HomeMy WebLinkAboutLBRA MINUTES 2018-05-02 MINUTES OF THE 16th MEETING OF THE
CITY OF LIVONIA BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
The 16th Meeting of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority of Livonia was
called to order at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2, 2018, by Chairman
Engebretson.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Jack Engebretson, Chairman
Lynda Scheel, Vice Chairman
Ken Harb, Secretary
Bill Fried, Treasurer (5:04)
Heather Douglas
Andrew Lendrum
MEMBERS ABSENT: Kathleen E. McIntyre
Steven Vandette
OTHERS PRESENT: Mark Taormina, Planning & Economic
Development Director
Michael Slater, Director of Finance
Mark Jacobs. Dykema Gossett
Trey Buffington, National Real Estate Management
Karl Zarbo, Lormax Stern Development Company
Matt Drozd, Lormax Stern Development Company
John Grzebik
Margie Watson, Planning Department
ROLL WAS CALLED. A quorum was present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
On a motion by Harb, seconded by Scheel, and adopted, it was:
#01-2018 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of the 15th Meeting of the City of
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority held November 1,
2017, are hereby approved as submitted.
A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES: Harb, Scheel, Lendrum, Douglas, Engebretson
NAYES: None
ABSENT: Fried, McIntyre, Vandette
ABSTAIN: None
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
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REVIEW OF LBRA TAX CAPTURE FOR LIVONIA MARKETPLACE AND
CONSIDERATION OF TAX INCREMENT FINANCE (TIF) REIMBURSEMENT
PAYMENT #8 (W-2017) FOR AUTHORIZED ELIGIBLE EXPENSES.
Taormina: This is a regular payment to the developers of Livonia
Marketplace. This represents Payment #8 corresponding with
the collection of Winter 2017 taxes. When we look at the
summer and the winter tax bills, while they do differ, they are
still based on the same taxable value that is established as of
December 31, 2016. What we saw at the beginning of last year
was an increase in taxable value from about $10.9 million to
$11.2 million. For Winter 2017, the total taxes for capture is the
real and personal property. Combined they total $85,182.50. In
this case, we had some previously unpaid taxes totaling about
$16,418. Those were paid, and as a result, they are part of the
distribution. Altogether, the taxes collected for distribution equal
$101,600.51. Of this amount, 20% will be deposited to the
LSRRF and then the balance, $83,194.89, which represents
80% of the total collected, would go to the Developer. So we
have a prepared resolution.
Engebretson: Karl, do you want to add any comments?
Karl Zarbo, Director of Operations, Lormax Stern Development Company, 38500
Woodward Avenue, Suite 200, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
48304. May I, please?
Engebretson: Yes, sir.
Zarbo: What I would like to do is introduce Matt Drozd who is the
Director of Property Management. Matt has taken over the
property management responsibilities for all of our assets, and
that allows me to concentrate on construction only and certain
projects so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel finally.
You'll enjoy working with Matt. Matt was with Mid-America,
which is our sister company, for several years and actually has
functioned in that position for two full years now. He is a true
management professional and I'm sure you'll be very, very
pleased to work with him. I should still be around for the meeting
in November and maybe early next year, but it looks like
probably by this time next year I'll be off into the sunset.
Engebretson: Good for you, Karl. You've been talking about it for a long time.
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
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Zarbo: Yes, I've been talking about it for a long time. A real quick
update on this shopping center. There is really only two
vacancies and both of them are temporarily filled. Matt has a
deal with LA Fitness. They've been in there for about six months
doing registrations for the new building across the street until
they open. We have used a very small space as a construction
office for across the street. Those two will come back on the
market from a leasing perspective but everything else at Livonia
Marketplace is leased. Just a quick update across the street.
The brownfield isn't until 2019 so that will go into next year. We
have the outbuilding shell up and we're starting to work on
demising this space for the tenants internally as we speak. I
have a meeting with LA Fitness on Tuesday, but right now it
looks like they're going to attempt to open somewhere before
mid-June. It's cranking pretty good. As you folks know, we had
looked at the remaining out parcel. It was the eastern-most
parcel and we've attempted for about two years to sell it. It
hasn't really gone well. We are in the very, very early stages of
re-evaluating; we may develop that in concert with the rest of
the project. We're not happy with what has come forward from a
sales perspective, and I think we are probably coming to the
conclusion that we'll evaluate developing it ourselves as a multi-
tenant building.
Engebretson: Sounds like a good retirement project, Karl. Thank you very
much.
Zarbo: I want to thank you guys for your assistance across the street
on Livonia Market II. It was an interesting six or seven or eight-
month project, and you folks were steadfast and supportive and
I just really appreciate it.
Engebretson: We all learned a lot from that project. We learn from each other
in our joint meetings with City Council. It all worked out real well.
And let the record show that Mr. Fried has joined us at 5:05.
Harb: Karl, you have an outbuilding on the west side of the property.
Zarbo: Correct.
Harb: Can you remind me what's going to be there?
Zarbo: It's being carved out for three tenants. So it's pretty small. It's
8,060 square feet and again its being carved up. There's two
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leases signed and a third one that we're negotiating with. The
other building on the site plan that was approved, we had the
ability to go up to 10,000 square feet. We're not looking at
anything near that. Right now, we're evaluating something in the
6,000 to 7,000 square foot neighborhood, multi-tenant. So it
would be essentially a little smaller but would be very similar to
what we're building. Same thing. It would be out towards the
street. We would streetscape it.
Harb: Can you tell us the tenant?
Zarbo: Not at this point.
Harb: Okay.
Zarbo: We start turning over possession in June and July. Leasing has
been tough to be frank and honest with you. We had an unusual
situation. We actually had a tenant come to us and buyout. I'm
sure you guys are watching the news and from a retail
perspective, it's a different ballgame out there right now. To get
a tenant is a lot of work, which is code for a lot of money. I mean
you buy them today. It's a different perspective and there's
some subtle shifts. You're going to see a little bit more of the
service — health and wellness is probably the hottest category
out there. It doesn't give everybody a real warm and fuzzy and a
big buzz, but it's a category that looks like it's here to stay. It
looks like they're going to consume as much square footage on
a percentage basis as any of the 3,000 — 4,000 — 5,000 square
foot tenant. So it's sort of what's happening.
Engebretson: Thanks a lot, Karl, and good look with all of the things on the
horizon for you. Is there anything else for the staff or the
Developer? If not, a motion would be in order.
On a motion by Scheel, seconded by Lendrum, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#02-2018 RESOLVED, that the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority does hereby approve the distribution of Captured
Taxes from the Livonia Marketplace Project as follows:
1. Payment #8 (W-2017) to the "Owner" of the Livonia
Marketplace, Livonia Phoenix, LLC, in the amount of
$83,194.89 for the reimbursement of eligible expenses
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related to the redevelopment of the Former Livonia Mall
Site; and
2. A deposit of $18,405.62 into the Livonia Brownfield
Redevelopment Authority's Local Site Remediation
Revolving Fund.
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
REVIEW OF LBRA TAX CAPTURE FOR LIVONIA COMMONS AND
CONSIDERATION OF REIMBURSEMENT PAYMENT #6 (W-2017) FOR
AUTHORIZED ELIGIBLE EXPENSES
Taormina: This is for Payment #6 to the Developer of Livonia Commons. In
this case, the total incremental value for capture, and that's the
base value being subtracted from the current taxable value, is
$1,285,733. When you apply the tax rate for capture, 25.8448
mills, it generates a total capture of$33,229.51, all of which is to
be disbursed to the Developer. With that, I'll be happy to answer
any questions.
Engebretson: Questions for staff? We can go to the Developer then.
Trey Buffington, Asset Manager for Livonia Commons. I represent the Developer
for Livonia Commons. We're at 100% occupancy there. It's
been a great project. Panda Express finally filled up the last
space. That was the out lot. Panda Express is open and doing
well.
Engebretson: Glad to hear it. Do you have any comments relative to the
disbursement?
Buffington: No.
Engebretson: Any comments from the Board? If not, a motion would be in
order.
On a motion by Douglas, seconded by Harb, and adopted, it was:
#03-2018 RESOLVED, that the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority does hereby approve the distribution of Captured
Taxes from the Livonia Commons Project as follows:
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
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Payment #6 (W-2017) to the "Owner" of Livonia
Commons, TMA-LIVCOM, L.L.C., in the amount of
$33,229.51 for the reimbursement of eligible expenses.
A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES: Douglas, Harb, Lendrum, Scheel, Engebretson
NAYS: None
ABSENT: McIntyre, Vandette
ABSTAIN: Fried
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
ITEM #7 REQUEST BY TREY BUFFINGTON ON BEHALF OF THE OWNERS
OF LIVONIA COMMONS TO AMEND THE REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT
DATED FEBRUARY 20, 2014 BETWEEN TMA-LIVCOM, LLC AND THE CITY
OF LIVONIA TO EXTEND THE REIMBURSEMENT PERIOD FROM TEN (10)
YEARS TO TWENTY (20) YEARS.
Taormina: The request on behalf of the petitioner really speaks for itself. I
can provide a couple of the numbers here. When this project
was approved, the Reimbursement Agreement that was
established capped the numbers of years of capture to 10, so it
would run from the summer of 2015 through the winter of 2024.
The projections at that time as provided by the petitioner
showed that they would realize the full capture of the
$2,192,176 of eligible expenses. Now that we're a couple years
into the reimbursement schedule, it's clear that the taxable
value of the property will never reach a point or a level that will
allow the amount of capture that was projected initially, and
hence they're requesting to extend that capture period from 10
years to 20 years in order to get closer to their full eligible
amount. They're projecting, even with the additional 10 years,
that they would still fall short. Under conditions that would allow
for about a 2% annual increase in the taxable value, the
payback projection would still only be $1.5 million, which is
below the $2.192 million that was approved as part of the
agreement and Brownfield Plan. So with that, Mr. Chairman,
you could turn it over to Trey.
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Engebretson: Unless anybody has questions for Mark, we've all had the
chance to the read the letter that Mr. Buffington sent. If there are
no questions, we'll go to the Developers and let you comment.
And please identify yourself.
Trey Buffington, National Real Estate. I'm the Asset Manager for Livonia
Commons. I think through 2016, the expenditures were over
$2.2. At the current level, I think the payments that are being
generated are about 25% of what was anticipated. The
payments received thus far are coming in at approximately 25%
of what was on the original Brownfield Agreement.
Engebretson: Why is that?
Buffington: The taxable value hasn't really increased at the level it was
projected in the Agreement.
Mark Jacobs, Dykema Gossett, representing National Real Estate. To answer
your question very briefly, it's pretty straightforward. The
projected taxable value after the improvements to the property
was, give or take, $8 million. Looking at the current tax bill, the
taxable value is actually $3 million. So we thought we'd be at $8
million; we ended up at $3 million. I think the $8 million was
based on just a commercial estimate of the value of a
developed piece of property times the square footage, and
apparently didn't contemplate the Proposition A cap on the tax
increases. So bottom line is, the original projections were based
on an unrealistic expectation of what the after-improvement
taxable value of the property would be. Just as the
reimbursements are way low, so is the taxable value.
Engebretson: Prop A strikes again.
Jacobs: It gets everybody. We all pay for it.
Engebretson: Including the government.
Jacobs: Absolutely.
Harb: So is the lower taxable value due to the lower lease expense?
Jacobs: No, it's really in how you assess the property plus the cap that
Proposition A puts on it.
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Fried: You did the projections as far as that is concerned, and we sort
of reviewed them, but it was your projection.
Jacobs: Absolutely.
Fried: Have you considered what the new tax law will do to you?
Jacobs: No, I have not. I'm not a tax lawyer.
Fried: But that could have an effect on you.
Jacobs: Oh, I don't know. Like I said, I don't know. You mean the
Federal tax law?
Fried: Yes.
Jacobs: Do you know anything about that? I certainly don't.
Buffington: No, I don't.
Jacobs: I know it doesn't help me.
Fried: Well, you see, you're coming back for the first time because
your projections were not right, and I'm not criticizing you
because of that because they're projections. And I would think
that we would want to see you complete the project. You now
have hindsight as far as the past projections are concerned, and
I think that maybe you should take a look at the new law.
Jacobs: Well, I don't know how the new tax law will affect the ultimate
owners of the property, but I can tell you from a manager of the
shopping center, the reimbursement is about 25% of what was
anticipated.
Fried: But you have taken a deduction for the cleanup expense or
whatever you incurred before.
Jacobs: I have no idea.
Engebretson: Bill raises an interesting question. He is a tax attorney and . . .
Fried: This is an area of the law I don't practice.
Jacobs: He has me at a disadvantage.
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Engebretson: Well, we're all at a disadvantage, but I know that Bill pays a lot
of attention to these things and he doesn't want to get you or us
into any kind of a gray area. But I don't think we necessarily
need to be particularly concerned about that. We're a
recommending body. City Council will make the final decision on
this. We'll make a recommendation either to approve your
request to extend the number of years or not. And then I guess
the potential impact of the new tax law can get sorted out by our
own Law Department. We don't rely on Bill as our tax attorney
for this body. We do have a very capable Law Department
downstairs that can make sure that we're staying inbounds, but I
know Bill is concerned about this. He dropped some stuff off at
my house that's way above my pay grade.
Jacobs: The income taxes that are paid by the owners of the property is
simply not a factor that's considered by anybody in the
Brownfield Redevelopment process. The question is, do you
make eligible investments, are those eligible investments to the
benefit of a community and the Developer, and is it a project
that you want to support from an economic development and
environmental perspective. The tax law can change again and
make things worse. You won't find how the owners' income
taxes affect their revenue stream or their cash balance
anywhere in the Brownfield Act or anywhere under the
applicable criteria that govern this program. It's just outside the
purview of this program.
Engebretson: The question before us is quite simple; that is, to either grant or
recommend granting an extension of 10 years to the period of
the Brownfield project from 10 to 20 years, yes or no. I think it's
that simple.
Jacobs: You may know this, but of the roughly $2 million that they spent
out there, roughly $1 million was spent remediating
contamination on the property. I don't know the details of the
other brownfield projects that have been performed in the city,
but based on my experience with brownfield projects, I would be
surprised if any of them involve the extent of environmental
remediation activities that were performed here. And unlike
other types of improvements which depreciate and lose their
value to the community, the contaminated soil has been
excavated and removed from the community and will forever be
gone and the property will be forever better, long after these
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guys are gone, long after I'm gone. The community will have a
piece of property that is no longer horribly contaminated the way
it was. That was a major investment and a very difficult
undertaking.
Engebretson: But it's all taken care of, right?
Jacobs: We did our part of it.
Lendrum: We agreed originally to give them roughly $2 million over the
course of the 10 years. Right?
Engebretson: That's correct.
Lendrum: That's approved. Now they're saying they're not going to get it
in the 10 years. It's going to take 20 years. So we're still giving
them the same amount?
Jacobs: No. If you extend it for another 10 years, we'll get about 72% of
what was originally bargained for.
Lendrum: That's as close as we're going to get?
Jacobs: We still won't get there.
Slater: We don't actually know. These are all projections.
Lend rum: What could change?
Jacobs: But we're not coming back and saying, we want it all - extend it
out until we're made whole. We're just saying give us another
10 years and see where we stand.
Lendrum: I understand. I'm clear on that now. Let's say the economy
changes next year or whatever, things improve, values go up
and . . .
Fried: They recover quicker.
Lendrum: Yeah.
Fried: Because he's got a cap.
Lend rum: Is it still capped on what they can receive?
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Jacobs: The property can only go up in value so much no matter what
the economy does.
Lendrum: Hypothetically, so let's say this happens. They're capped there.
That's the most they can get. Okay.
Taormina: Can you repeat that?
Harb: They're capped at $2.28 million, which is . . .
Fried: There is a max that they get. If it gets it quicker, then it's
finished. If it's longer, if you take a look at discount of future
dollars, that's a different way to look at it.
Lendrum: Okay. I think I got it. Thank you.
Harb: I was curious if Mike had a comment?
Slater: No, I'll let the Board speak first.
Scheel: I'm just going to let everybody know that I'm not going to be
voting for this. I will not be supporting it. I just think going from
10 to 20 years is not a good idea, especially if there's no way
we're going to hit that, and I get they were all projections, but at
some point we've got to be . . . going out for longer just to get
them closer to numbers, I just don't think it's a good investment
for the City. But again, as Jack stated, we're only a
recommending body. It's going to be totally up to the City
Council how they look at it and what they perceive.
Engebretson: I'm going to just make a brief comment without passing the
gavel. I'm sorry that this is happening to your company. It was a
troubled piece of dirt that was an eyesore and just a problem for
anybody that was associated with it. And I was glad that you
came and sought a Brownfield Development to support it and I
voted for it. But this proposal that Mr. Jacobs has mentioned is
being kind of a culprit here, while he wasn't blaming that, if I
understood him correctly, made reference to the fact that that
wasn't fully considered when the projected values were made
and that's too bad because Proposal A has been around for a
long time and it is a killer in many respects, this being one of
them. I'm sorry it happened to you. You've done a good job over
there in taking a troubled piece of property and putting it back
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on the tax rolls in much better condition and remediating the
contamination on this site. I agree with Mr. Jacobs' observation
that it was a problem that was going to be very troublesome for
the City long term if you folks hadn't come in and taken care of
it. I wish you had asked for 20 years up front. You'd have gotten
it. Anyway, that's my comment.
Harb: It seems to me that Livonia Commons is really the reason why
we have a Brownfield Development Authority. That property was
contaminated. The developers went ahead and remediated that
property forever. So all of a sudden we took a wasted asset to a
very profitable asset. They spent over a $1 million on soil
contamination which benefits the City. So based on that, I truly
feel that it's not an unreasonable request to ask that they try to
get up to 72%, more or less, of the amount of money that they
spent to clean up that property. My view is that it's good for the
City, and I would support it.
Engebretson: Last call for comments.
Fried: Isn't it dollar capped? You say 72%. That's not the cap. It's a
dollar cap.
Harb: Right. It's $2.28 million.
Fried: Okay. So they can't get above that number.
Engebretson: That's correct, without regard to the number of years.
Fried: Okay.
Jacobs: You can only be reimbursed for money actually spent.
Fried: Well, okay. He said 72%.
Jacobs: That's where we would land, at least at the current projections,
over 20 years.
Fried: But it's dollar capped.
Jacobs: It still has a dollar cap.
Fried: Okay. You can't go above that.
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Jacobs: Just so you know, the language in the Reimbursement
Agreement says that the reimbursement obligation of the city
shall terminate upon payment of all outstanding reimbursements
up to $2.2 million, but in no event later than through Winter
2024. If we change that to Winter 2034, that cap would still be.
That's the proposed revision we're suggesting be made to the
Reimbursement Agreement. The dollar amount would not
change, just the date.
Engebretson: And just so everybody understands, the point that has been
made earlier was that even if this were to happen, with the
extension of 10 years, they're still going to fall well short of the
approved number.
Jacobs: We're not being greedy. We're just asking for 72%.
Engebretson: I understand that, but that's the point I want to make sure that
everybody does understand.
Jacobs: Right now, we're around 25%.
Engebretson: Okay. We'll give you the last word, sir.
Jacobs: Trey, do you have anything else to add?
Buffington: I have nothing further to add.
Slater: I have no opinion on this so I'm not advocating for or against it. I
want to share one other perspective. We've heard from the
developer's perspective in terms of the impact of what they
thought was going to happen and what will happen if this is
approved. From the City's perspective, and the other taxing
entities' perspective, what we thought was going to happen was
we would do this for 10 years and we'd be capped at the base
value, and then after those 10 years, we would have these tax
dollars coming to the City and to the other entities at a much
higher property value than was in the projection because
obviously the taxable value that was projected is, in actuality,
less than what was projected. So if we do this for 10 years
instead of what the City and other entities thought was going to
happen, we will go 20 years with being capped at the base
value, and at the end of that 20 years, we will have a smaller
amount. So not only is the current setup and any future setup
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less than what they thought, it's also less than what we thought.
If that makes sense.
Engebretson: It does. Okay, we need a motion to either approve or deny.
On a motion by Lendrum, seconded by Harb, it was:
RESOLVED, that the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority does hereby approve the request by Trey Buffington,
on behalf of the Owners of Livonia Commons, to amend the
Reimbursement Agreement dated February 20, 2014 between
TMA-LIVCOM, L.L.C. and the City of Livonia to extend the
reimbursement period from ten (10) years to twenty (20) years,
with the expiration of the reimbursement period extended to
2034.
A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES: Lendrum, Harb, Fried
NAYS: Douglas, Scheel, Engebretson
ABSENT: McIntyre, Vandette
ABSTAIN: None
Mr. Engebretson, Chairman, declared the resolution failed due to lack of majority
support.
Scheel: And if we do a denying motion, that will tie also.
Engebretson: So I guess it will go on to City Council to get sorted out.
Taormina: Yes, unless there is a substitute resolution where you could
obtain a majority, then it would go to Council reflecting the tie
vote.
Engebretson: I haven't heard any indication that there is thinking along those
lines, but I'm certainly open to it. Would anybody like to offer a
different resolution?
Lendrum: Right now, if we don't do anything, Council has to work it out?
Scheel: Well, Council has to work it out either way.
Taormina: That's correct.
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Engebretson: Well, they will settle the matter one way or the other.
Harb: I don't want to give Council the wrong impression, though, that
we denied. So I would make a motion to deny just so that could
get turned down as well.
Fried: I think they need to go back because the law has changed
substantially, in that basically any funds going from any
community to any corporation has to be picked up as income,
and this is a change in the law and on a historical basis, that
has not been true. The easiest example I can give you is that if
the City donated property to you, it would have to be picked up
as income. If they lease the property to you for $20, $30, so far,
the guess is it would not have to be picked up as income. This is
part of a deal of where they reduced the corporate rate from
35% down to a flat 21%. This is a surprise to a lot of people,
and I did not mean to blindside you at all. I apologize for that,
but I do think that . . . and the purpose of what these funds were
used for, I thought was a good thing, to clean the property up.
You stepped forward and did that. So therefore, I question only
the issue as far as the cap was solid and if it took 20 years at
discounted money, that favors the City. But this is something
that's existing improvements that are made are reimbursed by
the community, they could give the dollars away and it would
not have to be picked up as income. If it was under a binding
agreement, master plan, and this for the first year or so could be
argued, after that, I'm not so sure. And that may change the
difference as far as the developer is concerned because I'm
concerned that we have a viable project and long term. This is
mid-stream and I will grant you 100% and I apologize because .
Jacobs: You raised an interesting question.
Fried: Because I've got the sketchy analysis here I was planning to
give you, so you can take it to your own tax people and maybe
we can reshape this to accomplish what you want for sure.
Jacobs: I appreciate that suggestion.
Fried: So I'm not against the concept but at the same time, I'm looking
at the long term effect that this type of thing has on the
community because the last thing we want is this thing to fail.
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Page 16
Jacobs: We share that sentiment very much.
Fried: Okay.
Engebretson: Heather has asked for the floor.
Douglas: Would it be uncommon to have a motion that we discuss this
closer to the end of the reimbursement period? Is that
something that's done?
Engebretson: Well, that's not what they've asked us for. They asked strictly for
a 10-year extension, and they've also shared with us the
responsibility that kind of falls on them for having not fully taken
into consideration the impact of Proposal A that on the projected
revenues that would come downstream. I can tell you
unequivocally, I would have voted for a 20-year term for this
Brownfield if it had been presented that way. I am concerned,
though, about the concept that Mark and I talked about the other
day. Those of us that have been subjected to my wrath over the
years have heard me say time and time again, a deal's a deal.
And while I realize that there are extenuating circumstances that
arise where a deal needs to be modified, I haven't quite reached
the point where I could embrace that right now. Maybe it should
be 15 years, maybe it should be 18 years. I don't know. But
again, we're a recommending body. Whether or not we have
another resolution to vote on here tonight, I don't think it's really
going to change much of anything, but if someone would like to
offer an alternate resolution, that's fine with me.
Lendrum: Will the Council know what the vote was?
Engebretson: Sure.
Scheel: Absolutely. They will have the minutes from this meeting.
Engebretson: Mr. Harb or Mr. Lendrum, would either of you like to make
another motion?
Harb: I'm okay.
Taormina: If I may, My Chairman, back to Heather's comment relative to
consideration at a later date, nothing precludes the petitioner
from appearing back before either this Authority or future
authorities with a request to extend the Agreement. I don't know
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May 2, 2018
Page 17
that there is anything that would prevent or limit that. So it's still
a possibility.
Douglas: If they deny it now, they can still come to us later, in 8 years,
when we see how the economy works out.
Taormina: They are not prevented from doing that. That is correct. The risk
there or maybe not a risk is that they're dealing with maybe
potentially Authority members that have no background or
history on this, which may or may not be a good thing. And I'll
point out too, that I did provide you with a draft of the Incentive
Guidelines that we intend to bring back to the Authority and
Council relative to these matters. To the extent that might offer
some guidance, you can look at that because it does speak to
the issue of duration to some extent, but I'll just point that out,
whether you make any alternate decision this evening, it is
something that we have taken into consideration and we've
looked at. We've discussed this with our joint meeting with the
City Council. So hopefully in the future we can avoid these
circumstances from arising again.
Engebretson: Before we close, I'd just like to say one more time that I
commend the Developer for having done a magnificent job with
a very troubled property. You've done a magnificent job. I just
wish that you had asked for 20 years up front. Is there any last
comment that you'd like to make, sir?
Taormina: I was just going to point out that, for the petitioner's knowledge,
that this will go to City Council. We don't know the date but it will
be probably within a month that this would appear on a Study
Agenda for City Council.
Slater: Wouldn't they have to request a City Council hearing?
Taormina: A hearing?
Slater: Won't they have to request that we go to City Council?
Taormina: I don't know.
Slater: We'll help on the process. We'll work on that. We'll figure it out.
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May 2, 2018
Page 18
Taormina: There may be procedural steps that require you to either appeal
the decision and make the request for a public hearing, but we'll
sort those out.
Jacobs: However we get there, we'll get there.
Engebretson: And I want to say good luck to you.
Jacobs: Thanks. I appreciate your consideration.
Harb: Mr. Jacobs, can you tell me again, what the dollar amount of the
soil remediation was?
Jacobs: It was just under $1 million.
Taormina: $1.1 million.
On a motion by Scheel, seconded by Harb, and unanimously adopted, the 16th
Meeting held by the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority on May
2, 2018, was adjourned at 5:47 p.m.
Ken Harb, Secretary