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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLBRA MINUTES 2014-01-22MINUTES OF THE SEVENTH MEETING OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY The seventh meeting of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority of Livonia was called to order at 5:02 p.m. on Wednesday, January 22, 2014, by Chairman Jack Engebretson. MEMBERS PRESENT: Jack Engebretson, Chairman Lynda Scheel, Vice Chairman & Acting Secretary Joe Taylor, Treasurer Jim Cambridge Paul Condon Bill Fried Ken Harb Enrico Soave MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT: Jack Kirksey, Mayor Mark Taormina, Planning & Economic Development Director Michael Slater, Director of Finance Mark Jacobs, Dykema Gossett, P.L.L.C. Mark Drane, Rogvoy Associates Steve Innes, NTH Consultants, Ltd. Geoffrey Boyer, J.S. Vig Construction Kathleen E. McIntyre, Ford Motor Company Margie Watson, Program Supervisor, Planning Department Engebretson: Our secretary has moved out of the community and is therefore no longer eligible to be part of the Board. Mrs. Scheel has kindly offered to function as the Acting Secretary this evening. If you would please call the roll. ROLL WAS CALLED. A quorum was present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES On a motion by Harb, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was: #01-14 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority held January 30, 2013, are hereby approved as submitted. Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 2 LIVONIA COMMONS SHOPPING CENTER BROWNFIELD PLAN AND REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT Engebretson: The next item on the agenda is a request from Mark D. Jacobs of Dykema Gossett on behalf of National Real Estate Management Corporation to approve a Brownfield Development Plan and Reimbursement Agreement for the redevelopment of the Livonia Commons shopping center located at 13507 Middlebelt Road. Mayor, before we begin, I want to invite any comments that you care to make to launch the meeting this evening, realizing that you may or may not be able to stay with us. We certainly want to have the benefit of any of your thoughts about this property. Kirksey: Thank you very much. I just want to offer greetings to our Brownfield Authority and thank them for agreeing to continue serving for today's deliberations. This is a very important project for the City of Livonia. It fills a void at one of our most prominent corners of the city. Thank you for the opportunity to say a few words. Engebretson: Thank you, Mayor, and you're welcome to join in on the conversation at any point along the way. Mr. Taormina, do you want to go with our traditional protocol and give us some background on the proposal and then we'll get to the representatives of the property owner and the developers. Taormina: Thank you. The Authority's role in this is to review and make recommendations on the Brownfield Plan and Reimbursement Agreement. To help you understand the scope of what is proposed here, I'll just run through some of the project details quickly. I know there's going to be some questions regarding the development plan, and Mark Drane of Rogvoy Associates is here to answer more detailed questions on the project. This is the site plan. Prior retailers at this location included Wal-Mart, Handy Andy, Forest City, and Gem Department Store. The footprint of the building will remain intact. The garden center on the north side of the building is going to be removed and replaced with some additional retail space. There will be room for two or three tenants within this portion of the building. The interior and exterior of the existing building will be completely renovated. According to the plans, the interior space of the building will most likely be subdivided into four separate units. The northern -most unit totaling 53,355 square feet will contain a Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 3 Dick's Sporting Goods. The unit adjacent and to the south of Dick's totals 24,100 square feet and will be occupied by JoAnn Fabrics. The two remaining southern units measure 29,530 square feet and 26,169 square feet, respectively. The former garden center located on the north side of the building will be demolished and replaced with 7,650 square feet of additional retail building space. The remaining area between the building and Schoolcraft Road would be used for parking. Another component of the redevelopment is the construction of a freestanding multi -tenant retail building in the southeast portion of the parking lot closer to Middlebelt Road. This new building is identified on the plans as "Proposed Outparcel." Another outparcel is shown as a future restaurant but nothing has been site plan approved. That is something that will have to go back through the review process, but it is part of the development plan and it's been factored into the plan as far as the capture of taxes from any development that may occur on that site. Another thing you might be interested in is the fact that they are adding greenspace. The plan provides for a variety of plant materials shown around the perimeter of the site as well as within the parking lot islands. The landscape plan is fully detailed and indicates the type, quantity and size of plant materials. In an effort to establish a consistent theme along this developing stretch of Middlebelt Road, the plans show the same walls and planter elements along the Middlebelt Road frontage that was recently approved for the Goodwill, Applebee's and Del Taco projects. Stormwater detention is going to be a component to this redevelopment plan. It's not something that currently exists there, but it is required as part of the new development. We have some renderings of what the building will look like. The entire storefront of the existing building will be completely transformed and modernized. The exterior finishes will consist of brick, decorative block and E.I.F.S. I'll just briefly go over the Brownfield Plan. Engebretson: Where the gas station and outlot is, is that separately approved property not part of this proposal? Taormina: I believe you're referring to the corner parcel that contains the oil change. It is not part of this development. It was not something they could negotiate as part of this redevelopment. Engebretson: That's regrettable. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 4 Taormina: There was a gas station on this property and a One Hour Martinizing dry cleaners. So there is some contamination associated with the property in the northeast corner. The submitted Brownfield Plan provides a basic description of the redevelopment, along with the brownfield conditions present on the site, and each of the various Act 381 plan elements, including a summary of the eligible activities, a description of the costs to be paid with tax increment revenues, a tax capture table showing the estimate of captured taxable value and tax increment revenues, the method of financing, and a description of reimbursements by the LBRA. The Brownfield conditions include a combination of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) environmental response activities primarily related to underground contamination caused by the operations of a former gas station and dry cleaners on the property, as well as Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) non -environmental activities associated mostly with demolition and site preparation work. The plan differentiates between those two main components of the eligible costs associated with this project. Tax increment revenue captured on the value of the real property above the established base value (i.e., the taxable value of the property prior to redevelopment) will be used to reimburse the Developer for the eligible costs, as well as pay for the administrative costs associated with the project, not to exceed $30,000 per year. The base value is established according to the current pre - construction taxable value of the property, which is $1,704,800. The Plan assumes the taxable value of the completed project will be around $7.5 million, and will increase annually at a rate of 2 percent. We are only looking at real property associated with this project. If you look back at the other plan we approved for Livonia Marketplace, it was a combination of real and personal property. That is not the case here. We're strictly looking at real property as part of the capture and reimbursement plan. For each year, the amount allocated for reimbursement to the Developer is the cumulative captured taxes minus the various other costs, including LBRA's administrative costs plus three mills of school tax capture that goes to the State of Michigan Brownfield Redevelopment Fund (BRF). The yearly captured school taxes includes both the School Operating (18 mils) plus the State Education Tax (6 mils) for a total of 24 mils. These captured tax dollars will only be used to pay a proportionate share of the MDEQ eligible activities and SRF. We negotiated with the Developer a duration of 14 years in total, of which the Developer will receive Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 5 reimbursement for a period of 9 years. It is anticipated after those 9 years, they will be fully reimbursed for all of the MDEQ eligible activities. Beginning in year 2015, the Tax Capture Table projects that the Developer will be reimbursed for all MDEQ eligible expenses by year 2023. In that same period, it is projected that $458,032 of the estimated $771,426 in total MSF eligible expenses would be reimbursed to the Developer, leaving a shortfall of approximately $313,394. The main reason for this shortfall is because state school tax capture is not expected to be used to reimburse the Developer for expenses associated with MSF eligible activities. Of the $2,192,176 in total costs related to both MDEQ and MSF eligible activities, the Developer would be reimbursed a total of approximately $1,878,782, or roughly 85.7 percent. The City's portion of the projected total costs towards reimbursing the Developer would be $807,086. As with the Livonia Marketplace Brownfield Plan, in the ensuing five years following reimbursement to the Developer (years 2024 thru 2028), the LBRA can capture 100 percent of the local taxes for deposit in a Local Site Remediation Revolving Fund (LSRRF). The total after five years would be approximately $1,037,139. Money available in the LSRRF can be used to pay the costs of eligible activities on eligible property that is located within the municipality. Also in your packet is a Reimbursement Agreement that spells out the obligations of each of the parties with respect to the collection and payment of funds to the Developer, the duration and timing of the payments following authorization by the LBRA, and the retention of funds to pay administrative costs of the LBRA. The City Law Department has reviewed and approved the proposed Reimbursement Agreement for your consideration. With that, I'll answer any questions that you might have. Mike Slater played an integral part in developing the documents you have before you. We also have Mark Jacobs of Dykema Gossett who was also responsible for preparation of the Brownfield Plan and Reimbursement Agreement, and Mark Drane is here to answer development -related questions. Engebretson Thank you, Mark. Mr. Slater, do you have anything to add? Slater: No. Mark did a great job. I'm here to answer any questions. Engebretson: Mark Drane, are you the next speaker? Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 6 Drane: Mark did such a superior job with the presentation, I'm here to answer questions. The buildings represent an architectural challenge, but the plans are done and have been submitted to the Building Department for permits. Taylor: You still have two confirmed tenants, right? Drane: Yes. Engebretson: Did you perform the architectural services relative to the aesthetics of this building? Drane: Yes. Engebretson: That's good, because you've been working with us for a long time and you know how picky we can be. Not necessarily this Board but some of the other City folks. Drane: I've done Millennium Park, Livonia Marketplace, among others. Engebretson: You have a great track record in the community, and as Mayor Kirksey indicated, this is a very important piece of property at a strategic location in our community. While it's been languishing for a long time, it is important to get it done, and it's even more important to get it done right. It's a great advantage to have the benefit of someone we've worked with for a long time. I'm personally very pleased that you have had a major role to play in what this development is going to look like because I know that you have very high standards and that you understand the standards that we have, and finding a way to implement those things within the framework of a reasonable budget is no small challenge. Drane: It is challenging and fun. Engebretson: Mark Jacobs, do you want to add anything? Jacobs: I'm an environmental lawyer. I've worked on several dozen projects around southeastern Michigan, Traverse City and other places around the State. I got involved with this project probably three years ago. Our client is National Real Estate Management Company. They've managed this property for a long time. They built the property back in 1964. National Real Estate called me up and said we're looking forward down the road to possibly Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 7 developing this property. Forest City had a leaking underground storage tank out there. We just want to make sure it doesn't get in the way of developing the property. We'd like you to keep an eye on what they're doing out there. Just make sure that it's not going to create problems with the development. That's how I initially got involved. I started out by working with all the original lease documents. The lease goes back to Gem, which is a predecessor of Forest City, back in 1964. So the lease under which Forest City occupied the property is more or less the same lease going back to 1964. At some point, Forest City got the bright idea of building an outlot on the property. The outlot was not owned by my client; it was not leased by my client. It was a sublease between Forest City and a gas station and a One Hour Martinizing drycleaners. Somehow I managed to come up with a picture of what used to be at that corner. Those of you who have been around long enough probably remember it, but for those of you who don't or vaguely remember it, this is it. Taylor: It was a gas station and a cleaners. Jacobs: If an environmental lawyer was going to write a horror story, it would be centered around a piece of property that developed a cleaners and a gas station. When I first heard that, I said, look, nobody puts a drycleaners in a gas station. I really couldn't believe it. So going back three years, I started watching over Forest City. They hired a lawyer to submit a report to the State after digging up about 4,000 yards of contaminated soil from this gas station. They thought they completed the work. They submitted a report to the State. The consultants they hired were not the best. They missed all sorts of things. After about six months of reviewing that report, the State came back with about a 12 page letter saying you didn't dig deep enough, you missed this, you missed that, you didn't complete this, you didn't complete that. At that point, Forest City got frustrated and brought in their own environmental lawyer to look at the situation and concluded that because Forest City never owned or operated the gas station, it wasn't their responsibility. They sent a letter to the State explaining that, and they were technically correct. The State agreed and so Forest City just stopped doing work on the property. I managed to convince them that they messed up our property. They ought to at least do what is necessary so we could develop our property. So we sort of had a gentleman's agreement that they would continue Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 8 working on the site. They continued to do additional investigations just to make sure nothing was left behind that would get in the way of the development. In the Spring of 2013, my client called me up and said they started to develop plans, which we do have. Forest City is out there, but I think we ought to go out and take a look around and make sure there are no surprises out there. We engaged NTH, an environmental and engineering consulting firm. In the summer they started doing historical research. In September and October, they started doing phase two, sub -surface investigations. Within the corner up here right by the entrance where the old gas station was and the drycleaners, they found large amounts of drycleaning solvents. Five millions parts per billion of chemicals were left behind. Innes: This is the existing building over here on the left, Middlebelt is here on the right, and the Quick Lube building. This dashed area here is where the underground storage tanks used to be and there was an additional excavation that turned up soil contamination. All of these borings here were done by the previous consultants with an attempt to find the outer limit of contamination. This diagonal shape here is what the previous consultant determined was the outer limit of contamination and this is an area they determined would be deed restricted. So there is a deed restriction on this area of the property. Jacobs: You can't put a home there and you can't use the ground water. Innes: This restriction really does not impact the future development. However, the proposed restaurant is located here, pretty close to this area, and coupled with the fact that the DEQ did not agree with the previous investigation and it was not good enough, as part of the due diligence for this new development, this initial investigation done in this area, and there was an investigation done for the former drycleaner, which is over here. These colored areas here are highly contaminated. It looks like in this corner of the building was a processing tank or cleaning and it leaked under there and has gone towards Middlebelt Road. Jacobs: We're not sure how this happened but there is some suspicion there may have been a floor drain that ran out to the street because this dashed line that was originally drawn around here was the area to be remediated. The contamination goes down Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 9 about 10 feet. The highest level we now know is about 8 to 10 feet. There must have been some kind of a drain. So the complete number that you see in the Brownfield Plan is based on this original dashed area. Unfortunately, it's $750 a ton to dispose of this stuff at a landfill in Belleville. Innes: That is the due care expense that's in here. Jacobs: That's a good point. Our goal is not to clean this up to pristine conditions. The levels that we're concerned about out there exceed the levels that the MDEQ publishes as being the levels that they consider safe to be outside above this contamination. This is called the ambient air exposure number. The levels out there exceed the published and ambient air exposure numbers. According to DEQ, it's not safe to be outside. We want to get that out. We don't want property that you can't stand on, you can't work there. That is the lowest relaxed number. The standards for drinking water is a real low number. The number for ambient air exposure is way up there. I think the number is 500,000 parts per billion. We have levels as high as 5 million. So we're not looking for a Cadillac clean up here. We just want to be safe. The next level down for indoor air exposure, which would be a risk for this restaurant, but because we're talking about $750 a ton, our preference is rather than clean it up to the levels to allow you to go there without any controls, is to put a vapor barrier down there. Because of the $30,000 or so it costs to put a vapor barrier under that building, it's far less than another half a million it would cost to dig up more dirt. The point I'm trying to make is that we're not playing fast and loose with the City's brownfield money. We are really doing the minimum necessary to make this property safe. Unfortunately, Forest City, the only company that benefited from this mess that they left, is not viewed as a liable party in the eyes of the law. We are trying to do the minimum necessary to clean this site up and make it useable. A third round of investigation is ongoing right now. The plan is to install an additional 30 or so soil borings in this relatively small area. We're trying to get this down to a surgical excavation and remove the bare minimum necessary to meet the ambient air exposure. We're two-thirds the way through that investigation. Preliminary results indicate that horizontally this stuff is fairly well confined. I think the assumption was that we would be excavating nine feet. Innes: Yes. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 10 Jacobs: It appears to be confined to an 8 to 10 foot layer. There's some shallow stuff. We also want to make sure to get all the dirt the contractors are going to have to deal with out of the way. We don't want the construction contractors to deal with contaminated dirt. They know how to build things, but we want to make sure they don't make a mess while they're doing it. Engebretson: I'm really glad you took the time to explain what was documented and this submission here relative to that particular topic. It surprised me to see that in 2008 Forest City submitted a so-called disclosure report on some of the data they were working on, and then MDEQ comes along the next year and rejects it. After that, Forest City notifies MDEQ that they are no longer responsible. From my limited experience, and I don't claim to have any knowledge outside the area we're dealing with, but there have been some other major contamination sites in the City, for example the General Motors Spring Arbor plant, that contained an issue. I'm sure General Motors would like to say that's not our problem. And it may not be any more under the circumstances, but they sure were responsible. I was just kind of curious how Forest City could have taken a walk from the responsibility that appeared, to me as a layperson, to be theirs. Jacobs: I think it was in 1986 when Carter was in office, they passed the "super fund" law. It was a great law in the sense that you could get anybody who owned property to clean it up. It was a very bad law for communities who wanted to attract new development because there was no way somebody could come in and own or operate the property without getting stuck with the costs. Over the years, both Congress and the Michigan legislature realized that the original concept was not a good idea. They changed the laws today so that unless you were responsible for causing the problem, you're not liable. You can argue that Forest City built this building and put a floor drain in it and they should have known that was a bad idea. We've worked with these arguments. They didn't cause it. They never operate it and they never owned it. In the eye of the law, they are not required to clean it up. General Motors is a different story. They went through bankruptcy so they washed their hands of it. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 11 Engebretson: That's what I meant by it. It's probably not a problem now but it certainly was up until that point. It's been my impression and from some personal experiences that I've had that it didn't matter who caused the problem. If you owned the property, it's your problem. Jacobs: That was the old law. For municipalities that wasn't a good thing. Michigan changed the law before Congress. Michigan changed the law in 1995. Congress didn't get around to it until about 2002. What happened was, a bunch of mayors from core communities with hundreds of industrial sites, went to the Michigan legislature. I think they called themselves the Urban Core Mayors Committee. They went to the Michigan Legislature. This was probably in 1991 in the midst of a pretty bad recession. They said we need help. We cannot attract industry or businesses to our core communities when the properties are contaminated. No one can come in without liabilities. That's what convinced the Michigan legislature to change the law. What they didn't realize was that you can still buy the property, but what did you do with it? You still had to spend a fortune to clean it up before you could use it. That's when in 1996, the Michigan legislature went after that with a two pronged attack. The liability problem went away and a funding mechanism came into place exactly to allow redevelopment like this to occur. Engebretson: I'm really appreciative that you included the disclosure of that history in this submission. It was an interesting education. Jacobs: With the brownfield, you've got to put money in it. He's got to wait 14 years to get it back without interest, but there's no incentive on his part to spend any more money. We're trying to save him money and trying to save you guys money. The client has to deliver the tenant spaces by July 15. What that means is that we've got to get started working out here in early February. Engebretson: So you don't want this to go to the Committee of the Whole for three or four weeks? Just a slight attempt at a little humor. Taylor: At the corner where the Quick Lube is, I know everything is for sale but did anybody ever try to buy that? Jacobs: That's the first time I heard that comment come up. My client has never discussed it with me. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 12 Drane: I have no plans to incorporate that into the deal here, but I'm pretty sure they've been approached to buy it. I think the question was asked and the answer was no. Taylor: Nobody approached them to try and buy the property? Drane: I do believe that's the case but I don't think it got to the point. It was too expensive. I think the question was asked and the answer was no. Taylor: Thank you. Engebretson: It would sure be a shame if one of those big rigs got out of control and just happened to bump into that. Jacobs: That corner would make this project a lot more marketable. My guess is that if it could have been acquired, it would have been. Engebretson: It's a real distraction. What you're doing is great and you're dealing with what you have to work with. It looks like you're doing a good job. Jacobs: My client unfortunately got stuck with the problem and never anticipated it. Until this past September we had no idea. I never heard of a drycleaner inside of a gas station before. Engebretson: It's been an interesting education that's for sure, for us and for you. Jacobs: Just as an aside, I did a little bit of research. Forest City left a similar property with a similar mess behind in Roseville with a gas station. They couldn't prove who caused. I think they won something like $300,000 and they spent a lot of money in court expenses. This is not the only property Forest City left behind in this condition. Engebretson: Any other comments or questions? Mayor, do you have any other comments you want to add? Kirksey: There is a strong likelihood that the oil change business will be closed down during the 96 reconstruction. They may see a significant drop in their business during that time. If they were thinking about selling, it may be a good time. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 13 Engebretson: I would agree. Any other questions? Harb: The building is 104,000 square feet. The current building area is 134,000; the proposed building area is 154,000 and 80,000 square feet is going to be Dick's and Jo -Ann Fabrics. Are there any prospects for the other 60,000 square feet? Drane: Yes, but I'm not in a position to name names, but I will tell you it's a national retailer. Harb: I'm reading all sorts of information that commercial real estate is dead and dying. Do you foresee that? Drane: People have to shop. To tell you the truth, in the real estate development business, this product that you see here is what we're doing almost exclusively. Target's not coming in. We have a great economy here, but we're always on the bottom of the list when Target wants to develop new stores. I think it's going to come around again. Harb: Thank you. Engebretson: Mr. Taormina, there's something like 770 odd parking spaces required for what's being proposed. Taormina: That's correct. Engebretson: They're all 10 by 20 double striped spots. Taormina: Yes. Engebretson: Where should I be looking? Taormina: Page two of the staff report, third paragraph, where it starts "Required Parking." Engebretson: Mr. Drane, does that cause you any problem relative to serving your clients? Drane: I think it's a perfect number of parking spaces. It's the same parking ratio as for the Livonia Marketplace. I have filed an application with the Zoning Board of Appeals. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 14 Engebretson: But we will not be seeing you back here looking to make those parking spaces nine feet? Drane: No. Engebretson: So if the Zoning Board of Appeals is happy, then you and your clients will be happy. Drane: We will be happy. Taylor: At the Planning Commission, didn't we have more landscaping than what's there now? Aren't they re -landscaping? Mr. Taormina: Yes, there will be added landscaping. Taylor: They are going to add green space to it, which will help. Drane: It does comply now to your standards. If you take away the outdoor sales, we're reducing the need. Engebretson: It is not uncommon, for the 20 plus years that I've been involved in these land decisions in the City, where people look to minimize parking for whatever reason. It may in fact just be seen as our ordinance being overkill, but then I see places like Doc's or Dave & Buster's where the cars are just falling into the ditches out there, which is an annoyance to the people that visit those places, but ultimately it has to be a problem for the owner. Now, I understand you're in an entirely different environment as far the primary use of that land is concerned. But another illustration of a commercial property would be Laurel Park where you drive down Newburgh almost any time of the day, almost any day of the week, and the cars are parked right out to the street. It's a very successful shopping center, and I'm sure you're going to be successful here too. What I don't want is to see us whittle away at the ordinance to reduce the size of the parking spaces in order to come into compliance with a number. Then the business that locates there, it becomes their problem. It's a high class problem and there doesn't seem to be any opportunities because you're using the land, especially with that plan, and there's no opportunity to landbank spaces. It can become a problem. Just a friendly observation, no intent to diminish the importance or the value or the quality of what you've presented. Mr. Fried, do you have a comment? Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 15 Fried: We have on the corner a piece of property that I don't know to what degree it meets the requirements as far as parking or anything like that, but you brought up the issue that this area is short and to what degree will the corner piece, once you get the rest of the property developed, is there going to be some kind of dividing line so the oil change can't use the parking area of the shopping center? Engebretson: I don't know, Bill, but I personally don't think that there is a lot of traffic at the lube shop where they would be impinging on the shopping center. Fried: Well, how many parking spaces do they have? Engebretson: I don't know but I think they only need three. Mark will check it out. Taormina: I believe they have to maintain a cross -access agreement between the properties. Maybe that's a question Mark Drane can answer. Drane: We can accommodate the retail circulation. They will be using our parking lot. Taylor: The only parking they have is for the people who work there. Everyone else drives through. Fried: Sometimes people come and drop their car off. Engebretson: That's not the type of business it is. Fried: Can that property be used for anything other than an oil change business such as for repair? Engebretson: I have no idea what the zoning is or what the conditions of use are. Fried: I just think that piece of property being left out of this whole thing will create problems. Engebretson: Before you arrived, but we did inquire as to whether or not there had been any attempt to buy that piece of property. I think everybody would agree that it should be included. Is there anything else? Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 16 Soave: I think it's a good project. That corner is an eyesore that needs to be removed and I'm glad someone is finally doing something about it. The only thing left on that corridor is the former Chi Chi's space which who knows what the outcome of that space will be. The Developer is to be commended for coming in there and spending the money to bring it up to code. It's functionally obsolete in my opinion. Harb: Do we need a motion of any sort? Engebretson: Yes, we do. The staff has anticipated that this was likely to go well, and has prepared an approving resolution should the Brownfield Authority wish to act on this matter tonight. This matter is less complicated than other projects brought before us. It is well documented and well presented. I do have an approving resolution if someone would like to ask for it. Mr. Harb? On a motion by Harb, seconded by Cambridge, and unanimously adopted, it was: #02-14 RESOLVED, that the Brownfield Plan for Livonia Commons, together with Exhibits and schedules thereto, which was presented to the Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority by the City's Planning Department at its meeting of January 22, 2014, be approved and recommended to the City Council in substantially the form in which it was presented to the Authority, subject to approval as to form by the City's Law Department. Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. On a motion by Harb, seconded by Cambridge, and unanimously adopted, it was: #03-14 RESOLVED, that a Reimbursement Agreement, providing for reimbursement of eligible costs pursuant to the Brownfield Plan for Livonia Commons, be approved in substantially the form of the Reimbursement Agreement between the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and the City of Livonia, and Tobeck Corp., Maxlune Realty Corp., and The Antonoff Family Trust Partnership, LLP (collectively "Owner"), and National Real Estate Management Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 17 Corp. (Owner's Agent), which was presented to the Authority by the City's Planning Department on January 22, 2014, and that the Board's Chairperson, or in his absence the Vice - Chairperson, is authorized to execute said Reimbursement Agreement on behalf of the Authority, subject to approval as to form of said Reimbursement Agreement by the City's Law Department. Enbegretson: Is there any discussion on the motion on the floor? Scheel: Mark, is this one resolution or will it be two separate resolutions? Taormina: We will probably present those as two separate resolutions. Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go to the City Council for a public hearing and their final determination. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mark Taormina, Mike Fisher and Mike Slater for all of the great work that they've done. Soave: Do we want to take a moment if anyone in the audience wants to speak? Engebretson: Yes, is there anybody in the audience that wishes to comment on anything they heard this evening? I don't see anyone coming forward. The motion is approved, gentlemen. Good luck. We will see you from time to time as you submit claims. Mr. Slater will make sure everything is correct as he always does. Thank you very much for a good presentation for a great project. I wish you well. I think that it's long overdue. This looks like a good solution. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Taormina: We checked the bylaws and we are due for an election of officers. There are ballots should you need them. Scheel: Can Mr. Engebretson remain Chair? Taormina: We removed the term limits provision from the bylaws. I do know that. That was specifically removed. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2014 Page 18 Engebretson: We do need a new secretary. Lynda Scheel is now a Council member and I'm glad to hear she can still remain a part of our Board. On a motion by Soave, seconded by Taylor, and unanimously adopted, it was: #04-14 RESOLVED, that Kenneth Harb is hereby appointed to serve as Secretary of the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for a one-year period or until a successor is elected. Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. On a motion by Condon, seconded by Soave, and unanimously adopted, it was: #05-14 RESOLVED, that Joe Taylor is hereby re -appointed to serve as Treasurer of the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for a one-year period or until a successor is elected. Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. On a motion by Soave, seconded by Condon, and unanimously adopted, it was: #06-14 RESOLVED, that Lynda Scheel is hereby re- appointed to serve as Vice Chair of the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for a one-year period or until a successor is elected. Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. On a motion by Taylor, seconded by Harb, and unanimously adopted, it was: #07-14 RESOLVED, that Jack Engebretson is hereby re- appointed to serve as Chairman of the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for a one-year period or until a successor is elected. Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. Brownfield Redevelopment Authority January 22, 2094 Page 99 On a motion by Harb, seconded by Fried, and unanimously adopted, the Seventh Meeting held by the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority on January 22, 2014, was adjourned at 6:05 p.m. Lyn Scheel, cting Secretary