HomeMy WebLinkAbout1,165 - February 23, 2021 signedMINUTES OF THE 1,165PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING
HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA
On Tuesday, February 23, 2021, the City Planning Commission of the City of
Livonia held its 1,165th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting via Zoom Meeting
Software.
Mr. Ian Wilshaw, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Members present: David Bongero Sam Caramagno Glen Long
Betsy McCue Carol Smiley Peter Ventura
Ian Wilshaw
Mr. Mark Taormina, Planning Director, Scott Miller, Planner IV, and Stephanie
Reece, Program Supervisor, were also present.
Chairman Wilshaw informed the audience that if a petition on tonight's agenda
involves a rezoning request, this Commission makes a recommendation to the City
Council who, in turn, will hold its own public hearing and make the final
determination as to whether a petition is approved or denied. The Planning
Commission holds the only public hearing on a request for preliminary plat and/or
vacating petition. The Commission's recommendation is forwarded to the City
Council for the final determination as to whether a plat is accepted or rejected. If a
petition requesting a waiver of use or site plan approval is denied tonight, the
petitioner has ten days in which to appeal the decision, in writing, to the City
Council. Resolutions adopted by the City Planning Commission become effective
seven (7) days after the date of adoption. The Planning Commission and the
professional staff have reviewed each of these petitions upon their filing. The staff
has furnished the Commission with both approving and denying resolutions, which
the Commission may, or may not, use depending on the outcome of the
proceedings tonight.
ITEM #1 PETITION 2021-01-02-01 The Space Shop
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2021-
01-02-01 submitted by Stein Investment Company, L.L.C.
requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(x) of
the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to
develop and operate a climate -controlled, indoor self -storage
facility at 31100 Plymouth Road, located on the north side of
Plymouth Road between Sears Drive and Merriman Road in the
Southwest '% of Section 26,
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Mr. Taormina: This is a request to redevelop and operate an indoor self -storage
facility at the site of the former AT&T building, which is on the
north side of Plymouth Road, just east of Merriman Road. As you
can see from the map, the zoning of the property is C-2 (General
Business), which treats indoor self -storage facilities as a waiver -
use, subject to 11 special requirements. The site is 4.9 acres in
size. It has 738 feet of frontage on Plymouth Road. There is an
existing building on the site that has three levels and a gross floor
area of 114,000 square feet. Following the departure of AT&T
the building has mostly sat vacant. This redevelopment proposal
involves the westerly three acres of the site, including the
building. The remaining easterly portion, which includes mostly
parking, is not a part of this project and would be reserved for
future development. To the west, east, and south are
commercially zoned properties. Lying immediately to the north is
property that is still owned by Michigan Bell/AT&T and is part of
their regional switch and hub. That property is zoned M-1. The
existing building is somewhat unique in that it does not contain a
floor at grade level. The finished floor elevation of the middle
level is over six feet above the surrounding ground elevation and
the lower level is about five feet nine inches below the ground.
Each floor plate is roughly 38,000 square feet in size. Self -
storage units would be on all three levels of the building. The
total number of units would be roughly 700 and these would be
of various sizes. Customer access would be from within the
building. There would not be any exterior roll -up doors.
Converting the building for the new use is going to require
extensive reconstruction. There would be an elevator tower with
two elevators built on the north or rear side of the building. A
small addition would be built at the northeast corner for use as a
leasing service office. These additions total about 1,050 square
feet which increases the total floor area of the building to about
115,229 square feet. The required front yard building setback in
a C-2 zoning district is 60 feet. This building contains a non-
conforming setback of 53 feet. The expansion of the building is
going to require a variance from Zoning Board of Appeals. All
loading and unloading will take place at the rear of the building.
This would be accomplished by creating two ramped access
points. One to the lower level of the building and the other to the
middle level. For the lower level, the ramp would be about 30 feet
wide, and it would allow for two lanes that would descend on both
sides to a covered landing area and an entrance to the elevator
tower. I am going to show everyone where that is on the site.
The elevator tower is located here, and this would be in the
addition on the back of the building. The landing area for the
ramps is located here. These grey areas depict the ramps. On
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29860
each side of the this covered area for the elevators are the ramps
that would go down to anelevation that is equal to the lower level
of the building. There would be access to the elevators that would
provide access to the upper two levels of the building. The
canopy above the landing area on the lower area meausres 35
feet by 29 feet. It would cover both drive-thru lanes. For the
middle level there would be a ramp going up and it would be
located between the building and the lower -level access ramp.
That area is located here. The ramp that goes to the middle level
is between the lower -level ramp and the building itself. This ramp
would be about 19 Y feet wide and would contain a level platform
at the top with access to the elevator tower. Unlike the lower -
level, the upper -level ramp is not a drive-thru and the upper
platform is not large enough for vehicles to turn around. Thus,
vehicles would either have to back up the ramp and exit moving
forward or drive forward up the ramp and then exit backing down.
Like the lower -level, the upper -level ramp would be covered by a
canopy. In terms of parking for the proposed use, the site plan
shows only 13 parking spaces that would be along the east side
of the building. The ordinance does not provide specific parking
requirements for self -storage. Instead, parking is based on the
recommendation of the Planning Commission. The existing
striped spaces on the west side and behind the building would be
removed in order to increase the amount of landscaping, as well
as to allow for adequate maneuvering past trucks and other
vehicles. The exterior of the existing building is mostly brick.
There is a series of E.I.F.S. panels that run along the top of the
building. Those are shown here in this rendering. The elevation
plans show that the brick remains on most of the building. The
panels on the top would be replaced with new E.I.F.S. At both
ends there would be E.I.F.S. that would either cover or replace
the brick, as well as fiber cement board panels. The same
combination of materials would be used to accent the central
feature that currently serves at the buildings main lobby. This is
the front of the building facing Plymouth Road. The brown areas
shown on the rendering represent the existing brick material.
These are the E.I.F.S, panels along the top that would be
replaced. As I had mentioned, at both ends, there would be new
features that would consist primarily of E.I.F.S. and cement fiber
panels. E.I.F.S. would also be provided along the central portion
of the building. This is the central feature. This served previously
as the main lobby. The glazing would remain, and this new
feature would be used primarily for display purposes. Fully
detailed landscaping plans were provided with the application.
This is the latest plan as presented with only minor changes
involving some of the plant material along the front of the building.
In terms of signage, this has not been reviewed, but the ordinance
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29861
would allow for one wall sign not to exceed one square foot for
each foot of building frontage. We haven't computed exactly what
that would be. They are showing on their renderings more than
one sign, so that is something that would require a variance from
the Zoning Board of Appeals. Additional signage would be
allowed in the form of a monument sign and that would be limited
to 30 square feet. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the
departmental correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please.
Mr. Taormina: The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated February 4,
2021, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request,
the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced
petition. We have no objections to the proposed waiver use at this
time. The proposed project parcel is assigned the address of
#33110 Plymouth Road. The existing building is currently
serviced by public water main and sanitary sewer, as well as
private storm sewer. The developer has been in contact with this
office regarding Engineering requirements for the proposed
project, and we do not believe there will be any impacts to the
existing systems. It should be noted that the developer may be
required to obtain a permit from the Michigan Department of
Transportation (MDOT), should any work occur within the
Plymouth Road right-of-way." The letter is signed by David W.
Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The next letter is from the
Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated January 29, 2021, which
reads as follows: "This office has reviewed the site plan submitted
in connection with a request to construct a commercial building
on property located at the above referenced address. We have
no objections to this proposal with the following stipulations: The
Livonia Fire Department, Fire Inspection Division is requiring that
this structure provide complete fire sprinkler protection on all
levels as highlighted in the National Fire Protection
Administration (NFPA) Life Safety Code 2015 and the Standard
for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems (NFPA 13) 2013." The
letter is signed by Greg Thomas, Fire Marshal. The next letter is
from the Division of Police, dated January 28, 2021, which reads
as follows: I have reviewed the plans in connection with the
petition. I have no objections to the proposal.' The letter is signed
by Scott Sczepanski, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The next letter is
from the Inspection Department, dated February 22, 2021, which
reads as follows: "Pursuant to yourrequest, the above referenced
Petition has been reviewed. 1. A variance from the Zoning Board
of Appeals would be required to expand an existing, non-
conforming building. 2. The parking lot shall be repaired/replaced
and restriped, as necessary. Parking spaces shall be 10' wide
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29862
and 20deep and double striped. 3. This space must meet all
current barrier free codes. This will be addressed at the time of
Plan Review if this project moves forward. This Department has
no further objections to this Petition. I trust this provides the
requested information." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna,
Director of Inspection. The next letter is from the Finance
Department, dated February 3, 2021, which reads as follows: "1
have reviewed the address connected with the above noted
petition. There are no past due amounts receivable, however,
their water bill of $236.60 is currently due on February 10, 2021.
1 have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by
Connie Kumpula, Chief Accountant. The next letter is from the
Treasurer's Department, dated February 3 , 2021, which reads
as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Treasurer's
Office has reviewed the name and addresses connected with the
above noted petition. At this time, there are no taxes due,
therefore I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is
signed by Lynda Scheel, Treasurer. That is the extent of the
correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions of the Planning Director?
Mr. Bongero: Question for Mark, on Jerome Hanna's letter, is he just stating a
generalization of a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals
would be required to expand an existing non -conforming
building? Is that because of the front setback or is there
something else in this building that is non -conforming?
Mr. Taormina: It is only because the existing building is non -conforming and
even though the expansion as shown would not increase the non-
conformity it would still require a variance. That has been a long-
standing practice of the city.
Mr. Bongero: Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Bongero. Any other questions for our planning
staff?
Ms. Smiley: Is the
PRDA
still looking
at buildings on Plymouth Road ...like this
one is
being
repurposed
and redone...
Mr. Taormina: Yes, they are. They have not reviewed this project yet.
As.
Smiley: Okay, thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Good question. Any other questions?
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Mr. Taormina: If I could just qualify that or expand on that.
Mr. Wilshaw: Certainly,
Mr. Taormina: The PRDA does not typically look at the use as much as the
improvements to the site as it effects the frontage along Plymouth
Road, which is their primary concern. Aesthetics including
landscaping is what the PRDA focuses on. There will be an
opportunity for this item to go before the PRDA. Unfortunately,
we were unable to take it prior to this evenings meeting.
Ms. Smiley: Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Ms. Smiley. Any other questions or comments for our
planning staff? If not, our petitioners are in the audience I believe.
Anyone who is representing this petition can click the raise hand
and I will try to recognize each one of you. You can then speak
at appropriate times. We have Mr. Butler, Mr. Gaber, Mr.
Linscott. There we go. If there is anyone else, you can click raise
hand. I think I got all of you. Okay, who is our representative?
We have Mr. Linscott, are you representing the petitioner tonight?
Jason Linscott, Stein Investment Group, 5607 Glenrich Drive, Atlanta, GA 30342.
Yes. We have John Gaber also on tonight. He is going to lead
us off, I think.
Mr. Wilshaw: So, how we work is that we will need your name and address for
the record please.
John Gaber, 380 North Old Woodward, 4300, Birmingham, MI, 48009. Thank you
for your time. Mr. Butler, who is on the phone, is our Civil
Engineer and Mr. Linscott is with Stein Investments, the
applicant. Essentially, we appreciate the presentation. It was
very thorough that Mr. Taormina gave on this site and what the
proposal is for the development. What I would like to do is turn
the floor over to Mr. Linscott to give a little bit of information about
Stein and its ventures with RCG Ventures to create these
redevelopment projects in other communities and to show you
whatwe have done and essentially say a little bit more about what
we are proposing here.
Jr.
Linscott: I know we went over this last week. I just want to make sure that
I am respecting your time and doing what you guys want me to
do. Should I give a similar presentation as last week?
Or.
Wilshaw: Yes,
please. If you
would
like
to just start off
by letting us
know
what
your intended
use of
the
property is, why
you believe
this is
February 23, 2021
29864
a good
use,
and once
you are done with your presentation, we
will see
if we
have any
questions for you.
Mr. Linscott: The intended use for this property, as you see it on the screen, is
for interior climate controlled self -storage. This is a consumer
product, so these are an average of ten by 10 units. These are
residential use interior self -storage units. As Mark so eloquently
went through the entire coverage of the plan, this is an existing
office building. It is a little awkward. In my career it is the first
building the I walked into where there is no floor at grade. It is a
kind of an odd duck here. As he said, when you walk in the door
it is a bit like walking into a split-level home. You walk in and you
immediately have to go down a set of stairs or up a set of stairs
to either the basement floor or the middle level floor. Of course,
there is a third level floor as well. It is a three-story building. It
was vacated by AT & T about four or five years ago and it has
sort of been vacant since. I would like to backtrackjust a moment
to give you a bit of background on us so you can understand why
we chose this site and why we kind of approach the project the
way we do. We are a family -based real estate company in
Atlanta. We do real estate projects... develop and own real estate
projects throughout... sort of east of the Mississippi. We are in
Southeast Mid -Atlantic and Midwest. That is Ohio and Michigan
in the Midwest and then over to the Mid -Atlantic and Virginia and
the Carolinas and then of course all over the southeast as well.
We primarily do self -storage and retail. Those are out kind of two
primary products. We actually started off in retail. Mostly in retail.
Eleven or twelve years ago we started developing self -storage
and really took a different approach about it. We were retail -
minded folks, so we took more of a retail angled approach at it.
We really addressed what the consumer would want. We sort of
see it as a retail product. Our customers are the community
members. This isn't a traditional... you know you build a shopping
center, and you have a tenant, which is a business. We are the
operator here. The brand here is The Space Shop. That is our
brand. It is our management company. We own and operate
these facilities ourselves with our platform. We like to think that
we are pretty good at it. I will pat my operations guys on the back.
We take care on how we operate, and we take care on how we
develop them and we take care on how we look for the right
product in the right market. This approach we have done many
times over the years. We have done a little over three and a half
million square feet of this type of self -storage product. About half
of those have been building conversions like this one. We have
used buildings... from office buildings to bowling alleys and Toys
R Us', K-marts, movie theatres, that type of stuff. As you guys
are probably well aware, bricks and mortar retail and other types
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of real estate is changing dramatically with the internet, and
things keep continuing to accelerate. There is a lot of buildings
that are somewhat functionally obsolete in various ways, from
retail buildings to office buildings. We take an approach when we
look for self -storage where we really start with markets. We look
at ... we have a pretty methodical analysis at how we look at
supply saturation. I won't geek out on it too much. It is basically
a process where we look at the demographics of an area,
understanding the type of housing, the type of traffic patterns, the
type of community that you have, and then we overlay that with
the trade area competitive maps, and we look at other self -
storage facilities. It is a pretty small industry. We all sort of know
each other. We will check on one another and see how you are
doing here, how you are doing there, what are rates like. This is
just to kind of understand what the saturation level is like. We
don't want to invest all of this money in a market where the
product doesn't have enough demand. We take a lot of pride in
that process. In this particular area you would normally expect to
find something in the seven or eight square feet per person in a
trade area such as this. This trade area has about five square
feet per person including this project. I would always include our
project in it if we were looking to build one. From a market supply
standpoint, it is in a net demand scenario. Further, there is
actually less than two square feet per person of climate controlled
self -storage, including this project in the trade area. There is
good demand for this product in the market. We have had a lot
of success with it and customers really like our brand and the
product that we provide. This site really sets up well for self -
storage also because it is mid -block which is challenging for some
real estate uses. For example, retail is pretty difficult sometimes
with mid -block, particularly because this site is surrounded by
industrial uses. This is a really nice use for this property. That
said, there is also a great opportunity for repurposing a building
like this and formerly needed a lot of parking. We are able to
repurpose this building and as Mark mentioned, we don't need all
the parking for this use. We have provided some parking on the
east side of the building, which I believe is 13 spaces. I am
blanking here for a second. It is 13 spaces and that is probably
50% more than what we need. Customers only visit and use
those parking space when they visit the office to do their initial
lease and tour the facility. After that they are always in the back
of the facility either loading or unloading. Those parking spaces
don't generally get used a ton. What it does is unlocks the east
part of this site. I don't know if you can flip back to the site plan
with the color... yeah, there you go. The east side of the site on
the right where the blue box is, that is the parking field now that
is just sitting vacant. We are able now to activate that with
February 23, 2021
29866
something else. It can be an office use or a freestanding
restaurant or something like that. We will have to see how it goes.
It is a nice way to unlock the piece of property that really is captive
parking for the office building. Of course, the office building is
functional obsolete as we talked about before. Those are some
of the ingredients that come together and why we chose this site.
I have some before and after pictures in here of some of our other
conversion projects so you can get a flavor of the type of projects
we do. If you could visualize it. I think it is in here. Yes, thank
you, great. So, this is for example and I will go through them
quickly...I know you have seen some of these. This was a car
dealership which you can see and if you flip through that is the
after we did our conversion of it. This particular city here, wanted
it to look like a retail shopping center on the left. That was the
goal for what they wanted us to accomplish. You will see
generally that we are working with the community and trying to
make it work within the community. We don't have a particular
box that is has to look like. This one is actually a former K-Mart
near Charleston, South Carolina. That is what it looked like
afterwards. I will just point out ... with this one the building when
we are finished with them, they look purpose built. It doesn't look
like a converted K-Mart. A lot of guys will do that, and I have seen
it before. They don't succeed and customers don't feel
comfortable because it looks like you are going into a broken real
estate deal. You know, someone just put a new sign up. The
objective is always that it looks like a purpose-built deal. No one
would ever know that that wasn't built as a self -storage facility. I
will go through the next ones really quickly. Thank you for doing
that. That is a bowling alley. You can see that this is a more
modern look that the city wanted here with this building. The
next one is an old office building. It is similar condition to this one
that turned into this ... you can see how dramatic the difference is
on this. It looks like a purpose-built building now instead of this
office building. This was just an old dumpy facility that we redid
with brick and put a parapet on it and sort of really modernized it.
Hopefully that gives a real quick... oh yeah, there is one more.
That was a single -level furniture store that somebody had done.
Love it that climatized was spelled wrong on the roof. Anyway,
we made it more modern and this is sort of in conjunction with
what the city was looking for. Hopefully that gives you a visual of
what we try and accomplish with these buildings. It is definitely
not just slapping some paint on it and put a sign on it kind of
approach. If you go on our website, you can look at all of our
other projects. We have plenty of photos on the website, which
is spaces hopselfstorage.com. You will see all of our ground up
ones plus all of the building conversions that I just showed you.
That is kind of the intent of it and this is a rendering of the
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property. What we are doing here is replacing all of the
landscaping in the front, creating some kind of rhythm to it. Then
the glass that is ... the best way to describe it is ... the vertical
pieces that are grey ... yep, thank you ... those are partially glass
and partially, I believe, metal or E.I.F.S. We are going to pull
those out. The glass is old, and it is old glazing. It looks 20 — 30
years old and they need a lot of work. Our intention is to pull the
glass out and replace them with the same rhythm with these
J.F.S. and fiber cement board panels. What the fiber cement
board panels are like a wood look with a wood grain. It is a
product called Nichiha if you guys are familiar with it. It is really
nice. It looks like a wooden board with wood grain and it really
looks nice. It is not a smooth boring product. It is really an
upscale woodgrain product. That is the grey and that is the grey
on the ends too on those large columns on the corners. Those
are the same materials. It really dresses up the building. In the
middle with the glass lobby area. We are removing the glazing
and glass that is there now and replacing it with it a new more
modern storefront. See the grey band in the middle between the
floors is the same wood product or fiber cement with wood grain
product to sort of modernize the building and upgrade it. Those
doors that you see there are not operating doors. We generally
don't like to have operating doors in front of glass like that. You
will have customers loading or unloading. Those look like they
are operating doors, but they are not operating doors. It is really
just so when folks drive by, they know what the building is and
they see that there is storage there and what is inside. It is
particularly important if you are changing the use of an existing
building that people are used to seeing that they know it is
something new. That is what is going on there. Thank you for
that. On the right we will have the office. It might be easier if you
switch back to colored site plan. Yeah, thank you. That square
at the top right is an existing sort of lobby. It is sort of small, but
it is kind works well for an office. You see that there is a line
through the middle of it kind of at an angle? That is actually an
over hanged roof that we are going to infill with new storefront.
We are going to kind of complete the square there and that will
be our leasing office. That is where our customers will come to.
All of the loading and unloading to the building occurs at the rear
on the north side of the building, so all of that happens behind the
building. It won't be visible from the street and the customers are
sort of protected from traffic and visibility which makes folks feel
better when you are back there loading and unloading. The sort
of pink areas you see ... the lower part is the roof for the elevator
and lobby you walk in to. The one with the X on it is actually a
roof. That covers the loading area underneath. We will have
lighting and heat there so that when you drive in there you can
February 23, 2021
29868
load with a little bit of heat and underneath a roof. On the top
side you see a little band with yellow and pink and yellow and
pink. That is a landscaping strip. We want to make sure that it
looks nice up there and that it isn't just hardscape materials. The
hardscape materials, you know like concrete and asphalt. That
is a landscape strip to soften that up a little bit. I think that kind
of basically explains the building. One more thing that I know we
spoke about at the last meeting... the traffic here is generally
consumers with their SUV's and trucks. That type of thing. We
don't get very many 18-wheelers. It's kind of a joke. It would be
nice if we did. That is certainly a lot of storage units if someone
comes with an 18-wheeler. They do from time to time, but it is
not very often. So, generally that is how it is set up for those
customers, residential customers. Hopefully I answered all of
your questions. I am happy to answer any other questions if there
is anything I left out.
Mr. Wilshaw: That was a great presentation Mr. Linscott. We appreciate that.
Is there any questions from any of the Planning Commissioners?
Ms. Smiley: I was wondering what kind of stuff is stored and what precautions
you take so that there is not hazardous materials or weapons or
explosives or anything like that?
Mr. Linscott: That is a good question, Ms. Smiley. It is definitely something
you have to be careful of in the industry. It is basically... our
leases prohibit anything dangerous or flammable and our
manager, when a customer signs a lease, goes over that with the
tenant. You can't store anything that could be ... you can't store
anything with any kind of flammable material in it like gasoline or
anything like that. You also can't store certain items like tires.
They aren't necessarily flammable, those are just items we don't
want people storing in the facility. The manager goes through
that with every customer. Basically, what we do is the manager
keeps an eye on the property. We will have two employees here
that work everyday during business hours. They are pretty aware
of what is going on and what is going in and out of the property.
The managers do daily site walks constantly. They are walking
the property to observe and see what is going on. Are people
moving, talking to the customers, we will bring waters out to
people. You just sort of create a relationship and see what people
are doing. The facility has cameras at every entrance and exit,
inside and outside. Customers are aware that we know what is
going in and out of the property. If they aren't, then we really don't
want them to be leasing. It is a secure facility. Every entrance
has a keypad. The only way to get in is to have your own pin
number that you would enter into the keypad. We know who is
February 23, 2021
29869
coming and going.
There is
lighting
and security at every
entrance inside the
facility. That
is how
we approach it.
Ms. Smiley: Okay, thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Any other questions for our petitioner?
Mr. Bongero: A couple questions. On the elevation you show a mix of brick,
E.I.F.S., and cement fiber. Some of the E.I.F.S. extends down to
the grade. In the northern states we have found through the
years that it doesn't fair very well. Would you consider putting
cement fiber at grade level?
Mr. Linscott: Thank you. That is a great question. I don't know if it shows it
really well, but the E.I.F.S. won't touch the ground. Where it
would, itwould be concrete or any kind of ... we actually just talked
to our architect about it. It won't touch the ground in any situation.
It will either be concrete, or we may extend the brick to make it a
sort of brick...I don't want to say water table because it wouldn't
be very high but use the same kind of brick color. There are a
couple ways we could accomplish that. Agreed and none of the
E.I.F.S. will be touching the earth material.
Mr. Bongero: Thank you. Then I thought it came up last week, we threw it out
there about using spandrel glass.
Mr. Linscott: Right. We have done that before, and it makes sense. When we
have a lot of it time this, we haven't liked the way it turned out. It
generally looks like the building sort of has a blank stare about it.
There is nothing going on and it always dark. It just looks closed.
We have worked on different ways to do it and we liked this look
where we create an element that creates the same repeating
pattern of the windows and it just ... I am trying to think if any of
these have that same example. It looks nice. It has different
materials and creates that same pattern, but this one ... this is an
example. If you could go back to that one if possible. Thank you.
In this one ... you can see on the right that's the office. So, we had
glass at the office and in this one ... glass in the middle when you
walk in and on the left we have the same sort of repeating
patterns. We approached this one a little bit differently. It has a
nice look to it and it looks kind of warmer than just some black
glass that looks like the lights are off all the time and is closed,
which is how we have experienced it in the past.
Mr. Bongero: I understand, okay. Thank you. That answers my question.
February 23, 2021
29870
Mr, Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Bongero. Any other commissioners with
questions for our petitioner? I don't see any other questions. Mr.
Linscott, just one question. Is the facility going to be open 24
hours a day for customers or will they only be able to access their
units when staff is there?
Mr. Linscott: So, it is not open 24/7. Customers can access it without staff
being there. Generally, we are open 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.,
meaning your keypad will work between 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
If you come to the facility after 10:00 p.m. it just won't allow you
access. Just over the years we have discovered that people don't
need access to their units at 2:00 a.m.
Mr. Wilshaw: That makes sense. Nothing good happens after 11, right?
Mr. Linscott: That's right. The store hours where the managers are there are
general business hours, so 8 to 6 type of hours.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay, thank you. Any other questions from any of our
commissioners for the petitioner? Is there anybody in the
audience that wishes to speak for or against this item? If so, you
can click raise hand and we will recognize you to speak. Seeing
no one I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion.
On a motion by Smiley, seconded by Ventura, and unanimously adopted, it was
#02-03-2021 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held
by the City Planning Commission on February 23, 2021, on
Petition 2021-01-02-01 submitted by Stein Investment Company,
L.L.C. requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section
11.03(x) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as
amended, to develop and operate a climate -controlled, indoor
self -storage facility at 31100 Plymouth Road, located on the north
side of Plymouth Road between Sears Drive and Merriman Road
in the Southwest'% of Section 26, the Planning Commission does
hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2021-01-02-
01 be approved with the following conditions:
That the
Site Plan
identified as C-3.0 prepared
by PEA
Group, as
received
by the Planning Department on
January
25, 2021,
is hereby
approved and shall be adhered
to.
2. That the Landscape Plan identified as L-1.0 prepared by
PEA Group, as received by the Planning Department on
January 25, 2021, is hereby approved and shall be adhered
to.
February 23, 2021
29871
3. That
all
disturbed
lawn
areas, including road rights -of -way,
shall
be
sodded in
lieu
of hydroseeding.
4. That underground sprinklers are to be provided for all
landscaped and sodded areas and all planted materials
shall be installed to the satisfaction of the Inspection
Department and thereafter permanently maintained in a
healthy condition.
5. That the Exterior Elevation Plans identified as A2.1 and A2.2
prepared by Kevin J. Maher AIA, both dated January 12,
2021, are hereby approved and shall be adhered to, except
for the fact that on the lower portions of the exterior of the
building, all EIFS material shall be replaced with either
masonry (brick) or cement fiber panels.
6. That all rooftop mechanical equipment shall be concealed
from public view on all sides by screening that shall be of a
compatible character, material, and color to other exterior
materials on the building.
7. That this site shall meet either the City of Livonia or the
Wayne County Storm Water Management Ordinance,
whichever applies, and shall secure any required permits,
including soil erosion and sedimentation control permits.
8. The use of the self -storage facility shall be limited to the
storage of personal and business items only, and no unit
designed or intended for storage purposes shall be used for
operating a business or recreational activity including, but
not limited to, repairs, manufacturing, assembly, personal
service, hobby, retail or office.
9. Outdoor storage of vehicles or equipment, including work
trailers and trucks, is strictly prohibited.
10. That there shall be no outdoor storage of disabled or
inoperative equipment and vehicles, scrap material, debris,
or other similar items.
11. That the hours of operation for the indoor climate -controlled
self -storage facility shall be limited to 7:00 a.m. to 10:00
p.m., as proposed by the applicant, subject to City Council
approval of a modification of special requirement 11.03(x)(6)
to extend the operating hours from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
February 23, 2021
29872
12. The entire building and property shall have a camera
security system in place and key code access.
13. That any additional pole -mounted light fixtures shall not
exceed twenty feet (20') in height, and all light fixtures,
including building -mounted and wall -pack units, shall be
aimed and shielded to minimize stray light trespassing
across property lines and glaring into adjacent roadways.
14. That any facilities for the outdoor storage of refuse shall be
screened by means of an enclosure constructed of masonry
walls. The enclosure gates shall be of solid panel steel
construction or durable, long-lasting solid panel fiberglass.
The trash dumpster area shall always be maintained and
when not in use closed.
15. That only conforming signage is approved with this petition,
and any additional signage shall be separately submitted for
review and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
16. No window signs shall be allowed.
17. That no
LED
lightband
or exposed neon shall be permitted
on this
site
including,
but not limited
to, the building or
around the windows.
18. That unless approved by the proper local authority, any type
of exterior advertising, such as promotional flags, streamers
or sponsor vehicles designed to attract the attention of
passing motorists, shall be prohibited.
19. That the specific plans referenced in this approving
resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department
at the time the building permits are applied for; and
20. Pursuant to Section 19.10 of Ordinance #543, the Zoning
Ordinance of the City of Livonia, this approval is valid for a
period of one year only from the date of approval by City
Council, and unless a building permit is obtained, this
approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said
period.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 19.05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion?
February 23, 2021
29873
Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution
adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution.
ITEM #2 PETITION 2021-01-03-01 Botsford General
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2021-
01-03-01 submitted by Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick, Inc., on
behalf of Botsford General Hospital, pursuant to Section 12.08 of
the Livonia Code of Ordinances of the City of Livonia, as
amended, to determine whether or not to vacate an existing
public utility easement at 39000 Seven Mile Road, located on the
north side of Seven Mile Road between the 1-275/96 Expressway
and Haggerty Road in the Southwest 'Y4 of Section 6.
Mr. Taormina: This petition involves vacating an existing public water main
easement. The location is on the north side of Seven Mile Road
just west of 1-275, This site is currently under development by
Beaumont Health System as an outpatient care center. The new
professional medical building will be four- and one-half stories in
height and will have a gross floor area of about 162,000 square
feet. The new building replaces the former office and
manufacturing facility that was last occupied by A123 Systems.
With the demolition of the old building and redevelopment of the
site most of the utilities are being relocated. This includes a water
main, which renders the current easement no longer useful,
hence the reason for this request to vacate and remove it to
prevent it from becoming an encumbrance on the property. This
plan shows where that water main easement is located on the
property, which would be vacated. City Engineering Department
has no objections to this request. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can
read out the departmental correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please.
Mr. Taormina: The first item is from the Finance Department, dated January 26,
2021, which reads as follows: "1 have reviewed the addresses
connected with the above noted petition. As there are no
outstanding amounts receivable, general or water and sewer, I
have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by
Connie Kumpula, Chief Accountant. The next letter is from the
Treasurer's Department, dated February 3, 2021, which reads as
follows: `In accordance with your request, the Treasurer's Office
has reviewed the name and addresses connected with the above
noted petition. At this time, there are no taxes due, therefore I
February 23, 2021
29874
have no
objections
to the
proposal. The
letter is signed by Lynda
Scheel,
Treasurer.
That
is the extent of
the correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? If not, is
there anyone representing the petitioner tonight? If so, you can
click the raise hand button. We will make sure you are
recognized.
Mr. Taormina: I don't believe that is the case, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Wilshaw: I don't see anyone. This is a fairly small in terms of an almost
housekeeping type of petition that we deal with. Although, it is
still a Public Hearing and we want to make sure we give
anybody an opportunity to speak on it. Is there anyone else in
our audience that wishes to speak for or against this item?
Seeing no one else raising their hand, I will close the public
hearing and ask for a motion.
On a motion by McCue, seconded by Bongero, and unanimously adopted, it was
#02-04-2021 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held
by the City Planning Commission on February 23, 2021, on
Petition 2021-01-03-01 submitted by Anderson, Eckstein &
Westrick, Inc., on behalf of Botsford General Hospital, pursuant
to Section 12.08 of the Livonia Code of Ordinances of the City of
Livonia, as amended, to determine whether or not to vacate an
existing public utility easement at 39000 Seven Mile Road,
located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between the I-
275/96 Expressway and Haggerty Road in the Southwest % of
Section 6.the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to
the City Council that Petition 2021-01-03-01 be approved for the
following reasons:
1. That with the demolition of the old building, and
redevelopment of the property as a new four and one-half
(4-'/) stories professional/medical building, this part of the
easement is no longer needed for public utility purposes.
2. That the work has been completed, and upon vacation of
the old easement, a new easement will be recorded that
encompasses the relocated section(s) of the utilities, and
3. No reporting City department or public utility has objected to
the proposed vacating.
February 23, 2021
29875
FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 12.08.030 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion?
Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution
adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution.
ITEM #3 PETITION 2020-11-08-06 Roma Court
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2020-
11-08-06 submitted by Leo Soave Building Company, Inc.
requesting approval of the Master Deed, Bylaws and site plan
pursuant to Section 18.62 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance
#543, as amended, to develop a site condominium (Roma Court)
consisting of thirty-two (32) single-family homes on the property
at 37855 Lyndon Avenue (former Webster Elementary School
site) located on the south side of Lyndon Avenue between
Newburgh and Hix Roads in the Southeast % of Section 19.
Mr. Taormina: Thank you. This is a request to develop a condominium
subdivision, sometimes referred to as a site condominium at the
former Webster Elementary School site, which is on the south
side of Lyndon between Newburgh and Hix Roads. This property
is in the process of being rezoned from PL (Public Land) to R-1
(One -Family Residential). City Council gave first reading to the
zoning change on September 28, 2020, The R-1 minimum lot
size requirements are 7,200 square feet for lot area, 60 feet for
lot width, and 120 feet for lot depth. As you can see from this
map, the site is surrounded by R-1 zoning and developed platted
lots that are located in the Castle Gardens subdivision. The
proposed site layout shows 32 lots or site condominium units, all
of which meet the minimum R-1 lot size requirements. The
design includes a cul-de-sac extending south from Lyndon that
would provide access to 22 of the 32 lots identified on the plans
as units 11 through 32, Units 8,9 and 10 shown in the northeast
corner would have direct access from Lyndon. Units 1 through 7
would have direct frontage on Mason located at the south end of
the development. Along the east side of the subdivision the plans
show a storm water detention basin that is part of a larger open
space park. The detention system includes a forebay as well as
a main storage basin. The basin would have an overall depth of
about six feet and one on six side slopes to avoid the need for a
fence. The street right-of-way as shown would be 60 feet wide
and would have a 120-foot diameter cul-de-sac. For landscaping,
February 23, 2021
29876
the plan shows one tree per lot as required by the City. Trees
and shrubs are also shown along the perimeter of the open space
park and detention basin. In addition, parallel along the right-of-
way of Lyndon on the two corner lots at the main entrance to
subdivision, the plan shows evergreen and flowers. In response
to the Commission's comments at the Study Meeting, the grading
pIan has been adjusted. The proposed site grades have been
lowered about three and a half feet. Additionally, the petitioner is
willing to restrict along the west side of the development the
construction of ranch style homes only. Your packet includes the
Master Deed and By -Laws. These address various issues
including construction materials as well as size of homes and
other improvements. I won't go into those details, but they are
very typical for the developments that we have seen as of late. I
will show you some photographs or renderings of the types of
homes that the petitioner intends to develop on this site. With
that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental
correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please.
Mr. Taormina: The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated February
161 2021, which reads as follows: `In accordance with your
request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above
referenced petition. We have no objections to the proposed
project at this time. The property is assigned the address of
#37855 Lyndon Avenue. The legal description included on the
plans submitted by the owner appears to be correct, and should
be used to describe the parcel. The proposed development is
currently serviced by public water main, storm and sanitary
sewers, and the submitted drawings indicate that new utility
connections will be constructed to service the proposed parcel
layout. Easements will need to be provided for the new water and
sanitary sewers, as well as portions of the storm sewer that are
to be maintained by the City. At this time, Exhibit `B" drawings
have not been provided to show proposed easements, so we
cannot determine if they proposed easements are correct. The
proposed construction will be required to meet the Wayne County
Stormwater Ordinance, including detention requirements.
Detention is shown on the preliminary plans, but no calculations
are given. A full review of the proposed development will be
completed when plans are submitted for permitting. It should be
noted that the area of the proposed development has
experienced issues with sanitary sewer backups during heavy
storm situations in the past. Since that time, the City has been
trying to mitigate flow issues by removing existing house footing
drain connections from the sewers to free up capacity. Per
February 23, 2021
29877
revised ordinances, the Developer will be required to contribute
Towards funding future projects, further reducing the existing
flows in the sewer system. With the projects that have been
completed to date (and future projects to reduce flows) there
should not be any adverse affects to the existing sewer systems."
The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City
Engineer. The next letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue
Division, dated January 29, 2021, which reads as follows: "This
office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a
request to construct site condominiums on property located at the
above referenced address. We have no objections to this
proposal with the following stipulations: Using the city of Livonia
Department of Public Works, Engineering Division, Site Plan
Design Standards (Pg. 11 of 32) as a guide, fire hydrant spacing
for multiple single-family home sites must at a maximum, be
spaced every 500 feet. The distance from the entry of the site
condominiums to the proposed hydrant location (as indicated on
the site plan) exceeds this distance. The Livonia Fire Department,
Fire Inspection Division will be requiring an additional fire hydrant
be located near the entry to the proposed site." The letter is
signed by Greg Thomas, Fire Marshal. The next letter is from the
Division of Police, dated January 28, 2021, which reads as
follows: "1 have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition.
1 have no objections to the proposal. " The letter is signed by Scott
Sczepanski, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The next letter is from the
Inspection Department, dated February 18, 2021, which reads as
follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above -referenced petition
has been reviewed. This Department has no objections to this
petition." The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Director of
Inspection. The next letter is from the Finance Department, dated
February 3, 2021, which reads as follows: "I have reviewed the
addresses connected with the above noted petition. As there are
no outstanding amounts receivable, general or water and sewer,
1 have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by
Connie Kumpula, Chief Accountant. That is the extent of the
correspondence. The next letter is from the Treasurer's
Department, dated February 3, 2021, which reads as follows: "In
accordance with your request, the Treasurer's Office has
reviewed the address connected with the above noted petition. At
this time, there are no outstanding amounts receivable for taxes.
Therefore, I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is
signed by Lynda Scheel, Treasurer.
Mr. Wilshaw: Are
there any
questions of
the Planning Director? I don't see
any
questions
from any of
the commissioners. Our petition is in
the
audience.
Mr. Soave.
Is there anyone else here with the
February 23, 2021
29878
petitioner? If so, please click raise hand so that we can
recognize you. We will go to Mr. Soave to start.
Enrico Soave, 37771 Seven Mile Road, Ste C, Livonia, MI. Good evening. Also
in tonight's attendance online is our Civil Engineer for the project,
Mr. Fadi Khalil. Mark, thank you for your presentation this
evening. As he correctly stated, this is a conforming R-1 site
condominium, which is also in harmony with the surrounding
areas. This development will mirror Heritage Square which is
about a mile north from the proposed development. Housing will
primarily be the same. Very similar. Minimum size homes will be
1,600 square feet for the ranches and exceeding 1,900 square
feet approximately for colonials. Also, the brick requirements will
be in conformance with the city ordinance and exactly the same
as Heritage Square that we just finished up to the north. Mr.
Khalil, if you have anything to add to this at this time?
Fadi Khalil, Angle Design, 6200 Schaffer Road, Dearborn, MI. You said everything
you want to say, but we are conforming with everything like
Wayne County and we looked at the comments. We are adding
that fire hydrant as required by the Fire Department. The exhibit
is going to be provided showing the easements for all of the
utilities. I think that is basically all we have.
Mr. Wilshaw: Great, thank you, Mr. Khalil and Mr. Soave. Do we have any
questions from any of our commissioners for our petitioner?
Mr. Soave: Mr. Chairman, if I may?
Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Soave, sure.
Mr. Soave: I know Mark read out the self -imposition of ranch style homes on
the west side of the property. We looked at this and we are willing
to encumber units 24 thru 30, which we believe would be the only
ones impacted by any major change in topography. To reiterate,
units 24 through 30 will be the ones we will agree to self -impose
the ranch requirement.
Mr. Wilshaw: We appreciate
that
Mr. Soave.
Will any of these units, either
those or any of
the
others due to
the grade, be either a daylight
style basement
or a
walk out?
Mr. Soave: Maybe a daylight, but Fadi would be more leaned to answer that
question at this time.
Mr. Khalil: Yeah,
now we
are
working...we
just
lowered
the road by three
and a
half feet
like
some of
them
are
going to
have a daylight on
February 23, 2021
29879
the east side actually. We are going to have... almost.... its like
high daylight. It's almost six feet. Like you are going to have
clear. On the west side we might just have... by the cul-de-sac
we might have two or three lots that we might have three or four
feet daylight.
Mr. Wilshaw: Okay, very good. Thank you. Any other questions from any of
the other commissioners? If not, is there anybody in the audience
that wishes to speak for or against this item? If so, you can click
raise hand. Seeing no one else wishing to speak on this item,
and there are not other questions or comments from our
commissioners, I will ask for a motion.
On a motion by Ventura, seconded by Long, and unanimously adopted, it was
#02-05-2021 RESOLVED, That the City Planning Commission does hereby
recommend to the City Council that Petition 2020-11-08-06
submitted by Leo Soave Building Company, Inc. requesting
approval of the Master Deed, Bylaws and site plan pursuant to
Section 18.62 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as
amended, to develop a site condominium (Roma Court)
consisting of thirty-two (32) single-family homes on the property
at 37855 Lyndon Avenue (former Webster Elementary School
site) located on the south side of Lyndon Avenue between
Newburgh and Hix Roads in the Southeast'% of Section 19, be
approved subject to the following conditions:
1. That the Site Plan identified as Drawing No. CS-100 dated
November 193 2020, prepared by Angle Design &
Engineering L.L.C., is hereby approved and shall be
adhered to.
2. That the Landscape Plan identified as LP-1 and the
Landscape Notes &Details identified as LP-2, both dated
November 13, 2020, prepared by Nagy Devlin Land Design,
are hereby approved and shall be adhered to.
3. That the condominium Master Deed and Bylaws comply with
the requirements of the Subdivision Control Ordinance, Title
16, Chapter 16.04-16.40 of the Livonia Code of Ordinance,
and Article XX, Section 20.01-20.06 of Zoning Ordinance
#543.
4. That the Master Deed and Bylaws shall include language in
the building and use restrictions that requires the homes on
Lots 24 thru 30, located along the west side of the cul-de-
February 23, 2021
29880
sac street
identified on
the plans
as Roma Court, shall be a
maximum
of one-story
in height.
5. That the brick used in the construction of each condominium
unit shall be full face four -inch (4") brick.
6. In the event of a conflict between the provisions set forth in
the Master Deed and Bylaws, and the requirements set forth
in the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance No. 543, as
amended, the Zoning Ordinance requirements shall prevail,
and petitioner shall comply with the Zoning Ordinance
requirements.
7. That only a conforming entrance marker is approved with
this petition, and any additional signage shall be separately
submitted for review and approval by the Zoning Board of
Appeals.
8. That the petitioner shall include language in the Master
Deed and bylaws or a separate recordable instrument
wherein the condominium association shall reimburse the
City of Livonia for any maintenance or repair costs incurred
for the storm water detention/retention and outlet facilities,
and giving the City of Livonia the right to impose liens on
each lot owner's property pro rata and place said charges
on their real estate tax bills in the event said charges are not
paid by the condominium association (or each lot owner)
within thirty (30) days of billing for the City of Livonia.
9. That all required cash deposits, certified checks, irrevocable
bank letters of credit and/or surety bonds which shall be
established by the City Engineer pursuant to Article XVIII of
Ordinance No. 543, Section 18.66 of the ordinance, shall be
deposited with the City prior to the issuance of engineering
permits for this site condominium development; and
10. Pursuant to Section 19.10 of Ordinance #543, the Zoning
Ordinance of the City of Livonia, this approval is valid for a
period of one year only from the date of approval by City
Council, and unless a building permit is obtained, this
approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said
period.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion?
February 23, 2021
29881
Mr. Bongero: Just on condition #8 with the right to impose liens from the city...1
guess this would go to Mark. Is itjust because we know that there
is a problem with or there has been a problem in the past with
flooding in that area, so it is imperative that the detention pond is
serviced regularly, right? So, if the city comes in and they have
to service it, they are going to charge the association. Is there an
agreement that is going to be annual... like an annual service on
it? You know what I mean? Is that why that condition is worded
like that?
Mr. Taormina: That is standard language for these types of projects. It is
language that is not unique to this development. Whether this
area experiences flooding problems... what was referenced
earlier it does not have bearing on this particular condition in
terms of the sanitary sewer issue. This relates to the
maintenance of the storm water management basin I believe and
if there is a failure to maintain that then the city has the right to go
in there to perform the maintenance and then charge that back to
the owners within the development. That only happens in
circumstances where there has been a failure to maintain it. I am
not aware of there being an annual service check or anything like
that.
Mr. Bongero:
I know we kind of ran
into it in our neighborhood.
That is why I
was inquiring about it.
Mr. Taormina: I think it is in the event that there are any issues, the city will
inspect it and if they require maintenance to be performed and
there is a failure to do so, that is when that provision kicks in.
Mr. Bongero: Thank you.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Bongero. Any other questions or comments
regarding this motion?
Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution
adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving resolution.
ITEM #4 PETITION 2014-02-08-02
Victor East
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, request for
an Extension of Petition 2014-02-08-02 which previously
received approval by the City Council on April 21, 2014 (Council
Resolution #104-14), to construct a one-story office -research
building (Victor East) on property at 37640 Seven Mile Road,
February 23, 2021
29882
located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between Newburgh
Road and Victor Parkway in the Southeast Y4 of Section 6.
Mr. Taormina: This is a request to extend site plan approval for the development
of an office building located at the corner of Seven Mile Road and
Victor Parkway. The property in question is 6.4 acres in size, and
the name given to the project is Victor East. The original site plan
for Victor East was approved in 2014. Victor East involved the
development of a single -story 54,000 square foot office building.
Prior to 2014, the site has a long history connected with this
project that began in the mid-1990's with Oakwood Hospital. The
Oakwood proposal eventually led to a lawsuit and then a consent
judgement that was entered in 1998. Neither Oakwood nor the
subsequent approval of a 100,000 square foot office building
were ever built. This led to the 2014 approval of Victor East.made
possible by a third amendment to the consent judgement. Since
then, Victor East has been extended four times. The most recent
occurred on April 9, 2018, at which time Council granted a three-
year extension. This marks the fifth request to extend the site
plan. In a letter dated January 14, 2021, from Josh Suardini,
Vice -President of Etkin Management, Victor East L.L.C. is
requesting that the site plan be approved for an additional 36
months. I believe Josh is on the call this evening and can provide
additional information. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out
the departmental correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please.
Mr. Taormina: The first item is from the Treasurer's Department, dated
February 12, 2021, and it reads as follows: "In accordance with
your request, the Treasurer's Office has reviewed the addresses
connected with the above noted petition. At this time there are no
outstanding amounts receivable for taxes, therefore I have no
objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Lynda Scheel,
Treasurer. The next item is from the Finance Department, dated
February 19, 2021, and it reads as follows: "/ have reviewed the
address connected with the above noted petition. As there are
no outstanding amounts receivable (general or water and sewer),
I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by
Connie Kumpula, Chief Accountant. That is the extent of the
correspondence.
Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Any questions for our planning staff? If there are no
questions of our planning staff, Mr. Suardini is on the call this
evening. Good evening.
February 23, 2021
29883
Josh Suardini, Etkin Management, 150 West 2n Street, Royal Oak, MI. Yes,
coming in front of you guys again for a simple approval of an
extension of the site plan approval as Mark indicated for this
54,000 square foot single -story office building.
Or. Wilshaw: Okay. Is there any questions for the petitioner? I don't think so.
We have seen this a number of times and Mr. Suardini, we
appreciate you coming and continuing to represent Elkin on this
property.
Mr. Suardini: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Mr. Wilshaw: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to speak for or against
this item? I want to make sure I give the opportunity. I don't see
anyone else raising their hand. I will go to the commissioners and
ask for a motion.
On a motion by McCue, seconded by Bongero, and unanimously adopted, it was
#02-06-2021 RESOLVED, That the City Planning Commission does hereby
recommend to the City Council that Petition 2014-02-08-02 which
previously received approval by the City Council on April 21, 2014
(Council Resolution #104-14), to construct a one-story office -
research building (Victor East) on property at 37640 Seven Mile
Road, located on the north side of Seven Mile Road between
Newburgh Road and Victor Parkway in the Southeast Y4 of
Section 6, be approved subject to the following conditions:
That the request for an extension of waiver use approval by
Elkin Management, L.L.C, in a letter dated January 14,
2021, is hereby approved for a three-year period; and
2. That all conditions imposed by Council Resolution #104-14
in connection with Petition 2014-02-08-02, which permitted
the construction of a one-story office -research building, shall
remain in effect to the extent that they are not in conflict with
the foregoing condition.
ITEM #5 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,164th Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting
Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of
the Minutes of the 1,1641h Public Hearings and Regular Meeting
held on January 26, 2021.
On a motion by Smiley, seconded by McCue, and unanimously adopted, it was
February 23, 2021
29884
#02-07-2021 RESOLVED, That the Minutes of 1,1641h Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on January
261 2021, are hereby approved.
A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES: Long, McCue, Smiley, Bongero, Ventura,
Caramagno, Wilshaw
NAYS: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution
adopted.
On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,165�h Public
Hearings and Regular Meeting held on February 23, 2021, was adjourned at 8:23
p.m.
CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
Sam Caramagno, Sec etary
ATTEST:
Ian Wilshaw, Chairman