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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2011-01-31 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD JANUARY 31, 2011 Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. Present: Laura Toy, Maureen Miller Brosnan, Conrad Schwartz, John Pastor, Brian Meakin, Joe Laura, and James McCann. Absent: None Elected and appointed officials present: Mayor Jack Kirksey; Don Knapp, City Attorney; Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development; Kevin Roney, Public Utilities Manager; and Terry Marecki, City Clerk. President McCann announced there is new data on Item #5. President McCann announced a Public Hearing to be held in the Auditorium of Livonia City Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, MI for the following items: Monday, February 14, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. Scott A. Bain, CFO, Quality Metalcraft, Inc., is requesting approval of an Industrial Facilities Exemption Certificate for the purchase of new machinery to be utilized for die construction in automotive metal stampings for their facility located at 33355 Glendale, Livonia, MI 48150. (Industrial Development Overlay District#109) AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: Ed Morris, 11026 Brookfield, stated he and a group of his friends that all new Officer Larry Nehasil and grew up with him would like to honor his memory by renaming one of the Livonia City Parks after him; preferably a park in the area where he grew up, perhaps in the state streets. There are three parks in the area; there is Rudy Klienert which is basically a ball field, there is Mies Park which he said he would not rename that one because he knows the Mies family, and then there is Shelden Park which is just a couple of blocks away from where Larry grew up. He said he's unsure of the process of how to rename the park but wanted to put the idea out there in the hope that they could make it happen. President McCann said the idea certainly does have a lot of merit. He said the renaming of the park would have to be referred to the appropriate Committee. Meakin offered the resolution referring the subject of renaming a City park after Officer Larry Nehasil to the Public Safety, Education and Recreation Committee as well as the Parks and Recreation Commission. Laura offered the resolution referring the subject of how neighborhood parks were originally named and why they were named what they are named currently to the Administration for its report and recommendation. 2 DIRECTION: 1) REFERRING SUBJECT OF RENAMING A REGULAR PARK AFTER LARRY NEHASIL TO THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION 2) REFERRING SUBJECT OF RENAMING A PARK AFTER LARRY NEHASIL TO PUBLIC SAFETY, EDUCATION & RECREATION COMMITTEE 3) REFERRING THE SUBJECT OF HOW NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS WERE NAMED TO ADMINISTRATION FOR ITS REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION. Mayor Kirksey said he saw Linda Nehasil last week during her visit to the Police Department. He said he spoke with Betsy from Huntington Bank and approximately $140,000 had been collected for the Larry Nehasil Memorial Fund. The support from the community is very much appreciated. The Mayor talked about the upcoming predicted snow storm; he said it will present a challenge for the City crews as well as neighboring communities. He said additional drivers have been trained. They will utilize private contractors as well to try to take care of the snowplowing as quickly and efficiently as possible. The Mayor asked the residents for their cooperation with removing vehicles from the streets whenever the City declares a snow emergency. This will aid in the effective snowplowing of snow from the streets and will not hinder the driver's efforts to remove the snow from the streets. NEW BUSINESS 1. REQUEST TO WAIVE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Joe Galante, re: in connection with a new home to be built at 19515 Merriman Court. Kevin Roney, Public Utilities Manager, was present to answer any questions Council may have. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2. REAPPOINTMENT OF CONRAD GNIEWEK TO THE BOARD OF REVIEW: Office of the Mayor, re: for a three-year term, which will expire on February 16, 2014. Conrad Gniewek was present in the audience. Laura offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3 3. REQUEST FROM THE MICHIGAN LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE REQUEST FROM J & M BEVERAGES, INC. TO TRANSFER OWNERSHIP OF AN ESCROWED 2008 SDD LICENSE FROM PERRY DRUG STORES, INC.; REQUEST TO TRANSFER LOCATION FROM 27474 GRAND RIVER, LIVONIA, MI 48152, WAYNE COUNTY; TO BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH A PROPOSED NEW SDM LICENSE: Division of Police, re: for the business located at 34730 Plymouth, Livonia, MI 48150. Petitioner Marshal Isso and his attorney Marshal Garmo were present to answer any questions Council may have. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. REQUEST FROM THE MICHIGAN LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE REQUEST FROM STERLING MORTGAGE & INVESTMENT CO. TO TRANSFER ALL RIGHTS TO RENEWAL OF A 2010 CLASS C LICENSED BUSINESS FROM BASHARA'S WONDERLAND LANES, INC., WITH LICENSE TO BE HELD IN ESCROW: Division of Police, re: for the business located at 28455 Plymouth, Livonia, MI 48150. President McCann said he had contact with the petitioner today and they were unable to attend to tonight's meeting but asked that Council proceed without them. Brosnan offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT Toy left the podium at 8:19 p.m. to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest regarding the next item. 5. REQUEST FOR THE CREATION OF A SPECIAL ASSESSMENT DISTRICT (SAD): Wayne R. Glass, Chair, Plymouth Road Development Authority, re. forwarding petitions signed by various business owners located on Plymouth Road, between Inkster Road and 36655 Plymouth Road, near the intersection of Ann Arbor Road, for expenses incurred for the operation of an irrigation system formerly paid for utilizing PRDA funds. President McCann said the Chair would receive and file the five additional petitions received for a Special Assessment District. Mayor Kirksey said the irrigation system was initially installed to help keep the vegetation and landscaping along the Plymouth Road corridor looking nice. He indicated the drop in property values and tax revenues; which has resulted in a 4 situation where no appreciable revenues are being generated. The Plymouth Road Development Authority (PRDA) will continue to exist as an organization but it has inadequate funding to meet the obligations of the corridor. The City has assumed many of the responsibilities of the PRDA until the property values increase. One of the responsibilities the City has taken over is a $570,000 payment on the bonded indebtedness of the PRDA. Money was borrowed to complete the projects and the first obligation the City has under the law is to make those payments; that will be assumed by the City until such time as the revenues increase. In terms of trying to get the job done, the City staff and the 16th District Court Work Program, the volunteers, Plymouth Road property owners have or will take over the services performed previously by the PRDA's private contractors. The owners along that way would be doing it on a voluntary basis. They have been able through the use of volunteers to solve all of the problems that were currently paid for through revenue; except for one that cannot be solved — the irrigation system. The irrigation system has to operate as a system and cannot be subdivided into individual properties; at least not in any kind of a rational way. A lot of things have been looked at and this is the one item that cannot be solved, basically in terms of what they've been able to do today. So the Special Assessment District, the funding source, has been identified. He showed a graph which depicts the recent drastic decline in the taxable value which has resulted in the drastic decline in tax revenue. Wayne Glass, Chair, Plymouth Road Development Authority, explained they are in the same predicament the City and many others are currently experiencing with declining property values and declining income revenue. He indicated last year they met with several businesses along the corridor and said it was at one of those meetings that the idea of the SAD came up. He said at this point they are seeking Council support for the SAD through the study and let the Engineering Division do its work and go through the Public Hearing process. They are hopeful the end result will be a way to keep the corridor looking as good as it does now. Until such time that they are financially able to pick those costs up again. Brosnan asked the petitioner if there were any parameters or any vague ideas of how much this is going to cost. Glass responded stating they ran some very speculative numbers and he really would rather not say until Engineering has an opportunity to look at it. He said it is really a factor of the length of the corridor. Brosnan said she appreciated the fact they brought this to Council early enough to allow them the opportunity to research the matter and make an informed decision. She said just as the PRDA is faced with the challenge of find new ways to operate; so is the Council. The proprietary role is one this Council needs to engage in more fully. Especially now that sole business of funding the PRDA comes out of the General Fund for the City. She said she would like an opportunity to talk to the representatives of the PRDA in more depth not only about this issue but of some of the plans they have for the District as a whole. 5 The Economic Development Committee is chaired by Councilmember Toy and there is a Vice-chairman who can take those meetings on in her absence. Brosnan offered the resolution referring the subject of creating a Special Assessment District for irrigation of the Plymouth Road Corridor to the Economic Development Committee for its report and recommendation. Brosnan offered the resolution requesting a report from the Administration for the Engineering costs associated with the proposed Special Assessment District. Meakin asked Glass if they had a time line of how they would like to proceed with this process. Glass replied as quickly as possible. They hope to have something in place by summer. Meakin stated that a Special Assessment wouldn't be collected until next tax season. Glass said they do still have funds in their budget for the current upcoming season. They can work with that until the Special Assessment can bring some funds in. President McCann asked City Attorney Knapp for a point of order, what the process is that they would be looking at if they were going to approve the SAD. Obviously it is something they can take up in a Committee but he would like to get a time frame. He said to him, his understanding with the budget, with GM plant closing and the lost revenues because of the tax restructure for Ford. He feels this is a matter of high importance. He said he does applaud the businesses along Plymouth Road and that he would like to keep the process moving a long as quick as possible. He asked Knapp what steps the City would want to take immediately to get this moving along as quickly as possible. Don Knapp, City Attorney, said the first thing the City would do is have the Engineering Division create a proposed District and generate a report. After that report is created then the City Council could decide to have a Public Hearing and give ten days notice to everyone in the proposed district of the Public Hearing. The first Public Hearing in the process would be held. Next there would be the creation of the Assessment Roll by the City Assessor. The City Assessor would file a report. Another ten days notice would go out to everyone in the proposed district and another Public Hearing would be held. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Regular Agenda. DIRECTION: 1) APPROVING REGULAR 2) REFERRING TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FOR IT'S REPORT & RECOMMENDATION 3) REFERRING TO ADMINISTRATION REQUESTING REPORT WITH ENGINEERING COSTS FOR SAD 4) RECEIVE & FILE 6 Toy returned to the podium at 8:36 p.m. 6. REQUEST TO APPROVE PROPOSED 2011 SIDEWALK REPAIR PROGRAM: Engineering Division, re: which includes a target area in Section 34, as well as a number of scattered locations throughout the City. (CR 784-82) Kevin Roney, Public Utilities Manager, said this is their Annual Sidewalk Repair Program which includes a target area in Section 34 as well as other scattered locations throughout the City. He said property owners will have until June 1, 2011 to repair the sidewalks, after that the City will repair the sidewalks. They will be going out to bid for this program in March 2011. Brosnan asked Roney how this program compares to the 2010 program. Roney said the final paperwork for the 2010 program is being completed now and they should have it prepared for Council by March. The 2010 program was larger and will end up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of approximately $720,000. This year's program is estimated at around $500,000. Brosnan asked him how many homes that affects. He replied for this year it will be 1,062 homes. He didn't have the exact figure for 2010 in front of him but said it is probably within close proximity of 1,062; he said they probably did some extra ramp work. He said he could get that information and provide it to Council before the next meeting. Brosnan said that would be helpful. Brosnan asked Roney to clarify whether resident had to indicate their intent to do the work or complete the work before June 1, 2011. He stated it must be completed by then. Roney said the vast majority of people do not do that on their own; they let the City do it because the City gets very reasonable pricing from the contractors. Brosnan asked Roney what was driving the cost down so much this year. He said he didn't have an answer for that until the paperwork is completed. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: Lee Bremer, 19055 Gill, commented on the Sidewalk Program. He said where there are City sidewalks that have manhole covers; he feels the City needs to explore the possibility of having thicker cement around them. He said he had to have several slabs replaced including one around a manhole cover. He said one of the utility companies came out and did some work in the manhole and three weeks after it was replaced it is cracked again. He believes it should be at least six inches thick. President McCann said there may be some responsibility on behalf of the utility company and instructed the resident to give his information to Kevin Roney from the Engineering Division so he can assess the situation and have the responsible party replace those. Mr. Bremer brought Boy Scout Troop #782 with him tonight. They meet at Trinity Lutheran Church on Five 7 Mile Road next to the Italian American Club. They are here as part of their Citizenship and Community Merit Badge. Most of them are working toward their Eagle Scout. One of them should have their Eagle Scout within the next two months. As there were no further questions or comments, Council President McCann adjourned the Study Session at 8:45 p.m. on Monday, January 31, 2011. DATED: February 8, 2011 TERRY A. MARECKI CITY CLERK