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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Hearing 11-9-2020 - Rezone - Inifnity Homes - Pet. 2020-08-01-05 CITY OF LIVONIA PUBLIC HEARING Minutes of Meeting Held on Monday, November 9, 2020 ____________________________________________________________________ A Public Hearing of the Council of the City of Livonia was held virtually via ZOOM on Monday November 9, 2020. MEMBERS PRESENT: Kathleen McIntyre, President Vice President Scott Bahr Rob Donovic Jim Jolly Brandon McCullough Laura M. Toy Cathy K. White MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT: Mark Taormina, Director of Economic Development Paul Bernier, City Attorney Sara Kasprowicz, Recording Secretary The Public Hearing was called to order at 7:01 p.m. with President Kathleen McIntyre presiding. This item is regarding Petition 2020-08-01-05 submitted by Infinity Homes and Company, pursuant to Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting to rezone the property at 28400 West Chicago Avenue (former Wilson Elementary School site) located on the north side of West Chicago Avenue between Harrison and Middlebelt Roads in the Northwest ¼ of Section 36 from PL (Public Lands) to R-1 (One Family Residential). This item will move to the Regular Meeting of December 2, 2020. The Public Hearing is now open. There were 11 people in the audience. McIntyre: Before we open the public hearing for comments, we are going to ask the elected officials if you would please state your name to let people know you are present on the call and your City, County and State, I’ll begin, Kathleen McIntyre, City of Livonia, Wayne County, Michigan. Bahr: Scott Bahr, Livonia, Michigan. McIntyre: Cathy White? 2 White: Cathy White, Lehigh Acres, Lee County Florida. McIntyre: Rob? Donovic: Rob Donovic, I’m currently away on Military duty. McIntyre: Jim? Jolly: Jim Jolly, Livonia, Michigan McIntyre: Laura: Toy: Laura Toy, Livonia, Michigan McIntyre: Mr. McCullough? McCullough: Brandon McCullough, Livonia, Michigan. McIntyre: Alright, thank you, everyone. I don’t if the City would make any comments? Seeing none, we’ll go to the attendees and now the public hearing is now open for comments. Taormina: Madam President, would you like me to make some opening comments? McIntyre: Please. Taormina: Thank you, again, this is a request to rezone the former Wilson School site, which is located at the northwest corner of West Chicago and Harrison. The change would be from PL, Public Land, to R-1, One Family Residential. A single parcel is involved in this petition, it measures roughly 8 ¾ acre. Bordering the site to the north is Clements Circle Park, which is also zoned PL. As you can see from the aerial photograph, the pool and the parking lot are immediately adjacent to the property. To the West, is property owned by the Great Lakes Water Authority. That too, is zoned PL. This approximate 4.7-acre site previously contained a water storage tank. Across Harrison on the east side are single-family homes that are part of the Thomas Elliot subdivision. This subdivision was platted in the early 1950’s before the current R-1 standards came into effect, so many of the lots have widths that measure fifty feet instead of the required sixty feet. Then lying to the south on the opposite side of West Chicago are single-family homes that are located on non-platted parcels zoned R-U-F, Rural Urban Farm. The property is owned by Livonia Public Schools which is in the process of selling the land to the applicant, Infinity Homes. If the rezoning advances to first reading, the petitioner intends to submit a site plan for the development of a single-family condominium subdivision. Two conceptual plans have been developed and the first is one that was 3 prepared by Livonia Public Schools as part of the RFP process. That’s the one that’s on the screen currently. This plan shows thirty conventional R- 1 lots, you can see the road configuration is T-shaped. Stormwater detention in in the southwest corner of the property and there is an open- space park that runs along the north side of the property, adjacent to Clements Circle Park. The other plan was prepared by the applicant. This plan shows thirty-five lots with an L-shaped road patter and storm water on the east side of the property, adjacent to Harrison. The five extra lots are made possible by reducing the lot widths under the single-family cluster option. The future land-use map does designate this site as Parks and Community, reflecting the current ownership and former use of the property as school. McIntyre: Mark I’m sorry, as what? Taormina: As Parks and Community. Again, reflecting the ownership by LPS and the former use of the property as a school site. The Planning Commission nd conducted a public hearing on September 22 and is recommending the approval of the R-1 zoning, thank you. McIntyre: Thank you very much. Does anyone have any questions for Mark before we go to the audience? McIntyre: Councilmember Jolly? Jolly: Thank you, Madam President. Mark, just real quick, can you indicate to me how narrow is the smallest lot that’s been proposed by Infinity and if off hand, how many of those lots of that size are there? Taormina: The smallest of the group probably is fifty-two feet, and I would say there’s probably a dozen or so lots that measure, that have that dimension, maybe a few more. They range in size from about fifty-six to fifty-two feet, that seems to be the average throughout the proposed layout. Jolly: So, the largest is fifty-six feet wide. Taormina: Generally speaking, yes, that’s accurate. Jolly: Then my only other question is, do we have any conceptual drawings of what these houses might look like or is it way too early for that? Taormina: It’s a little early for that, maybe the applicant can give us a better idea of the type of homes, given the fact that he’s done a number of these projects in the area and he can probably describe what to expect, as far as home designs and sizes. 4 Jolly: Thank you, sir. McIntyre: Alright, Council Vice President Bahr, then Rob next, I’ll go to you. Bahr: To the Chair to Mark. Mark, the surrounding homes around there, those other R-1 lots, are those generally forty-foot wide lots, do you know? Taormina: No, let me see the plan that I was showing, unfortunately, it doesn’t show the lot size. Many of the lots that are on the opposite side of Harrison, again, that’s an older subdivision, so many of those lots are around fifty- feet wide and then the subdivision to the North and to the West, the R-1 zoning there, those are newer subdivisions, so many of the lots there are sixty-feet in width. It’s really just the lots across the street that are fifty feet, across Harrison, that is. Bahr: That are fifty, ok, thank you. McIntyre: Councilmember Donovic? Donovic: Thank you, Madam President, to the Chair for Mark. I’ve received a few questions. I live in a neighborhood right next door to the East and a few of the questions, on both sides of the proposal are about additional stress on the plumbing infrastructure. What are some of the things that the developer, and I think I’ve asked you this question in the past about other proposals. What are some of the things that the developer does or we, as a City do, to make sure that there isn’t increased flooding? Whether that be outside or even in this storm sewer system for people’s actual homes. Taormina: Of course, the City Engineering department will review all of the plans as it relates to the infrastructure improvements to make sure that both water and sanitary has the capacity to accommodate the additional development and homes. In terms of the storm water management, again, that too, undergoes a significant engineering process. Generally speaking, the outflow, what exits the sites and enters into the storm system should be no more than what is currently entering that system. So, the construction of the basin is designed, the design of the basin is such that the outflow is restricted to a rate of runoff that is commiserate with the agricultural rate, so those basins are designed to capture that water. They have the capacity for the water level to rise and slowly release it back into the system at a very controlled rate of run off. That’s the storm water system so all the drainage that is generated from the site and any that flows onto the site from off site currently is picked up and part of that contributing area that goes to the design of the storm water detention basin. Again, it has to go through a strict review by the City Engineering department before it can be approved and possibly even Wayne County. I’m not sure who has jurisdiction in this case. 5 Donovic: Thank you, Mark. McIntyre: Thank you. Councilmember McCullough and then Councilmember White. McCullough: Thank you Madam President. To the Chair to Mr. Taormina. I think this position in point of clarification, the neighboring plots, Chicago Heights looked like an average of 55 to 63 foot lots, Pearl Wilson, and these are all surrounding opposite of Thomas Elliott portion that goes from the Southeast of this property. Pearl Wilson averages anywhere from 57.5 to 60. Livonia Estates is averaging somewhere around 60 feet and then obviously the newer homes that are across that you touched base on even had some with a frontage of 70 feet. Am I correct on some of these assumptions? Taormina: Yeah, I’m going to share the screen once again and help everyone understand the information that you just supplied, and I apologize if I’m a little slower here. If I zoom into some of the lots and I think if I take away the aerial photograph, maybe it will be easier to see. The site is located here to the, let me just point it out and the screen has to refresh. This is the site and these were the 50 foot lots that I mentioned as part of the Thomas Elliott subdivision and then I think you had mentioned the subdivision bordering to the West and you indicated some of the lot sizes being 70 feet and middle 60’s. That’s many of the lots here. Directly across the street, you can see these lot widths vary anywhere from 130 feet down to about 62 ½ feet and that’s where the R-U-F zoning is located. Then, I’m not sure, I know you recited the names of the subdivision, but the ones to the North here along Cleveland Street which are actually North of Clements Circle Park, those are all 50 feet in width, many of those lots as you can see. Hopefully, you can read these dimensions that I’m highlighting over. There’s some variation in the lot widths. Reflecting, I think that many of these bordering subdivisions were platted before the adoption of the current zoning regulations, and that’s the reason why they’re non-conforming. For decades, the zoning ordinance allowed for 50 foot lots as a standard. McCullough: Thanks, Mark. I think the other one I was talking about was over by Cleveland Elementary, and then even a little bit to the South and that would be West of Harrison, a little deeper in. The Hartel/Westfield area. I think those showed a little bit closer to the 60 if I did my research correctly. Taormina: Yeah and I’m not sure, so Cleveland Elementary and maybe you can help me. McCullough: Cleveland is going to be East of, North of West Chicago, East of Harrison. 6 Taormina: Oh, I went in the wrong direction, that’s why. McCullough: I guess I just know Thomas Elliott, I’m very familiar with it, I grew up on Clements Circle. I know those are 50. I just wanted to take in consideration at least all of the surrounding area. Taormina: Yeah and the further East you go, and I don’t know where the subdivision line is, in fact, I can show where that line is. This magenta colored line here, that is the boundary between the Thomas Elliott subdivision here and the subdivision to the East and you can see many of these lots are, in fact, 60 feet. Again, indicating that this was developed a few years after Thomas Elliott. I don’t know the exact name of this subdivision, I’ll find out right now though, maybe that’s helpful. McCullough: No, Mark, I think this is good, this shows the rest of it outside of the Thomas Elliott. Taormina: Correct, yeah. McIntyre: Thank you. Anything else, Mr. McCullough? McCullough: No, Madam President, I am good right now, thank you though. McIntyre: Alright, then I think we’re still looking at Mark’s screen, but I believe Cathy, Councilmember White? White: Thank you, yes, this question is for Mark. Mark, the applicant is not on this call, is that correct? Taormina: The applicant is available, yes, I see his name under the attendee list. White: Ok, then this might be a better question for the applicant then, if we get a chance to listen to anything that he has to say. I’ve heard from at least one of the residents directly across from the subject property, East of Harrison, asking about the detention basin and wondering if that could be moved to the West boundary of the property, more in line with the original plan that you presented from the school district. I don’t now if there was any discussion or if that’s a possibility, but the resident is not happy about the fact that the detention pond is directly across from their property. I don’t know Mark, if you could answer that or if we need to put the applicant on. Taormina: You know, I don’t have enough information, at this time, to fully understand the hydraulics and how that works with drainage. You are correct, the concept plan that was prepared by LPS did show a basin in the Southwest corner and that was somewhat pre-engineered. Whether or not there’s an 7 outlet available near that portion of the site that could be used, I don’t know the answer to that. I believe the applicant’s engineer is showing it on this side for reasons that really I can’t fully describe. But maybe the applicant, Mr. Soave, can provide more information on that. White: Ok, to the Chair, if we can go at some point, before we go to the audience, to the applicant, I would appreciate it. McIntyre: Councilmember White, do you mind if I see if Councilmember Toy has any questions for Mr. Taormina? I did see the Petitioner on. White: No that’s fine. McIntyre: Just a moment, I just wanted to make sure that Mr. Soave, the Petitioner who is on the phone, heard Councilmember White’s comment, with that, we go to Councilmember Toy. Toy: Thank you very much. A couple of comments. Maybe the retention basin is in that direction because isn’t the water tower over that way near that site? Would we be safe to say, Mark and others, as we look at this development, all around those areas as Councilman McCullough pointed out, if I heard correctly, all those were developed at different stages of time. I’m going to guess down just South of West Chicago, the other side, East of Harrison, that was probably done in the 50’s somewhere. I don’t know when Cleveland School was built, nor do I know when Emmerson was built over there. There are some older homes over there, nice homes but you know, they’re older on various lots, some lot splits were done over in those directions sometime back as well. Would we be safe to say there’s a conglomeration of different lot sizes in that area, both North, South, East and West? Would that be fair, Mark? Taormina: Yeah, I think that’s fair, the predominant zoning is R-1, but because the area developed anytime from late 40’s to the late 60’s, the majority of those lots were established, but there is variation in size within that R-1 zoning. As I indicated, there was a time early on, when 50 foot lots were the standard, and then in the mid-60’s, that changed over to 60 feet. So, I think that’s the reason why you see the 60 in some of those subdivision that were platted in the mid to late 60’s. Toy: Yes, ok, great. Thank you, thank you Madam President. McIntyre: Thank you Councilmember Toy, I do not see any other hands up from the Council so with that, we will go to the attendees, but before we open it up to the attendees I would like to ask Mr. Soave if he would like to comment on Councilmember White. Rico, Mr. Soave? 8 Soave: Hello? I keep on being heard and unheard. I hope I continue to be heard. McIntyre: You are heard and if you could give us your name and address please? Soave: Sure, Enrico Soave for the petition this evening. 37771 Seven Mile Road, Livonia. McIntyre: Thank you, good evening, Mr. Soave. Soave: Good evening. Directly in regards to Councilmember White’s comment and question. After digging in this more, engineering-wise, we found that there is a 36-inch water main that runs along West Chicago, which would make sense, since Great Lakes Water Authority tower is there. So, that created immediate concerns, because the actual storm water inlet is across the street on the South side of West Chicago. So, we’d have either open cut the road and bore underneath that 36-inch water main, which is not an easy task and I think we could get a permit to do so. That’s why we have to change to the East side of the property somewhere where that pond must go, because we would pick up storm water drain alongside Harrison. So, that is that and a few updates if I may, since the last hearing in front of the Planning Commission in September. We’ve been exploring the option of purchasing a couple of acres from the Great Lakes Water Authority, which would be probably the southern 2 ½ acres of that property. We’re still in negotiations, nothing is under contract yet, but there is a possibility of that. That’s why the site plan hasn’t changed much. What Mark showed tonight is very preliminary. Secondly, we’ve been in discussions with the Administration and Parks and Rec about potentially giving them some property to enhance their parking issues for the Clements Circle Swim Club. So, hopefully, when that comes to fruition, then we can provide some relief for the Swim Club and the surrounding neighborhood. I believe someone questioned style of homes that would be on that site. They would be compatible with a lot of subdivisions we’ve done there in the past five years. Probably, mostly resembling Washington Park subdivision at Hix and Ann Arbor Road. That was a 45-60 lot subdivision, which the home style would be very similar to those. Drainage. I think Mr. Taormina addressed that. When new subdivisions come in, they usually alleviate any water and drainage problems. We’ve done soil borings on the property and based upon the results, we haven’t seen anything showing that there’s a high saturation point of water there. So, we don’t anticipate any problems with that. Anything else, I would love to answer any questions or anything else that Council would have this evening. McIntyre: Again, before we go to the audience, Council member Donovic, did you have a question for Mr. Soave? 9 Donovic: Yes, I did, thank you, Madam President. Thank you to the Petitioner for being here tonight, a couple of questions. What would change if you did purchase land, 2 acres, you said, roughly from the Great Lakes Water Authority. What are you trying to accomplish there? Soave: Well, we first got this property under contract. We did make a few phone calls, because as Mark Taormina can probably chime in on, there was some dubious nature owning the property. We thought that Wayne County owned it, and then Great Lakes Water Authority says they were given the property after they took over the water for the City of Detroit, I believe. McIntyre: Mr. Soave, just to clarify, the property that you are talking about is not the school district property, right? Soave: No, no, this one belongs to Great Lakes Water Authority. This is not even under contract and is still 50/50 if it’s even going to happen. That’s part of the reason we haven’t had a better site plan, is because we were waiting for this to happen or not happen, which we should know in probably 30 days or less, but if Mark showed the aerial view, you show it’s the back path of the adjacent property to the West. One of the reasons why, it’s a land-locked piece of property and I think one of the members at the Planning Commission mentioned, once this subdivision is built, nobody likes land-locked property. We agreed with that and said ok, let’s explore this further. So, we did, and they seem like they want to sell, but with real estate, sometimes, the devil is in the details, so we’re waiting to flush that out. I think the yield would probably be 9 or 10 more home sites in the back there, which were probably going to be in a cul-de-sac, so, greater flexibility, probably going to provide better ingress and egress, but that’s the purpose why we pursued this piece of property. Donovic: Hypothetically speaking, in terms of the basin that Councilwoman White had mentioned earlier, I like it on the corner because I think its aesthetically pleasing, however, I can understand concerns from residents. Maybe you can add some sort of landscaping that breaks that up, but if you were to be able to purchase some of that land to the Northern portion of the Great Lakes Water Authority, could you, hypothetically speaking, add catch water basin in that corner with additional homes or you’re not sure if that could work over there? Soave: Not having a professional Civil Engineering degree, I don’t think it’s possible, you have to go with the grading of the existing land and the biggest thing is, from storm water pond, you’re going to have to have an available inlet or outlet where you discharge into and I don’t see anything over there that would allow for that. We don’t have main roads and number two, it could be a private system. The only ones we found were on the South side of West Chicago or on Harrison, I think close to Clements 10 Circle, that’s available. Don’t forget, this all works out for the whole entire development so it has to flow throughout the whole development, then discharge based upon the grade, so putting in all the way in the corner there, I don’t think is a likelihood, if this piece were actually purchased. Donovic: Ok, those were my questions, I appreciate your answers. Just one more point, I guess from my personal point, is, I do like the catchwater basin in the corner, it is a nice entrance. I live next door and I drive down West Chicago and Harrison often and there is a lot of traffic there and I think it adds to the environment, to the community, I think it is a nice touch. I don’t like the homes along West Chicago, in front of it, blocking the potential pond, I guess you would call it, but I do think it would be a nice addition to that whole area. As you enter the park, I think it is nice to have that sort of welcoming atmosphere. So, thank you for being here tonight, sir. Soave: You’re welcome, thank you. McIntyre: Thank you Councilmember Donovic, Councilmember McCullough? McCullough: Thank you, Madam President. Just looking at this, I know the site plan is very preliminary but something that I took from it, I don’t like the storm water detention basin and the overflow where it is, at least where you have it located. I do think that on a corner of the property would be a better look for the sub and then the other opportunity I see, is, with Clements Circle Park, you’ve got the pathways that run around the site of Clements Circle Park itself. I know, especially the ones that are blocks 10 and 11, you have an opportunity to integrate this development into Clements Circle Park, which, at least from my angle, would be a great amenity. At least from a sustainability and that kind of perspective, so 9 and 10 right there in the corner, there’s a, in my opinion, an ability to connect to the proposed development into the trails. Then the last thing I have, one of the reasons I went with the surrounding area, I know Thomas Elliott sub is more of the 50 foot, I’d like to see the 60 foot minimum, I think that especially now in 2020 it’s a great piece of property. I think it would pair well, its not that much more, I think from the original layout from Livonia Public Schools to this layout, there is an extra 5 homes. I know it’s early, I definitely like this development, those are my wish list items, if you may take those into consideration, it would be appreciated. That’s all I have. McIntyre: Thank you, Councilmember Toy, did you have a question? Toy: I’m all set, it got answered, thank you. McIntyre: Ok, thank you. At this time, we will go to the audience. I would ask you to please raise your hand if you are joining us by phone, you use #9 to be recognized. Is there anyone who would like to ask any questions about 11 this proposed rezoning? Alright, it looks like we have Ostofinski’s. Good evening. Ostofinski: Hello, my name is Dave Ostofinski and I live on North Clements Circle. I’ve got a couple of questions. One is the timetable to build these homes. Something like this, would the developer build everything all at once or will this be over a course of years and not until they’re sold or something like that? McIntyre: Me. Soave, feel free, if you like, to answer any of these questions. So just go ahead and put your hand up. Soave: Am I audible? This will be developed all at once and homes will start construction immediately thereafter. The average time for a subdivision of this size to be completed would be a year and a half, two years maximum based upon past performance, and the past five years and I use five years as a benchmark because of the economic factors playing into that. Additionally, this development would probably start being developed probably the tail end of summer, based upon the meeting here tonight, we’re still going through site plan approval and all additional municipal approval. In order to start and put a shovel in the ground would probably be late summer of 2021. McIntyre: Thank you, Mr. Soave. Mr. Ostofinski, did that answer your question? Ostofiniski: Yes, it did, and I’ve got one more minor question. There’s a few good- sized in that lot, would they be taken down, just out of curiosity? McIntyre: Rico, did you hear that question? Soave: Yes, I’m here, I just don’t want to speak out of turn, Madam President. McIntyre: Please, go ahead. Soave: We always try to save as many mature trees as possible, but right now, its still too early to tell where those trees are at and what kind of infrastructure is going in there. Usually, the perimeter trees would stay, and the interior trees would never survive a development going through, especially where the trees are located. If they are perimeter trees, we try to keep them, but interior, even if they stayed, they would die anyway from the roots being disturbed and the changes in the grating. Ostofinski: Thank you very much. McIntyre: Thank you, Mr. Ostofinski. Is there someone would like to speak. It looks like Vice President Bahr. 12 Bahr: Not seeing anyone else come forward, since this is a zoning question, I have, as was talked about earlier, I think its what people are getting at, I’m a little bit uncomfortable with these narrow lots as being show on this preliminary plan, I think especially with some of the lot that’s around there, pushing towards a 60 would make a lot more sense to me. From a zoning perspective, its hard to argue against R-1 here, based on what we see around there. I’d offer to move forward with an R-1 rezoning here. Madam President, I should just say and Council, we say this all the time, but I don’t want to take for granted that the attendees are aware of this, but anyone from the neighborhood watching, its our practice, when doing a rezoning like this, that there’s a first reading and then a second reading before it’s approved, but we typically hold up the second reading until there’s a site plan approval. So, there’s a way to go on this and plenty of opportunity to continue to discuss the site plan, so thanks. McIntyre: Thank you, Mr. Bahr. Councilmember Toy and then I’ll go to Ryan in the audience. Toy: If I may, Madam President, to Mr. Soave. Mr. Soave, what kind of price range of are we speaking of for these proposed homes? Soave: Yes, if I may. We’ve reached a very peculiar time in home construction right now. Yes, the market is good, but if anyone has been paying attention, prices, especially with lumber, interior doors, etcetera, have gone through the roof. If we were to get back to a normal market in the Fall of next year, prices would be in the latter, higher, 200’s. $275K is probably a fair estimate. That’s all considering a normal market. If we’re still paying double for lumber six months from now, that might be a different story. Toy: I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, but if we talk about an enhancement for the area that can be construed as that in regard to the price of the homes. I’m not sure what the price of a normal home is, down in those areas, depending on lot size, brick, etcetera, up to date. Do we have any idea of that, Mr. Soave, or no? Soave: I can give you some empirical data that every sub we’ve built in the past five years, we’ve increased the home value in the surrounding there probably by 10-15% easy. Toy: That’s fair enough, I just wondered, thank you, Madam President. McIntyre: Thank you, again, I’ll go to Ryan, but Mr. Soave, just for clarification, there would be some relationship too, between the pricing and the lot size, is 13 that correct? I know the house is the majority of the cost, but there would be some correlation, correct? Soave: There is a definitive correlation with density and the prices. Initially, we were looking to do attached condominiums in this area or some mixed blend, but speaking to the Administration and some of the Council members, mainly Mr. Donovic, we decided to go single-family and maybe work out maybe a higher density. Also, if we’re going to take into consideration exacting some of the land we are purchasing and donate to Parks and Rec, that should also factor into density as well, Madam President. McIntyre: Thank you, now I’d like to go to Ryan. Good evening Ryan, if you could unmute and share with us your name and address, please? Good evening, Ryan? I don’t know, Casey, if we’re having some kind of technical, for those of you on the line, Casey is our Information Services Director who is the Zoommaster and there are occasional technical problems beyond our control with Zoom and I didn’t know if we were perhaps, experiencing those things. Ryan, are you there? Ennis: Yes, can you hear me? Ok, cool. McIntyre: Can you please share with us, your name and address? Ennis: Yes, its 9860 Garvett Street. McIntyre: Your last name, please? Ennis: E-N-N-I-S. McIntyre: Thank you, good evening, go ahead please. Ennis: I just had some concerns, especially looking at, I’ve been a long time resident here for quite a few years and I just had some concerns when I saw the planning, as far as trying to build so many homes into that area. The area is not that big for homes to be built on top of each other. I know that was the design of this sub, but times have changed a lot since 1952 when my property was built. Just so you know, the overall congestion and traffic it’s going to create if it’s not done properly. Also, too, how its going to look with being adjacent or abutting the park that’s there, I just have concerns about that as well. A lot of people that live on Harrison, they appreciate the greenspace that’s been there for so many years. McIntyre: Understood, thank you, anything else? Ennis: No, that’s it. 14 McIntyre: Thank you for joining us tonight. Anyone else who would like to speak? It looks like we have a number of callers on and I want to make sure that people have an opportunity to ask questions. I’m not seeing any hands being raised, I know that people have been able to raise their hands, so I assume there hasn’t been any problems with Zoom functioning tonight to allow people to raise hands so I’m going to say, going once, going twice, last opportunity, if anyone else from the audience that would like to ask any questions or make any comments. Dana? Sevilla: Hi. My name is Dana Sevilla, I live at 28537 Elmira Street. I guess my question is, is this set in stone, I missed the beginning part and someone threw me in this at the last second. Is this set in stone, like this is going into place no matter what? McIntyre: No. I am happy to explain to you where we are in the process. This is a public hearing, this has been through the planning process. The Planning Commission has made a recommendation to approve the rezoning. So, all we’re talking about is rezoning right now, which would allow, without any waivers, Mark, please correct me if I’m wrong, R-1 would allow 60x120 foot lots, correct? Taormina: That is correct. McIntyre: So, Dana, that is all we are talking about right now. So, R-1 zoning allows 60x120 foot lots that’s the minimum conforming size for R01. The original site plan that the Planning Commission has suggested approval had lots that were smaller than 60 feet. That’s allowed with a waiver. Taormina: Yes, so, what’s reflected on the conceptual plan would require a special waiver approval as a single-family cluster. The Planning Commission really did not take a position with respect to the plan, but they did, however, agree that R-1 zoning was appropriate, assuming that it would be a conventional design. They haven’t gone over the justification yet for a single-family cluster. McIntyre: Ok, got it. So that’s what we’re talking about tonight. The Planning Commission has gone to Council to pass on their decision to the City Council, recommending approval of the rezoning of the public land to R- 1, one family residential. The next step is, this will go onto a City Council agenda, which will get what we call a first read. That simply means that on issues where we change ordinances and several other things that have a big effect on the City and major issues, we do a first read. Someone just offers it. There’s no voting. Before we do a second reading, and second reading is where there’s a vote taken, we require that there be a site plan. We go through the site plan approval process and this is where we get into the discussion of exactly how, if the lots are going to conform to the 15 minimum R-1 size or if they’re going to be waivers requested, where retention, detention ponds are located, where the entrances to the subdivision would be, all those things. So, that all gets discussed and reviewed by the Planning Commission and Council before the rezoning comes back to City Council for a final vote on just the rezoning. The site plan, that voting is taken up separately. So, we’re early in the process. Sevilla: Ok, gotcha. I guess my only questions would be then, what would be butting up to the park. Would that be the back of people’s homes? Would that be a road? What kind of ideas do you guys have for that? McIntyre: Again, what we’re really talking about tonight is just the rezoning, but Mark could bring up, and remember, as the Petitioner, Mr. Soave, has explained, he’s trying to acquire some additional property that now belongs to the Great Lakes Water Authority, that’s to the West to where Wilson school was. I don’t think we’re clear onto what extent it would change the layout, but Mark, could you please bring up the current site plan? Mark, you can point on this and I can’t. Taormina: If I understand the question, its how would this subdivision be developed adjacent to the park, these are showing the rear yards of these homes bordering the South side of Clements Circle Park. I just caution and say that the Petitioner has indicated that they’re rethinking the plan, so this arrangement could very well change. McIntyre: Part of the discussion again, we’re not into the site plan, but part of the discussion is if the developer or the Petitioner would be able to make that land available to the City for greenspace. We’re very preliminary in the discussions on the site plan, we’re really focused on the zoning, but we do have a very preliminary, conceptual site plan. Anything else? Sevilla: No thank you. McIntyre: Did you give us your name, Dana, your first and last name and your address please for the record. Sevilla: Yeah, I shared that, but I’ll give it again, just in case. McIntyre: If you did, that’s fine, thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to make any comments, ask any questions? Alright, I’ll make my calls again, going once, going twice, alright, three times. Seeing no one, we will adjourn this public hearing at 7:52 p.m. Good night everyone and thank you.