far as the lighting, in the courtyards there's also some
spotlights that light the area, some of which may not be working.
We purchased the building at the beginning of the year, so
we're doing quite a bit of renovation, but Mark pretty much
covered everything for me. So I dont have a whole lot to say.
However, the sign on the front, its not Livonia Trade Center. So
we'd like to gel rid of that name. We have a permit right now to
put in a new sign. The foundation is going in tomorrow for a
new monument sign out front which will be pretty distinguishable
and lit.
Mr. Morrow:
Did you buy the whole complex orjust that one building?
Mr. Crute:
The whole complex.
Mr. Morrow:
You bought the whole complex.
Mr. Crule:
So obviously, there is extensive repair to the parking lot. Right
now, we're just understanding the property. So we've done
major repairs to the major potholes. We dug the asphalt out
and put major patches in. We plan, whether it's next year or the
following year, to redo the whole parking lot or resurface the
whole parking lot at that time.
May 14, 2013
25763
Mr. Morrow:
What is your occupancy rale now?
Mr. Crule:
We started at 25 percent occupancy. So we're going up from
there.
Mr. Morrow:
So that's your basic starting point.
Mr. Crate:
Yeah. The place was run down. This particular unit was ... it
was a mess. Let's put it that way. About three dumpslers full of
debris. And that's kind of indicative of the enure property.
We're going through each unit as we identify a new tenant and
cleaning it up.
Mr. Morrow:
We certainly wish you a lot of success in building up your
occupancy rale. Is there anything the young lady would like to
say before we open it up to questions?
Ms. Monroe:
I'm just really excited because just from when I went to go look
at the place and see the potential
of it, I've already seen like the
lighting and everything else. Our unit, like that one itself, was, I
mean, it was just really bad. So it's really exciting to see how
quickly it got cleaned up.
Mr. Cmle:
We are redoing all the sidewalks down the center. Everything is
barrier free, handicap accessible. So we're putting in all new
sidewalks right now. So that's happening right at this moment.
Ms. Monroe:
I would also like to say, I really like how the units are facing
each other and there is no, like the children, they can walk to
the place without any ... they go straight from their car right to
a place where there's no other cars, and that makes me feel a
lot better having them do that rather than having to walk from a
large parking lot.
Mr. Morrow:
I'm going to open it up to questions from the Commission. Does
anyone have any questions of the petitioner?
Ms. Scheel:
I'll start out. Can you tell me what your hours of operation are
going to be?
Ms. Monroe:
Our first class runs around 4:00 p.m., right around when they
gel out of school until about 8:00 or 9:00 p.m.
Ms. Scheel:
And will you be seven days a week?
Ms. Monroe:
No. School days and then Saturday we're there during the
afternoons.
May 14, 2013
25764
Ms.
Scheel:
Do plan on having any competitions there or is it strictly
classes?
Ms.
Monroe:
No. Just strictly classes it will be.
Ms.
Scheel:
And how many students would be in a class at a time?
Ms.
Monroe:
I have as little as two to three, and I think my largest one has 15
kids.
Ms.
Scheel:
So do you run a studio right now somewhere?
Ms.
Monroe:
Yes.
Ms.
Scheel:
You do, and you're moving that operation into this location?
Ms.
Monroe:
Right.
Ms.
Scheel:
And where is that studio now?
Ms.
Monroe:
Its at Plymouth and Levan.
Ms.
Scheel:
So it's another area within Livonia.
Ms.
Monroe:
Yes, it's a strip mall and it's new ownership. The space itself is
just not ... it's too small for what I'm paying. I can't do it.
Ms.
Scheel:
Okay. Thank you very much.
Ms.
Smiley:
Your clients then are school age children?
Ms.
Monroe:
Yes.
Ms.
Smiley:
Okay. And then its like tap dance. I mean what kind ...
Ms.
Monroe:
Yep. Ballet, tap, jazz.
Ms.
Smiley:
Okay. And is that the name of your studio now, Dance
Innovations?
Ms.
Monroe:
Yes.
Ms.
Smiley:
Okay. Thank you.
Mr.
Bahr:
I assume that the majority of your students are dropped off and
picked up later or not necessarily?
May 14, 2013
25765
Ms. Monroe:
No, the younger children, the parents usually stay. A few of
them, but most of my parents stay and watch them.
Mr. Bahr:
Okay. So I understand it's a low occupancy rale now but hoping
that you see full occupancy in there at some point. Is parking a
concern at all?
Ms. Monroe:
No. The parking at this place is better and I feel safer because
of how they're able to get from the middle side of the two
buildings and then also in front of it, and they can still go to that
same walkway. I feel like there's more.
Mr. Bahr:
Okay. Thanks.
Mr. Morrow:
Does anyone else have any questions or comments? I see
none coming, so I'm going to ask if there anybody in the
audience that wishes to speak for or against the granting of this
petition? Seeing no one coming forward, a motion would be in
order.
On a motion by Smiley, seconded by Scheel, and unanimously adopted, it was
#05-23-2013
RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on May 14, 2013, on
Petition 2013-04-02-10 submitted by Kevin Crule requesting
waiver use approval pursuant to Section 16.1 l(f) of the City of
Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to operate a
dance studio (Dance Innovations) at 12864 Farmington Road
within the Livonia Trade Center, located on the east side of
Farmington Road between the CSX railroad right -0f --way and
Schoolcraft Road in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 27, which
properly is zoned M-1, the Planning Commission does hereby
recommend to the City Council that Petition 2013-04-02-10 be
approved subject to the following conditions:
1. That the issues as outlined in the correspondence dated
April 30, 2013, from the Assistant Director of Inspection,
including those relating to the requirement that the
proposed space must meet all current barrier free codes,
building codes and all mechanical codes and standards,
shall be resolved to the satisfaction of the Inspection
Department;
2. That the site's parking lot shall be repaired or replaced and
restriped to the satisfaction of the Inspection Department
May 14, 2013
25766
prior to the issuance of an occupancy permit for the dance
studio;
3. That adequate off-street parking shall be provided which
shall be sufficient to comply with the parking requirement
for employees and patrons as set forth in Section
18.38(12) of the Zoning Ordinance;
4. 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;
and
5. That adequate lighting be provided in the parking areas
and walkways as determined by the Inspection
Department;
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons:
1. That the proposed use is in compliance with all of the
special and general waiver use standards and
requirements as set forth in Sections 16.11 and 19.06 of
the Zoning Ordinance #543;
2. That the subject property has the capacity to accommodate
the proposed use; and
3. That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony
with the surrounding uses in the area.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 19.05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended.
Mr. Morrow: Is there any discussion?
Ms. Smiley: I just have one question. What is the new name of it if it's not
the Livonia Trade Center?
Mr. Crate: We haven't decided but we think it's Partners Business Center.
Ms. Smiley: Okay.
Mr. Crate: And then, by the way, as far as signage for our tenants, all
they'll be allowed is to have a sign on their door that will be kind
of standard for all of them, not a hodgepodge thing, and then
ITEM #4 PETITION 2013-04-02-11 CONSUMERS ENERGY
Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2013-
04-02-11 submitted by Consumers Energy requesting waiver
use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(a) of the City of Livonia
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to construct a
compressed natural gas (C.N.G.) fueling station at 11801
Farmington Road, located on the west side of Farmington Road
between Plymouth Road and the CSX railroad right-of-way in
the Southeast 1/4 of Section 28.
May 14, 2013
25767
also another sign in the back over their man door with their
address.
Ms. Smiley:
Okay.
Mr. Crate:
So that's the only type of signage we're going to allow.
Mr. Morrow:
Any other discussion?
Mr. Wilshaw:
Just a beef comment that I appreciate Mr. Grine coming here to
speak on behalf of the property itself, which we had some
questions about, and the fact that he's making a substantial and
continued investment in improving that properly, which not only
benefits this particular tenant, but also the entire community and
that entire development. So I do appreciate that. We didn't
have a lot of questions for Ms. Monroe over her particular
business because she's already in business, where normally we
have new business people coming to us. But clearly she has an
established operation that is succeeding and wants to succeed
even more by having adequate training facilifies. So I certainly
think that's worthwhile to approve for that reason. One of the
concerns that we've had with a lot of these industrial uses are
these sporting activities, dance studios and so on in these
industrial uses, is the lack of parking. This is one of the few
sites we've seen that actually does not have that problem. It
has more than adequate parking, and as the petitioner pointed
out, also has a unique pedestrian -friendly element to it for kids
to gel to and from the facility back to their cars. So I think its a
good fl for this area. Thank you.
Mr. Morrow,
Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution.
ITEM #4 PETITION 2013-04-02-11 CONSUMERS ENERGY
Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2013-
04-02-11 submitted by Consumers Energy requesting waiver
use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(a) of the City of Livonia
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to construct a
compressed natural gas (C.N.G.) fueling station at 11801
Farmington Road, located on the west side of Farmington Road
between Plymouth Road and the CSX railroad right-of-way in
the Southeast 1/4 of Section 28.
May 14, 2013
25768
Mr. Taormina: This is a request to construct a compressed natural gas fueling
facility. You're going to hear the acronym C.N.G. probably
frequently this evening. That stands for compressed natural
gas. This is a development that is proposed on property owned
by Consumers Energy at 11801 Farmington Road, which is on
the west side of Farmington Road about 400 feet north of
Plymouth Road. Overall, the site is about 17 acres in area, but
the area where the fueling station would be constructed is about
1.2 acres, and that's the area that is shown on the overhead
highlighted in yellow. The property is actually split zoned. The
C-2 or commercial zoned portion of the properly includes the
frontage along Farmington Road where Consumers maintains a
regional service office, and then the back portion of the property
is actually zoned industrial, and that's used as a material,
equipment and vehicle storage yard. The terms of the
surrounding land uses and zoning, both to the north and to the
west, are industrial uses and zoning. Actually, the parcel further
to the west is part of what formerly was the Olson Oldsmobile
storage lot. Looking east across Farmington Road is the site of
the Fountain Park condominiums zoned residential
condominiums. Then to the south are various commercial uses
including the Stingers Restaurant and Bar as well as a
veterinary clinic. Fueling stations do require waiver use
approval under Section 11.03(a) of the Zoning Ordinance. The
proposed C.N.G. fueling facility would be located on the front
part of the property's seldom used south parking lot. Let me go
back to the aerial photograph to get everyone oriented. The
area that I'm identifying now is actually Consumers regional
office service center, and there is parking in front of that office
building. Then the area behind the building is the industrial part
of the property which is where they have a lot of their material
and vehicle storage area. Here it is pretty wide open. It's really
an used parking lot as part of the overall site. The C.N.G.
facility looks and operates very similar to a conventional gas
station. There would be two pumps with the capacity to serve
four vehicles at once, one on each side. There is room for two
additional fuel pumps that can be installed at a later date. There
would be a canopy over the pumps just like you see at most gas
stations. The facility would be open to the public but it would be
mainly used by Consumers and other business fleet vehicles
that rely on compressed natural gas. The facility is unmanned.
Its entirely self -serve and pay -at -the -pump technology. The
equipment needed to operate the facility would be housed in a
1,600 square foot semi -enclosed shelter. This building contains
the compressors and the storage tanks and the other monitoring
equipment for the pumps. It would be enclosed on all four
sides. The front part of that enclosure is actually fully enclosed,
May 14, 2013
25769
meaning it has a roof above it, and that would be used to house
the electrical equipment and the switch gears. This is what the
site would look like. In fad, I have a color rendering. This will
identify it better. The darker blue area here on the bottom
portion would be the outline of the canopy above the two pumps
that they would construct as part of Phase One. There is a
second canopy that is shown behind that where they could
install two additional pumps in the future, but this would be part
of Phase One construction, the canopy, and this blue area
identified on the lop part of the plan is that enclosure that I was
just referring to. Now this is mostly an open enclosure. It has
nine fool high walls on all four sides, but its open to above if
you will. With the exception of the area in front, that would be
fully enclosed and that houses the electrical equipment. There
would be a shed -type roof, standing seam metal roof with a
silver finish that would go on lop of that. That building is set
back around 88 feel from Farmington Road. The ordinance
requires a minimum setback of 75 feel, so it fully complies. The
canopy is setback 72 feel, whereas the ordinance would allow
that to be located as close as 10 feel from the right-of-way.
We're used to seeing these gas stations on small comer
properties. That's why the canopies oftentimes are located
within only 10 or 15 feel of the actual property line, but in this
case, again, its about 72 feel from the property line. The actual
pumps are about 80 feel from the property line, and then the
canopy itself is about 18 feet in height, which is the maximum
that is allowed under the ordinance. In terms of the support, the
canopy would be supported by steel columns that would have a
masonry base. The enclosure would be constructed of a
masonry type of c.m.u. block material. I believe the petitioner
has a material sample board that they can show the type of
materials and colors that would be used in the construction.
The same type of block material would be used at the base of
the support columns for the canopy. The site would have
additional landscaping including areas adjacent to Farmington
Road, as well as the south side of the property where a
drainage swell would be created to handle some of the site's
storm water. So we're taking a site that literally has no
landscaping currently and providing well over 15 percent as part
of this plan. The sign package does include a monument price
sign near the entrance to Farmington Road as well as
"Consumers Energy" on the fascia of the canopy facing
Farmington Road. By ordinance, they are allowed one ground
sign a maximum of 40 square feet and 12 feel in height with a
minimum setback of 5 feet. I think on the original plan the sign
was exactly those dimensions. It would be 12 feel high and 40
square feel in area. But Consumers is going to present to us
May 14, 2013
25770
this evening a modified version of the plan, something that is
more in the form of a monument sign, much lower and probably
a somewhat smaller sign area altogether. In terms of wall
signage, they are allowed signage at a ratio of two square feet
for every one lineal foot of building frontage. So in this case
they would be allowed 29 total square feel of wall signage,
which they should be able to achieve on that one canopy fascia
sign that theyre showing. There is a special provision that
prohibits gas stations from locating within 400 feel of a
residential distract. This provision can be waived by the written
consent of at least 65 percent of the owners of residential
properly within such radius. All of three and portions of four
other buildings that are located in the Fountain Park
condominium complex, which consists of a total often buildings,
are actually located within that 400 fool radius. The petitioner
has met with the homeowners in the association and we have
not received any response back yet from the homeowners in
that area. But in the absence of a complete response from the
residents, the Council can waive this provision with a
supennajoraty vote of its members. Al the study session there
was a number of issues raised. They were mostly related to
security measures, hours of operation, lighting and signage.
The unmanned facility would include redundant emergency
shutoff devices as well as monitoring cameras. It would also
close between the hours of midnight and 5:00 a.m., and
beginning at the time the facility closes, the canopy lights would
be dimmed providing sufficient lighting for security purposes
only. And then as I indicated, the signage has been modified
per our request. With that, I'll answer any questions you may
have or read out the departmental correspondence.
Mr. Morrow: Let's read out the correspondence
Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first dem is from
the Engineering Division, dated April 24, 2013, which reads as
follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering
Division has reviewed the plans by Professional Engineering
Associates (PEA) to construct a compressed natural gas
(C.N.G.) fueling station at 11801 Farmington Road. The written
legal description for the entire parcel should be as follows:
Commencing at the Southeast Comer of Section 28, Town 1
South, Range 9 East, City of Livonia, Wayne County, Michigan;
Thence North 03 degrees 04 minutes 42 seconds West, 433.14
feet along the East line of said Section 28 and the centedine of
Farmington Road (120 feet wide), Thence South 88 degrees 20
minutes 35 seconds West parallel with the south line of said
Section 28, 60.02 feet to the point of beginning, Thence
May 14, 2013
25771
continuing South 88 degrees 20 minutes 35 seconds West,
601.00 feet, Thence South 03 degrees 21 minutes 25 seconds
East, 433.20 Feet; Thence South 88 degrees 20 minutes 35
seconds West, 40.00 feet along the south line of said Section 28
and the centerline of Plymouth Road (variable width); Thence
North 03 degrees 21 minutes 25 seconds West, 433.20 feet,
Thence South 88 degrees 20 minutes 35 seconds West parallel
with the South line of said Section 28 125.00 feet, Thence North
03 degrees 21 minutes 25 seconds West, 343.25 feet, Thence
South 85 degrees 25 minutes 25 seconds West, 158.71 feet,
Thence North 03 degrees 21 minutes 25 seconds West, 600.63
feet, Thence North 85 degrees 27 minutes 38 seconds East
194.56 feet, Thence South 62 degrees 35 minutes 59 seconds
East, 151.19 Feet, Thence South 03 degrees 19 minutes 12
seconds East, 82.08 feet, Thence North 88 degrees 22 minutes
48 seconds East, 604.05 feet, Thence South 03 degrees 04
minutes 42 seconds East, 789.54 feet along the West right-of-
way line of said Farmington Road to the point of beginning,
being part of the Southeast X of said Section 28, containing
16.99 acres of land, more or less. Being subject to the rights of
the public over the southerly 33 feet thereof as occupied by
Plymouth Road. Also being subject to any easements and or
restrictions of records, if any. The address for this site is
confirmed to be 11801 Farmington Road. It appears that the
project area will encompass approximately 1.3 acres (296 feet
in length x 190 feet in width). The Engineering Department will
require storm water management which consists of treatment,
detention and outlet at a restricted rate of 0.15 cubic feet per
second (cfs) in accordance with Wayne County Storm Water
Ordinance based on the entire portion of the new proposed
pavement for this development. We will work with PEA to meet
this requirement. The approach and sidewalk work along the
west side of Farmington Road within the Wayne County Road
right-of-way would require a permit from Wayne County. A soil
erosion and sedimentation control (SESC) permit will be
required since the project area is more than one (1) acre.
There is an existing storm easement on the west side of
Farmington Road and then traverses to the southeast portion of
the property (location of the proposed Swale) for a 78 -inch storm
line under the jurisdiction of the City of Livonia. The proposed
Swale along the south side of the property will not be allowed
since it is over an existing easement for a 78 -inch storm line
under the jurisdiction of the City of Livonia. Alternatives for
storm water management should be considered such as
underground detention, detention pond, bioswale, etc., or a
combination thereof constructed outside the drain easement."
The letter is signed by Todd Zilincik, P.E., City Engineer. The
May 14, 2013
25772
second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated
April 29, 2013, which reads as follows: 9 have reviewed the
petition for a waiver use approval on the property at the above
referenced address to construct a compressed natural gas filling
station and have noted the following. (1) Project shall confirm to
NFPA 30A, 2012 edition and NFPA 1, 2009 edition. (2) If
applicable, NFPA 58 shall be followed as well. These issues
and other code requirements will be addressed during the plan
review process. Providing that all the above and related details
are followed and inspected prior to tenant use, this department
has no objections to this proposal." The letter is signed by
Daniel Lee, Fire Marshal. The third letter is from the Division of
Police, dated April 15, 2013, which reads as follows: "I have
reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. I have no
objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by John Gibbs,
Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the
Inspection Department, dated April 30, 2013, 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,
Assistant Director of Inspection. The next letter is from the
Plymouth Road Development Authority, dated April 19, 2013,
which reads as follows: At the 237th Regular Meeting of the
Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia
held on April 18, 2013, the following resolution was adopted:
#2013-07 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development
Authority does hereby support the proposed plans as presented
by Consumers Energy to construct a compressed natural gas
(C.N.G.) fueling station at 11801 Farmington Road, located on
the west side of Farmington Road between Plymouth Road and
the CSX railroad right -0f --way in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 28,
subject to compliance with all City codes and ordinances and
the Plymouth Road Development streetscape goals and
objectives, as such may be modified by the action of the
Planning Commission and/or City Council, and further provided
that the Engineering Division review the final proposed grades
to assure that the project does not result in any negative
drainage conditions on any of the adjacent properties." The
letter is signed by Mark Taormina. That is the extent of the
correspondence.
Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Seeing none,
if the petitioner could come forward. We will need your name
and address for the record please.
Jeff Shingler, Director of Fleet Services, 11801 Farmington Road, Livonia,
Michigan 48150. Thanks to the Commission for hearing our
May 14, 2013
25773
proposal on the green energy fueling site. My position is the
Director of Fleet Services for Consumers Energy. About two
years ago, we were looking at our alternative fuel strategy for
the company, which involves both hybrid technology, the
electric, the Chevy Volts, as well as C.N.G. Al the time, we
weren't real sure about the manufacturers and where they were
fitting in with C.N.G. We've now seen Chrysler come out with a
Ram pickup, Chevorlel with a three quarter ton pickup, and
Honda Civic is a prominent sedan. We're seeing fleets such as
Cummings and International build these engines. This is a
viable fuel source. So we started looking at, as a company,
where strategically could we place this. Detroit Edison or DTE
Energy has around 14 stations which we will go through a little
later and where their location was. Livonia provided a good
source with 1-96 right there. Our location was optimal as well as
being a part of our service territory. So I'm going to turn it over
to Chris Laser, who is the project manager on this project and
he'll lake you through a couple slides.
Christopher Laser, Consumers Energy, 11801 Farmington Road, Livonia,
Michigan 48150. I'm the Project Manager for Consumers
Energy. Some of you may have seen this presentation before.
It was a handout at the study session. This is the site once
again. Mr. Taormina described it pretty well. We're locating it in
the green area, which is the basically unused parking lot in our
facility right now. It is all paved currently; no green space on
that except for the frontage on Farmington Road. Again, you
saw this description, this drawing. I just want to mention that we
will be widening the entrance into the site. We talked about the
four charging stations. They will be located right there on the
Farmington Road side, the northeast corner of the site. As
mentioned, you talked about the canopy area, the dispensers.
Right now its only two dispensers that we're putting in, the two
pumps. Future plans, if everything goes well, we would add two
additional ones. We have access into the back, the west side
there, to our employee parking lot, and then once again, to the
north is an existing entrance or access way into our employee
parking on the front side of our building. These are some
renderings that our architect has completed showing the
canopy. Once again, two dispensers, a full canopy over both of
them. It's 14 feet high to the bottom of the canopy. This shows
signage on the left side there, what we're looking for, putting a
gasoline equivalent price per gallon. So we'd be showing that
on the sign, and then on the right side is a typical or standard
ANGI pump. ANGI is the manufacturer that we've selected for
the equipment. They would be supplying the pumps and all the
equipment inside the mechanical room which includes a dryer,
May 14, 2013
25774
the compressors, and the gas storage tanks. You saw this one
previously, but this is the mechanical room enclosure. Once
again, it's open to above. There is no roof on it except for the
electrical enclosure on the front. We would have some access
doors. They would be locked. They'd also be keyed and they
would also have card access into them so it would be a secured
site. Once again, here is kind of the typical process for a C.N.G.
station. On the upper lett corner there you see the gas supply.
We've got a gas main on the street, on Farmington there, that
we'd be tapping off of. It would go directly to the mechanical
enclosure into a gas dryer. It dues the gas, then goes to the
compressor. We would have two compressors similar in size. It
compresses the gas and pumps it into the high pressure storage
vessels, which we would have six of those. From there, it's just
piped underground into the dispenser and then into your vehicle
from there. So really all of the equipment is above ground with
the exception of just the piping from the mechanical storage
tanks to the dispensers. I'll let Jeff take over from these slides
but if you have any questions on those, I could try to answer
them for you as we go.
Mr. Shingler: As mentioned before, this station will be open to the public. It
will contain two pumps at the 3,600 pounds per square inch
rating, and all purchases will be done through a credit card or
fleet card if that fleet had an external card. Security, we do have
maintenance staff that's located at the adjacent building, and as
mentioned, we're looking at a midnight to 5:00 a.m. closing with
the lights dimming. Also, we have video camera coverage that's
monitored 2417 from our security command center. Some of the
benefits of C.N.G., its a clean, safe fuel. Its really been in
vehicles for decades. The industry went away from it based on
the price of crude and natural gas going together. Now we're
seeing that separation. The popularity is certainly increasing,
and the price for a gallon of gas right now; its $3.65ish, high
threes. $2.39 right now in Michigan for a gallon of equivalent
C.N.G. Our internal vehicles that we have currently running is
around 11 cents per mile advantage for C.N.G. versus gasoline,
and those are four three-quarter ton GMC Sierras. We feel as
a company natural gas will continue to track away from crude
oil. Environmentally, it burns a lot cleaner. You don't have to
have as many oil changes in your vehicles. It's a reduction in
your carbon footprint, 25 to 28 percent, and then as Chris
staled, everything is above ground so there is no risk of leaking
fuel into ground water. As an energy source, 98 percent of the
gas consumed in the U.S. is produced in North America, and
Michigan is a gas -producing stale. The reason for the
separation from crude is the shale gas that we found in the U.S.
May 14, 2013
25775
Safely, natural gas is lighter than air. It dissipates. It doesn't
pool as gasoline and diesel fuel. Due to the higher flash point,
C.N.G. actually has a lower risk of fire hazard than gasoline.
Our storage tanks incorporate multiple safety systems including
pressure relief valves and then C.N.G. vehicles meet all crash
lest standards from the OEMs, Original Equipment
Manufacturers. The system will meet or exceed all National Fire
Protection Agency stale and local government requirements.
We also have on the site four plug-in ports for the Chevy Volt,
Nissan, Leaf, the Transit Connect and then the Ford Fusions out
there. This will be right off the Farmington Road site free to the
public. We currently have 36 free charging stations across the
state and we are continuing to expand this number. There is a
map of the Michigan C.N.G. stations currently. The lower left is
the entire state. There are three on the west side of the state
and the majority in the Detroit area, and the map to the left side,
the upper left corner, is the Detroit area. There are three
stations in Ann Arbor, one in Adrian, and then five located in the
Detroit area, one in Taylor and one in Melvindale. Livonia was a
nice ft in between both clusters of stations. Some of our
alternative fuel vehicles in our current fleet, we have the Chevy
Volt. You see a picture of two GMC Sierras. We have a hybrid
bucket truck that we lest as well as the all -electric Transit
Connect. In the future, our gas distribution vehicles, the upper
left, is a possible C.N.G. as well as our gas service vans that
you see around the Detroit area. There are many fleets out
there that are converting and have current programs - Waste
Management, AT&T, Frito Lay, UPS and Ryder, just to name a
few. These are the communications that we've had with
residents across the street at Fountain Park. It started in
December. We met with their management company. Then I
met with the board members in January to go through the
project and any concerns they may have had. They had
concerns about hours of operation as well as security. In
February we distributed a communication to all the residents, a
letter detailing the project along with the card to the right. We
didn't get the response that we were hoping for. Then we mel
again with them in March. When I met them, I asked why they
didn't send the card back. Some of them were unclear to send
the card back, and what we found was there were renters on
site and it was addressed to the owner, so they thought it was
just an ad and disposed of it. Their concems were addressed.
The board members, they were supportive of the project. Just
last week we met with the residents at their annual meeting.
We got around 32 - 33 responses in total with four needing
more information. So the majority of the residents there have
May 14, 2013
25776
been in approval of the project. I'll open up to any questions
that you may have.
Mr. Morrow: Okay. We'll see if we have any for you. Commissioners?
Mr. Wilshaw: There was a communication that we had at the beginning of our
presentation here about storm water management on the site
and some difficulties in making sure that it's handled properly.
Has that issue been addressed at this point or are you still
working out the details of the storm water management?
Steve Sorensen, Professional Engineering Associates, 2430 Rochester Court,
Suite 100, Troy, Michigan 48083. I've had additional discussions
with both Todd and Louai and have developed some plans
further. In those discussions, they were mostly concerned that
water would be stored in that drainage swale and it would be
wet and make maintenance difficult, but we are adding a catch
basin in there to make sure that the swale is dry and we are
also providing complete underground detention on site in
compliance with Wayne County ordinance. So at my last
conversation, they seemed very fine with the plan as will be put
forward as plans are developed further.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay. Very good. I'm glad that you addressed those issues.
My other questions are more about the operation of the gas
station itself, so I'm guessing that some of the other folks can
answer these. Natural gas, of course, as we know it, I guess it's
an odorless gas, but odor is added to it to make it recognizable
to people if it's in the air. Is there any odor from any bleeding off
of excess pressure or anything that is going to come from this
site that would, with a predominantly eastward wind, blow
toward the residents?
Mr. Shingler:
I'm currently driving one of these vehicles and there is very little
odor when you release from filling your truck up, far less than
you'd ever get from a gas station. I haven't experienced it and
I've been driving it for three months.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay, but the station itself as it's compressing the gas into the
storage tanks and so on, if it has to release pressure every so
often, it doesn't just release any gas that would get into the air
that people would smell. Does it?
Mr. Shingler:
No.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay. And what about the noise from the compressing
equipment itself? Are there motors that con to do the drying and
Mr. Shingler: This investment is a $2 million investment on this site
May 14, 2013
25777
compressing that could perhaps be heard from across the
street?
Mr. Shingler:
Both compressors, the compressor inside the building is in a
structure as well as the nine fool walls. I don't envision the
noise being an issue for anybody.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay. Your experience, at least with other fueling stations like
this, you're not anticipating any noise issue, but do you know if
there are any noise issues?
Mr. Shingler:
Well, I fill up in Ann Arbor at a Meijer station there. I never even
notice the compressor and it's behind a nine fool wall. It's
actually a little bit further away than ours will be to the pump, but
to any local residents, it's about three times farther than that and
you can't even hear the compressor going.
Mr. Wilshaw:
I imagine the noise from the bar next door is probably more of
an issue for the residents there anyway. And then the one thing
that I did note during your presentation, I think its worth
reiterating, is the environmental impact that you will have on this
site by developing it as you're proposing. There are two key
elements to it that stand out as I look at it. One is that you're
adding a lot of green space to this property which is currently all
concrete, which I think is attmctive and an improvement to the
site, but also I think it's important to note, as was pointed out in
the presentation, that you're not burying tanks underground that
could leak or have other environmental impact like a traditional
gas station would. Very often we see serious remediation that
needs to be done at gas station sites, and essentially, if for
some reason down the road you decide you don't want to
operate a gas station here, you literally just pull these buildings
away and you're back to a flat piece of unadulterated land
essenfially. Is that correct?
Mr. Shingler:
Yes, that's correct. Everything is above ground as Chris
mentioned except for the piping going to the pumps, but
everything you just pull up and essentially leave the land how it
was before.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay. This strikes me as a fairly significant financial project for
you guys as far as expense to develop this site. Is it possible
for you to share with us what kind of investment that you're
making into this site?
Mr. Shingler: This investment is a $2 million investment on this site
May 14, 2013
25778
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay. And is this the first one for you guys to make?
Mr. Shingler:
We did have some that we managed back in the early 2000's.
However with the price of natural gas at the time, it just wasn't
attractive to fleets nor really the general public to buying these
vehicles. This would be the first one of us getting back into it,
yes.
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay. And do you intend on doing more of these throughout the
southeast Michigan area?
Mr. Shingler:
We have a lot of interest with customers throughout Michigan
that are looking. A lot of fleets, as myself being a fleet manager,
R is an attractive option when you run as many miles as our
vehicles do at $2.39 a gallon versus $3.65, $4.00 depending on
what type of fuel you're running. But we don't know. We're
taking this one as our first step. We'll see what the success is
and then see how many other fleets look to use this fuel.
Mr. Wilshaw:
I will make the comment at this point that looking at the map that
shows where the natural gas fueling stations are throughout
southeast Michigan, I researched this a little myself, and found
the same thing as your map indicates, that basically there's
nothing in this area. You either have to go to downtown Detroit
or over to Ann Arbor to get natural gas for a fleet vehicle or any
type, if you have a Honda Civic that takes natural gas or
whatever. So you've clearly identified a void in service area.
Its convenient in the sense that it's near the freeway but also
you happen to have a nice properly that's your property to do
this on. It doesn't cost you a rental expense or lease expense.
So to me it seems like a good project on the surface. I look
forward to hearing from the residents that are here and see
what their comments are, but I think it's a good first step. Thank
you.
Mr. Shingler:
Thankyou.
Ms. Smiley:
My concern was about the safety, that its unmanned, but your
other service stations are unmanned and you're also telling us
that there's different safety factors built in. For example, if a guy
was to drive off with the hose attached to the vehicle, what
happens then?
Mr. Shingler:
Yes. There's check valves there in the hoses if someone did
forget to unattach and drove off. They would not dispense fuel.
If someone were to run into the fueling station, there's checks
that wouldn't allow it to dispense C.N.G. into the air.
May 14, 2013
25779
Ms. Smiley: Okay. And then the fact that it's unmanned is not a problem?
Mr. Shingler: Well, that's why we're closing it from midnight to 5:00 a.m. We
do have staff that's in our adjacent building there. Mechanics
work there inside those hours, starling at 5:00 a.m. and they're
there until midnight. So we would have folks that are on the
site, not at the station though.
Ms. Smiley: All right. Well, thank you.
Mr. Taylor: Obviously, safety is the biggest problem that we're looking at,
and I'm sure the neighbors are looking at in that area. We had
a couple gas explosions over in Royal Oak. What type of a line
comes into the tanks? How big is the line? Is it a normal gas
line that goes in like into a business or a house?
Mr. Laser: I'm not sure exactly what the diameter of the line is going to be
yet. I dont think we've sized it yet, but it will be a high pressure
gas line, approximately 90 psi. It is a little higher pressure. It's
coming to a regulator that's going to be mounted outside the
enclosure there and reduce the pressure down.
Mr. Taylor: I'm not familiar at all with the way you put that into an
automobile. Do you have to screw something in so it doesn't
leak out?
Mr. Laser: No. What you do is, there's a nozzle and it locks on to another
nozzle that comes out. It locks on and then you flip start. It fills
up on its own and it measures pressure. Once it gels to 3,600
pounds, the pump shuts off and then you simply just slop it and
then pull the handle and it releases.
Mr. Taylor:
So its automatic so it shuts itself off?
Mr. Laser:
Yes. Once it detects that it reached its full capacity.
Mr. Taylor:
What if I only wanted to get $10 worth?
Mr. Laser:
Then you could just turn it from start to slop and it would shut off
on its own.
Mr. Taylor:
Otherwise it fills it up automatically and shuts off automatically?
Mr. Laser:
Yes.
May 14, 2013
25780
Mr. Taylor:
I'm anxious to hear from the residents, but that's probably the
biggest factor about it. I mean its a coming thing. We all know
that, but how well it will work out, we'll never know that until it's
probably 10 years from now. I think its a good project to start
with, and I think that's the future. So hopefully all of the safety
things through Wayne County, the Slate and the City will be
taken into consideration. Thank you.
Mr. Taormina:
Just quickly, in the event that somebody does need to
communicate with personnel in the building, how would that be
achieved? Some kind of intercom or have you not figured that
out yet?
Mr. Laser:
We'd have signs out there near the dispenser - an emergency
number that they would call for service and it would go to one of
our operators, who would then have somebody from the site to
come out there to address any issues.
Mr. Taormina:
Okay, so just a call, but you wouldn't provide a phone? They
would have to do that on their own.
Mr. Laser:
We weren't planning on having a phone out there, no.
Mr. Morrow:
Well, you might consider it. Just lake it under advisement. It
might be a little more convenient. When you mentioned fleets,
would they have something on site to initially fill up their trucks
or would this be their only source, a station such as this?
Mr. Laser:
I think it depends what fleet it was. Potentially, it could be the
only one depending on their location. If they go to Ann Arbor,
they could fill up there or in the downdver area. I think
depending on where that business was located, it could be the
only one or they could utilize the other stations.
Mr. Morrow:
Bulwould they have one on site wherever their depot is?
Mr. Laser:
They could. There's a lot of slow f11 capabilities out there, fuel
makers that aren't as expansive as this. They take a lot longer
to f11 up. We do have a slow f11 that we used to use for a fork lift
on this site. It's near the back of the building. It takes two days
to f11 up the pickup trucks that we have. They could have that
as an option though.
Mr. Morrow:
So in other words, you're comfortable that most of the business
would come your way or similar f II stations?
Mr. Laser:
Potentially, yes.
May 14, 2013
25781
Mr. Morrow:
And you did say the electrically charging on your units are all
free?
Mr. Laser:
Yes.
Mr. Morrow:
Free is good. Free is my favorite four letter word.
Ms. Smiley:
Do you have any idea how long the natural gas stations in Ann
Arbor have been running?
Mr. Shingler:
Theyve been up for quite a while. DTE, as well as us, in the
late 90's or mid 90's were creating these stations, and DTE kept
their stations up and running. I know the one at the Ann Arbor
DPW has been up for quite some time. There's one off
Carpenter Road that is a mid -90's vintage, and I think the Ann
Arbor -Saline Road one is a little bit newer.
Ms. Smiley:
To your knowledge, have they had any problems with those
stations?
Mr. Shingler:
No. Just normal maintenance, but no issues. Nothing that I've
seen or heard from. We're working closely with Detroit Edison
on these.
Ms. Smiley:
Thankyou.
Mr. Morrow:
Anyone else? Gentlemen, I'm going to go to the audience to
see if there is anyone in the audience that wishes to speak for
or against the granting of this petition? Seeing no one coming
forward, I'm going to close the public hearing and request a
motion.
On a motion by Scheel, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was
#05-24-2013
RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on May 14, 2013, on
Petition 2013-04-02-11 submitted by Consumers Energy
requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(a) of
the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to
construct a compressed natural gas (C.N.G.) fueling station at
11801 Farmington Road, located on the west side of
Farmington Road between Plymouth Road and the CSX railroad
right -0f --way in the Southeast 114 of Section 28, which property
is zoned C-2 and M-1, the Planning Commission does hereby
recommend to the City Council that Petition 2013-0402-11 be
approved subject to the following conditions:
May 14, 2013
25782
1. That the Site Plan marked Drawing No. P-2.1, Sheet 2
dated April 12, 2013, prepared by Professional Engineering
Associates, is hereby approved and shall be adhered to;
2. That the Landscape Plan marked Drawing No. L-1.1, Sheet
X dated April 12, 2013, prepared by Professional
Engineering Associates, is hereby approved and shall be
adhered to;
3. That all disturbed lawn areas shall be sodded in lieu of
hydroseeding;
4. 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;
5. That the Architectural Elevation Plan marked Drawing No.
A-2, Sheet 6 dated April 12, 2013, prepared by NSA, is
hereby approved and shall be adhered to;
6. That the gas pump island canopy shall not exceed 18 feet
in height;
7. That the pump island canopy lights shall be recessed and
directed downward to avoid light glare and spillage;
8. That this site shall meet either the City of Livonia or the
Wayne County Storm Water Management Ordinance,
whichever applies, and shall secure any required permits,
including storm water management permits, and soil
erosion and sedimentation control permits, from Wayne
County, the City of Livonia, and/or the Slate of Michigan
Department of Natural Resources and Environment
(DNRE);
9. That all pole -mounted light fixtures shall not exceed a
height of twenty feel (20') as measured from the
established grade at the base of the structures, and shall
be aimed and shielded so as to minimize stray light
trespassing across property lines and glaring into adjacent
roadway;
May 14, 2013
25783
10. The fueling facility shall close each night no later than
midnight and shall remain closed until 5:00 a.m., seven (7)
days a week;
11. All site lighting shall be dimmed after closing;
12. No outside storage, placement or display of merchandise
shall be permitted at any lime on this site, however the
foregoing prohibition shall not apply to the display, on the
pump islands only, of oil based products as permitted in
Section 11.04(a) of the Zoning Ordinance;
13. That free air shall be provided at all times this station is
open for business. The free air shall be dispensed at the
point -0f -service without having to enter the station or the
performance of any extra action in order to obtain the air
without charge;
14. 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;
15. That no part of the pump island canopy fascia, with the
exception of signage, shall be illuminated;
16. That no LED lighthand or exposed neon shall be permitted
on this site including, but not limited to, the pump island
canopy, building or around the windows;
17. 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,
18. pursuant to Section 19.10 of Ordinance #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 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 19.05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended.
Mr. Morrow: Is there any discussion?
May 14, 2013
25784
Mr. Wilshaw: I just wanted to briefly comment that I want to thank Consumers
for proactively working with the residents in the area on the
issue to make sure they were comfortable with the
improvements that are being made at the site, and also to point
out that I do think these are attractive and low impact
improvements that are being made to the site.
Mr. Morrow: Yes, I think that the rest of the Commission can join in that
working with the community also. Also, a very fine presentation
taken from the beginning to the end and that was much
appreciated. I'm sure it caused this to move along a little more
swiftly than it might have. So if there are no other comments, I'll
ask for the vote.
Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving recommendation. Thank you very much for choosing
Livonia and good luck.
ITEM #5 PETITION 2013-04-08-04 MOBIL GAS STATION
Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2013-
04-08-04 submitted by ABA Investment, L.L.C. requesting
approval of all plans required by Section 18.58 of the City of
Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, in connection with
a proposal to demolish and reconstruct the gas station (Mobil) at
29401 Five Mile Road, located on the southwest comer of Five
Mile Road and Middlebell Road in the Northeast 1/4 of Section
23.
Mr. Taormina: This is a request to demolish an existing gas station building,
construct a new gas station building in its place, and add pumps
to an existing Mobil station that is at the southwest comer of
Five Mile and Middlebelt Roads. The property measures
roughly half an acre in area. It's a perfect square, 150 feel of
frontage on Five Mile by 150 feet of frontage along Middlebell.
It is zoned C-2, General Business, as are all of the surrounding
properties. To the south and west is the Mid -Five shopping
center. Across Middlebell Road are a number of commeroial
establishments including a Precision Tune auto center and
Szechuan Empire restaurant. North across Five Mile Road is
the site of Thrifty Florist as well as a MacDonald's restaurant,
and then diagonally at the northeast corner is another gas
station. The existing building on the property is about 900
square feet in total area. It's located near the middle of the site,
halfway under the existing gas pump island canopy. The station
May 14, 2013
25785
is setback about 80 feet from Five Mile and roughly 46 feel from
Middlebelt Road. The existing pumps and overhead canopy
extend along the Middlebelt Road frontage. It was six years ago
in May, 2007, when this site received approval to demolish and
reconstruct a gas station very similar to the plan we're looking at
this evening. However, no work was done, and following one
year of no activity, the approved plans became null and void
under our requirements, which is why they're back before us.
Again, the current request is very similar to the previously
approved plans. The location and configuration of the existing
gas pump islands and canopy would not change. We're just
looking at the convenience store and gas station that would be
demolished and relocated on the site. The new building would
be located in the southwest corner of the properly. Currently, it
is located centrally on the site halfway under the canopy that
extends lengthwise along the Middlebelt Road frontage. The
new building would be lucked in the southwest corner. It's a
much larger building. It would go from about 900 square feet
currently to about 3,528 square feel. Again, its in the same
location, configuration and size of what was approved
previously. The floor plan submitted shows that the majority of
the interior of new station would be used for retail and the sale
and display of convenience items. Other rooms in the building
include utility and walk-in coolers as well as a restroom, a
cashier stand and an office. The required parking on the site is
based on the size of the building at a ratio of one space for each
150 square feet of useable floor area. That requires 19 total
spaces in this case. The plan shows 11 parking spaces, so that
will require a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Also
in 2007, the Zoning Board of Appeals did review plans very
similar to these. They did approve the variance, however, that
did expire. Ingress and egress to the station will remain the
same. There are two points along Five Mile and and two points
along Middlebelt Road. The building would be setback about
106 feet from Middlebelt Road but only 64 feel from Five Mile. I
believe the setback is now conforming. I will have to go back
and check, but in 2007, we had a 75 fool setback requirement
from any right-of-way. I believe we recently changed that to 60
feet, and I believe the building now fully conforms and that
aspect of it would not require Zoning Board of Appeals approval.
The plans show a total of six pumps. The four existing pump
islands would remain and two new pump islands would be
added. This is in the area where the building is currently
located. Once that building is removed, it will provide some
additional area under the canopy for the two additional pumps.
The pump island canopy is about 120 feel in total length.
Landscaping shown on the plan does comply with the 15
May 14, 2013
25786
percent requirement. It's a little confusing though in terms of
what is being kept on the site and what is being removed. We
need clarification on that. There are several elements to the
existing landscaping on site that are in good shape. If it's the
intent, however, to remove a lot of that landscaping and replace
it with new plantings, then I think we need to see that in greater
detail. The approving resolution that we prepared for you this
evening does include landscaping as a callback item. These
are the elevations plans, but I would rather show this
photograph which is very similar to what the building is going to
look like. It is a combination of materials, both block and brick,
the decorative block being at the lower part of the building, the
lighter tan along what would be a wainscot about three feel from
the grade up. Then it would transition to an E.I.F.S. band and
then to the full brick. It has a decorative comice along the lop
edge of the parapet I believe that is E.I.F.S. The stucco and the
E.I.F.S. are provided on the upper portions of the building,
including the cornice. They are also showing it in a mid -band, a
transition between the block and the brick. We think that this
material should be replaced with some type of masonry
material. E.I.F.S. is not a proper material in this location. The
plan shows glazing, the windows. This is similar to the building
face that would face Middlebelt Road. Similarly, this elevation
has the same treatments along the sides of the buildings, facing
north and south. However, the back of the building facing west
just shows a block material. We're not sure what that block
consists of but it should be constructed out of something that is
decorative and consistent with the other materials being used
on the building. Lastly in terms of signage, we don't have a lot
of detail on signage other than the fact that they have two
generic signs shown on the prints, one on the east side of the
building facing Middlebell and then one on the north side facing
Five Mile. Thank you.
Mr. Morrow: Mark, just before you go to the correspondence, you mentioned
the full face brick.
Mr. Taormina: It is our understanding that it would be a full face brick, but we
can confirm that with the petitioner.
Mr. Morrow: Okay. Thank you. Please continue with the correspondence.
Mr. Taormina: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated April 19, 2013, which reads as
follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering
Division has reviewed the plans by ABA Investment, L.L.C.
requesting demolition and reconstruction of the gas station
May 14, 2013
25787
(Mobil) at 29401 Five Mile Road. The written legal description
for this parcel has been taken from the Assessor's information
and should be as follows: 23Alala Albla thatpart of northeast
X Section 23 Town 1 South, Range 9 East, City of Livonia,
Wayne County, beginning at the northeast comer of Section 23,
thence West 208.71 feet, thence South 0 degrees, 24 minutes,
24 seconds East 208.71 feet, thence East 208.71 feet, thence
North 0 degrees, 24 minutes, 24 seconds West 208.71 feet to
point of beginning, except North 60 feet also except East 60
feet. 0.51 acres. The address for this site is confirmed to be
29401 Five Mile Road. The Engineering Department will require
storm water management and have previously spoken to
Engineering Services, Inc. (ESI) about this item. They will work
with the Engineering Department to meet this requirement.
There appears that no work is anticipated outside the property
lines. However, if any work is proposed outside the property
lines along Five Mile Road or Middlebelt Road within the Wayne
County Road right -0f --way would requires a permit from them.
The petitioner may want to review if the size of the domestic
service line along with the water meter size to be utilized for the
proposed building. A soil erosion and sedimentation control
(SESC) permit will not be required since the project is less than
one acre and not located within 500 feet of a lake or stream.
The petitioner will need to obtain a demolition permit from the
Engineering Department which will require a $500 refundable
cash deposit and a nonrefundable $7 processing fee. There are
no easements or utilities under the jurisdiction of the City of
Livonia on the property." The letter is signed by Todd Zilincik,
P.E., City Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire &
Rescue Division, dated April 26, 2013, which reads as follows:
9 have reviewed the petition for this proposal to demolish and
reconstruct a gas station/convenience store on the property at
the above referenced address and have noted the following.
Project must conform to NFPA 1 and 101, 2009 edition, for a
New Mercantile Use group. These issues and other code
requirements will be addressed during the plan review process.
We advise that no use of this facility be conducted prior to
inspections and approval of any/all NFPA codes relating to New
Mercantile Use. Providing that all details in regards to this are
followed and inspected prior to tenant use, this department has
no objections to this petition." The letter is signed by Daniel
Lee, Fire Marshal. The third letter is from the Division of Police,
dated April 16, 2013, which reads as follows: 9 have reviewed
the plans in connection with the petition. 1 have no objections to
the proposal." The letter is signed by John Gibbs, Sergeant,
Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the Inspection
Department, dated April 30, 2013, which reads as follows:
May 14, 2013
25788
"Pursuant to your request of September 28, 2012, the above -
referenced petition has been reviewed. The following is noted.
(1) The Commission and or Council may wish to address free
air at this site and add the following statement. That free air
shall be provided at all times this station is open for business.
The free air shall be dispensed at the point of service without
having to enter the station or the performance of any extra
action in order to obtain the air without charge. (2) A variance
from the Zoning Board of Appeals would be required to maintain
the deficient number of parking spaces. (3) The restrooms must
be made accessible to the public at all times that the building is
occupied per the Michigan Plumbing Code. (4) Signage has not
been reviewed at this time. (5) Parking spaces shall be 10' wide
and 20' deep and double striped. (6) A van accessible, barrier
free parking space must be provided and be property sized,
signed and striped. (7) No outside storage, placement or display
of merchandise shall be permitted at any time at this site;
however the foregoing prohibition shall not apply to the display,
on the pump islands only, of oil based products as permitted in
Section 11.03(A) of the Zoning Ordinance. This Department
has no further objections to this petition." The letter is signed by
Jerome Hanna, Assistant Director of Inspection. That is the
extent of the correspondence.
Mr. Morrow: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Seeing none,
is the petitioner here this evening? We will need your name and
address for the record please.
Alex Ali, 15408 Aubumdale, Livonia, Michigan.
Mr. Morrow: Thank you. You've heard the presentation. Is there anything
you want to add or any other comments that you want to make?
Mr. Ali: No.
Sina Elmoussa, 5020 Maple, Dearborn, Michigan 48126. 1 just want to clarify the
face of the building and the material that you mentioned, sir.
Mr. Morrow: Ma'am, he's going to set up an easel for you to place the plan.
Ms. Elmoussa: Oh, thank you very much. The concern that the City Planner
mentioned about the E.I.F.S., in our original design, it's different
than the picture. The picture is just to make the image closer.
We are providing split -face brick, dark color in the bottom. The
windows are different than the picture, but we have that three
feet split -face brick. Then we have a red color closer to the
split -face, and then you have lighter, kind of pinkish, because
May 14, 2013
25789
we are using either red, or see the red color in the bottom. We
are using a lighter color here. The back is going also to be split
face block as the front.
Mr. Morrow:
What is the material that the Planning Director had concerns
with? Do you see the E.I.F.S. as the same?
Ms. Elmoussa:
We are a small portion of E.I.F.S. Not E.I.F.S. all the way
through. Just to show the depth of the brick.
Mr. Wilshaw:
It won't have all this E.I.F.S. here?
Mr. Morrow:
Okay, because ...
Ms. Elmoussa:
The picture shows the whole lop portion is E.I.F.S. We are
proposing brick, a lighter color of brick than the one shown.
Mr. Morrow:
And you say the E.I.F.S. is where?
Ms. Elmoussa:
The E.I.F.S. is here on the bottom and the lop, right on the top.
Its just a small strip to show the depth and it's a small strip
here. I have two feel of a brick, and then I have a four inch strip
of E.I.F.S., which is just to show the depth.
Mr. Morrow:
Mr. Taormina, is that ...
Mr. Taormina:
What you just pointed to was above the windows, and the area
that I am more concerned with is shown below the windows
between the block base and is identified as E.I.F.S.
Ms. Elmoussa:
Yes.
Mr. Morrow:
And our concern was that this was loo low for the E.I.F.S. and
maybe not a good transitional material between the block and
the brick, and that should be some kind of cast stone or
masonry. Because its lower, it's subject to more damage. I
don't think I have a problem with it up here, but down here I
think it would be more appropriate.
Ms. Elmoussa:
We can make it all split -face block, same color, and then we can
continue with the brick, keeping the small strips, which I don't
think is going to be affected or damaged, just the small stripes in
between layers.
Mr. Taormina:
Is that what these are? Can you explain what these are?
Ms. Elmoussa:
Yes, those are E.I.F.S. also.
May 14, 2013
25790
Mr. Taormina:
This is all E.I.F.S. running between the brick and this ledge right
here?
Ms. Elmoussa:
This is supposed to be E.I.F.S. also but if you are concemed,
we can just replace it with split -face.
Mr. Taormina:
Because of where it is located, some kind of a masonry product
is our preference.
Mr. Morrow:
So we think we have a handle on it now?
Mr. Taormina:
We can do that at the time of plan review.
Mr. Morrow:
Okay. Good. Yes, ma'am, continue.
Ms. Elmoussa:
I'm the designer of the building itself, regarding the side, is the
one ... but if you have any question about the building itself ...
Mr. Morrow:
Would it be the west wall that we were concerned about, the
rear of it?
Ms. Elmoussa:
Yeah, and what we submit to the city was only block. We did
not say anything about it, but we agree. I mean we are the
owner and we are already decided to make it split -face block,
which is more appealing and prettier.
Mr. Morrow:
I'm assuming the colors would be comparable?
Ms. Elmoussa:
The color of the back is going to be the same as the color of the
bottom, which is we are hoping to come up with red or cedar red
block, which is closer to the red brick you see here.
Mr. Morrow:
Okay. We may get back to that. The Commission may have
some concerns or questions on that. Was there anything else
you wanted to say before I see if the Commission has any
input? Are you all set then with that?
Ms. Elmoussa:
I'm all set but if you have any questions regarding the site, the
engineer ...
Mr. Morrow:
We will open it up to the Commission. Do you have any
questions or comments that you'd like to make?
Mr. Wilshaw:
I'd like to ask Ms. Elmoussa a question since she's there with
her plan. The rooftop mechanicals, normally we ask that they
be screened on all four sides so any air conditioner units or
May 14, 2013
25791
anything chats on the roof, it appears as if the facade of the
front will probably screen most of that, but on the back, it looks
like it's only a one-sided facade. On the back, it doesn't look
like there's any screening for that.
Ms. Elmoussa:
When we draw, we draw the whole building. When we go
further in designing, we're going to show what kind of material, if
it's metal or something else. It depends on what the City
requires. Usually we chose . . . the colors almost fl . . .
(inaudible).
Mr. Wilshaw:
Okay, so you're going to address that?
Ms. Elmoussa:
Yes.
Mr. Wilshaw:
The only comment I would have at this point is, definitely, I
would suggest as you go forward in the process that you have a
more accurate elevation plan, but also a color rendering and
maybe even material samples that will give the Council,
assuming this moves on, a clear picture as to what exact colors
and the texture and the type of materials that you're going to
have on the building are going to look like.
Ms. Elmoussa:
Definitely (inaudible).
Mr. Wilshaw:
No, it's great, because looking at that rendering is completely
different.
Ms. Elmoussa:
. dimension . . . shows exactly the colors of the . . .
(inaudible).
Mr. Wilshaw:
Yes. We have to use quite a bit of imagination looking at the
one we have there. Thank you.
Ms. Scheel:
Do we not have any color renderings here this evening? Just
the picture?
Mr. Morrow:
Yes. I think that's what Mr. Wilshaw pointed out that it may
need a little work to go to Council. Mr. Taormina, are you
satisfied with the wall that's going to be split -face?
Mr. Taormina:
We do have questions regarding the colors. Did you bring any
material samples?
Ms. Elmoussa:
No.
May 14, 2013
25792
Mr. Taormina:
I would highly recommend that if this moves forward this
evening that they bring more detailed information to the Council
level relative the colors of the building because the color
scheme is something that we don't have a full handle on. As I
understand it, she mentioned a brick somewhat similar to this
color, but then she indicated a pinkish color on the E.I.F.S., and
we need to more about the actual color that's going to be used.
Mr. Morrow:
There's a lot of pinks on the scale.
Mr. Taormina:
I'm not sure what part of the building that is. If I could ask the
owners, is it your intention to bring in a restaurant or any kind of
a small food service operation with this, a sub shop or anything
of that nature?
Mr. Ali:
No.
Mr. Taormina:
Then can you describe, or maybe the architect, how the trash is
going to be handled on the site?
Mr. Ali:
We haven't talked to anybody about a restaurant. It's just a
convenience store.
Mr. Taormina:
Just a convenience store. And what about the trash?
Mr. Ali:
The trash?
Mr. Taormina:
Yes.
Mr. Ali:
What it's going to be?
Mr. Taormina:
How is it going to be handled?
Mr. Ali:
I think its going to stay ...
Gary Sacharski,
13772 Island Lake Road, Chelsea, Michigan 48118. I'm the
engineer that's been working with Engineering Services on this.
There is a dumpster enclosure on the northern side of the
building and it's off to sort of an angle. It's such that a front
loading garbage truck would be able to get in there and get
access to it and get in and gel out. It's a little tough to sort of fit
everything in there but we believe we have a workable
plan
there for it, and the enclosure will have doors on the front of
it so
I'm meeting the ordinance of the city.
Ms. Scheel:
Can you point out, Mark, where he's talking?
Mr. Taormina: No. It looks like there would be adequate distance. Theyd
probably block a portion of the approach while they're picking up
the refuse, and then they would probably have to exit out the
site back out to Middlebell Road, unless they can swing around
to the other drive approach.
Mr. Morrow: We do have standards for dumpster areas.
Mr. Taormina: The enclosure would have to be constructed of masonry to
match the building and we'd have steel gales or some kind of
reinforced material, no wood or chain link or anything of that
nature. We want the gales closed at all times when @'s not in
use.
Mr. Taylor: Through the Chair to Mark, I'm still not clear on what type of
material they're using in the front and on the back.
Mr. Taormina: It is a cmu or a decorative block. This is four inch brick. Is that
correct?
Ms. Elmoussa: Yes
Mr. Taormina: So this is a full face brick - anywhere that you see the dark
color. And then the lighter horizontal bands that separate the
brick, that is actually a stucco material, an E.I.F.S. Moving to
the bottom, theyre showing a scored block or decorative block
material on the base, a common material you see used on
construction. Then it is my understanding that the same
material would be used not only on the sides along the
May 14, 2013
25793
Mr. Taormina:
As I understand, it's located between the building and Five Mile.
I don't know what that dimension would be, but I'm going to
estimate it's about 35 feet from the property line. Its going to be
highly visible from Five Mile Road. It will be at an angle so
maybe there's something we can do additionally to screen that
dumpster enclosure, to make it look as small as possible so as
not to slick out and be so noticeable and maybe even push it
back a little bit. I'd like them to look at that very carefully and
see how we could mitigate its appearance from Five Mile.
Mr. Sacharski:
We could add landscape in there as well.
Ms. Scheel:
If the dumpster is back there, Mark, where you think its going to
be? Where does the garbage truck come in?
Mr. Taormina:
It would come in off of Five Mile Road, more than likely, and it
would come straight in, pick up the trash, back out a little bit and
then ...
Ms. Scheel:
Back out onto Five Mile?
Mr. Taormina: No. It looks like there would be adequate distance. Theyd
probably block a portion of the approach while they're picking up
the refuse, and then they would probably have to exit out the
site back out to Middlebell Road, unless they can swing around
to the other drive approach.
Mr. Morrow: We do have standards for dumpster areas.
Mr. Taormina: The enclosure would have to be constructed of masonry to
match the building and we'd have steel gales or some kind of
reinforced material, no wood or chain link or anything of that
nature. We want the gales closed at all times when @'s not in
use.
Mr. Taylor: Through the Chair to Mark, I'm still not clear on what type of
material they're using in the front and on the back.
Mr. Taormina: It is a cmu or a decorative block. This is four inch brick. Is that
correct?
Ms. Elmoussa: Yes
Mr. Taormina: So this is a full face brick - anywhere that you see the dark
color. And then the lighter horizontal bands that separate the
brick, that is actually a stucco material, an E.I.F.S. Moving to
the bottom, theyre showing a scored block or decorative block
material on the base, a common material you see used on
construction. Then it is my understanding that the same
material would be used not only on the sides along the
May 14, 2013
25794
wainscot, but it is also going to be used for the entire west side
of the building, the side that doesn't have any openings.
Mr. Taylor:
Scored block on the west side?
Mr. Taormina:
Yes. Decorative block. The point that Mr. Wilshaw was making
was relative to the screening because you can see on the back
side of the building. This is the parapet that is going to be on
the front side. It doesn't extend as high as the east elevation.
Typically what we have are HVAC units on top of the building
that protrude above the parapet line, so they have to use
screening material that matches the other materials on this
building. In this case, it would probably be a metal screen
painted a color consistent with the building.
Mr. Taylor:
The approving on item six says that, but you mentioned
something about red brick.
Mr. Taormina:
I think that's alluding to the reddish color brick.
Mr. Taylor:
Oh, the brick itself.
Mr. Taormina:
Yes, the brick itself is kind of a reddish color.
Mr. Taylor:
Well, as Mr. Wilshaw said, I would encourage you to bring
product samples to the council level.
Mr. Ali:
We can do that.
Ms. Smiley:
On the sight right now in the southwest comer, which is where
this building is going to be, is that's where you gel air?
Mr. Ali:
A vaccum and a dumpsler is there.
Ms. Smiley:
A vacuum. Okay. Well, where is the air going to be on this
building because your building will be there now?
Mr. Ali:
Its going to be where the existing building is right now. Where
there is going to be an island there.
Ms. Smiley:
A little island that has a vacuum and air?
Mr. Ali:
Yes.
Ms. Smiley:
Could you point to where it's at, Mark?
Mr. Taormina:
Are you saying it's going to be underneath the canopy?
Mr. Ali:
Yes.
Mr. Taormina:
Its a little unusual. Normally, they don't put them under the
canopy.
May 14, 2013
25795
Mr. Morrow:
Yes, they put them off to the side.
Mr. Ali:
We can put it on the side of the building if its going to be ...
Mr. Morrow:
It will be your choice but normally, you know ...
Mr. Sacharski:
We'll work on that. We can come up with a suitable location for
R.
Mr. Morrow:
Anything else? I want to sum this up.
Mr. Bahr:
Before you do your summary, can I just ask a question to Mark?
Mr. Morrow:
Sure.
Mr. Bahr:
And this is just for my education, Mark. With the E.I.F.S.
concern on that waist level, is E.I.F.S. just in general more of a
damage concern? Is itjust not as durable as the brick?
Mr. Taormina:
Correct. It's a foam material and if you bump up against, if it's
not reinforced, it doesn't take much to damage that material and
loses its color quickly. So for these areas that might be
subject to damage, we usually want to see masonry.
Mr. Bahr:
Okay. That's what I assumed, but I needed to be educated on
that, so proceed with your summary. Thank you.
Mr. Morrow:
The way I see it, we've got a lot of questions. We have to kind
of visualize this. So we can either table this or we can have you
work with the staff with our concerns. We think we have a
mental picture, but we don't have anything to present to the
Council.
Mr. Ali:
What type of brick? We have no problem. We can take that
bottom one out. We have no problem with that. We give the
architects so many different kinds of buildings what we want it to
look like, but we can take that out. That's no issue. We can put
any kind of brick the city requires. We have no problem with
that.
Mr. Morrow:
Okay. Well, then the other option we have is to have you work
with the staff to make sure you have an understanding of what
we want in a rendering, and the concerns that they had as far as
materials, and we know what the colors are. And the other
concern that I have is the west wall. I have no problem with
split -face painted block, but I'd like to challenge the architect to
come up with something that kind of breaks up that vast wall so
there's some sort of breakup so it's not just one solid mass
where you'd have a couple courses, different colors compatible
May 14, 2013
25796
with it, or just something that doesn't look like a huge whatever
color wall @ is.
Ms. Smiley: Yes, I agree with that.
Mr. Morrow: Mr. Taormina, does that sound like something that we can move
this forward?
Mr. Taormina: I'm going to leave that up to your discretion.
Mr. Morrow: Well, I'm going to leave it up to the Commission.
Mr. Taormina: If you wanted to move it forward, we would certainly do our best
to work with the petitioner before it gets to the Council. That's
up to you.
Mr. Morrow: I'm going to leave it up to the Commission.
Mr. Taylor: What kind of a time frame are you under to tear it down and put
a new building up? Are you planning on doing @ this year?
Mr. Ali: This year, hopefully, four to six months. How long would it lake
to complete the job?
Mr. Morrow: No. What Mr. Taylor is saying, one of the options is for us to
table it and then bring @ to another study session which is like a
couple weeks off.
Mr. Ali: We want to start as soon as we can within a month's time.
Mr. Morrow: I'm not sure you're going to be able to do that because I don't
think you'll gel it through the Council that fast.
Mr. Taylor: I'm going to ask for a tabling motion to our next study session
and hopefully we can gel a color rendering and everything and
gel you to where we know what we're offering to the Council.
Right now, its can of a blank and saying do what you want to
do, and that's normally not the way that we work.
On a motion by Taylor, seconded by Scheel, and unanimously adopted, it was
#05-25-2013 RESOLVED, that the City Planning Commission does hereby
table Petition 2013-04-08-04 submitted by ABA Investment,
L.L.C. requesting approval of all plans required by Section 18.58
of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, in
connection with a proposal to demolish and reconstruct the gas
station (Mobil) at 29401 Five Mile Road, located on the
southwest corner of Five Mile Road and Middlebelt Road in the
Northeast 114 of Section 23, to the next Study Meeting to be
held on Tuesday, June 4, 2013.
May 14, 2013
25797
Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carded and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
Mr. Morrow: I think you'll be better off in the long run because you'll have a
better presentation at the City Council of exactly what your
project is. It's a very fine project. We're just down to some of
the detail to make sure we know what we're getting. So the
next study would be in two weeks, three weeks.
Mr. Taormina: June 4.
Mr. Morrow: It will be June 4, and if you have any questions on what the
Commission's concern is, work with the Staff and theyll point
you in the right direction. Like I say, it looks like a nice project
but we just need some details.
Ms. Smiley: We didn't gel to landscaping. That might be something they
address also.
Mr. Morrow: If the landscaping can be completed at that time, it's fine. If not,
we can always call that back, but the main thing is to gel the
plans moving forward. I think they'll know what to do on that so
we know exactly what brick, what colors, how it's going to be
treated and this type of thing. I think you'll be better off in the
long run, and we'll know what we're sending to the City Council.
Mr. Ali: I understand.
Mr. Bahr: Just a quick comment. I just want to echo his comment about
thinking it's a fine project, and as a resident who lives very close
to there, I'm personally excited for what you're doing there. I
think its going to be really, really, nice. I just want to encourage
you with that. I hope you don't take the tabling motion as any
kind of negative reaction. We just have to dol our i's and cross
our is before we send it on.
Mr. Ali: I just wondered what Consumers Energy is going to be selling
their gas $2.39 and we are like $3.00.
Mr. Bahr: If you can commit to $2.39 per gallon, I'll rescind my vote on the
tabling motion.
Mr. Morrow: We'll see you at the study session on June 4. If you bring us a
completed plan, we'll move it right along.
Mr. Ali: Thankyou.
Mr. Morrow: Thank you for coming tonight.
May 14, 2013
25798
ITEM #6 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,038m Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting
Ms. Scheel, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the
Minutes of the 1,038'" Public Hearings and Regular Meeting
held on April 9, 2013.
On a motion by Scheel, seconded by Wilshaw, and unanimously adopted, it was
#05-26-2013 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 1,038th Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on April 9,
2013, are hereby approved.
A roll call vole on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following
AYES:
Bahr, Smiley, Wilshaw, Taylor, Scheel, Morrow
NAYS:
None
ABSENT:
None
ABSTAIN:
None
Mr. Morrow, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,039'" Public
Hearings and Regular Meeting held on May 14, 2013, was adjourned at 9:21
p.m.
CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
Lynda L. Scheel, Secretary
ATTEST:
R. Lee Morrow, Chairman