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
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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
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January 22, 2014
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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?
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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
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January 22, 2014
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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
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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.
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January 22, 2014
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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