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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2010-03-29 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD MARCH 29, 2010 Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. Present: Laura Toy, Maureen Miller Brosnan, John Pastor, Brian Meakin, Terry Godfroid-Marecki and James McCann. Absent: Joe Laura. Elected and appointed officials present: Mayor Jack Kirksey; Don Knapp, City Attorney; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; and Mark Taormina, City Planner. President McCann announced there is new data on Item #7. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. NEW BUSINESS 1. BLOCK PARTY: Kathleen A. Fitzgerald, re: to be held Monday, May 31, 20107 from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Cranston, between Elmira and Orangelawn, with no rain date requested. Brosnan stated that everything appears to be in order and offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2. REQUEST TO ADOPT RESOLUTION PROCLAIMING FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2010 AS ARBOR DAY IN THE CITY OF LIVONIA- Bill Craig, Tree City Committee Chairman and Paul St. Henry, Superintendent of Public Service - Operations, re. to be celebrated at 1:30 p.m. at Jaycee Park. Bill Craig, 20050 Milburn, said the City's Arbor Day celebration is earlier this year. It will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the new Webster School on Hubbard and Pembroke. This proclamation will meet one of the requirements for Tree City U.S.A. qualification. This is the City's 12th year receiving that acknowledgement and this year will set us up for our 13th year. Brosnan offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3. REQUEST FROM THE MICHIGAN LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE REQUEST FROM WEST ON 6, LLC TO TRANSFER OWNERSHIP OF A 2009 CLASS C LICENSED BUSINESS WITH SUNDAY SALES, ENTERTAINMENT WITHOUT DRESSING ROOMS, DANCE PERMIT 2 AND OFFICIAL PERMIT(FOOD) FROM PICK-A-BONE, INC.; REQUEST FOR A NEW OFFICIAL PERMIT (DANCE-ENTERTAINMENT, MEETINGS) AND TO CHANGE EXISTING ENTERTAINMENT PERMIT WITHOUT DRESSING ROOMS TO ENTERTAINMENT PERMIT: Division of Police, re: for the business located at 30325 Six Mile, Livonia, MI 48152. Jim West, 47687 Ann Arbor Trail, Northville, said basically they would like to buy the Pick-a-Bone restaurant and do some minor renovations. He said they intend to keep it a family style restaurant. The renovations he mentioned would be modernizing the restaurant by painting and changing some of the decor. They believe they are going to be a Michigan based entity. They plan to celebrate local artists and initiatives while supporting the City as much as possible. They'll host some special events and charity functions. Basically reinvigorating the old restaurant and calling it West on Six. Toy asked Mr. West if he has owned and operated any other restaurants. He replied no but said he has aligned an experienced team he intends to hire. Godfroid-Marecki asked what he meant by celebrating local artists. He replied stating he would display art from local artists, as well as pictures of local landmarks, focusing on a Michigan theme. Brosnan asked Mr. West if he asked to change his liquor license to include entertainment for the dance floor he's planning. He replied stating it already had a dance floor and said when he originally filled it out he thought it included entertainment like bands. He was informed that it wasn't and said to use the banquet room for birthday parties with certain things like a magician, for example, that require a permit. Brosnan through the Chair to Knapp asked if the City still had that voluntary agreement that people signed relative to the entertainment permit that says no lingerie shows. Knapp replied yes. Mr. West said he would sign that agreement. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. CITY INVESTMENT POLICY: Department of Finance, re: the Annual Report for the fiscal year ending November 30, 2009 on the investment activity of City Funds. (CR 820-98) Michael Slater, Director of Finance, stated that this is an annual report to City Council on the investment activities for Fiscal Year ended November 30, 2009. All of the investments are in compliance with Public Act 20 which is the state statute that governs how they can invest City funds. This excludes any funds invested for the pension fund which is a separate report. For the year ended, the City earned a total amount of interest of$1,585,846.00. The average interest rate 3 for the year earned was 1.56%, and that exceeded the benchmark which is the six-month Treasury Bill that had a rate of return of 0.81%. The allocation of funds are indicated in the correspondence, the largest being Certificates of Deposits, second largest is U.S. Treasury and Agency Securities, and pooled cash for day- to-day operating. Finance's philosophy today has been to invest funds under the policy of being conservative first, and then reflecting liquidity, risk management and return investment in that order. It has served them well. Brosnan said to follow up on a question they were asked at their last Public Hearing meeting the City's bond rating was brought up, she asked Mr. Slater what the City's bond rating was currently. He replied AA. Toy offered the approving resolution to receive and file this item for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 5. REQUEST TO ACCEPT PUBLIC SAFETY INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS (PSIC) GRANT AWARD AND TO NEGOTIATE A CONTRACT WITH WINBOURNE & COSTAS OF WASHINGTON D.C.: Division of Police, re: to be used to engage a consultant to perform a feasibility study regarding cost and benefits of a City of Livonia-Township of Canton consolidated public safety dispatch operation. Robert Stevenson, Chief of Police, said Captain McDermott and Lieutenant Tim McGillivary will be presenting the proposal. Chief Stevenson stated that Lieutenant McGillivary was instrumental in obtaining the Grant and can answer any questions about the Grant. Captain McDermott said they are seeking Council approval to accept the Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) Grant Award in the amount of $72,425.00. He indicated this is a reimbursement grant and does not require matching funds. The funding would be used to engage a consultant to perform a feasibility study and analyze the cost and benefits or disadvantages if any of consolidating the City of Livonia and Canton Township public safety dispatch operations. The study will address and recommend best management practices, facilities and governance for the partnership. The study will also provide recommendations concerning the acceptance of additional communities and future expansion of the pilot center. If recommended this partnership could eventually lead to a regional dispatch center in western Wayne County. Their second request tonight is a waiver of their bid process. Canton Township has already completed the bid process in the Township of Canton in partnership with the City of Livonia representatives. Representatives from both Canton and Livonia consulted and assembled a Request for Proposal in reference to this study which was written by the City of Livonia Chief Accountant Colleen Coogan and was issued on October 1, 2009. The Township of Canton advertised that Request for Proposal on their website and on the Michigan Inter- Governmental Trade Site. A total of fourteen (14) sealed proposals and bids 4 were received from responding vendors which were delivered to the Canton Township Clerk's office in November 2009. Those bids ranged from $45,000.00 to just under $300,000.00 to complete the study. Members from both communities rated those proposals according to standardized criteria, including the executive summaries, the scope of services and deliverables, description of their project teams, the project bid and the outline of the proposed work plans. The four (4) highest rated vendors were then invited to a face-to-face interview with the raters on March 1, 2010. They sat down with each of those vendors and they rated them again a second time. Upon completion of that interview the raters from both Canton and Livonia chose Windborn and Costas with their bid of $59,824.00 to conduct the study. Their expertise in the field of public safety emergency communications was unsurpassed and that is detailed in the package that was supplied to all Councilmembers and is within their proposal. All of their references gave extremely positive feedback and many of the projects they were involved in were huge projects. Captain McDermott said the third thing the Police Department is seeking authority and permission to negotiate a contract with Windborn and Costas of Washington, D.C. to perform the study within the specifications and details in their proposal. Brosnan commended everyone involved with this grant and the shared workload in this bid process for the wonderful job they all did in working together. She said it was a great tribute to what this relationship in general can be like for both Canton Township and the City of Livonia. President McCann also commended everyone involved on a job well done. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 6. REQUEST TO EXTEND CONTRACT WITH DEARBORN LITHOGRAPH: Department of Community Resources, re: for a period of one year to typeset, print, sort and deliver to the Post Office the City's quarterly Newsletter. (CR 69- 07) Linda McCann, Director of Community Resources was present to request an extension of the contract with Dearborn Lithograph for a period of one year, for the typesetting, printing, sorting and delivery to the Post Office of the City Newsletter. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5 7. ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSE TO CR 305-09, Department of Parks & Recreation, re: the feasibility of a bike/walking path along Hubbard Road between Five Mile and Six Mile Roads. Karen Kapchonick, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, stated the Parks and Recreation Commission recommends no further action be taken unless a grant is secured because the cost of this project would be over $700,000.00. President McCann did announce that he received an e-mail from Wayne County Commissioner, Laura Cox, dated March 29, 2010 and will receive and file that correspondence. He said he did have an opportunity to have a long conversation with Ms. Cox today. This is something he has been excited about for a long time, trying to find a bike path between Rotary Park and the Community Recreation Center. There is no sidewalk, foot path or pedestrian path in that area. He said she thought this might be an appropriate thing for the Wayne County Parks and Recreation Budget. They're currently working on something very similar; a pedestrian path in Northville, there may be grant funds available from the federal government and they're very close to completing that with Northville. Ms. Cox would like our Parks Department to contact them because they may be able to learn a lot from Northville and save a lot of time by gathering information from them on the process they went through. President McCann said in light of this new information no further action isn't appropriate in this case. Toy asked Kapchonick if it would be an asphalt based path. She replied yes and indicated they were thinking of having it done on the east side of the Hubbard Road going from Five Mile Road to Six Mile Road. Toy asked Kapchonick if she has investigated whether or not any grant, transportation or stimulus monies are available at all, as President McCann had mentioned. She replied they have not investigated, their biggest project, they were thinking it would be through the Wayne County Parks millage and knowing that they have not received money in quite a few years. Toy encouraged Kapchonick to contact the State of Michigan Senator and State of Michigan Representative for the area. Toy said even though things are tight for the State of Michigan there sometimes are extra dollars available. Kapchonick said she will check with them. Godfroid-Marecki said she also spoke with Wayne County Commissioner Laura Cox today and indicated they talked about what was going on with the pedestrian path in Northville. It is quite a costly endeavor and it's been about a year and a half they have been working on that project. Godfroid-Marecki offered the approving resolution to refer this item to the Recreation, Public Safety and Education Committee for its recommendation and report. DIRECTION: REFER TO RECREATION, PUBLIC CONSENT SAFETY & EDUCATION COMMITTEE 6 8. AWARD OF BID: Department of Parks & Recreation, re: to purchase a new play structure at Beverly Park from budgeted funds. Karen Kapchonick, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation said over the past year the Department has developed a three phase plan to address the various issues at Beverly Park. Now in their final phase they are seeking Council approval to award a contract to Playworld Midstates, located in Clinton Township, to install a new play structure in the amount not to exceed $125,000.00. They reviewed the designs from eight (8) bidders with a group of residents and of all the designs the parents chose Playworld Midstates because of the play structure's layout, the playability with over 50 features, and in addition this structure is challenging and offers a great opportunity to parents and children to play together. Funds have been budgeted for this expenditure. Pastor commented on how this has been a long process, with all of the environmental concerns of the site. He asked Kapchonick if they were able to save any of the pickets. She replied yes and said in the next month they would be taking them over to Rotary Park and on Wednesdays and Fridays beginning May 1St through May 30th pickets can be picked up from 4:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m. and also on Saturdays during that range of dates from 10:00 a.m. — 4:00 p.m. She stated information on this was published in the L Magazine and said they will have more information and news releases going out shortly on that matter. Toy commented how she was a little reluctant, she knows the safety issue became very explosive on this issue and commended Kapchonick and the Administration for looking at the hazards where the leakage came from, but said she feels compelled to point out, because she served on Council back then, that a lot of the residents worked very hard on that play structure and put a lot of dollars and time in. There was a lot of sentimentality with the project and said it was a true community effort. Godfroid-Marecki said she feels that this project will be money well spent and feels the residents of the City will benefit greatly. Brosnan said she feels it is important to remember not everybody has the history that all of them share when they talk about Beverly Park. She said Council received a letter from a resident recently wondering why the City would be spending money like this during these tough economic times. She feels it bears just a little bit of discussion in terms of the fact that really what is happening here is that they are reinvesting in the community. She said residents need to constantly be made aware of all the facts. Such as there was a park here, it was one that was built by neighbors and worked with the City to help commission a park in that area. Unfortunately, due to a health hazard the park had to be removed and they are now in the process of replacing that. No different than what anyone else would do in their own household. When one of your assets 7 deteriorates you work hard to replace it. She said thank goodness the City has the park millage to help it do that. This money does not come out of the General Fund. Ms. Kapchonick along with her Department has worked diligently in finding a bidder that was able to put together an impressive package of equipment, working with the neighbors to develop a plan that she believes will serve that area of the community well. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 9. REQUEST TO APPROVE A LEASE AGREEMENT WITH THE LIVONIA JUNIOR ATHLETIC LEAGUE: Department of Parks & Recreation, re. to lease Rotary Park Ball Diamonds #1, #2, #3 & #4 for a period of five (5) years, commencing on May 1, 2010, and terminating on April 30, 2015. Karen Kapchonick, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation said they are seeking Council approval to enter into a partnership with two (2) local athletic organizations, recognizing that they will be faced with upcoming budget constraints, reduced crews due to pending retirements and will not be able to maintain the fields as they have in the past, also due to the hiring freeze and limitations on capital improvements. Taking all of that into consideration they approached the organizations to see if they would have an interest in maintaining and programming specified fields. The Law Department assisted them in drafting the lease agreement and approved by the respective board of directors. This agreement is with the understanding that the parks are open to the public and our residents can still visit, walk and enjoy the parks when not in use, just as they are doing now. The Department will monitor the progress and provide an annual report to the Parks and Recreation Commission at their December meeting. The first organization, the Livonia Junior Athletic League, has agreed to be responsible for the programming and scheduling of the four (4) ball diamonds at Rotary Park as well as handling all the maintenance. Without their assistance the City will experience longer time lapse between mowing, less dedicated time to grooming our fields, and experiencing safety issues at all the parks. She said Kevin Maillard, Director of Public Works and Paul Seawald from the Livonia Junior Athletic League are here to answer any questions Council may have regarding parks maintenance. She said the Department of Parks and Recreation recognizes the excellent cooperation they have had with this organization for many years and is looking forward to this partnership. Brosnan commended Kapchonick on finding an innovative way to keep the parks and ball fields available to the community. Meakin asked to address Paul Seawald through the Chair. Paul Seawald, 16380 Aldrich Court, Livonia. Meakin said most residents aren't going to realize that Livonia employees aren't going to be fulfilling the lawn cutting and the 8 maintenance of the fields. He asked Mr. Seawald if his organization was confident they could maintain a seamless transition in this process. Mr. Seawald responded saying absolutely, their organization has done a lot of planning and has a plan in place in order to secure the necessary equipment and manpower to be able to maintain these fields as well as utilize them for more hours than had been previously used. He stated he feels this is an opportunity for them to expand their program, as well as be able to maintain it and in the future he will look at perhaps doing some upgrades to the facilities as well. Such as they did previously at Bentley Field. Meakin wanted to point out that their organization has been leasing out and maintaining the Bentley Field for years. He said recently they did a concession stand with restrooms; that was a beautiful project that they did entirely by themselves. He also noted the 90 day right to terminate clause for both sides if for any reason it does not work out. However, he stated he is looking forward to a five year contract and hopefully many more years. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 10. REQUEST TO APPROVE A LEASE AGREEMENT WITH THE MICHIGAN WOLVES AND HAWKS SOCCER CLUB: Department of Parks & Recreation, re. to lease Jaycee Park Soccer Fields for a period of five (5) years, commencing on May 1, 2010 through April 30, 2015. Karen Kapchonick, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation said they are seeking Council approval on this lease agreement with the Michigan Wolves and Hawks Soccer Club that will be responsible for all maintenance, programming and scheduling of Jaycee Park Soccer Fields. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 11. REQUEST TO APPROVE A SUBLEASE AGREEMENT WITH THE LIVONIA PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM: Department of Parks & Recreation, re. for the gymnastic area at the Community Recreation Center on a month to month basis unless converted to an annual term. Karen Kapchonick, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation said they are seeking Council approval on a sublease agreement with the Livonia Public Schools for the gymnastic area at the Community Recreation Center. The term of the sublease will be month to month, unless converted to an annual term. The amount of monthly rent is $5,210.00 which totals $62,520.00 annually. This gymnastic program is managed by the Livonia Public Schools Community Education Program and has been housed at the Community Recreation Center 9 since they opened in 2003. This is a quality program and is certainly an asset to the facility and their staff has been very cooperative in working with the City. Godfroid-Marecki asked Kapchonick if the month to month term was requested by the Livonia Public School system, she replied yes. Godfroid-Marecki offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 12. AWARD OF CONTRACT: Public Service Division, re: 2010 Street Tree Planting Program from budgeted funds. Kevin Maillard, Director of Public Service, said that the Department solicited bids for their 2010 Street Tree Planting Program. The work consists of planting of approximately 347 street trees. Margolis Companies, 9600 Cherry Hill, Ypsilanti, MI 48198, was the low bidder with a bid in the amount of$51,453.00, total bid not to exceed $85,000.00, at the unit prices bid for completing all work required in connection with the City's 2010 Street Planting Program. Based on their references, they have had numerous city contracts with the City of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Township. They are recommending the contract go to them. This will also cover the removal and replacement of any trees for the road program. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 13. REQUEST TO APPROVE ALLIANCE OF ROUGE COMMUNITIES (ARC) ANNUAL ASSESSMENT FOR 2010: Public Service Division, re: in the amount of$29,013.00 from funds budgeted for this purpose. Kevin Maillard, Director of Public Service said this is their annual assessment to be members of the ARC. It is the same amount of money as last year; the City has been a member since 2004. There are a lot of benefits for the City to be a member of the ARC. Recently the City has received grants for approximately $10,000 for projects at Cleveland School and Bicentennial Park. The City has also through ARC through the Great Lakes Initiative applied for a grant close to $500,000.00 for the Bell Creek Court situation. Also, recently through ARC the City has applied for a grant for an additional $200,000.00 for a detention pond at Whispering Willows Golf Course and some stream stabilization. Another benefit is the reduction in permit fees for our Stormwater Management Program in which the City receives group rates versus having to apply as an individual City. The ARC has also helped the City quite a bit in dealing with the State of Michigan with regard to unfunded mandates. Also to develop a regional plan to improve the water quality of the area versus having to develop it all right now and cost the 10 City millions of dollars. The annual assessment amount is based on the City's population. President McCann stated he would like to audience to be aware that fifty percent (50%) of the funds come from the Federal Clean Water Act. The federal government matches whatever the communities contribute. Bill Craig, 20050 Milburn, said he has been involved with the ARC and prior to that the ALLIANCE for many years and wished to express his support for this expenditure to support the importance of the relationship between ARC and the City of Livonia. The City of Livonia has provided a sound leadership in the development of ARC and through its past representatives, Jim Zoumbaris and Bob Beckley; they've helped create a very effective cooperative regional organization that is there to address any water quality concerns on the Rouge Watershed. It is now being copied in other regions as a positive way of local communities working together to address big problems. He said he thinks that ARC doesn't get enough recognition for all of the things they do and he again wanted to voice his support for all of their efforts and hard work and commend them. Brosnan offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 14. AWARD OF CONTRACT: Engineering Division, re: for the 2010 Asphalt Paving and Water Main Replacement Program — Contract 10-A. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, stated that as part of the 2010 Asphalt Pavement and Water Main Replacement Program, four (4) bids were received which varied from $3,800,000.00 up to $4,400,000.00. Zilincik said they are recommending Hayball Transport, Inc. They are familiar with their previous work. They are asking Council to award the contract in the amount of $3,834,243.60 to Hayball Transport located at 12550 Farmington Road, Livonia, MI. Approximately $3,200,000.00 will go to road improvements and just over $500,000.00 will go to water main replacements. In addition, authorize the City Engineer to approve minor adjustments in the work as required. Pastor asked Zilincik to inquire from the bidder about an alternate for the crushed concrete; he said he would like to see what that possible savings might be, as long as it meets the Wayne County specifications. Zilincik said after the bid is awarded they can inquire about that potential savings. Meakin said this was an extremely close bid between two (2) Livonia contractors. He stated in the past Zilincik has asked for two (2) companies in the event the 11 low bidder could not complete the project and asked him why he did not do that with this contract. Zilincik responded by saying Hayball Transport will be utilizing Nagle Paving and D & D Water and Sewer as subcontractors. He said they have a well experienced team put together and they are very well qualified based on OHM's letter and everyone gets a piece of the pie, so to speak, to help improve the road infrastructure. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 15. AWARD OF CONTRACT: Engineering Division, re: for the 2010 Concrete Road Repair Program and Water Main Replacement Program - Contract 10-C. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, stated that the 2010 Concrete Road Repair Program and Water Main Replacement Program went out for bids, and several bids were received on March 9, 2010. The bids varied from just under $3,000,000.00 up to $4,500,000.00. They are recommending the bid be awarded to Tiseo Brothers, Inc., 68660 Hillside, Washington Township, MI 48095, in the amount of $2,969,754.60 of which just over $2,400,000.00 will go toward road repairs and just over $500,000.00 will go toward water main replacements. This is based on the information provided from Anderson, Eckstein and Westrick, Inc., consultant for the City. They are recommending them for Council approval to complete the 2010 program for the City. In addition, authorize the City Engineer to approve minor adjustments in the work as required. Pastor mentioned again to Zilincik his request to inquire from the bidder about an alternate for the crushed concrete; as long as it meets the Wayne County specifications. Pastor offered the approving resolution on the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 16. AWARD OF CONTRACT: Engineering Division, re: for the 2010 Sidewalk Replacement Program — Contract 10-G. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, stated this is for the 2010 Sidewalk Replacement Program. They went out for bids. This work involves replacement in the target area which is in Section 34 where they are doing their road repairs, and includes 310 scattered locations throughout the City. After going out for bids, several bids were received. The bids varied from $636,000.00 up to $823,000.00. The lowest bidder was D. Macro Contractors of Clinton Township, MI in the amount of $603,677.00, however, they did ask to rescind their bid due to the fact they did not include specific elements they discussed at the mandatory pre-bid meeting. Therefore, Zilincik said they are recommending the second lowest bidder, Joe 12 Rotundo Construction, 38807 Ann Arbor Road, Suite 2, Livonia, MI 48150, in the amount of$654,298.20, appropriating various funds from that total amount based on trees, and water and sewer funds. They are recommending them for Council approval to complete the 2010 program for the City. In addition, authorize the City Engineer to approve minor adjustments in the work as required. Toy offered the approving resolution on the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 17. REQUEST FOR SITE PLAN EXTENSION: Planning Commission, re. Petition 2003-02-08-05 submitted by S&N Development Company, which initially received approval by the City Council on April 23, 2003, per CR 183-03, requesting a sixth extension, for a period of two years, of the plans to construct an office building on property located on the north side of Seven Mile Road, between Newburgh Road and Victor Parkway (37640 Seven Mile Road), in the Southeast '/4 of Section 6. (CR 498-08, CR 558-07, CR 553-06, CR 535-05, CR 168-04 and CR 183-03) Mark Taormina, City Planner confirmed the Planning Commission is recommending the extension of the site plan approval for this request. Meakin said this item is also in conjunction with a consent judgment and said he believes because of the lawsuit they have to pretty much keep this going. Godfroid-Marecki through the Chair to Knapp asked if this was open-ended because of the lawsuit. Knapp said he believed the consent judgment allowed for renewals for a period of time, he thinks it may be up to ten years but said he would have to confirm that and could not give a definite answer. Godfroid-Marecki offered the approving resolution on the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 18. REQUEST TO REVISE SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re. Petition 2004-08-08-14 submitted by Wireless Toyz, which initially received approval by City Council on October 13, 2004, per CR 486-04, requesting to revise the elevation plan in connection with the exterior renovation of the commercial building located on the southwest corner of Ann Arbor Road and Ann Arbor Trail (37950 Ann Arbor Road), in the Northeast '/4 of Section 31. Mark Taormina, City Planner said this was a Petition that came before Council in 2004. It was an old gas station. The proposal at the time was to renovate the exterior of the building as well as several site improvements including new landscaping and parking lot upgrades. The proposal today is to keep it a wireless retail store. However, they would change the building exterior again. There would 13 not be any other site improvements other than the elevation change. He said currently Verizon Wireless is the sole tenant of the building and the changes would be more to their liking and would allow them some additional signage. Toy offered the approving resolution on the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 19. REQUEST FOR SITE PLAN EXTENSION: Planning Commission, re. Petition 2008-01-08-02 submitted by LVM Architecture & Planning, on behalf of the Parkview Baptist Church, which initially received approval by City Council on March 31, 2008, per CR 130-08, requesting a two-year extension of the proposal to expand and renovate the exterior of the existing fellowship hall and expand the parking lot of the church on property located on the west side of Stark Road, between Ann Arbor Trail and Plymouth Road (9355 Stark Road), in the Southwest '/4 of Section 33. Louis Margitan, 15126 Woodworth, Redford, Michigan, of LVM Architecture & Planning was present on behalf of Parkview Baptist Church to request a two-year extension of the site plan approval. Toy offered the approving resolution on the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 20. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LIVONIA CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS AMENDED: Department of Law, re: to Chapter 63 (Snow Alert) of Title 10 adding Section 100 regarding when civil infractions can be issued in snow alert situations. Knapp said this is a proposed amendment to the Livonia Code of Ordinances section that pertains to Snow Alerts. He said currently we issue tickets to somebody that is parked on the street during a snow alert. This amendment would allow the Police Department to issue a ticket after the snow alert is expired if there is evidence that a vehicle was blocking the street during the snow alert and allow them to ticket up to 24 hours following the end of a snow alert. Brosnan through the Chair to Knapp asked what the impetus for the amendment was. He responded by saying he suspects it is because the City can't target and obtain or issue tickets to everybody during that snow alert period but certainly can wrap up any ticketing that might need to occur after the snow alert has ended. If it is a brief snow alert and there were vehicles on the street that hadn't been ticketed but should have been it allows the City to identify and ticket those individuals. Brosnan responded by saying her initial reaction to that is that unless the City has received complaints from residents or unless there have been complaints from the Police Department, this appears to be a way for the City to 14 make more money and to perhaps punish and so she is curious to hear if there is a safety reason or something like that has brought this to the attention of the City, at least that was what she was hoping to hear. Major Kirksey spoke in response to the comment by Brosnan and in an effort to answer questions some people may have. He said it is sort of the aftermath of a snow alert. Even with the cable information that a snow alert is taking place, the major media outlets are emergency radio station broadcast and they also have website posting and e-mails that are going out. Despite these efforts there are still people who in an almost habitual kind of way do not remove vehicles from the street during snow alerts. The reason to remove the vehicles is so that the snow plows can do their work in an efficient fashion and it also minimizes danger to property damage as they try to maneuver around vehicles that remain on the streets. Also, there is some confusion as to actually when the snow alert has ended. It actually ends when the snow removal has occurred but it ends at different times in the community as to when the streets are plowed and officially it is not over until the plowing is complete. So there are people who have been ticketed and have said the sun came up the snow alert was over and that they shouldn't have been ticketed and so there's a lot of debate that takes place over at the court. Then, it the hours immediately following the snow alert it's very quick to see a vehicle that has been plowed in during the plowing of the streets. This allows the City each time to issue tickets, not as a revenue generating kind of operation but to try to minimize in every event a fewer number of vehicles left on the street, and that is happening. This is aimed at trying to make the snow emergency as efficient as possible, as safe as possible, and to minimize the number of vehicles left on the streets during a snow emergency event. It is not a punitive kind of thing, it is not meant to generate great amounts of revenue. So, that is the purpose of the amendment and the City has an ongoing procedure where the City is ticketing. This will extend the period a bit longer and perhaps minimize some of the debate that takes place at the court. Knapp added that he does not see many people contesting these tickets at the District Court but additionally it is not a big money maker as the Mayor indicated. The maximum fine is a civil penalty of $100 and can't remember the last time some was charged $100, he said they are usually around $50, even as low as $25 if paid promptly. Even multiplied by 200, that doesn't even begin to cover the cost of writing the tickets and the court costs. President McCann said he understands the frustrations of the residents as well as the importance of removing the vehicles from the streets. Toy added failure to remove the vehicles from the streets can lead to a safety factor and possibly make it difficult or impossible for emergency personal to reach someone in dire need of an ambulance or fire truck. 15 Knapp added that it is quite often that the people who do get these tickets usually get more than one. Diane Marietti, a Livonia resident, said she supports the amendment to the Ordinance. Toy offered the approving resolution on the Regular Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. As there were no further questions or comments, Council President McCann adjourned the Study Session at 9:18 p.m. on Monday, March 29, 2010. DATED: April 12, 2010 MAUREEN COSGROVE ASSISTANT CITY CLERK