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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-08-05 CITY OF LIVONIA — CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD AUGUST 5, 2020 Meeting was called to order via Zoom remote technology at 10:02 p.m. by President Kathleen McIntyre. Present: Jim Jolly, Laura Toy, Scott Bahr, Cathy White, Brandon McCullough, Rob Donovic, and Kathleen McIntyre. Absent: None. Councilmember Jolly led the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance. Elected and appointed officials present: Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Paul Bernier, City Attorney. President McIntyre stated there is New Data for Agenda Item 2. There was no Audience Communication at the beginning of the meeting. NEW BUSINESS 1. REQUEST TO WAIVE THE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Scott Morgan, Soave Homes, re: for the newly constructed home located at 19315 Inkster Road. Scott Morgan, representing Soave Homes, presented this request to Council. He stated he is requesting a sidewalk waiver for 19315 Inkster Road which is a new home construction. Councilmember Donovic asked Morgan if there were sidewalks on either side of 19315 Inkster and he replied there are not. Councilmember Donovic then stated hearing that he would like to offer an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Jolly stated he is not able to open the packet and has not been able to review the details in regard to this and asked if City Engineer Zilincik could provide more information as to sidewalks in the surrounding area. Zilincik replied there was a letter dated July 23, 2020 in response to the sidewalk waiver request that was paid for by Scott Morgan on behalf of Soave Homes. This is along Inkster Road, so the east side of Inkster Road is in Redford Township and has sidewalk along it but the portion in Livonia on the west side does not have sidewalk along it and that his department is in concurrence that they have no issues with the sidewalk waiver request and recommending to waive the sidewalk on the Petitioner's behalf to City Council. Vice President Bahr stated he would like to put this item on the Regular Agenda as he is a stickler for these sidewalk waiver requests and although there are not 2 sidewalks on that lot, but along Inkster in his opinion there ought to be and Inkster in Livonia there is a patchwork and he thinks Council should be consistent with these requests in hopes that they'll fill in over time especially as these types of projects happen. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 2. REQUEST TO WAIVE THE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Kory Hoffmyer, re: for the single-family home to be constructed at 20209 Purlingbrook. President McIntyre stated the New Data on this Agenda Item is in regard to an unpaid water bill on this property. Tom Beste, 11111 Telegraph Road, Carleton, stated that they have a Power of Attorney with Allstate Construction for Kory Hoffmyer and that the bill will be paid tomorrow morning. Councilmember McCullough stated his comments are directed at the prior Agenda Item as well as this that back about twenty years ago he actually inspected sidewalks for Livonia and he always remembers any sidewalks that really didn't connect to anything and the process on how to do the waiver. He said in looking over everything it seems like this street does not have any sidewalk going anywhere. He then offered an approving resolution for the Regular Agenda to make sure this water bill does get paid if there's no objections. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 3. BLOCK PARTY: Deborah Lindlbauer, re: to be held Saturday, September 12, 2020, from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Sussex Street, between Sherwood and Fitzgerald, with a rain date of Sunday, September 13, 2020. Deborah Lindlbauer, 15655 Sussex Street, presented this request to Council. She stated she is requesting a permit for their block party. Councilmember Toy stated that it looks like the paperwork is in order and offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY FOR THE 2020 TAX YEAR: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding communication dated July 22, 2020, from Michael T. Slater, Treasurer, setting forth the rate of tax to be levied and requesting that it be collected as part of the summer tax collection. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 3 5. COLLECTION OF LIVONIA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT TAXES FOR THE YEAR 2020: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding a communication from Alison Smith, Director of Finance, requesting the City to continue to collect one-half of the district's taxes with the summer tax collection and the remaining one-half with the winter tax collection, commencing July 1, 2020. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 6. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR THE CLARENCEVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding a communication from Dave Bergeron, Assistant Superintendent, setting forth the rate of tax approved by the Board of Education on June 12, 2020. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 7. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR SCHOOLCRAFT COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT FOR THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding a communication from Dr. Glenn Cerny, VP and CFO of Schoolcraft College, to set the rate of tax to be levied and requesting that it be collected as a summer tax. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 8. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR OAKLAND SCHOOLS ISD FOR THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding a communication from Michelle Saunders, Executive Director of Financial Services, to set the rate of tax to be levied and requesting that it be collected as a summer tax. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 9. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR WAYNE COUNTY REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AGENCY (RESA) FOR THE 2020 SCHOOL YEAR: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding a communication from Tamara Dust, Director of Finance and Compliance, requesting to set the rate of tax to be levied and requesting that it be collected as a summer tax. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 4 10. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR THE COUNTY OF WAYNE FOR THE YEAR 2020: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding a communication from Scott T. Vandermergel, MMAO(4), Director of Assessment and Equalization, requesting that the City collect 5.6483 Charter authorized mills as part of the summer tax collection and the remainder as part of the winter tax collection. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 11. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, STATE EDUCATION TAX FOR THE YEAR 2020: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding a communication from Rachael Eubanks, State Treasurer, requesting to set the rate of tax to be levied and requesting that it be collected as a summer tax. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 12. WAIVER PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2020-06-02-05 submitted by Vision Quest Consulting, Inc., to operate a physical therapy facility at property located on the east side of Hubbard Avenue between Plymouth Road and Capital Avenue (11878 Hubbard Avenue) in the Southeast '/4 of Section 2. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented this request to Council. He stated this is a project on Hubbard Road, this is an industrial zoned property, it's surrounded by industrial properties, zoned M-1. There's a two- story building on the parcel. This is an aerial photograph showing the building. This actually used to be occupied by AM General as part of their offices, Research and Design and Command, where they operated a much larger, you can see the connection that was formed to the warehouse to the east. It was later purchased by Phillips Services, they occupied it for their headquarters for several years and then as that emptied, it's been vacant for a couple of years and the proposed use would be that of a physical therapy facility and as a result it has to go through this waiver approval process. The first floor of the building would be used for physical therapy purposes, it's a two-story structure. The upper level would be set aside, at least temporarily, and full use of the first floor would be made by the group of doctors that would use this building. No exterior building modifications are proposed. They are going to expand the parking lot as you can see on the plans. The Planning Commission reviewed this in detail, the biggest issue really was landscaping. The Petitioner came back with a very detailed landscape plan that was reviewed by the Planning Commission and comes before Council with an approving resolution from the Planning Commission. Vice President Bahr stated he reviewed this and as is noted in the materials provided to Council, there's a similar type of facility nearby. Council has done these types of things before, it looks like they have a good plan, and he then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5 13. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2020-06-08-04 submitted by Bad Brads BBQ, to expand the food service operation of the restaurant (formerly G. Subu's Leather Bottle) to include an outdoor dining patio and exterior facade renovations for property located on the east side of Farmington Road between Pembroke Avenue and Eight Mile Road (20300 Farmington Road) in the Northwest '/4 of Section 3. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented this request to Council. He stated this is the former G. Subu's Leather Bottle restaurant being completely renovated both inside and out. And some of the more significant features of this proposal are the addition of an outdoor patio and with as the use of an actual rail container, a shipping container, that would be used to kind of frame the north side of this outdoor patio and there are renderings which depict what that is going to look like. This plan you're looking at currently is the landscape plan, they are proposing to make changes relative to landscaping. What this really shows is some of the additional features that are part of the development including the patio located here. The extension of a canopy near the main entrance and near the center of the building here, some additional landscaping on the north side of the property, as well as some landscaping in the southeast corner adjacent to where the dumpster is going to be. He stated he's not going to go through the layout of the interior but rest assured it's being completely redone, and there's going to be fewer seats in this restaurant than what was located and what was at G. Subu's Leather Bottle. Looking at the exterior, these are the renderings and I think everyone is familiar with the building, you'll immediately notice that it's a drastic change. Gone is kind of that old look with the pink roof is being replaced with this new tower feature, which is a composite material, all new brick will be placed along the front of the building, and mind you, these are mostly reclaimed materials. That is something that the owner does on many of his developments but particularly with this development. Bad Brad's, by the way, I think there's four or five other locations and currently mostly on the east side. This is the first west side location. This is a timber framed canopy and then you can see the brick peers here that would outline the patio in the northwest corner. Looking a little bit closer, you can see the details of that canopy. Next is the patio and notice in the background the shipping container. It really doesn't appear as a shipping container in this rendering because what they'll do is they'll cut out the one side of it and that creates an opening between the patio and the building. So you'll actually be able to walk from the patio into the open-sided container and then walk through a set of doors to get into one of the dining areas in the restaurant. So this will be the main access point for customers and staff to gain access to the outdoor patio. This is what that shipping container looks like up on the other side and you can see where it adjoins or butts up to the building. Looking at it from a few other views, I guess lastly just one of the issues that the Planning Commission spent quite a bit of time on, was the rear elevation of the building. This is what it looks like today. You can see the asphalt shingles, mansard roof, that will be replaced with steel. But the more significant alteration is going to be a mural that will be painted on the back side of the building. Now 6 this doesn't qualify as a sign because it does not attract attention to any motorists on the road or from any other public area. So this is really a site plan feature. The Planning Commission reviewed some very basic renderings. This is the most recent depiction of what that mural might look like. This is something that the Planning Commission suggested that Council really have the final say on the artwork that is done on the back as part of the site plan review process. He then stated he was going to let Mr. Kritzman speak to this. I believe he submitted a communication regarding the intention of this mural, this is only conceptual, that the final details still need to be worked out by the artist. Councilmember Donovic stated he had a question for the Petitioner, but first, it looks great, he does like the modern touches that you're bringing to your design, to your renderings. He really spent a lot of time on the patio, there's more of an emphasis on outdoor seating in today's restaurant industry so does like seeing that in the renderings. He's really excited for a named restaurant like this coming to Livonia. He said he does have a question in regard to the patio, the flames. Recently speaking to some residents about bonfire pits in proximity to homes, is there an issue if you are going to be installing these outdoor flames, and I assume you are because they're in the rendering, is there an issue with how close this is to the building or how close it is to the shipping container in regard to not only left to right distance, but also height. It looks like in the design of the shipping container there's going to be an actual roof and I didn't know if that was going to inside the roof, outside the roof, so he was just worried about any kind of legal standing, if it's too close, just to make sure. Brandon Kritzman, architect, stated he's not sure if Mr. Mike Power is available, he is the owner and proprietor of the project and he could answer Council's questions as well. He said as far as the fire features are regarded on the patio, those are intended to be gas fired. They will be turned on and off with a flip of a switch. It's a small, very controlled flame, ultimately intended for ambience, not particular intended for warmth or certainly not for any cooking purposes, it is simply a site feature and he doesn't honestly believe it will be even visible by any single residence within any proximity of the property. You may be able to see it as you drive past Farmington Road, but it's not something that will be a dominant site feature by any means. Councilmember Donovic thanked Kritzman for his reply but that he has a few questions about the dumpster enclosure by he'll save it for another meeting. Kritzman replied they made great strides with the dumpster enclosure, the owner of the property recognized that it's not a great thing to have immediately adjacent to the building and they have voluntarily chosen to relocate it farther back on the property, trying to increase the quality of the experience for people using the site and that is kind of where you tie into the narrow, as you can see by the image that Mr. Taormina has in front of you. The vast majority of the parking, as it is currently situated on the site, the existing configuration, is in the rear of the building which 7 is part of what necessitates the idea of wayfinding from the rear of the property. If you can imagine taking Mark's cursor up to the north and walking around the building, it would be a longer walk as you make your way around the shipping container and the patio. So the intent of the narrow is for primarily for wayfinding purposes to direct people to the south side of the building and as we see this little hand moving across the screen, and we'll make our way to the intended direction from the rear parking area. Councilmember Toy indicated that the plans are awesome like a few others have said, is there an approving resolution on the table? President McIntyre indicated there is not. Councilmember Toy offered an approving resolution but stated she really want to know what the mural will look like, I think it's directional as the Petitioner has stated, but from the rendering of his face on that was a little much. And if he could have some kind of rendering that adheres to what we're doing, asking for the production of the rendering prior to the next meeting. Councilmember Jolly pointed out that the building looks great but that the mural in particular is something that is going to be particularly cool. On a daily basis, he works in Southfield, and Southfield in the last number of years, has started to require all new developments to have some kind of public art incorporated into the project. And you see some of these things around Southfield where there are murals and there's things that depict abstract things and actual things and landscapes and all kinds of stuff and the other things that draw your attention to the building and kind of act as some kind of point of interest. He stated he is comfortable doing this maybe as a start to do more of that because it's in the back of the building and we'll gave a great perspective of how people react to it and it's not at all visible from the roadway, it's not going to bother anybody who's not going there to seat and parking their car. With that being said, he does hope the final product would be a much more detailed, much more interesting, but he's sure the artist will do so. Councilmember McCullough asked Kritzman if this was a LEED'S project and Kritzman said there is some great elements of the project when it comes to reclaimed exterior facade materials, when you look at some of the things that the owner is voluntarily doing, there's a weeping birch tree that's currently located in the front of the project, they're voluntarily moving that and paying almost $1,000 extra just to move that farther out into the area of the plaza just to preserve it. Apparently it's a bit of an exotic sort of tree. Kritzman said he really appreciates as someone who's been in your position, he appreciates that they are voluntarily moving some trees that are pretty cool. When you look at the inside of the building, they're reusing a whole lot of reclaimed materials, not just on the materials side in the wood and the bricks which are common throughout the interior of the project. They also have a lot of reclaimed materials from former restaurants, cafeterias, 8 and kitchen spaces from the City of Detroit as well, down to the doors leading into the walk-in coolers. So while it's not necessarily a LEED's certified project in any way, it sure carries the spirit of it from start to finish on a project. Councilmember McCullough indicated to the viewers that a lot of times the LEED certification costs a substantial amount of money, but just to know that these measures are going into a building in our city, one that could use some rehabilitation is amazing. The renderings look great, the mural on the back, he trusts the fact that it's a wayfinding, but the biggest question he has is he would like to see this construction jump off fairly soon obviously with Covid and timing, is there an ETA when they would like to get rolling? Kritzman replied without question they would like to get started on the exterior immediately, they have already executed a lot of the exterior demolition of the property. They were able to move forward with Jerome Hanna and his department on the inspection side, moving forward with the demolition of the interior. They previously had permitted the drawings for the execution of the interior architecture, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing side, so they're well ahead on that. The work that you see on the outside of the building is not representative of how far they are on the inside and unfortunately because of Covid and the way things played out from a building standpoint, they're behind on the outside. So if this project were to meet Council's approval and move forward it would be great to have a nonveto letter from the Mayor's office so that the Petitioner would be able to move forward with the execution of the exterior construction as soon as possible. Councilmember McCullough stated with that he would be in full support, he thinks there's an approving motion on the floor, is there a formal request that we can give to the Mayor's office to issue a nonveto letter to hopefully get this project rocking and rolling. President McIntyre stated that is done after the item is heard at the Regular Meeting. Councilmember Donovic said he is not an artist, but is assuming for the mural there won't be necessarily a draft right away for what the mural will look like, artists usually come up with these things as they go and he's fairly certain that nothing will be derogatory in nature and it's going to be a welcoming new thing that we may be not be used to normally and it's in Livonia, a new development, he thinks it's exciting. Like Councilmember Jolly said, other communities are proactively going after these sorts of things and he thinks it's going to be an awesome addition for the City of Livonia and something that our residents aren't normally used to when they're going to a restaurant and he's excited for it. Vice President Bahr asked Kritzman if it is reasonable to ask for a rendering of what that mural will look for two weeks from now? 9 Kritzman asked Council if they had seen the version that he emailed out a couple days ago and Bahr replied he did and if that's the intention, he's fine. Kritzman then stated what that represents the broad strokes of what will be painted on the wall. He thinks it's safe to say that 90% of what you see here is indicative of the subject material. What you see is obviously a pretty consistent movement and kind of intention to direct people from right to left. So on the site, as you're on the back side of this property, the intent is to direct your attention from the north side of the property to the south side of the property because as we've seen on the site plan, the majority of the parking is in the back. So directing people around the south side is the intended direction. The other statement that we submitted with this rendering is hey, we are willing to fully commit to the fact that there will be no objectionable material on the final rendering as it relates to sexual, illicit, drugs, anything of that sort, things that would be deemed objectionable by the public. This is not intended to be a statement piece by any means, it's intended to be a nice enhancement of the property, it's intended to be a wayfinding component for people there experiencing the property. This is a great chance for the community to engage a relatively well renowned artist in the Southeast Michigan area and have some of his work in our community. As far as additional renderings go, he's not opposed to it but we're asking an artist to create layers and layers and layers. Bahr thanked Kritzman for his answer and clarified that the components they're seeing here are what he intends but it may not look exactly like this. With that, he asked Councilmember Toy if they could put it on the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Toy was in agreement with his request. Councilmember Jolly asked if this item does go on consent could somebody follow- up requesting the nonveto letter from the Mayor. He then asked Kritzman if he had shared the name of the artist and Kritzman replied he can't tell the artist's real name but he is known professionally as Fe13000FT, and to be honest if you do a Google search of him you'll see he is involved in commissions all over Detroit, all over the Southeast Michigan area working with Fortune 500 companies, working with professional sports franchises that all of us root for in one way, shape or form and he's a very well known artist in the community. Councilmember Toy stated what she wanted to share with the Council an old school memory, indicating there used to be all kinds of murals on Plymouth Road by Jim King who was Steve King's brother. He had tons of murals on those different buildings down there and now it's coming back in and she thinks it's awesome, a nice form of art and it will be updated for all of the wonderful different aged people, and she thinks it's fantastic but just know that Livonia was on the cutting edge way back in the `60s when protests were in style for Vietnam. Councilmember White stated she wanted Kritzman to know she is fully in support of this proposal, taking this old building that really, really, really needed some updates and now it's looking fresh and modern so it's great. 10 Kritzman replied they're certainly looking forward to the opportunity to inject some fun and exciting things in the community and there's no truth to the rumor that went around after the Planning Commission meeting that the subject of the mural was going to be Pete Ventura. Kritzman explained that Mr. Ventura had some questions about the subject material on the mural and theyjokingly said they would him the centerpiece of it. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 14. REQUEST TO APPROVE FOURTH AMENDMENT TO LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF LIVONIA AND NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, INC., d/b/a AT&T WIRELESS PCS, LLC: Department of Law, re: to accommodate request to move and upgrade the equipment on the tower. (CR 406-18, CR 29- 12, CR 120-98, and CR 18-97) Paul Bernier, City Attorney, presented this request to Council. He stated they're adding some area and going to change some equipment around and we're charging $7,500 to do it on the tower. Councilmember Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION None heard. As there were no further questions or comments, President McIntyre adjourned the Study Session at 10:45 p.m. on Wednesday, August 5, 2020. For the 1,903 RD Regular Meeting of August 17, 2020 DATED: August 7, 2020 SUSAN M. NASH, CITY CLERK