Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2013-12-02 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD DECEMBER 2, 2013 Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by President Toy. Present: Joe Laura, John Pastor, Thomas Robinson, Maureen Miller Brosnan, Brandon Kritzman, James McCann, and Laura Toy. Absent: None. Elected and appointed officials present: Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development; Don Knapp, City Attorney; Terry Marecki, City Clerk and Jack E. Kirksey, Mayor. President Toy announced there is new data on Item #8. Mayor Kirksey invited everyone to the Tree Lighting Ceremony tomorrow at City Hall at 7:00 p.m. He announced that the leaf pick-up program is a week behind schedule. Pastor wished a Happy Birthday to Ashley McMaster, Janet Cappola, his niece Amy, and his other niece Layla, Brian Meakin, and his wife Lynda. He also wished a Happy 1St Anniversary to his son Ryan and his wife. McCann wished a Happy Birthday to his son Tyler, his grandson, Kaiden, his wife Linda, and his nephew Chris. Also, he wished his wife Linda a Happy 27th Wedding Anniversary. President Toy welcomed the three new City Council members who were in attendance in the audience this evening. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. NEW BUSINESS 1. APPLICATION FOR NONEMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION LICENSE: Office of the City Clerk, re: submitted by Setina Briggs, Amor Transportation in accordance with Section 050 of Chapter 5.84 of the Livonia Code of Ordinances, as amended. Setina Briggs, 32233 Schoolcraft, Suite 101, Livonia, was present regarding her request to obtain a Nonemergency Medical Transportation License to operate under the business name of Amor Transportation. All of the required documentation has been submitted and the appropriate license fee has been paid. The Division of Police completed a background check on Ms. Setina Briggs and she was approved. Briggs was ready to answer any questions Council may have. 2 Laura asked how many vehicles they have. Briggs replied 3. Laura offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. McCann asked if her work came from insurance companies or agencies. She replied indicating that most of her work was through insurance companies. McCann asked her if she stayed with the clients while they had their appointment. She said typically they do not wait; the client gives them a time to return or calls them when they are ready. However, if the client needed help with registering and needed them to wait for a short period of time, they could do that. Robinson asked for clarification from the Law Department. He said essentially they would be approving her for a license as Taxi Cab driver, is that correct. Don Knapp, City Attorney, said it falls under Ordinance states there is a need for that type of service and licensing her that service (i.e. Non-emergency Medical Transportation). Robinson asked if there was anything the Ordinance that would prohibit Briggs from operating her business or be in conflict, such as metering fees, etc. Knapp said no he didn't believe there was anything. Brosnan asked the Law Department if the Ordinance limited the number of Taxi Cab businesses licensed here in the City of Livonia. Knapp said he doesn't know that off hand. He said at this point there is only one that is licensed, He said he believes the limit may be three (3) but said he would have to check and report back to Council. Brosnan said she would appreciate it if Knapp would check on that. Brosnan said if indeed there is a specific number in the Ordinance, would Amor Transportation take one of those spots then. Knapp said he would follow- up on that as well. McCann asked the Law Department if there was anything in the Ordinance that limits the number of vehicles the business can have. Knapp said no, not that he is aware of. McCann said a concern he has if there is anything in the Ordinance that would allow Council to restrict their service to Non-emergency Medical Transportation or limit the number of vehicles in service. McCann said while he understands that is not the petitioners intent, he was inquiring for a better understanding of what would be allowed per the Ordinance should Council approve the petitioner's request. Knapp said from a compliance prospective he didn't see anything that would prohibit them from just provide regular taxi service or prohibit them from having 50 taxi cabs on the street. McCann said that he would like to have language added so it's only purpose is to provide non- emergency medical transportation. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2. REQUEST FOR ISSUANCE OF A PERMIT FOR WADE SHOWS TO HOLD CARNIVAL AMUSEMENT RIDES AT FORD FIELD AND VETERANS' PARK JUNE 24-297 2014, DURING REFERENCED HOURS; A PERMIT FOR A 3 FIREWORKS DISPLAY BY AMERICAN FIREWORKS, INC. TO BE HELD AT 10:15 P.M. ON JUNE 29, 2014 AT VETERANS' PARK; AND AUTHORIZATION TO USE AND LEASE THE FACILITIES AT FORD FIELD, EDDIE EDGAR ARENA AND STYMELSKI VETERANS' PARK DURING SPREE '64: Dan Spurling, President, Livonia Anniversary Committee, Inc., re: same. McCann offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3. REQUEST TO CLOSE STARK ROAD FROM THE FAMILY Y (14255 STARK ROAD) TO LYNDON AND LYNDON FROM FARMINGTON ROAD TO STARK ROAD TO TRAFFIC FROM 8:00 A.M. JUNE 237 2014 THROUGH 12:00 NOON ON JUNE 307 2014 (MONDAY THROUGH MONDAY); AND TO REQUEST THAT THE CITY SEEK PERMISSION FROM THE WAYNE COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION TO ALLOW THE CLOSURE OF FARMINGTON ROAD BETWEEN THE 1-96 OVERPASS AND FIVE MILE ROAD FROM 6:30 P.M. THROUGH 11:30 P.M. ON JUNE 297 2014 (SUNDAY) IN CONNECTION WITH SPREE '64: Dan Spurling, President, Livonia Anniversary Committee, Inc., re. same. McCann offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Brosnan asked, through the Chair to the City Engineer, given the 1-96 construction that will be going on at that time how they planned to manage traffic. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, indicated that they requested that MDOT not close Stark Road until after the Spree. Brosnan asked Zilincik if the service drive would be available. Zilincik said the service drive will be available; it will be down to one lane in each direction. Brosnan asked if they have been able to talk to MDOT and give them idea of how they would like the traffic directed. Zilincik said Fire and Police personnel have been in meetings with MDOT; however, he said it is his understanding the project time line has been condensed since the bid. He said they are working with MDOT staff as they move forward with this project and they are well aware of the event and other stipulations that will occur out there. He said they will discuss traffic and emergency routing again at their preconstruction meetings. Brosnan said she would appreciate if they keep Council apprised of the traffic pattern plans. Zilincik said he would do his best. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. REQUEST TO DISPLAY BANNERS ON FARMINGTON ROAD AND FIVE MILE ROAD AND 4' X 8' SIGNS AT CITY HALL AND FORD FIELD FROM MAY 287 2014 THROUGH JUNE 297 2014: Dan Spurling, President, Livonia Anniversary Committee, Inc., re: same. 4 Robinson offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5. REQUEST TO EXTEND AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE PULSAR BRIQUETTES FROM SOLE SUPPLIER: Department of Parks & Recreation, re: for the period through December 31, 2014, from B & B Pools and Spas at 2012 pricing. (CR 07-13) Lyle Trudell, Superintendent, Parks & Recreation, presented the request to Council. He noted that they are a sole supplier and the price hasn't changed since 2008. Vice-President Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 6. AWARD OF BID: Department of Parks and Recreation, re: of various items of clothing for the 2014 departmental needs. Lyle Trudell, Superintendent, Parks & Recreation, presented the request to Council. The Department of Parks and Recreation has taken bids for various types of clothing. Specifications were prepared by the Department, and an advertisement for bids was placed in the Livonia Observer and on the MITN website. Six bids were received and opened in the presence of the Bid Committee at 2:00 p.m. on October 8, 2013. The Parks and Recreation Department is asking Council to award the bid items to the low bidders for each item. Vice-President Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 7. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2013-10-08-12 submitted by Tobeck Realty Corporation in connection with a proposal to re- develop the commercial center (Livonia Commons), including remodel the exterior, building addition and construct a stand-alone multi-tenant commercial building, located on the west side of Middlebelt Road between the CSX Railroad right-of-way and Schoolcraft Road (13505-13507 Middlebelt Road) in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 26. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented the request to Council. This is a request to develop the commercial center that is located at the southwest corner of Middlebelt and Schoolcraft Roads. The site presently contains a vacant commercial building that has an outdoor garden center. The center is about 136,000 square feet in total size, not including the garden center. The most recent occupant of the building was Wal-Mart. The 5 company moved that store to Wonderland Village several years ago. Overall, the property is about 14.65 acres with 705 feet of frontage along Middlebelt. It also has about 300 feet of frontage along Schoolcraft Road to the north, and a similar amount of frontage along Industrial Road to the south. The property is zoned C2, General Business. Taormina displayed an aerial photograph showing the boundaries of the property and the improvements that are currently located on the site, most notably the large commercial building which is on the west side of the property. At the north end, the small rectangular area denotes the covering over the garden center. In the southeast corner is the location of a TCF bank. There is a narrow portion of the property that is located on the south side of the TCF bank and that is part of the overall parcel that extends all the way to Middlebelt Road on the north side of Industrial Road. The plans would completely remodel the interior and exterior of the existing building. The existing building would be subdivided into four separate large units. The northern most unit, totaling 53,355 square feet, would contain a Dick's Sporting Goods. Adjacent to that unit to the south is a 24,000 square foot unit that would be occupied by Jo Ann Fabrics. The two remaining units to the south are identified as "Retail A" and "Retail B" and would be 29,530 square feet and 26,169 square feet, respectively. The garden center, located along the north side of the building, would be completely removed and in its place a 7,650 square foot building addition would be constructed to the northeast corner of the building. The new addition is identified as "Retail C" and could be subdivided into three tenant units. The entire storefront of the existing building would be completely upgraded. The building's appearance would be dominated by three primary building materials which include brick, a burnish block and an E.I.F.S. material. Another feature of the site plan is the addition of a free-standing, all masonry building which is located in front of Retail "A" and "B." It would be about 8,640 square feet in size. It would be set back roughly 80 feet from the right-of-way of Middlebelt Road allowing for a drive aisle and parking on both sides. This building could be subdivided into four tenant spaces. There are no additional curb cuts provided for access to this outparcel building. Access would be via the connection to the shopping center's existing parking aisleways. In terms of future potential development on this site, the plans show the possibility of a restaurant of about 3,000 square feet in size located in the northeast corner of the site, but that is not a feature for tonight's consideration. That is something that would have to come back before this body and the City Council for final approval. Storm water management would be handled south of the building along Industrial Road. It would include a detention basin and a forebay located between the existing building and Industrial Road. The parking layout of the redevelopment would be similar to the current arrangement. Access to the site would be the same as it is today, via the existing drives located off Middlebelt, Industrial and Schoolcraft Roads. There would be some reconfiguration of those driveways. In your packets is a traffic analysis that was conducted by Clearzoning, Inc. that describes in detail the reasons for the changes. There would be minor changes to the north on Schoolcraft to align this driveway into the site with the crossover. There would also be a slight shift of the north driveway off of Middlebelt Road to accommodate the future development of 6 the restaurant pad. This approach would allow for the exiting of vehicles onto Middlebelt Road. It would not allow for left turns onto Middlebelt Road. It would allow for right turns into the site and for northbound vehicles on Middlebelt Road to turn left into the site. Unlike the north driveway, the south driveway would be completely reconfigured to allow for "right in" and "right out" turns. There would be no left hand turn movements permitted from the south approach on Middlebelt Road due primarily to the proximity of the signalized intersection a little bit further to the south at Industrial Road and also the other drive approach to Costco. Lastly, we have alignment changes to the driveway on Industrial Road to match up with the main driveway entering the Menards site located directly to the south. Parking for the project is based on the total amount of retail floor space. For units that are greater than 30,000 square feet, like Dick's Sporting Goods, the parking is based on a ratio of one space per 160 square feet of useable floor area. For the other units, parking is based on a ratio of one space per 150 square feet of useable floor area. When all this is added together, the total amount of parking needed is 779 parking spaces. That is according to our ordinance. This plan shows a total of 700 spaces but includes the Iandbanking of 35 parking spaces. They discussed this item with the petitioner in terms of the overall parking ratios being consistent with other new developments in the community, like that of Livonia Marketplace. They feel comfortable that the number of spaces on this site will be adequate. Also when they look at opportunities to provide additional spaces needed to satisfy the ordinance, they would ask this body's favorable recommendation of banking those spaces because from a practical standpoint, they really wouldn't be utilized because of their separation from the buildings. The areas proposed to be banked include the spaces along both the east and west sides of the driveway extending off Industrial Road and then the additional spaces located in the extreme southwest corner of the site. Landscaping overall represents 15 percent of the total site, which is in compliance with the ordinance. The landscaping include the areas around the detention basin, around the driveways, parking lot islands within the entire parking lots areas and then along Middlebelt Road. They've asked the developer to use the same plant materials and hardscape features that are being done further to the south in front of the Goodwill, Applebee's and Del Taco. They want to establish a consistent landscape theme along this stretch of Middlebelt Road, and the petitioner is willing to do their part in accomplishing that. In terms of trash enclosures, they are showing four separate trash enclosures on the site. There are two at the rear of the existing building. There is one on the west side of Retail "C" tucked in the corner. The fourth one, which would service the outparcel, is located between the building and the TCF bank along the south property line. Lastly, regarding signage, each tenant space of the retail buildings would be allowed one wall sign based on 1 square foot for each 1 lineal foot of building frontage. Because this site has more than 200 feet of frontage, they are allowed two monument signs. They are showing a total of three ground signs. There would be two multi-panel pylon signs, each at 20 feet in height and 72 square feet in sign area. One would be located on Schoolcraft Road near the main entrance on the north end of the site, and one located off Middlebelt Road close to the north entrance. The third 7 ground sign would contain four tenant panels and measure 6 feet in height and 35 square feet in sign area. This sign would be located along the north side of Industrial Road to help northbound traffic on Middlebelt Road take advantage of the signalization and come in off of Industrial and into the site thereby relieving some of the traffic that would otherwise have to go to the north driveway to turn left into the site. Planning Commission recommended the height be reduced to 14 feet for the 2 larger ground signs. Laura stated the ownership of the property was a bit complex. He asked if Forest City or Walmart were involved in the sale of the property at all. Taormina replied no, but said he would let the petitioner speak to that matter. He said Tobeck Realty Corporation represents the trust set up by the property owners. Laura said the petitioner can address his inquiry when they come up to speak. McCann expressed some concern he had with the landscaping and landbanking parking spaces and also traffic. He gave some suggestions of what he would like to see. Matt Renner, 9986 Manchester Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63122, was present to address the question of ownership. He said Forest City and Walmart are no longer involved. He said it is owned by his family and a partner. They are very excited about this project. He said he would let his architect address Council with regard to the details of the plan and to address Council's concerns. Mark Drane, Rogvoy Architects, 32500 Telegraph Road, Suite 250, Bingham Farms, Michigan 48025 was present. He responded by addressing McCann's concern with regard to landscaping and landbanking parking spaces. He said the 15% landscaping excludes the detention pond area and the landbanking parking spaces. He said the materials used here are very similar to what they did over at Livonia Marketplace. However, they mix it up a little bit so each shopping center has its distinct look. He gave a very detailed description of the proposed building. Laura commended Drane and Renner on this project. He said this is exactly what it is needed in that area; something different and something higher end. He suggested they work on developing a new restaurant on the property at the northeast corner of the intersection. Laura offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Brosnan thanked Drane for his comprehension of what Livonia wants; she especially likes his reference of Livonia being a brick or better community. She asked if the burnished block is the best that they can do for the site. Drane said if Council is looking for something with more texture or a different color he said he would be willing to provide some samples to Council prior to the next meeting. McCann said he too commends Drane and Renner on this project. 8 Laura said if it was desire of his colleagues to amend the resolution to include any changes to the brick, he would be willing to amend his resolution to include the change. He suggested that Drane have some representative at the next Regular Meeting. Drane said they would be here. Drane said if Kritzman were willing to be a part of a subcommittee he would be willing to meet with him. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 8. REQUEST TO APPROVE CONCEPTUAL SITE PLAN FOR PROPERTY LOCATED ON THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF SEVEN MILE ROAD AND VICTOR PARKWAY THAT IS COMPRISED OF APPROXIMATELY 6.376 ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED SOUTH OF THE DRAINAGE CREEK KNOWN AS PARCEL A THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF A SECOND AMENDED CONSENT JUDGMENT: Planning Department, re: consent judgment in Oakwood Healthcare System, et al. v. City of Livonia, Case No. 97-704696-NZ and approval of the Third Amended Consent Judgment. (CR 52-03 & CR 111- 06) Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented the request to Council. Briefly, this is a request to amend the Third Consent Judgment involving the property that is located on Seven Mile just east of Victor Parkway. The original consent judgment dates back to 1997 and was between the City of Livonia and Oakwood Healthcare System and that consent judgment allowed for the development of a medical office and ambulatory care facility. In 2003 the first amendment to the consent judgment was approved and allowed for the development of a 100,000 square foot three-story general office building; although this site plan is technically valid the development never occurred and the property has since gone back to the lender. There is current interest in the site and the petitioner is seeking Council approval for a proposed one-story building as shown on a conceptual plan that has been provided to Council. It is about 49,000 square feet in gross floor area and shows a brick exterior. Full site plan review is required. Brosnan confirmed with Taormina that site plan would come back to Council for final review. Taormina said that was correct. Brosnan asked Taormina if the developer should decide that they do not want the one-story building that is being proposed this evening, would they have the option to go back to the three-story building that was previously approved or does this bring the threshold down to a single story building. Taormina deferred that question to the Law Department for an answer. Don Knapp, City Attorney, said they would have to come back to Council. 9 Brosnan offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. As there were no further questions or comments, President Toy adjourned the Study Session at 9:16 p.m. on Monday, December 2, 2013. DATED: December 10, 2013 TERRY A. MARECKI CITY CLERK