HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 2, 2022 - 25th Meeting signedMINUTES OF THE 25th MEETING OF THE
CITY OF LIVONIA BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
The 25th Meeting of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority of Livonia was called
to order at 4:59 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, by Acting Chairman
Scheel at City of Livonia City Hall
MEMBERS PRESENT: Lynda Scheel, Vice Chairman
Ken Harb, Secretary
Steven Vandette
Nicholas Lomako
Andrew Lendrum
MEMBERS ABSENT: Jack Engebretson, Chairman
Dillon Breen
Melissa Karolak
OTHERS PRESENT: Mark Taormina, Planning & Economic Dev. Director
Michael Slater, Director of Finance
Jacob Uhazie, Planning & Economic Dev. Coordinator
Stephanie Reece, Program Supervisor
Kyle Morton, Ashley Capital
Atasi Bagchi, Ashley Capital
ROLL WAS CALLED. A quorum was present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
On a motion by Vandette, seconded by Harb, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#10-2022 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of the 24rh Meeting of the City of
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and held April 27,
2022, are hereby approved.
Ms. Scheel, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
REVIEW OF LBRA TAX CAPTURE FOR LIVONIA MARKETPLACE AND
CONSIDERATION OF TAX INCREMENT FINANCE (TIF) REIMBURSEMENT
PAYMENT #17 (S-2022) FOR AUTHORIZED ELIGIBLE EXPENSES
Mr. Taormina: This is payment #17 for the Livonia Marketplace project. The
current taxable value of all the real and personal property is
$11.359 million. This results in an incremental value for capture
totaling $5.7 million and for the summer 2022 tax period, the
captured amount totals $210,273.88. The breakdown between the
LSRRF and administrative fees, and the amount that goes to the
developer, is $17,593.07 and $192,680.81, respectively. Also
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November 2, 2022
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provided are the running totals of the contributions to the LSRRF
and the developer and the remaining number of payments.
Ms. Scheel: So, you're saying the amount in there, the $17,593.07, is
actually... part of that is the administration and part of it is the
LSRRF?
Mr. Taormina: Yes, that fee is collected... that covers both, most of which goes to
the revolving fund, but a portion goes towards administrative
expenses. Mike can probably describe that a little bit better than I
can.
Ms. Scheel: He was asking if it's 1%?
Mr. Slater: No, it's not a percent. We go based upon estimated time spent
between Mark's time, my time, some of the treasurer and
assessor's. For this year, the total for the whole year is $31,000.
So, the vast majority does stay in the revolving fund, a portion of
that covers administrative costs.
Mr. Taormina: The reason I pointed this out early on is we're going to have a
discussion later on, on the agenda, about the use of funds from the
LSRRF and if you went and you totaled all these up, they wouldn't
match what I've indicated as the fund balance or the current
projected balance after this evening. So, I just wanted to point that
out. The reason for that difference is that it doesn't account for the
monies that go towards administrative expenses.
Ms. Scheel Yeah. Thank you for that explanation. I appreciate it. Does
anybody have any questions regarding this to either Mark or Mike?
Seeing no questions, a motion is in order.
On a motion by Lomako, seconded by Lendrum, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#11-2022 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 #17 (S-2022) to the "Owner" of the Livonia Marketplace,
Livonia Phoenix, LLC, in the amount of $192,680.81 for the
reimbursement of eligible expenses related to the redevelopment
of the Former Livonia Mall Site; and
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November 2, 2022
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2) A deposit of $17,593.07 for Administrative Expenses and deposit
into the Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority's Local Site
Remediation Revolving Fund (LSRRF).
Ms. Scheel: Any discussion?
Ms. Scheel, Acting Chairman, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the
foregoing resolution adopted.
REVIEW OF LBRA TAX CAPTURE FOR LIVONIA COMMONS AND
CONSIDERATION OF TAX INCREMENT FINANCE (TIF) REIMBURSEMENT
PAYMENT #15 (S-2022) FOR AUTHORIZED ELIGIBLE EXPENSES.
Mr. Taormina: This is payment #15. The taxable value of all the real property at
Livonia Commons is $3.37 million. This results in an incremental
value for capture of $1.6 million. The amount of capture is $47,618.
Of that, $42,000 is distributed to the developer, and then just under
$5,000 will go to the Michigan Department of Treasury, which
equals three mils of the state education tax for its State Revolving
Fund. In this case, the total distribution amount is $42,708.38. It
looks like we have five payments remaining after this.
Ms. Scheel: Are there any questions regarding this? Seeing none, a motion
would be in order
On a motion by Harb, seconded by Lomako, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#12-2022 RESOLVED, that the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority does hereby approve the distribution of Captured Taxes
from the Livonia Commons Project as follows:
1. Payment #15 (S-2022) to the "Owner" of Livonia Commons, TMA-
LIVCOM, LLC, in the amount of $42,708.38 for the reimbursement
of eligible expenses.
2. A deposit of $4,909.82 to the Michigan Department of Treasury
State Revolving Fund.
Ms. Scheel, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
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November 2, 2022
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REVIEW OF LBRA TAX CAPTURE FOR LIVONIA MARKET II AND
CONSIDERATION OF TAX INCREMENT FINANCE (TIF) REIMBURSEMENT
PAYMENT #7 (S-2022) FOR AUTHORIZED ELIGIBLE EXPENSES.
Mr. Taormina: This is Livonia Marketplace II, which is across the street from the
Livonia Marketplace. It is payment #7. In this case, the total
taxable value of all real property is just over $4 million. This results
in a total tax capture and distribution amount of $39,056. Of this,
25% gets deposited to the LSRRF and for administrative fees. That
is $9,764.05, and the balance of $29,292.14, which is 75%, goes
to the developer.
Ms. Scheel: Are there any questions?
Mr. Harb: Mark? I'm not seeing a staff recommendation. Is there one?
Ms. Scheel: Yeah.
Mr. Taormina: Yes.
Mr. Harb: It's not on SharePoint.
Mr. Slater: Page 20 of the PDF.
Ms. Scheel: Any other questions from anybody? Seeing none, a motion would
be an order.
On a motion by Vandette, seconded by Lendrum, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#13-2022 RESOLVED, that the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority does hereby approve the distribution of Captured Taxes
from the Livonia Marketplace II Project as follows:
1) Payment #7 (S-2022) to Livonia Market II, LLC in the amount of
$29,292.14 for the reimbursement of eligible expenses as
approved in the Brownfield Plan; and
2) A deposit of $9,764.05 into the Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority's Local Site Remediation Revolving Fund (LSRRF).
Ms. Scheel, Acting Chairman: Is there any discussion?
Ms. Scheel, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
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November 2, 2022
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REVIEW OF LBRA TAX CAPTURE FOR HAGGERTY CENTER AND
CONSIDERATION OF TAX INCREMENT FINANCE (TIF) REIMBURSEMENT
PAYMENT #7 (S-2022) FOR AUTHORIZED ELIGIBLE EXPENSES.
Mr. Taormina: Thank you. Like the previous item, this is payment #7. In the case
of Haggerty Center, the current taxable value totals $12,079,971.
This was a big jump from the 2021 valuation because the project is
essentially complete. The original projection was $13.7 million, so
it's slightly under that, but it's close. This results in a total
incremental value for capture of $11,235,471. When we apply the
local tax capture of 14.0957 mills, it roughly generates a capture of
$158,000. This results in a distribution of $31,674.37 to the
revolving fund and for administrative costs, and then $126,697.46
to the developer.
Ms. Scheel: Does anybody have any questions for Mark or Mike on this?
Mr. Harb: Mark, do you think it'll ever go to $13.7 million value, taxable
value?
Mr. Taormina: I think it's very conceivable that it will reach that in a couple of
years, as long as property values continue to increase. I mean, it
could be paused, but eventually, it'll make that I think
Mr. Slater: It'll take a while because the taxable value is capped at rate of
inflation or 5%, whichever is less. So, like next year, it'll be 5%
because inflation is higher than that. The most it will ever go up is
5% a year. From $12 million to 13.7 million, that's a lot of 5%'s.
Mr. Taormina: I believe this reflects the final completed project. There may be
something out there that is missing from the valuation, that wasn't
complete, but I can't think of what that would be. It could have
been a portion of the building may not have been occupied by the
end of last year, so, we'll see.
Mr. Harb: But that includes the shopping center and the apartment complex?
Mr. Taormina: That's the combined total of both.
Mr. Vandette: Since this has so many more years to go, and it'll probably reach
its taxable value early, would the developer or would the city
request for this to end early, or would it just continue on and on?
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Mr. Taormina: No. If it reaches its cap of $4.47 million, then per the
reimbursement agreement, the capture and disbursements would
cease if that happens prior to the end date, which in this case was
the winter collection, 2028. Oh, excuse me, 2032. Yeah, payment
number 28.
Mr. Slater: They won't get there.
Mr. Taormina: Mike says no.
Mr. Slater: Well, a lot of these are not intended to reimburse the full eligible
expenses, because in general, except for Livonia West Commerce
center, we cap it somewhere around 12, 13, 14 years. It's known
when we approve these, that it is likely not to get them 100%
reimbursement of eligible expenses. That's going into this.
Ms. Scheel: Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, a motion would be
in order.
On a motion by Harb, seconded by Lomako, and unanimously adopted, it was:
#14-2022 RESOLVED, that the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority does hereby approve the distribution of Captured Taxes
from the Livonia Haggerty Center Project as follows:
1. Payment #7 (S-2022) to Haggerty Square, LLC in the amount
of $126,697.46 for the reimbursement of eligible expenses; and
2. A deposit of $31,674.37 into the Livonia Brownfield
Redevelopment Authority's Local Site Remediation Revolving
Fund (LSRRF) and to pay for administrative expenses.
Ms. Scheel, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
RECEIVE AND FILE SUMMARY OF ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES AND COSTS
INCURRED BY LIVONIA WEST COMMERCE CENTER 2, LLC RELATED TO
THE BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AT 12950 ECKLES ROAD.
Mr. Taormina: I am basically going to hand this off to Kyle and Atasi, to update the
Authority on the project and the associated costs.
Kyle Morton, Ashley Captial. The first four or five slides are a formal submittal with a
cover letter.
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
November 2, 2022
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Ms. Scheel: Can you introduce yourselves?
Kyle Morton, Ashley Capital. I run our development group.
Atasi Bagchi, Ashley Capital, a project manager in construction.
Ms. Scheel: Thank you.
Mr. Morton: So, rather than go through the formal submittal, which had really
detailed tables, we put together a few slides, which we got outlined
here. It is just kind of our original ask, which was approved, and kind
of what we call the results of the actual numbers that were in that
submittal and a few photos and the leasing update. I also sent Mark a
copy of the most recent drone we flew outside, which was in July.
Nothing's really changed. It's mostly all ongoing in the inside. So, as a
reminder, this was the former GM Delco chassis plant. So, for 120
acres, we originally built a million square foot building for Amazon in
2017, which didn't have the TIF as a component of the project. We
sold off 32 acres to RNDC, where they built their buildings. So, what
this is solely... this TIF was solely encompassing the new speculative
building at the time, which was 364,000 feet. As a reminder, it was
really just the high levels of contamination in the groundwater in the
soil at that time, which led us to needing the TIF. It was the home of
the plating operation. So, most of the other, what would that have
been, 85 acres, had lower levels of contamination. This had high
heavy metals, and PFAS contamination. So, that's what really led us
to having to have the EPA involved on this one section of the building.
I know the RACER Trust was actively involved and was a part of our
Brownfield meetings. They attended those and City Council. So, this
kind of outlines exactly... it's kind of funky when looking at this
submittal, because it's really two different pieces of property that were
split, Amazon and RNDC. So, these weren't contiguous. Really, the
environmental contamination piece was in the southwest corner where
the building was. We did have some high levels of contamination in
the northeast corner, but it was effectively all buried by 1-96. All the fill
from I-96 came onto this site. That was seven years ago, six, seven
years ago. We took 300,000 cubic yards of dirt. So, we lifted the whole
site up and it was a heavy metal concern, so it just got isolated.
Alright, so our TIF request... for us, what we had approved, was up to
$9.72 million in potential capture, which we agreed would be the
earlier of $9.72 million of capture or 28 years. I think when we were
going back and forth in the approvals, both from City Council and from
this board, the biggest issue dealt us was for the earthwork because
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we had to bring a lot of soil on site to elevate the building. But we also
had a 15% contingency. Kind of a standard on all these brownfield
plans just given their complexity. I think we agreed to a 90% capture,
which 10% of the marginal taxes went to Livonia regardless. So,
where did we end up? Just under $5.8 million. So we were
substantially under what we originally budgeted for, up to the tune of
almost $4 million under... assuming the same stabilized tax value that
we had projected in the Brownfield plan. We're down to about 19
years of reimbursement rather than the original 28. So, the reason
these costs came in way lower, we spent none of the contingency. We
ended up getting a lot of free fill. The sewage waste management in
Van Buren Township is expanding the landfill, and in order to build the
landfill, they had to dig a big bowl in the ground, and it was all really
good clay. So, we were able to get that for free. If you actually came
out on site when we were doing the import, there are a lot of golf balls
now on the site. It was really funny, the first few times you walk on the
site, you are kind of looking around and there are golf balls
everywhere. They actually don't degrade too well, so it's not a huge
problem being under the building, but if someone comes in the future
and starts excavating, they will be very surprised. So, we really didn't
have to haul off anything that was contaminated. We had an
allowance thinking we'd hit some hotspots, and it really wasn't too
bad. At the end of the day, we really didn't have to do any deep
watering. A lot of the concerns were that we had PFAS and metal
contamination in the groundwater that we'd have to discharge into the
sanitary system, and we really didn't have to do any of that. And so it
ended up not being a lot worse than I guess it could have been so it
leads us to about $4 million in savings. So, you know, we're ending
the plan about 10 years earlier than we anticipated. So that was just a
picture of the original site. This is standing in the southwest corner of
Amrhein and Eckles. That would be Amazon in the distance. I've got
that right. There is a little bit of glare. The most important thing to take
away is just the concrete slabs that were everywhere, and you can
kind of see where there were basements and footings. There were a
lot of unknowns. We kept hitting things that were on, were not on any
plans, or where a foundation was three times bigger than it was
expected to be. If the drawing said it was an eight -inch pipe, it was a
36-inch pipe. We had no idea, so it ended up with our subcontractor
Angelo lafrate Construction. They did a great job and it worked out
very well. So, this happens to be the most recent aerial that we can
get from Google. In the southwest corner, you can see the building is
now built. We've got the whole site capped and then in the northeast
corner is the parking lot, which I think if maybe... it's one more Mark,
we have a leasing plant. Now that's another photo. So, we'll show you
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what it looks like outside and inside... here, so, leasing plants... so
where are we in terms of leasing, the tax revenue, the cost savings
are great, what to talk about job creation, and who actually ended up
occupying here. So, we're currently 78% leased. I believe that's the
right number. We have 100,000 feet left in kind of what I would call the
best space. It's the prime quarter at Amrhein and Eckles. We had
Penske logistics, they're servicing TJ Maxx and all the TJ Maxx
umbrella of companies in the area, which is Home Goods and a few
others that...I am not positive about, distribute to stores but also some
e commerce sales will be on the eastern 40% of the building, and then
DHL is servicing General Motors for a new aftermarket car operation, I
believe in that location. So, in the northeast corner in the trailer
staging, this was just unique. Roughly eight acres was leased by
FedEx, so especially around the holiday times, but they have their big
operation on the south side of Amrhein... the building kind of directly
across from Amazon, and they were parking cars and trucks kind of
everywhere they could find space in that area of Livonia. We found
them a long-term home. They are gonna take that for what we hope is
about 15 years and longer. So, that keeps them from ... they were
running on the other side of Eckles Road and down to Plymouth and
around, so it was a better spot for them. Then we have Penske and
DHL taking a bunch of the parking. So, I think... if you'd go back to that
one. I think the job numbers are here. So, based on the two current
tenants, they're stabilized, kind of when they get fully ramped up for
operations, they're telling us about 250 jobs between those. It's a little
hard to tell, because some of them are temp workers and there's
some truck driver numbers in those too, but they said about 250 full
time jobs is combined between those two. And then we still have the
last 28%. Not 78, it was 72. 1 inverted numbers there. What was that
one last slide? Okay, just, this is more of a just a thank you slide. I
think there was a leap of faith that was taken that when we said we
needed that high dollar amount to get this project done. It was kind of
unprecedented from the Livonia Brownfield perspective. We
appreciate the trust that was put in us. We delivered under budget,
and we hope we showed that even though the asks can be high, it's
not at the end of the day what benefits both of us. The only difference
for us for spending that additional $4 million is I would get that same
dollar back no interest 22 years from now. That's not a good
investment on our side. So, the incentives were all aligned in this
project. I think it's a really good success story for Livonia, the
Brownfield authority, RACER, and as always, Ashley Capital has been
happy to be doing business in Livonia. Hopefully we get another
tenant that signs here in short order. We've got about five or six who
we're talking to right now to take that space. I actually mentioned to
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Mark that it's our only available space we have period in Southeast
Michigan in 22 million feet. So, we're hoping it's gone soon. I expect
the Chamber will have a nice ribbon cutting. We will make sure you
guys are a part of that. I'll open it up to any questions, but I wanted to
give you the update and say thank you.
Mr. Harb: Great presentation. Someone asked me this question. I didn't know
the answer. What do you do with the contaminated dirt that you take
out of that project?
Mr. Morton: So, contamination is obviously a pretty broad term. It depends on what
level of contamination it is. There's... you can either go to a Class II
landfill around town, there's a few. If they're hazardous, hazardous
waste, they typically have to go somewhere that's has an incinerator.
You can't just go put it in a landfill. I think the closest one we've used
on most stuff is in Ohio. The other option is there's some ways to kind
of mix something into the ground to neutralize what the contamination
was. So, in this instance, RACER, one of their big concerns was
heavy metals. It was nickel and chromium, right? They actually
injected something into the ground to counteract the contamination.
So, it is never... and we've worked on ... I guess we're working on our
fourth and fifth landfill redevelopments right now to put buildings on.
And that's to an even more extreme, because nothing that went in
there was good. It's never feasible to fully excavate all the problem,
right? So, it's kind of a piecemeal approach, right? We hauled off
some that clearly shouldn't have been there. If we hit a 55-gallon drum
that's excavated, and that's taken, along with everything around it, is
taken to an incinerator. Because if you put it back in a landfill, it will
end up migrating somewhere it shouldn't be.
Mr. Harb: I asked you that question the other day?
Mr. Taormina: I did not give the answer either.
Mr. Morton: Yeah, it's ... we try to leave everything on site, because when you start
taking things off site... Eagle is very strict in terms of movement of
contaminated materials.
Mr. Harb: I was wondering if it's under some freeway or something?
Mr. Morton: No, no, that's the... you basically... to take it off the site, you have to
positively affirm that it isn't contaminated. So, when we were taking
stuff off the Mastronardi site, we couldn't just say, hey, we don't know
if this is clean or dirty ... the expansion we did off Plymouth Road. We
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were going to bring it here. They said no, you have to prove to us that
it's clean enough to bring here. So, we could never just take it to a
random project. You have to prove that it's good.
Mr. Harb: Thank you.
Ms. Scheel: Any other questions? So, Mark, they'll start in summer of 2023 with
their plan to pay.
Mr. Taormina: I think it was somewhere in the summer of 2023.
Ms. Scheel: Okay, well, thank you very much. I really appreciate you being here
tonight to give us this explanation. This is just a receive and file.
Mr. Morton: I think just a slide deck and drone footage, if, you know, by passing it
along to the board would be great. I don't know what they've gotten.
Mr. Taormina: I'll make sure everyone gets it.
Mr. Morton: I'm sure we'll be back at Council. I'm hoping we get a lease before we
go back and celebrate that.
Mr. Taormina: Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good luck.
Mr. Morton: Thanks so much.
REQUEST FOR FUNDING FROM THE LOCAL SITE REMEDIATION
REVOLVING FUND (LSRRF) FOR THE DEMOLITION OF THE ALFRED NOBLE
LIBRARY.
Mr. Taormina: Thanks. I think everyone knows where the Alfred Noble library is
located on Plymouth Road, just east of Farmington Road. It was
the City's first library, built in the 60s. It was closed in October
2019 due to water damage and has remained closed since then.
The city has gone through the building and done a number of
studies to determine exactly what the issues are. The first effort
was to hire a restoration company called Belfor and then Mold
Quest. They analyzed the building in terms of the mold extent and
determined that there was mold, Penicillium Aspergillus. Belfor
also gave us an initial cost estimate with respect to certain repairs
and remediation, but that was not going to address other long-term
capital needs for the structure. Their cost estimates did not include
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Page 12
replacing the HVAC, which is needed, a new roof, plumbing,
electrical repairs, as well as foundation repairs. These items were
just to get the building cleaned up from the standpoint of
addressing the mold issue at that time. I put this in chronological
order for everyone to understand the progression with respect to
where we're at today. Because of the mold, the Library
Commission immediately started removing books realizing they
would get damaged if they remained in the building until anything
could be done there. The City's Director of Inspection, Jerome
Hanna, then did a cursory building assessment. He identified
several issues. This was basically an extension of what Belfor had
done previously. The Inspection Department noted other problems
associated with the building which led the City to hire OHM for a
more thorough evaluation. Looking at number five, you can see
that it summarizes the opinion of costs as determined by OHM. At
that time, they had estimated building and site demolition to be
about $250,000. But again, that was a couple of years ago. In
August, the City Assessor reviewed the property and determined
that it was functionally obsolete, as that term is defined in the
Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act. That's an important
consideration because that declaration makes the site eligible from
a brownfield standpoint. The Library Commission also toured the
facility and determined that it needs to come down. In fact, they
wrote a letter to the Mayor recommending demolishing the
building. The Council Capital Outlay and Infrastructure Committee
met in October of this year, where this matter was discussed. At
that meeting, the Mayor outlined the Administration's plan to move
forward with the demolition of the building. That's also supported
by a study that is about to be released by Plante Moran Cresa. In
the draft of their Space Needs Report and Capital Planning Study,
PMC provides a more realistic demolition cost estimate of
$346,062. As a Brownfield eligible activity, we are seeking your
authorization to use funds from the Local Site Remediation
Revolving Fund to help pay for the demolition. I think everyone is
aware of how that fund was established and how it's maintained.
We provide the information at the bottom of page two, relative to
the cost, what the current account balance is and what we're
requesting from the LSRRF to demolish the library. Of course, this
is a part of your authority to approve this. It does come from the
Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act. So, with that, Mike and I
can hopefully answer any questions regarding this. This is
something that's been ongoing and under discussion for some
time. It still requires action on the part of Council to approve the
demolition. The next step would be to get bids from qualified
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Page 13
contractors, and then bring that to the Council for its consideration.
Did I miss anything, Mike?
Mr. Slater: That's very good.
Ms. Scheel: Okay, questions? Mr.Harb?
Mr. Harb: Two questions. One question is, right now the balance is
$320,000, and $59,000 is going to come with the summer 2022 tax
collections. When? When do we expect that to come in?
Mr. Slater: Those were the ones you just approved. So, it'll be in there
tomorrow, essentially.
Mr. Harb: Okay. And can... do you mind telling us what, initially, I remember
that it was basically for emergency use, right? The money that was
in this fund. Can you, like, remind us of what the purpose of this
fund was for initially?
Mr. Slater: I don't remember it being designated for emergency use. It's really
for activities that are eligible under the Act, and I mean, I don't
have the definition memorized, but if a developer can come in here
and say we would like money for our project, it'd be similar. We
could spend it on our own projects similar to what they're
requesting. Is that a good way to put it?
Mr. Taormina: Yeah, I think the Authority probably has fairly broad discretion on
how to use those funds, as long as it's related to brownfield eligible
projects. So, whether it was the acquisition of land, or disposing of
property, remediation work, demolition work, all these things that
would fall under that broad category of brownfield. So long as it's
an eligible activity under the statute. This is clearly an eligible
activity because of its declaration of being a functionally obsolete
building.
Mr. Harb: So, it can't be used for a future senior center or you know, to
purchase land or...
Mr. Taormina: It can be used, potentially, to tear down the senior center and the
old courthouse.
Mr. Harb: I thought we defined it when we first started.
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Mr. Taormina: I think what we did is, we cited the statute, and we probably
provided some general language as to what the purpose of that
fund would be for.
Mr. Harb: Out of that $379,000, some of that is used for administrative, does
that go in the general fund?
Mr. Slater: It reimburses costs that are incurred by various departments yes,
which are general funds.
Mr. Harb: So, is this really truly $379,000? Or is it $379,000 less
administrative fees?
Mr. Slater: The $379,000 is after administrative fees.
Mr. Vandette: You mentioned an estimate by Plante Moran or an updated
estimate. That wasn't in our package.
Mr. Taormina: I think I did, and it may have been buried. I apologize. Let me go
back to my Plante Moran Cresa report. If you look on the second
from last page of the report. Mr. Vandette, you can see the
numbers.
Mr. Vandette: Okay. The reason I asked is because I didn't see the OHM
estimate mention asbestos. Any building built in the 60s, there's
going to be asbestos.
Mr. Taormina: I don't know if that was in the report.
Mr. Slater: I will just clarify that this is just authorization up to $350,000. What
we will do is prepare specifications and actually take bids and
that's where you find out what the real cost is. If they come in, and
they will bid, you know, less than that, good for us. If they bid more
than $350,000, then we're back to you or someone else looking for
more money. But it's going to be based on what the actual bids are
and what we actually spend.
Mr. Vandette: So, what's the mechanism for paying out this money? Who would
that go to? They would be reimbursing the city I would assume?
Mr. Slater: No, it would be a payment directly to the contractor
Mr. Vandette: So, who would be acting as the project manager?
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November 2, 2022
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Mr. Slater: Well, finance would obviously have a role on this. We would seek
assistance from our Inspection Department having done
demolitions of structures before, That is generally what they do.
They're the ones who's tasked with if we ever have to condemn
properties and demolish them. That process is done by our
Inspection Department, but it would be sealed bids, and then I
would assume Inspection would have oversight of the contractor.
Mr. Vandette: So, the city would administer the contract. The city would request
payment to the contractor, and they would request it from the
Brownfield authority to pay the contractor?
Mr. Slater: We're requesting tonight for you to authorize up to $350,000. Once
that is done, we'll take the project from here and use that
authorization to pay the contractor. So, I don't think we ... we would
report back on what the bid amount was and what the actual cost
was, but I don't believe we'd have to come back each time
payment is made to request payment if we get the authorization
tonight.
Mr. Vandette: I'm just curious about this because I don't think this has ever been
done in Livonia before.
Mr. Taormina: Well, the other authority that uses a similar technique is Plymouth
Road Development Authority. So, a good example was an asset
maintenance program that was performed last year, and in that
case, the PRDA approved up to a certain dollar amount and then
we use the dollars from that authorization to pay the contractor. In
that case, RAM, but a similar process as Mike just described. We
put together a, well OHM in this case, was our project manager
because it was a little more complicated than just a simple
demolition project, but there were bids received and the contractor
selected. Then through that, we made draws from the account to
pay the costs associated with that asset maintenance program. So,
there is precedent, I mean, working with an authority, if you will, for
a project like this.
Mr. Vandette: One last question. So, unlike the Brownfield projects where we
review and approve payments to the contractor, this is not
something that would come back to the authority to review and
approve payments? These payments to the contractor would be
done administratively?
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November 2, 2022
Page 16
Mr. Slater: Correct. That's correct. But like I said, we would certainly come
back and report to you, here's the contract, or here's what the bids
were, here's what the actual cost is going to be. Hopefully, it's less
than your authorized amount.
Mr. Lendrum: So, let's say you get all your sealed bids, and it comes in higher,
and we say, we are giving $350?
Mr. Slater: That's correct.
Mr. Lendrum: What happens?
Mr. Slater: We have to find some other source of funding.
Mr. Lendrum: Another source?
Mr. Slater: That's correct.
Mr. Lomako: I'm wondering why this board doesn't select the contractor, since
we're paying for it?
Mr. Slater: That's a decent question.
Mr. Lomako: And if we choose not to, maybe we have to amend the resolution
to give that authority to staff or whoever?
Mr. Slater: You know what? That's a really good question, and I hadn't even
thought about that, I guess I was thinking about the same process,
but like Mark indicated with our Plymouth Road Development
Authority, they do have the authority, and they do have the
responsibility to approve the contracts. So that's, you know, what?
I think I agree with that.
Mr. Lomako: Okay. Another question I have, I guess it pertains to the future use.
Will this board have the ability to comment on the future use of the
property once it's demolished?
Mr. Taormina: So, I'll speak to that. This is all being done simultaneously with a
strategic plan that has been prepared by the Library Commission.
So, one of the big questions out there is, what, if any, library
services are still needed in that part of the community? So, the
Commission is embarking on a strategic plan that will address that
issue, not only the needs on the south end, but also the main Civic
Center Library and the Sandberg library. That plan will drive,
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November 2, 2022
Page 97
considerably, what the future use of that site is likely to be,
because if it does involve some type of library service, now we
have to establish what are the highest and best uses to occur on
that site? So, the Mayor's full intention is to have a very open, very
transparent process of engaging the community. Not only through
this plan that the Library Commission is doing, but also what the
next step is in determining what the future of that site should be.
So, that is a step that will follow as we go through this. So, that's in
process right now. The Library Commission is just I think,
approved the... they approved a vendor for that?
Mr. Slater: They're in the evaluation stage.
Mr. Lomako: Will the end use remain public? Will the property be used for public
purposes?
Mr. Taormina: Yet to be determined.
Mr. Lomako: Okay, if it isn't used for public purposes and used for private
purposes, is there an opportunity to recoup some of the monies
that we're giving and replenish the fund that we have? If it goes
private?
Mr. Taormina: That's a question I can't answer right now. If it involves a public -
private partnership, and there's private investment in the property,
or sale of the property, some or all of it, how those monies are
used, I think would be a decision ultimately made by Council.
Mr. Slater: I guess I'm not comfortable going out on a limb saying yes or no. I
don't know.
Mr. Lomako: I guess if it ever reaches that point, which who knows if it ever will,
it might be something worthy to discuss.
Mr. Slater: Yes.
Ms. Scheel: Absolutely.
Mr. Lendrum: So, if we authorize this, and now it's vacant land, wherever. If we
want private, the developer or city can't come back and say it's
Brownfield, right? It's going to be a vacant site.
Mr. Taormina: The Brownfield status will only exist as long as the building is on
the site. You're correct, unless there's something else that we're
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
November 2, 2022
Page 18
not aware of once a building is removed, and then the Brownfield
eligibility will cease to exist. That doesn't preclude, necessarily,
reimbursement back into the LSRRF, if that's what ultimately is
decided.
Mr. Lendrum: It will be paid ourselves. Right, the city will...
Mr. Slater: The city would be paying...
Mr. Taormina: Basically, yeah.
Mr. Harb: Planning and Council or Plymouth Road Development Authority
has not taken this up at all?
Mr. Taormina: The Plymouth Road Development Authority had a very high-level
discussion about this property at a meeting last year. They're
aware of it. They are supporting the notion of repurposing the
property in a way that is consistent with the City's master plan. The
PRDA will play a role at some point in this project. We see that
happening since it is property that is located within the PRDA
District. They may have some funds available towards the
redevelopment of the property. We see the PRDA as a strategic
partner in this process. The Planning Commission, most likely, will
also play a role at some point once we determine what the use of
the property should be, and plans are developed, whether it's done
by the City or a private developer. So yes, I'm sure both of those
bodies will have a role in the process.
Ms. Scheel: Mr. Vandette, did you have another question?
Mr. Vandette: Yes. What is the reason for pursuing Brownfield Redevelopment
funds now, as opposed to waiting until the ultimate use of the
property is determined, and then seeking Brownfield, whether it be
through a ... maybe it's decided that the property should be sold,
and a developer would seek redevelopment from funds from
Brownfield Authority? I'm just wondering, what is the thought
process in mind as to why we are doing it now?
Mr. Taormina: I think probably the best answer is that the structure needs to
come down. It is at a point now where it's becoming more and
more of a hazard and a blight on the community. It's felt that it
should come down, and with funding available, it would be
appropriate to do that. If we know it should be demolished, then
Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
November 2, 2022
Page 19
why delay that process? So, I think that's pretty much the
justification for moving now.
Mr. Slater: Just a couple more to add to Mark's thoughts, in the discussions
we've had about this over the years. We know, residents get
frustrated with private entities that have vacant buildings in the city.
You probably can think of a few yourself and why don't they do
something about that? Well, we don't want to be in the same boat
of having this vacant building there for years and years and
nothing happens to it. The other thought was that if we do end up
somehow moving this into private, as a private property, it will be
more attractive as a third off site than it will be those where they
have to take down the building. So, you would ultimately, I think,
recoup the cost of this. If we do sell it, it is a cost that the developer
would not have to incur.
Ms. Scheel: So, I have a couple of questions. Are you ready? So, my couple
questions are ... the prepared resolution says to allocate 350, can
we adjust that to up to 350?
Mr. Slater: Not to exceed
Ms. Scheel: Not to exceed 350? Okay. And then what you just stated, Mike
was, is there a way we can make the motion so that we are giving
the money for this now, with the hopes that we can recoup it once
the property is developed or sold? For the money to come back
and not as a profit for the city?
Mr. Slater: We can investigate that. Again, I don't know the answer to that,
and I don't think Mark does either.
Ms. Scheel: Okay. So just a question to check into.
Mr. Slater: We can check into that, but I can't...I wouldn't be comfortable to
put a resolution that that is what's going to happen because I can't
see that's what's going to happen or not happen.
Ms. Scheel: That's what's going through my mind. Thinking about that. This is
the first time that we've used funds from the LSRRF, correct?
Mr. Slater: Correct, besides administrative fees.
Ms. Scheel: Okay, this is the first time we've used them. Council has to
approve the demolition, correct?
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Mr. Slater: I think they have to approve us destroying a city building.
Ms. Scheel: Okay.
Mr. Slater: If they didn't have to do it, we would still take it to them.
Ms. Scheel: In saying that, does that mean, they have to approve... they get the
final approval on which company is used to do it?
Mr. Slater: Now see, that was a good point brought up by Mr. Lomako. I do
think since the cost is incurred by this board, that the bids would
come back to this board for authorization to select one.
Ms. Scheel: Okay, but Council doesn't have to approve which company is
being used?
Mr. Slater: I don't believe so. Because, again, I'm assuming the rules for this
authority are very similar to Plymouth Road Authority, the Council
approves the overall budget. Actually, it's not in the budget, which
it isn't. They are going to have to approve the budget for this.
Ms. Scheel: Okay, and then I think my last question is, Mark, you had referred
to when a question came up about what the future land uses and
Plymouth Road Development Authority is saying, you know, what
is what's in the master plan? What's in the master plan?
Mr. Taormina: Right now, it's public. It is identified as Public Land.
Ms. Scheel: Right now, it's identified as public. Okay.
Mr. Taormina: That reflects the long use of the property as a library and the fact
that it's attached to the Sheldon Park property, all of which is
classified under the zoning ordinance as Public Land and is
designated on the Master Plan as Parks and Community.
Ms. Scheel: Okay, thank you. Mr. Harb, do you have another question?
Mr. Harb: Well, I am trying to visualize. That's part of like he said, part of the
park, part of the swimming pool and the library, everything all
together. How big of a plot is the library itself? And what's the
value? Other than it being remaining public and part of the park?
Right? Can you visualize a public or a private situation project on
that site? And what's the value of that site?
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November 2, 2022
Page 21
Mr. Taormina: Well, the value would be determined by the uses that would be
present on the site, and what the opportunities are, quite frankly. It
does contain a couple hundred feet of frontage on Plymouth Road,
so it has obvious potential for mixed use opportunities.
Mr. Harb: So, it's a one -acre tract?
Mr. Taormina: I'm sure it's over an acre when you look at the depth of the building
and the property around it. In has its own parking lot that. It's
shared a little bit with the park, but it's for the most part, it's for the
library purposes, mostly. So, I don't know the exact area but it's
probably two, two plus acres. Maybe three.
Ms. Scheel: Was that park or pool... is that on Plante Moran Cresa's list? Did
they look at that?
Mr. Taormina: No. It was not part of that study.
Ms. Scheel: Any other questions from anybody right now? Okay, so we've had
a discussion. Is anybody comfortable with making a motion?
On a motion by Harb, and seconded by Lendrum, unanimously adopted, it was:
#15-2022 RESOLVED, that the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority does hereby approve use of the Local Site Remediation
Revolving Fund (LSRRF) for the demolition of the Alfred Noble
Library in an amount not to exceed $350,000.00, subject to final
approval of the demolition contractor by the LBRA.
Ms. Scheel: Any discussion?
Mr. Vandette: I'm in support of this, but I really do think that the contract for
demolition should come back, to Mr. Lomako's point, come back to
this board for review.
Mr. Slater: We agree with that.
Mr. Harb: Does that need to be in the motion?
Mr. Taormina: I think it would probably help.
Mr. Slater: It doesn't hurt to have it in.
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Page 22
Mr. Taormina: Yeah. Probably subject to the LBRA approval of selection of the
contractor.
Mr. Slater. Yeah.
On a motion duly made, seconded, and unanimously adopted, the 25th Meeting held
by the City of Livonia Brownfield Redevelopment Authority on November 2, 2022,
was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
Ken Harb, Secretary