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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 2000-01-06 MINUTES OF THE 105TH REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 105th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 3:05 p.m., Thursday, January 6, 2000 in the 4th Floor Conference Room at City Hall. Members Present: Mr. Michael Polsinelli, Chairman Mayor Jack E. Kirksey Mr. Scott Grace Mr. Rod Crider Mr. Dennis Kujawa Ms. Toni Mette Mr. Lowell Peterson Mr. Bill Pike Mr. Raby,Vice Chairman Mr. Marvin Walkon Mr. Jerry Wordhouse Members Absent: Mr. Stan Anderson Mr. Duane Wolfgang Others Present : Mr. John J.Nagy,Director,P.R.D.A. Mrs. JoAnn Marshall,BRI Mr. Scott Reinholt, BRI Mr. Ralph Williams Ms. Susan Annibal, Secretary 1. Roll was called. 2. Adoption of the December 2, 1999 Minutes: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, it was #2000-58 RESOLVED,that the Minutes of the 104th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on December 2, 1999 are approved. Mr. Polsinelli, Chairman,declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 3. Comments from Chairman: Warm appreciation was extended to John and Mary Nagy for their warm hospitality enjoyed by P.R.D.A. Board Members and associates on December 16, 1999. It was a festive evening beginning initially with an hors d'oeuvres reception upstairs and cheery banter followed by an elegant downstairs buffet and sit-down dinner, a memorable experience to celebrate the 1999 Holiday Season. Thank you cards were acknowledged from Toni Mette and Sally Newlin. 4. Election of Officers: Mike Polsinelli was re-elected as Chairman of the P.R.D.A. with Jerry Wordhouse being elected as the new Vice Chairman for the new term, January to December, 2000. 2 5. Budget Reports: Financial Reports for the Construction and Special Revenue Funds as of October 31, 1999 were reviewed and accepted. P.R.D.A. was doing well largely because of a bonded interest payment as a result of money made and not spent. 6. Beckett & Raeder— Construction Progress: JoAnn Marshall reported that all the lights are energized now. Harlan is boring Ameritech work., looking at a January 15th date. Boring needs to be completed on the south side of Stark to VW Mazda. Currently the project was just west of Middlebelt to Ann Arbor Road. Jacobs Electric is approved to take care of Phase II maintenance on banners and lights, as well, and are on site with a bucket truck. BRI was talking with Halophane regarding the problems that have been experienced with their product(s). One banner arm east of the library had been broken for about two weeks; Holophane was researching the cause of these banner arms breaking. The banner arms continued to be an issue. Holophane has parts on order and have promised these to Jacobs, who was working things out. The arborist will be coming in the 1st of February. Scott Reinholt commented on upcoming projects, two of which were going out for bid February 1, 2000, the Phase IV Intersection Project was one. BRI was looking for a response in the next week or two. The project to work on the replacement of damaged curb and sidewalk would get under way February 1st. We hope to have local contractors, the bid packages going out on the 1st of February (a three or four week procedure). With regard to Phase V, a second review to go through MDOT would be necessary, since ISTEA funds were involved. They'd take about three (3) weeks to do a GI review, so that the matter could be dealt with in March. This had to be reviewed by MDOT before we went out for bids. There was discussion of the subject of the intersection signal at Harrison and Deering. Construction would begin in the next few weeks. Poles were starting to be order. Concerning proposed bus stops, the plazas would come first, starting with four (4) or five (5) in a mile, with Wonderland, Farmington Road and the Ford Transmission Plant targeted for the initial project. Those three plazas were of good size. The typical SMART shelter was merely set on the plaza pavement. SMART stops would be reviewed by SMART and BRI. Before developing contract documents on the plazas,BRI would present the P.R.D.A. with a plan showing all proposed plaza locations. 7. Reports from Committees Public Relations: Nothing to report(Mr.Anderson not present).. Vacant Buildings:. Nothing to report. Construction Committee: Nothing to report. Inspection: Question was raised as to whether anyone was interested in the Salem Lumber Building, as well as an inquiry about the sign there. After talking with the owners, Mr. Nagy reports that they refused to accept our offer to pay for 50% of the demolition costs to take the sign down. When Leon's sold the business, they only sold the business and retained ownership of the underlying property, including the property once used by Salem Lumber. Development Assistance Committee: Committee members are: Jerry Wordhouse, Lowell Peterson,Bill Pike, Scott Grace and John Nagy. A lengthy discussion addressed many aspects of recommended guidelines for grants and loans for the Plymouth Road corridor. (See Development Assistance Committee Report as provided by John Nagy.) Grants would be available up to 50% of the actual cost with a maximum not to exceed 50% of the estimated cost and would cover demolitions of buildings, structures, signs and such supporting facilities; 3 Phase I clean-up; and site landscaping for screening, buffering and abatement purposes. Loans would be available for up to 75% of an eligible improvement not to exceed $100,000.00 at a 5% interest rate for a repayment period of five (5) years. No loans would be available for strictly interior renovation. Tenants can apply for a loan with the landlord's consent and cosigning for the loan. Loans would cover rehabilitation, A.D.A. compliance, upgrades and retro-fitting of facilities, facade improvements and site improvements and site landscaping. A formalized report was pretty well summarized. It was deemed prudent to go to the Law and Finance Departments. Loans would be available for exterior renovation. Perhaps the loan agreement could be include some safeguards for us. No loans would be available for interior renovation. It was thought that maximum dollars would be $25,000.00. How would we judge who to give the loan/grant to? We needed some guidelines for awards in different amounts. This loan/grant could be for an exterior improvement with minor amounts of related interior work. Within the loan documents there has to be very straight forward standards. With grants in place, we gave the Lutheran Home a total of $40,000.00. If it was thought necessary to have the loan program, someone would go to that businessman and actually go through his books with him regarding the worthiness of the proposed loan. Loans were capped not to exceed 50% (as in the case of the Middlebelt Nursing Home, which stayed within $40,000.00). Peregrine was among examples of large companies that may be outside the scope of our program. Each case will be judged on its own merits. It was a matter of large vs. small buildings, as well as what we recommend, what we would do for whom and then review these and make recommendations. A lot of paperwork goes into this, along with other checks and balances. An applicant could wind up with all three segments, as mentioned in our program outline, as we are trying to encourage people to make over those buildings and thereby by upgrade the appearance of Plymouth Road. There could be an aggregate limit, as shown on Page 2. One of the major reasons is that there's going to come a time when we have to say, "No," to someone. Perhaps they don't have the credibility, and that can be kind of embarrassing in what we do. It's subject to the availability. Melte pointed out that one DDA did go bankrupt on the grants, and she thought we should have a cap. The Mayor believed there was a$50,000.00 for the grants and we should revise the loans to $50,000.00, too. The Chairman said he'd be comfortable with the $50,000.00 on the loans. He also agreed that he wouldn't give someone $50,000.00 just because to comply with A.D.A. requirements. It really almost needs to be looked at individually. Mr. Grace wouldn't mind if it was $50,000.00 for the clean-up and then a separate dollar item for other phases of the work. A business could be qualified for up to three grants. Pertaining to screening and buffers, consideration was being given to possibly a brick wall set back from the right-of-way in parking areas where service trucks and parking occurs and with some landscaping out in front. Some properties that are close to the road with delivery trucks parked right out on Plymouth Road need screening. We could let them know that P.R.D.A. could help them with up to $50,000.00. One thought was that screening could create susceptibility to vandalism and theft. Wording in the documentation could be extended to cover anything. A mailing will have to be done. Another comment was that the program that's been established is "wonderful." It is important to put in place the procedures, documents, etc., to our advantage. In sitting down with Mike Slater he'll have to advise us whether it will work or not. The comment was that maybe we could rely on the use of some guidelines of the City of Livonia Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program. Perhaps the sub- committee can learn from these and take some of the Law Department's and Housing Department's in-house suggestions. The Committee sought two things from the Board: 1) Are we on the right track? and, 2) What type of limits are we looking for on grants and loans? A decision was necessary for this to move forward. $40,000.00 seemed to be the maximum limit, but it couldn't be more than $50,000.00. There is the question of whether we need some language addressing who we give loan and grant money to. The aggregate amount for a grant could not exceed $50,000.00. The grant program was up front for grant applicants that show 4 clear evidence of blighted conditions, substandard or non-complying structures obsolescence or other evidence of noncompliance with City of Livonia ordinances. The loan would have a long- term basis, as no loans would be available for strictly interior renovations. However, some exterior work could necessitate some interior change to the building. There will be instances where an applicant could get into the interior; but generally, this loan would address exterior only. The better conclusion would be for the Loan Committee to give some guidelines on the terms. Traffic on Plymouth Road was another matter when considering improvements on the corridor. Just as in auto loans, these loans and grants needed certain guidelines. The Development Assistance Committee was asked to take comments made at this meeting back for refining the program. Interest was expressed as to whether the majority of applicants be from old or new businesses It was also suggested that possibly the lady who writes the P.R.D.A. Newsletter to cover this subject in our next issue. Also, an Economic person from Wayne County and the City's Economic Development Manager, and someone from the Chamber of Commerce could help us on this program or a similar program. A meeting would be set up for Economic Development. 8. Director's Report: We have again been requested to pay the City's share of our booth in the upcoming EXPO to be held at Burton Manor on February 22 and 23, 2000. This participation would amount to $933.00 of the $1,400.00 expense. On a motion duly made by Mr. Pike, seconded by Mr. Wordhouse and unanimously approved, it was #2000-59 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby determine to provide funds in the amount of$933.00 to the City of Livonia to cover two-thirds of the cost of renting two booths at the EXPO to be conducted by the Livonia Chamber of Commerce on February 22 and 23, 2000 at Burton Manor with the condition that space be allotted for P.R.D.A. matters,thereby giving some exposure to the P.R.D.A. in exchange for its financial support, and does hereby authorize the Accounting Department of the City of Livonia to issue a check in the amount of$933.00 made payable to Livonia Chamber of Commerce for two-thirds the rental of two 10'x10' booths at EXPO. Mr. Polsinelli, Chairman,declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. Mr.Nagy informed the Board of an amount of $5,433.00 due and payable to Orchard, Hiltz and McClimant for their lane-reduction and right-turn lane work done at Plymouth and Middlebelt. A motion by Mr. Peterson, seconded by Mr. Grace, and unanimously approved, it was: #2000-60 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby agree to pay$5,433.00 to Orchard, Hiltz and McClimant for their services in connection with the land reduction and right-turn lanes proposed for the intersection of Plymouth and Middlebelt Roads. Mr. Polsinelli, Chairman,declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. A cost accounting of the Winter Holiday Parade, including DPS expenses, prizes and certificates. With regard to the new project at the HiFi station, the tanks were cleared and removed, the property re-graded. It is now coming back as another service station. The Planning Department is working with them, as was Mr. Nagy. They would be brought to the Board at the first meeting in February. 5 9. Polling of Board Members Mr. Baby: Passed.. Mr. Peterson: Passed. Mr. Pike: A comment of, "Nice job!"was offered once again to John and Mary Nagy recalling the P.R.D.A.'s December 16th get-together. Mayor Kirksey: Although, apologetically, the Mayor had missed the Board's party in December, the Business EXPO coming February 22 and 23 will be a great event, an enjoyable evening to see all those business at one place. Mr. Grace: Passed. Mrs.Mette: Adding to earlier comments,Nagy's party was fabulous! One comment: If we did have Basile work on the sidewalk and concrete,we'll have to be sure the pitches are right. Mr. Wordhouse: Passed. 10. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted,the 105th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on January 6, 2000 was adjourned at 4:45 p.m. The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on January 20, 2000. 4. Susan Annibal, Secretary L