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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 1999-11-04 MINUTES OF THE 102ND REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 102nd Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 3:35 p.m., Thursday, November 4, 1999 at the Body Rocks Fitness&Racqet Center at 36600 Plymouth Road. Members Present: Mayor Jack E. Kirksey Mr. Michael Polsinelli,Chairman Mr. Stan Anderson Mr. Rod Crider Mr. Scott Grace Mr. Dennis Kujawa Mr. Bill Pike Mr. Marvin Walkon Members Absent: Mr. Raby,Vice Chairman Mr. Lowell Peterson Mr. Duane Wolfgang Mr. Jerry Wordhouse Ms. Toni Mette Others Present : Mr. John J.Nagy, Director, P.R.D.A. Mrs. JoAnn Marshall, BRI Mr. Mike Stiles, Big Lots Mr. Alan Zack, Body Rocks Fitness&Racquet Center Ms. Karen Mattson,Body Rocks Fitness&Racquet Center Ms. Susan Annibal, Secretary 1. Roll was called. 2. Adoption of the October 21, 1999 Minutes: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, it was #99-55 RESOLVED,that the Minutes of the 101st Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on October 21, 1999 are approved. Mr. Polsinelli, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 3. Comments from Chairman: None. 4. Big Lots: Mike Stiles, representing Big Lots, will be renovating 30000 Plymouth Road, a portion of the existing Media Play Center facility. A variance would be required from the ZBA regarding the two proposed signs both in terms of number and total signage area; the proposal was over on wall signage as well as the free standing sign in front, as explained in a cover letter from Scott Miller. Our ordinance states that if signage is on the awning, the awning becomes part of the sign, i.e., the whole illuminated portion of the awning becomes part of the square footage of the sign. The ordinance is a couple of years old and is quite stringent. Media Play has 207 square feet of signage. Big Lots will be permitted 182 square feet for the two signs together, 1 with 330 square feet in total sign area for Media Play. The south icon contains 80 square feet, and the free standing sign has 30 square feet. Big Lots is proposing 230 square feet on the south elevation for the sign on top and not including the awning, which is 111 square feet. The south illuminated awning would have 32 square feet of signage. In most commercial buildings, signage on the building is redundant. This location sits so far back from the road, a request for more signage can be understood and a factor to be considered, i.e., the distance from the road, the size of the building, etc. This is the old Builders Square site. Media Play has been the sole occupant on the site; Big Lots is taking the balance of the building. Regarding the specific graphics of the signage, "Bargains" and "Closeouts", Zoning approval for resale shops was not required, since this was all new merchandise. Mr. Stiles explained that Big Lots merchandise was made up of close outs and manufacturers' overruns, packaging changes, and overruns from other retailers in all 50 states. This merchandise was comparable to Kmart or Wal-Mart stock, the same mix of goods. Products were always changing. Big Lots also had other stores, Pick and Save and MacFrugals. As per submitted art work, Big Lots was proposing the store front as shown and a complete interior renovation of the existing facility, which was now an empty shell. There would be all new interior walls, offices and rest rooms. There would be separately metered utilities. The company generally preferred using second and third generation buildings. This location would have all new floor tile, fresh paint, open deck ceiling and new lighting installed. On the interior, it would be a brand new building. This location would have about 40- 50 employees and could open as early as February, 2000. The awning is not required to be back- lit. Back-lighting did create excitement, but was not necessary. One wall sign is within ordinance requirements. Even without the awning,the sign was over area allowed by ordinance. The other issue is the number of signs; there are two signs involved here. The petitioner preferred the proposed signage because the building location is so far back from the roadway. There iss no other empty space at that location. The building to the immediate left of this facility is possibly going to be torn down and is not actually a leased space. Media Play had bought the building related to this signage petition. The Mayor stated that he is always uncomfortable with the P.R.D.A. evaluating signage; the Authority needed to remain neutral. The Authority should note in its action that the petitioner will have special needs because they are somewhat distant from the road. Concern was expressed about the character of the business, i.e., bargain and close-out merchandise and that bargain basements and that sort of thing give the connotation of less quality or less class than the Authority would like to see on the Plymouth Road Corridor. An answer seemed to be that this wouldn't be much different than a "dollar store" in the Mall. This wasn't in the same category as a "tattoo shop." The City already had three or four resale shops. It was pointed out that this is a permitted use and doesn't need waiver use approval. There is nothing here subject to special use approval. The objective is to fill up the space and thereby help for the rest of the center. The petitioner commented that there was 40,000 square feet of space at this location that they would occupy. This matter would be discussed further at the November 9th Meeting of the City Planning Commission. #99-56 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority unanimously supports in concept the building façade plan and signage plan for Consolidated Stores (Big Lots) at Livonia Media Play Center as proposed by All Star Signs, Drawing #99-098-A, with the added recommendation that this tenant work with his landlord to effectuate the removal of the attached and unused garden center enclosure.. 5. Beckett & Raeder — Construction Progress Report: Sod would be completed before the Holiday Parade. Work at Mette's on drainage improvements would be fully completed by the 12th of November. Curb cuts at the northwest corner of Middlebelt and Plymouth Roads (in front of Ford's) had presented major improvements to be completed this construction season. 2 Orchard Hiltz could provide updates on curb cuts. The northwest intersection will be done by Basile next week. New curb would be moved south all the way down to the right hand lane to Big Lots. Cutting into the through traffic now, we would actually widen it out and make a full turn lane on the south side. Curb lines cover all the way down to Big Lots. Light foundations will stop eastward before Middlebelt. Basile is set to complete their work and go back and complete the foundations so that Jacobs can finish their work there. There are 43 foundations remaining ending at Wonderland Mall. The intersections were going out for bid in February, although the Board hadn't yet seen final drawings. The Board had approved the concept. MDOT had been promising these for some time now. Mr. Nagy would make a call of inquiry. JoAnn would talk to Scott Reinhold about the matter. Trees would be thinned out at the library; talks were in progress about taking a look at other trees that needed to be removed, including one at Zerbo's, that people had to walk around now. It was easier to accomplish now that the leaves were down. A report on the subject was requested for the meeting of November 18th. An update was given on the Holophane matter and banner arms. Wyandotte's work was being held up as a result of Holophane's lack of response. As a result, BRI was withholding payment from Holophane until we had our material. We would not stand for the treatment Holophane had exhibited, breaking our contract with them. Banner arms were being refurbished, and we have their word that they would be here and installed by the time of the parade. There was a Construction Committee meeting next week for further update. 6. Reports from Committees: Public Relations: Members received advance copies of the new Newsletter, which Mr. Anderson was very happy with. Fisher Creative Services had done an excellent job, with Mette's doing the printing again. The Newsletter was currently being folded and would be going to the post office no later than November 13th and delivered sometime that week or the next by third class mail. Hopefully, it would be received before the parade. Vacant Buildings:. Nothing to report. Construction Committee: Nothing to report. Development Assistance Committee: Nothing to report. 7. Director's Report: The SMART report has been received and turned over to BRI in connection with our bus shelter plan. This would be addressed as part of the Construction Committee meeting. With regard to Cockrum's, a stipulation was being worked out, which would be discussed at that meeting, also, dealing with the encroachment of the planned planter bed. The agreement is that at P.R.D.A.'s cost the cyclone fence will be moved back 10 feet, and we will remove the concrete curb in back of the sidewalk and replace it with an asphalt curb to protect the abutting sidewalk. One of Cockrum's complaints was that they've had various gates for delivery of goods. They had a problem in that now delivery vehicles couldn't back up into those gate enclosures. We have agreed to install one pad of asphalt in front of the gate in front of the area, so they could load those goods on a cart and wheel them back into the fenced display area. 8. Polling of Board Members: Mr. Pike: Mr.Nagy was complimented on doing a"yeoman's"job since becoming Director. 3 the Mr. Grace: An update on the Phoenix development was requested. The petitioner had withdrawn their original petitions, revising the area of wetlands from 7 acres to 4 acres, offering a better chance of being approved. Mr. Schafer and Phoenix is interested in donating the remaining wetland to the P.R.D.A. or City. Phoenix will most likely be developing the Ward Presbyterian site, as well, in a combination of new townhouses and a Walgreen (top of the line) facility. The proposal had been presented to the Ward people and was met enthusiastically. Mr. Nagy introduced our host, Alan Zack, proprietor of Body Rocks Fitness & Racquet Center, whom he had met when Alan owned an auto repair service on Stark Road near the railroad crossing. The two men have enjoyed an association for a long time. Mr. Zack welcomed the Board and guests to his facility, commenting that Plymouth Road was looking "great". Mr. Zack had questioned Mr. Nagy about a new driveway for the site, as well as utility lines there. He'd been in touch with an architect about expanding this building approximately 15 feet on the front. Body Rocks was actually a private club with many members living quite a distance away, although others in and around Livonia were welcome to join. Six racquet ball courts and a variety of exercise equipment was offered. Also present was Karen Mattson, assistant to Mr. Zack. Mr. Walkon announced the YMCA Auction to be held on November 19th. The overall Millenium plan was moving along nicely. Ashley Capital probably had two tenants that were very,very large tenants. Mr. Walkon hopes they will come through. Home Depot is going to be up in March; Meijers will be up in November. The rest of the space in between the two are leasing very well. Soon,he'd be able to announce the tenant—probably in March. kre Mayor Kirksey reported that the Peregrine plant redevelopment was coming along very nicely (with Ashley Capital and other investors). He'd seen a redo of the new façade for the major occupant at the new plant, which will make a big difference on the Corridor, with more information forthcoming in the near future. The architect presented a rendering which showed that the plan will come around the sides, as well. The Mayor commented about the past Friday's chemical spill in the City. Although no one suffered any long-term consequences, about 40 individuals went to the hospital for treatment, held overnight and released the next day. It had started with an explosion and subsequent fire creating a large green cloud somewhat toxic. The Mayor expressed his pride in the Fire Department, Wayne County HASMET teams and our Emergency Preparedness people. We've learned from the experience, and some of our Y2K preparedness will be better because of what happened. Calls coming in through the dispatcher needed some fine-tuning. Mayor Kirksey has ordered the plant to remain closed until we have completed a very exhaustive investigation. 9. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 102nd Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on November 4, 1999 was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on November 18, 1999 . (Ibri Susan Annibal, Secretary 4