HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2005-03-0122069
MINUTES OF THE 901'' PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING
HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA
On Tuesday, March 1, 2005, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia
held its 901s' Regular Meeting in the Livonia City Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive,
Livonia, Michigan.
Ms. Carol Smiley, Acting Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Members present: William La Pine R. Lee Morrow Dan Piercecchi
H. G. Shane Carol Smiley
Members absent: Robert Alanskas John Walsh
Messrs. At Nowak, Planner IV; Scott Miller, Planner III; Ms. Debra Walter, Clerk -
Typist II, and Ms. Marge Roney, Program Supervisor, were also present.
Acting Chairman Smiley 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 anc/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 fling.
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 2005-01-01-01 DALY REALTY
Mr. Pieroecchi, Acting Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda,
Petition 2005-01-01-01, submitted by Daly Realty, LLC,
requesting to rezone property at 33101 Eight Mile Road, located
on the south side of Eight Mile Road between Farmington Road
and Shadyside Road in the Northwest 114 of Section 3 from P to
C-2.
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Ms. Smiley: We have received a letter dated February 15, 2005, from
Brashear, Tangora, Gallagher, Creighton and Amann, LLP, on
behalf of Daly Realty, LLC, requesting that this item be
adjourned to the next available meeting. The Commission has
approved this adjournment to the Public Hearings and Regular
Meeting of April 5, 2005.
Mr. Pieroecchi: We are going to leave it on the table.
Mr. Shane: Its not on the table, Dan.
Mr. Morrow: We're going to reschedule it.
Mr. Pieroecchi: Let's table it and then we'll vote on R.
Mr. La Pine: I'll move that it be tabled until April 5.
Mr. Morrow: Madam Chairman, I think if we table it, it leaves us to believe
that we had the public hearing, and we have not had the public
hearing. I would say we just adjourn it to April 5, and at that
time, we will have the public hearing.
Mr. Piercecchi: Sowe will adjourn ilio April 5.
ITEM #2 PETITION 2005-01-01-02 SE Michigan Management
Mr. Pieroecchi, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda,
Petition 2005-01-01-02, submitted by Southeastern Michigan
Management Company, requesting to rezone properly at 27480
and 27486 Five Mile Road, located on the north side of Five
Mile Road between Inkster Road and Foch Avenue in the
Southeast 1/4 of Section 13 from R-1 to R -C.
Mr. Nowak presented a map showing the property under petition plus the existing
zoning of the surrounding area.
Ms. Smiley: Is there any correspondence?
Mr. Miller: There two items of correspondence. The first letter is from the
Engineering Division, dated January 31, 2005, which reads as
follows: "Pursuant to your request, the Engineering Division has
reviewed the above -referenced petition. We have no objections
to the proposal. The following legal description should be used
for the parcel to be rezoned." The letter is signed by Robert J.
Schron, P.E., City Engineer. The second letter is dated
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Ms.
February 23, 2005, from Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Alderman who
Is the petitioner here this evening?
reside at 15317 Green Lane, stating their opposition to this
G. Myers, Southeastern Michigan Management Company, 42705 Grand
rezoning. That is the extent of the correspondence.
Ms. Smiley:
Are there any questions for the staff?
Mr. Morrow:
I'm looking at the map. On one map is appears that the whole
Are there any questions from the Commissioners?
site is under for rezoning to RC and then the other one seems to
Piercecchi:
say there's a portion to remain zoned R-1. On any action
Mr.
tonight, would that just limit the recommendation of RC to
On that rear portion there?
everything but the residential area, or is it the whole site that's
Piercecchi:
going RC? I want to make sure I understand what's before us.
Mr. Nowak:
On one of the maps, we outlined the entire area that was
involved in this proposal. However, they are excluding the north
140 feel. That area is not requested to be rezoned to RC.
Mr. Morrow:
Okay. Thank you.
Mr. LaPine:
If the northern part is not rezoned and stays R-1, from that
darker area back there which goes to the RC, if the RC was
developed and this plan was approved, then that R-1 property
would be landlocked because there is no road proposed to go
back to the R-1 properly. Is that correct?
Mr. Nowak:
The site plan does not indicate any means of access back to
that northerly portion.
Mr. LaPine:
So that parcel just sits back there from now to doomsday unless
the petitioner sells it off to the adjacent property owners. Is that
correct?
Mr. Nowak:
That's correct.
Ms.
Smiley:
Is the petitioner here this evening?
Ronald
G. Myers, Southeastern Michigan Management Company, 42705 Grand
River, Suite 201, Novi, Michigan 48375
Ms.
Smiley:
Are there any questions from the Commissioners?
Mr.
Piercecchi:
I'd like to follow up on the ...
Mr.
Myers:
On that rear portion there?
Mr.
Piercecchi:
What about that R-1 section?
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Mr. Myers: That rear portion . . we have two intents, offers to purchase
that rear portion there by adjacent land owners if we get our
rezoning and everything goes through. They would like to take
that and just maintain it as it is. There are trees and openness
back there.
Mr. Piercecchi: You're going to offer that...
Mr. Myers: We have two intents, two notices of offer to purchase.
Mr. Piercecchi: You're going to offer it for sale or you're just going to give it to
them?
Mr. Myers: It's going to be for sale at a good price.
Mr. Shane: As a general rule, we don't usually get into details on site plans
when we're talking about rezoning. On the other hand, I want to
be sure the property can be utilized for the purpose for which
you're asking. So right now, that site plan is deficient for side
yards. I'm just wondering if you had considered doing
something else with that building so that it does meet the side
yard requirements. For example, turning it 90 degrees or
whatever.
Mr. Myers:
We did look at this. If you do tum it 90 degrees, what it does do,
starts pulling it back more towards the north property line, and
it starts to all of a sudden hamper the look and the elevation
from Five Mile as you look at the building. You'd be looking at
an end of the unit instead of the entrances to all the units.
When you do that, it starts pulling it back closer to the
neighbors. What we have tried to do is to pull it as far south
close to Five Mile as possible so that we are maintaining that
open space at the rear ofthe building.
Mr. Shane:
Of course, the other obvious solution is to take off a couple
units.
Mr. Myers:
Well, you always have to look at something as being financially
feasible.
Mr.Shane:
Iunderstand.
Mr. Myers:
And when you do that, what happens is, you remove two units,
your land cost just jumps. And then you have to sit back and
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look and say, is it feasible to build it or are you going to price
yourself out of the game so to speak.
Mr. LaPine: To follow-up on Mr. Shane's line of thinking here, and I land of
think the same way about turning the building. To do some
compromising here, let's assume we lose one unit. Do you
know how much we could pick up for one side yard?
Mr. Myers: These units are stacked units, sir. So if you lose one ...
Mr. LaPine: You have to lose two.
Mr. Myers:
You've got to lose two.
Mr. LaPine:
If you turn it, how far back would it go, because you're still going
to be in the RC portion of your property. It won't affect this back
portion if you are successful in selling it off to the adjacent
property owners. I land of agree that I'd rather see it running the
opposite way than it is now. Have you ever shown us a plan
about how that would look?
Mr. Myers:
There was a plan that was done several years ago in regards to
having it tum thatway.
Mr. LaPine:
I thought there was too. I thought I had it but for some reason
or another, I can't seem to put my fingers on it.
Mr. Myers:
It was somewhere back in the past because there have been
several plans done on this.
Mr. LaPine:
Let me ask one more question then. Assuming that you gel
your approvals, and the R7 property in the rear was sold off to
the landowners, is it being bought by one person on the east
and one person on the west, or both people on the one side?
Mr. Myers:
Right now, one on the north and one on the west side.
Mr. LaPine:
Would the properly be split down the center? Is that what they
would do? It would have to be split somehow.
Mr. Myers:
It would be split somehow.
Mr. La Pine:
The two owners there would have to have it on the tax rolls.
Mr. Myers:
Yes, and it would be added to the tax rolls for their properties.
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Mr. La Pine:
The problem I see with that, if the property is going to be
maintained, both parties would have to agree to what they're
going to do back there, and I can see some problems there.
Maybe these two neighbors would want to buy it and would
work well together. If they sold off their property, the next
neighbor might say, hey I'm going to run a fence down the
center of this property or do something of that nature. Then the
next question I have, before I can even approve this, I would
want a guarantee that the properly is going to be sold to the
adjacent property owners. I mean that's very important to me.
Mr. Myers:
We do have two letters of intent signed by each of the property
owners.
Mr. Pieroecchi:
I'd like to ask fellow commissioner, H Shane, in regard to that
piece of property the R1: What if it doesn't gel sold? Are we
stepping into territory here that we shouldn't be in? If somebody
else buys it, and then we're forced to put in a road or things of
that nature. Has this game ever been played before?
Mr. Shane:
Without access, it cant be used.
Mr. Piercecchi:
Is that good planning to Iandlock something without have a final
judgment on that piece of property and a guarantee that its
either going to be given away or sold?
Mr. Shane:
Ordinarily, we don't like to do that. No. The logical solution is to
sell it to the adjacent owners.
Mr. Pieroecchi:
But what if they don't want to buy?
Mr. Shane:
Even if the whole thing is rezoned RC, then you're going to have
more units back there. I think the best thing to do is for him to
sell it eventually, and if he doesn't, then it remains a piece of
property connected to his and open space. That's the way I
would handle it.
Mr. Pieroecchi:
Okay. So it isn't paramount on us that we do resolve that
issue?
Mr. Shane:
I don't think you can resolve it at this point. You have to judge
the RC on its merits here, and let that fall as it may.
Mr. Pieroecchi:
Okay.
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Mr. La Pine:
H, can I ask you a question? You have your slide rule there. If
he turned this building, how far back would it go?
Mr. Shane:
You're reading my mind. It looks to me like it would extend
another approximately 60 feet back, which wouldn't even bring it
back to the northern edge of that parking lot there. The setback
is 75 feel, is it not AI?
Mr. Nowak:
That's correct.
Mr. Shane:
So if you see the 75 feet line there and if you measure the
building, to me another 60 feet or so isn't going to put that
building far enough back to cause any concem. To me, that's
the only way the property can be utilized unless he decides to
take some units off, which he probably isn't going to do.
Mr. La Pine:
I figured that too. I figured if he had to take up the parking lot
where we see it now, the 62 feet, then we have to have the
parking probably in the rear and some in the front.
Mr. Morrow:
I'm going to take a much simpler approach to this. I'm going to
put the site plan aside as it relates to developing the condos. I
don't think 1, as one commissioner, could support RC as a
portion of it and residential in the back because I'd like to see a
parcel as large as possible developed, not necessarily in this
fashion, but in some other fashion. By zoning it this way, we
preclude any type of extension or redo of the site plan. The
other thing, too, is we have a potential Iandlocking of a parcel
that may or may not be sold to the abutting neighbors. So from
a strictly zoning aspect, I couldn't support this petition. I would
like to see it developed in the full RC or at least a single family
or something of that nature. So basically that's where I'm
coming from.
Mr. Pieroecchi:
Lee, do you think it should all be RC? Is that what you're
saying?
Mr. Morrow:
I guess what I'm saying is we are potentially Iandlocking some
property. I don't know why we're not rezoning the whole thing to
RC, which gives us the largest amount of space to develop in
some fashion. I just can't support it as its presented tonight
from that basis. I don't want to get hung up on the site plan
tonight. I mean that's something we would consider at another
meeting. It may conform and it may not conform, but I was
hoping that the petitioner would integrate this whole
development on the entire site and give us something that is
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Mr. La Pine: I guess I understand everybody's point of view here, but the
ideal situation here, to my way of thinking, is the whole property
be rezoned R-1. But the problem we have here is that the back
portion of the property is only 143 feet. If we put a 50 foot road
there, it would not conform to the R1 regulations because you
need 60 by 120. So you cant put any houses in back there. It's
just impossible to do. If we give them on okay to use the whole
properly for RC, the property owners back there who protested
conforming and fits in with the abutting neighborhood. But I'm
just one commissioner. That's where I'm coming from.
Mr. Myers:
Would you like to see the letter of intent that is signed by the
adjacent property owners?
Mr. Morrow:
I was trying to come from the standpoint ... its a letter of intent.
It may or may not come to fruition. I'm just coming from sinctly
a zoning standpoint, looking at the parcel in two sections rather
than one.
Mr. Piercecchi:
I see Mr. Morrow's point, but RC, which was the second shot
that was done on that particular site, and there was a valid
protest. That's why that whole package was turned down once
before. We're kind of repeating what we did before, but I don't
think we should get that involved in the site plan tonight. I really
don't because there are many things about that plan. There are
no garages. You know, this is not a motel project. I think it
should have garages. There are ways. I don't know about
exact dimensions on the Sl. Martins property. At was going to
look intolhalfor me. Would one ofthose unitsflon there Al?
Mr. Nowak:
I did look into that. I did a quick analysis. Because those are
larger buildings because they include attached garages, you
couldn't fit it so that long access to the building was parallel to
Five Mile Road. You need at least 230 feet to do that, and this
property has a width of 202. But if you turned it 90 degrees, it
appears that one of those 12 units buildings could fit on this
property.
Mr. Piercecchi:
Okay. So they could basically follow the St. Martins plan, rotate
it, get 12 units in there and each unit with a garage?
Mr. Nowak:
Yes.
Mr. Piercecchi:
Okay. That's what I wanted to know. I don't want to belabor the
site plan business.
Mr. La Pine: I guess I understand everybody's point of view here, but the
ideal situation here, to my way of thinking, is the whole property
be rezoned R-1. But the problem we have here is that the back
portion of the property is only 143 feet. If we put a 50 foot road
there, it would not conform to the R1 regulations because you
need 60 by 120. So you cant put any houses in back there. It's
just impossible to do. If we give them on okay to use the whole
properly for RC, the property owners back there who protested
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before because they didn't want two-story condos up that high
on their back portion of the property, then we've got another
problem because if they have the protest petition, maybe the
Council would have six votes and maybe not. I don't know. So
I think we're kind of caught in the middle here of what really we
can do. Maybe the solution, as Mr. Pieroecchi pointed out here,
instead of going to the 16 units, we go to 12 units. I'm not in
favor of zoning it all RC unless I know beforehand what's going
to be developed there quite frankly. I know that's not the right
way to go with just a rezoning pefilion, but I don't think d
realistically can be rezoned all to R-1.
Ms. Smiley: Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
against this petition?
Charles Miller, 15345 Green Lane. We were opposed to the condos before and
most of our neighbors on Green Lane are today. They were
supposed to be writing some letters and a couple of them
couldn't make it tonight. I know some of the people on Foch do
not want condos there. There was another site plan that they
showed us with an office building on Five Mile and four houses
built in the back. Most of the neighbors were for that. And then
they tum right around and come back with the condos. I have
the other site plan here that they had, but they never submitted
it. So there is a road and they can put four houses back here
and an office building on the front.
Ms. Smiley: Thank you for coming this evening
Mr. Myers:
Can I comment on that other site plan that Mr. Miller
commented about?
Ms. Smiley:
Sure.
Mr. Myers:
That was presented with an office building, and there were
going to be four single families in the rear. No matter which way
you go back to the rear, you're going to have to put a road in.
We had so many of the adjacent owners object to that road,
that's why my clients abandoned that particular plan and came
back with the condos. We're trying to keep the condos more
towards the south, towards the front of Five Mile to free up all
that vacant properly at the back so the people would not get this
feeling of a two-story condo being way back there. When you
do flip it the other way, I did find my site plan, you come almost
all the way back to where the jog is where Mr. Miller's property
is. So it does start to pop it further back, and the appearance
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Mr. La Pine: Well, due to the fad that I have to agree with Mr. Shane, I'd like
to see him come back with a plan shoving us the building
switched around. That's one alternative, I think. And the
second alternative, is there any possibility we can split this into
two different buildings instead of one long building? Maybe one
here and one behind it somehow. Maybe there's some other
alternative you may come up with. Therefore, I'll ask for a
tabling motion.
On a motion by LaPine, seconded by Shane, and unanimously adopted, it was
#03-18-2005 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on March 1, 2005, on
Petition 2005-01-01-02, submitted by Southeastern Michigan
Management Company, requesting to rezone property at 27480
and 27486 Five Mile Road, located on the north side of Five
that you would get from Five Mile would be like looking at a side
of the building instead of the front of a building. I'm sure that the
City would agree with me. It's much more pleasing to the eye to
look at the front of the building than it would be to look at the
side of building.
Mr. Shane:
Just as one commissioner, I'm going to tell you that if this is
rezoned RC, and the site plan as submitted doesn't meet the
zoning ordinance, I'm not going to approve it. That's why I'm
speaking about the site plan because I want to make sure that
the plan is going to work before I'm going to vole for rezoning. If
you continue in the attitude I've heard now, I'm not going to vole
for rezoning. I'll tell you that right now.
Mr. Myers:
There's no attitude. I'll tell you. I'm just trying to present...
Mr. Shane:
I don't mean yours. I'm talking about your petitioners insistence
on having the building the way it is. It seems to me that another
60 feel back isn't going to change very much at all.
Mr. Myers:
It is something I will presentto my dients.
Mr.Shane:
Great. Thank you.
Ms. Smiley:
Is there is nothing else, a motion is in order.
Mr. La Pine:
Did we gotothe audience?
Ms. Smiley:
Yes.
Mr. La Pine: Well, due to the fad that I have to agree with Mr. Shane, I'd like
to see him come back with a plan shoving us the building
switched around. That's one alternative, I think. And the
second alternative, is there any possibility we can split this into
two different buildings instead of one long building? Maybe one
here and one behind it somehow. Maybe there's some other
alternative you may come up with. Therefore, I'll ask for a
tabling motion.
On a motion by LaPine, seconded by Shane, and unanimously adopted, it was
#03-18-2005 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on March 1, 2005, on
Petition 2005-01-01-02, submitted by Southeastern Michigan
Management Company, requesting to rezone property at 27480
and 27486 Five Mile Road, located on the north side of Five
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Mile Road between Inkster Road and Foch Avenue in the
Southeast 114 of Section 13 from R-1 to R -C, the Planning
Commission does hereby recommend that Pefition 2005-01-01-
02 be tabled to allow the petitioner more time to prepare and
submit additional information that would demonstrate that the
subject property could be developed in compliance with RC
district regulations and in a manner that would adhere to good
design criteria.
Ms. Smiley, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will be tabled and we hope you will come
back with a plan that is more acceptable so that we can
consider the rezoning.
Mr. Myers: Okay, I will discuss it with my clients and see what we can come
up with. Thank you very much for your time.
ITEM #3 PETITION 2005-01-02-01 MNC MOTORS
Mr. Pieroecchi, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda,
Petition 2005-01-02-01, submitted by MNC Motors, Inc.,
requesting waiver use approval to operate an indoor showroom
for the sales and display of used automobiles at 28780
Plymouth Road, on property located on the north side of
Plymouth Road between Middlebelt Road and Hartel Avenue in
the Southwest % of Section 25.
Mr. Nowak presented a map showing the property under petition plus the existing
zoning of the surrounding area.
Ms. Smiley: Is there any correspondence?
Mr. Miller: There are six items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated January 31, 2005, which reads
as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the Engineering Division
has reviewed the above -referenced petition. We have no
objections to the proposal. The following description should be
used." The letter is signed by Robert J. Schron, P.E., City
Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue
Division, dated February 4, 2005, which reads as follows: "This
office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a
request to operate an indoor showroom for sales and display of
used automobiles on property located at the above referenced
address. We have no objections to this proposal with the
following stipulations: (1) If subject building is to be provided
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with an automatic sprinkler system, a hydrant shall be located
between 50 feet and 100 feet from the Fire Department
connection. (2) Due to the noted width of 22 feet, this Division
requests that the entrance drive be posted (on both sides) 'Fire
Lane — No Parking'. (3) Fire lanes shall be not less than 20 feet
of unobstructed width, able to withstand live loads of fire
apparatus, and have a minimum of 13 feet 6 inches of vertical
clearance. (4) An approved turnaround for fire apparatus shall
be provided where an access mad is a dead end and is in
excess of 150 feet in length. The authority having jurisdiction
shall approve the grade, surface, and location of the fire lane.
(5) T or Y turnaround arrangements shall be permitted. (6) Fire
lanes shall be marked with freestanding signs or marked curbs,
sidewalks, or other traffic surfaces that have the words 'fire lane
— no parking' painted in contrasting colors at a size and spacing
approved by the authority having jurisdiction." The letter is
signed by Donald F. Donnelley, Sr. Fire Inspector. The third
letter is from the Division of Police, dated February 9, 2005,
which reads as follows: We have reviewed the plans in
connection with a proposal by MNC Motors to operate an indoor
showroom at 28780 Plymouth Road. We have no objections or
recommendations to the plans as submitted." The letter is
signed by Dave Studt, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth
letter is from the Inspection Department, dated February 11,
2005, revised, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your
request of January 26, 2005, the above- eferenced petition has
been reviewed. The following is noted. (1) This site has an
uncompleted expired new building permit due to lack of
inspections since June 1, 2004. This permit may have to be
renewed and all original conditions completed. HVAC, plumbing
and electrical work will need permits and inspection approvals
also. (2) This waiver use will require an exception from a super
majority of the Council per Section 19.06. The frontage is
deficient 30 feet of the required 100 feet, and the lot area is
deficient 3,440 square feet of the required 21,780 square feet.
(3) This use, if approved, will require a zoning compliance and
alteration permit with submittals to the Fire Marshal. (4) There
appears to be no method or area to do any type of work on
these used vehicles. It may not be done outside. What is their
proposal for such work? This Department has no further
objections to this petition." The letter is signed by Alex Bishop,
Assistant Director of Inspection. The fifth letter is from the
Plymouth Road Development Authority, dated February 18,
2005, which reads as follows: At the 165th Regular Meeting of
the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia
held on February 17, 2005, the following resolution was
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unanimously adopted. #2005-7 Resolved, that the Plymouth
Road Development Authority does hereby recommend that the
request submitted by MNC Motors, Inc. requesting waiver use
approval to operate an indoor showroom for the sales and
display of used automobiles at 28780 Plymouth Road, on
property located on the north side of Plymouth Road between
Middlebe/t Road and Hartel Avenue in the Southwest % of
Section 25 (Petition 2005-01-02-01), be denied for the following
reasons: (1) That the building is not suitable for the purpose
intended by this petition and as further illustrated on the
proposed floor plan; (2) That the waiver use will be maintained
after the petitioner is no longer operating this business, and
other similar uses likely to follow will not be required to have the
regulatory review to more property control the intended use, and
(3) That the petitioner is looking at a short-term proposition at
this location and therefore may not make the necessary
commitments and improvements to the property to more
carefully control and operate the facility in the best interests of
the neighboring area." The letter is signed by John J. Nagy,
Director. The last letter was received by the Planning
Commisson on March 1, 2005, from Mr. and Mrs. Peter
Ministrelli, 11799 Camden, slating their opposition to this
petition. That is the extent of the correspondence.
Ms. Smiley: Is the petitioner here this evening?
Antonio Corso, MNC Motors, Inc., 16183 Clarkson, Unit 206, Fraser, Michigan
48026.
Ms. Smiley: Is there anything you'd like to add to the presentation?
Mr. Corso: First of all, the Plymouth Road whatever ... I spoke to John
Nagy. Somebody called me five minutes before the meefing. I
was never aware there was a meeting. So I didn't have a
chance to tell them what I was doing and what was happening.
Everybody seems to think it is a temporary use. It's not a
temporary use. Did everybody get the letter that l wrote?
Ms. Smiley: Yes. Thank you.
Mr. Corso: It's not a temporary use. If it is approved, I'll move my operation
and I'll be here forever. I have three daughters. I have to send
them through college, get them marred. I'm here for the
duration. As far as the Plymouth Road, I mean I did everything
they wanted me to do. I built a nice building. I have a nice
landscaping plan. Hopefully it will be approved. I'll finish the
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landscaping up. Another thing is, there's a lot of questions
about how I'm going to get the cars in and out and all this other
stuff. If you're familiar with the car business, once a customer
comes in and looks at the vehicle, he likes the vehicle. What we
do is get him financed. We get his insurance. Everything is
okay. Then once everything is approved, and he's a serious
buyer, we move a few cars around and we lel the customer
drive the car. We're not here to road test cars. We're here to
purchase cars. So as far as worrying about moving cars in and
out, that's not really a big deal. I'm not opposed to working. I
mean I need to do something with this building. As they said,
we haven't had permits on the building. Its been up for a while.
I've had real estate people bere. I can't get this building leased
out. You drive up and down Plymouth Road and you can see all
the vacancies. We need to just maybe think out of the box.
We've got to do something with this empty building. I cant keep
making payments on it. The taxes are going to be coming up.
Cities want everybody to do this, do that, colors, they worried
about all kinds of stuff. But to step up to the plate and help
somebody out, and it's not like its a bad building. There's two
buildings over from me. People are worried about cars on the
outside, which I'm not going to have. They're all going to be
indoors. Two doors down from me, there's a repair shop.
There's cars all over the place. Half the cars aren't worth
$2,000 and no one seems to be worried about the way that
place looks. I'm going to have a place that's a beautiful looking
building, and all the vehicles are going to be inside, and they're
all top notch cars. You won't have any problems with the cars.
Other than that, any questions I might be able to answer for
you?
Ms. Smiley: Are there any questions from the Commissioners?
Mr. Morrow: You've touched something that I was going to ask you about.
We try at best to get people to commit that they will not store
things outside so it does not become a gigantic parking lot for
vehicles for sale.
Mr. Corso: I understand that.
Mr. Morrow: And you've just indicated one of the buildings in close proximity
is violating, or maybe not violating, but is maximizing the outside
storage. I'd have to take you at your word that your vehicles will
be inside. I think part of your problem is you've got a couple
non -conforming buildings as far as setback so you're removed
further back. It's a nice looking building.
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Mr. Corso:
Thank you.
Mr. Morrow:
And I know you've suffered the last few years trying to give it the
intended use. But that was my main concern is all of a sudden
we've got an outdoor display of used cars.
Mr. Corso:
Right. And as I said, I'll put it in writing. I understand in writing
it doesn't matter but I mean I'm telling you I won't do it, and I
won't do it. I mean you probably have people drive around.
Write me a violation. Do whatever you've got to do, but I can
tell you, there will be no cars outside. In fad, the nice part is
like today, it was snowing. Most used car lots got to knock all
the snow off and move all the cars out of the way, shovel all the
snow off. This is the beauty of this. I can park them all inside. I
never have to move a car. I dont have to worry about weather.
I don't have to worry about insurance, people stealing stuff out
oflhe cars. Its an ideal situation.
Mr. Morrow:
So him long have you been marketing these relatively one, two
year old cars?
Mr. Corso:
I've been in the automobile business for over 20 years. I
wholesale in retail cars. I've been doing that for about five
years. I've been in the service end of it. I've been in the finance
end of it. I've been in the banking end of it. I've just about done
everything possible in the car business.
Mr. Morrow:
What's the oldest car you might market?
Mr. Corso:
I'm driving one. In fad, I just bought one today. Its a 2000
Taurus with 45,000 miles on it. I'll take anybody out there. Its
spotless. There isn't a scratch, a dent. I mean it's spotless.
And those are the kinds of cars I like to sell because they're
easy to sell and you don't have any grief. A guy drives the car
out and he's all set. And that's basically what these cars will be.
When you come in the showroom, there'll be no dents, no dings,
no nothing. Theyre safe, they're inspected and they all have
warranties. So a guy drives it, he's gone. And my thing is, I've
sold cars to people, car after car after car, because I sell them a
good car and I just get repeat business, unbelievable repeat
business.
Mr. Morrow:
How many are going to offset the fact that you can't display
them on the outside. How are you going to get traffic?
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Mr. Corso: Well, mostly ... like we're on that right now. I'm at a spot. Most
of my business comes from the Auto Trader magazine or
newspaper. Now what I'm going to do is, I'm going to have a
web site and when I advertise in this magazine, I'll have a web
site. You'll be able to go to the website and you'll be able to see
all the cars, the equpment on them, the mileage and everything.
So most of the cars . . I mean people don't drive around
Ioolting for cars anymore. They just simply don't have the time.
Mr. Morrow:
So we won't see banners or flags?
Mr. Corso:
No. Absolutely no banners. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. In
fad, the only thing you're going to see .. . if you drove by,
you've seen the awnings. You're going to see my name on @,
and we're going to have a website. That's all you'll see on the
building. There will be no fags, no banners, no anything. When
you drive up, the only thing you're going to see in there is
people working there, myself. I'll be working there and nothing
else. No cars out in the parking lot. They were asking about
repairing cars. I dont repair any of the cars. In fad, right there,
there's three repair shops, a body shop around the comer. So I
would do no repairs whatsoever. I like nice dean neat cars.
Mr. Morrow:
Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Shane:
Mr. Morrow and I were talking beforehand, and we were
wondering that if you're able to start operating this use, will you
still try to market the building?
Mr. Corso:
Absolutely not because if I commit to this, the gentleman that I
lease my building from, that I'm leasing right now, once I tell him
I'm gone, he's going to lease it to somebody else. So this is not
a one shot deal. Once I tell him I'm not going to be there, and to
find a location is extremely hard. So I'm not going to tell this
guy I'm leaving, if I don't have this 100% secured. And once I
come over here, this will be my place. This is it. Like I said, I
have three small children; I have college; I have weddings. I
have a lot of things to do. I mean everybody's got this
perception that I'm just going to be in here for a couple months
and try to get somebody in there. That's not the case.
Mr. Shane:
You dont anticipate more than 13 or 14 cars at any one fime?
Mr. Corso:
No. I deliver between 8 and 10 cars a month, and that's
basically what I'll do here. That's all I'm looking for - 8 to 10
cars and that's all I'll need. In fad, there's 14 cars that will fit in
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there. He said there's 13, but there's 14. But 8 to 10 is all that
I'm expecting to sell.
Mr. Piercecchi:
I wish the PRDA was here tonight, but they have a point. This
seems to be a pretty fine guy and we'd be voting for him rather
than the use. I don't want to see that happen, and maybe it will
happen.
Mr. Corso:
I guarantee itwont.
Mr. Piercecchi:
And the waiver use according to the PRDA, and of course we
concur on that, 'That the waiver use will be maintained after the
petitioner is no longer operating this business, and other similar
uses likely to follow will not be required to have the regulatory
review to more property control the intended use" You will
acknowledge on the letter that you sent to us on the 18"' of
February, you acknowledged it, and I quote: "I know this is not
an ideal building site for a used car lot." You acknowledge that.
So if there's any reluctance here, these are part of the things
that concerns me.
Mr. Corso:
Can I tell you what I mean by that?
Mr. Piercecchi:
Pardon?
Mr. Corso:
Can I tell you what I mean by that?
Mr. Piercecchi:
Yeah.
Mr. Corso:
Well, if I was building a used car lot on that site, I mean if we did
R right from the beginning, first of all the width wouldn't be what I
would like, but I would never build in a million years a building
that big to put on a used car lot. A typical used car lot would be
an 800 - 900 square foot building, maybe a little cleanup shop
on the side, and I would have all the frontage as parking and
use d like outside parking. But at the beginning of all this, this
was not by intent. I wanted to lease the building out. I thought it
was a good locafion. Everything was fine. Now two, three
years down the road, I have not even a single offer. I mean not
even one offer. So at this point, there's not a whole lot I can do.
I know what my taxes are going to be. You're going to want
your property taxes. I'm making payments on it. My hands are
fled. There's nothing I can do.
Mr. Piercecchi:
You said you wanted to have this building leased?
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Mr. Corso:
Yes, at the beginning. This is back in 2003, or 2002 was the
original purchase date.
Mr. Piercecchi:
The zoning, whatwas that, a C-1?
Mr. Corso:
C-2.
Mr. Piercecchi:
Let's just say you're in there for a couple years, and somebody
says, you've got a great site for a C-2. Will you come back then
for a C-2?
Mr. Corso:
Well, d is a C-2.
Mr. Piercecchi:
Not if we change it.
Mr. Corso:
No, I'm just looking for a waiver use. It already is a C-2. I'm not
changing the zoning. It's just a waiver use.
Mr. Piercecchi:
Oh, okay. I'm sorry.
Mr. LaPine:
I sympathize with you. Believe me. You've built a beautiful
building. Its loo beautiful in my opinion for a used car
dealership. But the problem I have, this is a waiver use. Waiver
uses go with the land. Now, you can stand here today and tell
me you're going to be there today and 10 years from now, 20
years from now. But I've been on this Board for a long time,
and that never happens. Actually, somebody is going to come
along and want your building and make you an offer you can't
resist and you're going to sell it and you're going to leave. But
the waiver use is there. He can use it for certain conditions
because there's been a waiver use approved on it. That's the
thing that worries me. Now, the other thing, if I understood you
right, did you tell me that if somebody comes in there and buys
a car, you gel the financing and everything for him, and after
everything is in order, then you let him take the car out to have a
demonstration ride?
Mr. Corso:
Yes.
Mr. LaPine:
I would never sign any land of papers until ...
Mr. Corso:
No, no, no. You're not signing any papers. I want to make
sure that you're able to purchase the vehicle. No, you're not
signing everything to drive the car. But you know there's so
many people that come in and say, boy, I'd love to have this car,
22087
but they can't afford the car. Oh, no, no. They're not going to
sign. No, no, no.
Mr. LaPine:
Okay, then I misunderstood you. Are you going to be doing any
car washing with these cars?
Mr. Corso:
No.
Mr. LaPine:
So the cars never gel washed.
Mr. Corso:
No. There's a car wash across the street. I'll wash the cars,
park them in the showroom, and then we'll just hand dry them
off inside. They'll never gel dirty. I mean, they're inside.
Mr. LaPine:
I have great sympathy for you, and you're not the only building
along Plymouth Road that's been empty for a long time.
Mr. Corso:
I understand, but that doesn't help me.
Mr. LaPine:
I understand that.
Mr. Corso:
I told you, if I could put in writing for you to make you feel any
better that I will not lease it or sell it to anybody in the use of
selling cars. I mean, I don't know what else I can tell you that I
will not do that. Other than I can put that in writing for you that I
will not lease it to anybody else.
Mr. Morrow:
As Mr. LaPine said, this particular waiver would run with the
land. Now, does that also induce any conditions that would be
placed on that waiver? Would that run with the land also
because anybody in the used car business, I can't imagine them
going into business with inside storage with no outside display
of cars. If these conditions are such as he indicates, and would
run with the land, along with the waiver, I feel a little more
comfortable. So am I getting concurrence there?
Ms. Smiley:
Is that correct?
Mr. Nowak:
Yes. Any conditions that are imposed on this waiver use
approval, the next person operating that type of business would
have to adhere to all those conditions.
Mr. Morrow:
Okay. Thank you.
Ms. Smiley:
So you could actually put in writing, I just want to make sure,
thatthere will no outside storage or repair?
ryi,1:1:1
Mr. Nowak:
Yes.
Mr. Corso:
I'd be fine with that.
Ms. Smiley:
Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
against this petition?
Doug Chilcoff,
11798 Camden, Livonia. On discussing this with a couple of my
immediate neighbors, myself also being in the auto industry for
over 20 years, our biggest concern is there's a bus slop right at
Camden. There's going to be increased traffic on test drives. As
Mr. LaPine pointed out, there's going to be people who want to
drive these cars before they do anything else. Those people
are going to be driving up and down the street. They're going to
be down Plymouth Road. The traffic on that comer is going to
congest. As he mentioned, we've already got a problem with
the facility two doors down with cars being everywhere. Buying
and selling cars - there's going to be a point when his business
may get to a point where the facility is too small, which then will
put the cars outside. Also, I've talked to two or three of the
neighbors behind me on Hartel, and they are of the same
thought that lheyre thinking we're a dead end street as it is.
Traffic's pretty much minimal. It's going to increase the traffic
up and down our streets. We've got a lot of kcs running up and
down there. That was my biggest concem.
Ms. Smiley:
Thank you for coming this evening. Is there anyone else who
wishes to address this petition?
Mr. Corso:
Can I respond to that?
Ms. Smiley:
Yes, you get the final word.
Mr. Corso:
If somebody is going to do a road lest, they won't go down that
street. They'll go on Plymouth Road, come out, make a right
and go straight down. I also mentioned the neighbor directly to
the north of me, that abuts up to me. I went over and spoke to
him. He had no problem with it and he's directly behind me. He
says he has no problem with it. And I would make sure that
nobody road tests on that side street. I don't think anybody
would want to road lest on a side street. They'd probably want
logo on a road where you can take the car for awhile.
Mr. Morrow:
I don't want to get into an argument or anything like that, but my
experience tells me, at least what I'm hearing from this
22089
gentleman is, he is a C-2 classification which is intense
commercial. Based on what I heard tonight, eight to ten cars a
month, not by people pulling in but by people coming there
based on running off site what's available to look at, I would
assume, or I'm going to make the leap that the traffic at this
location will be much less than a normal C-2 classification. C-2
generally creates a great deal of traffic.
Mr. Corso: Like the donut shop next door. He does a good business by the
way.
Mr. Morrow: Anyway, that was my comment
Mr. Pieroecchi: We talked about conditions going with this waiver use. Do you
think that we should state that it would under the same
procedures that this gentleman is working then?
Mr. Shane: It would have to.
Ms. Smiley: Yes.
Mr. Pieroecchi: Cars all inside; no outdoor repair.
Mr. Morrow: We would have to tie it very tightly. Like I say, I'm only one
commissioner. We're only a recommending body.
Mr. Corso: I welcome that.
Mr. Morrow: I think that he recognizes he faces an uphill battle because of
the non -zoning compliance to begin with as it relates to the C-2
and the waiver.
Mr. Shane: Dan, ifwe read the resolution and its approved, that stipulation
is right in here as one of the conditions, so it will go right along.
What it is, is a matter of enforcement.
Mr. Pieroecchi: That's agood point
Mr. Shane: This gentleman has stated at a pudic meeting that he's going to
do what he's going to do.
Mr. Corso: I'll put it in writing for you too.
Mr. Shane: We'll take him at his word, I guess. If this resolution is
approved, it goes along with the waiver use.
22090
Mr. Piercecchi: I didn't bother reading these because I didn't know whether
they'd be accepted by the team here. Where does it state that
there will be no outdoor parking or storage?
Mr.Shane: Condifions four and five.
Mr. Piercecchi: Four and five. "Thal all vehicles offered for sale shall be
displayed and/or stored inside the building only." Okay.
Ms. Smiley: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Mr. Corso: Please approve it.
Ms. Smiley: Okay. A motion is in order.
On a motion by Shane, seconded by Morrow, and adopted, it was
#03-19-2005 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on March 1, 2005, on
Petition 200501-02-01, submitted by MNC Motors, Inc.,
requesting waiver use approval to operate an indoor showroom
for the sales and display of used automobiles at 28780
Plymouth Road, on properly located on the north side of
Plymouth Road between Middlebell Road and Hartel Avenue in
the Southwest % of Section 25, the Planning Commission does
hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 200501-02-
01 be approved subject to the following conditions:
1. That the Floor Plan marked Sheet A-1 prepared by D'Anna
Associates Architects & Planners, dated January 7, 2005,
is hereby approved and shall be adhered to;
2. That the revised North Elevation Plan marked Sheet 42
prepared by D'Anna Associates Architects & Planners,
dated January 7, 2005, is hereby approved and shall be
adhered to, and there shall be no additional changes to the
exterior of the building, other than signage, unless
approved bythe Planning Commission and City Council;
3. That repair or maintenance work on vehicles shall not be
conducted atthis site;
4. That all vehides offered for sale shall be displayed and/or
stored inside the building only;
22091
5. That there shall be no outdoor parking or storage of
disabled, damaged or dismantled vehicles and no
overnight outdoor parking or storage of any vehicles on the
site;
6. That the following issues as outlined in the correspondence
dated February 11, 2005, from the Inspection Department
shall be rectified to that departments satisfaction:
That the expired new building permit will be renewed as
required and all original conditions shall be completed;
That this use, if approved, will require a zoning
compliance and alteration permit with submittals to the
Fire Marshal;
7. That the petitioner shall comply with the stipulations listed
in the correspondence dated February 4, 2005, from the
Livonia Fire and Rescue Division:
If subject building is to be provided with an automatic
sprinkler system, a hydrant shall be located between 50
feel and 100 feel from the Fire Department connection;
Due to the noted width of 22 feel, this Division requests
that the entrance drive be posted (on both sides) "Fire
Lane — No Parking;'
Fire lanes shall be not less than 20 feet of unobstructed
width, able to withstand live loads of apparatus, and
have a minimum of 13 feet 6 inches of vertical
clearance;
An approved turnaround for fire apparatus shall be
provided where an access road is a dead end and is in
excess of 150 feet in length; the authority having
jurisdiction shall approve the grade, surface, and
location of the fire lane;
T or turnaround arrangements shall be permitted;
Fire lanes shall be marked with freestanding signs or
marked curbs, sidewalks, or other traffic surfaces that
have the words "Fire Lane — No Parking' painted in
contrasting colors at a size and spacing approved by
the authority having jurisdiction;
22092
8. That this approval is subject to the minimum lot width and
area requirements for a motor vehicle sales facility being
modified by the City Council by means of a separate
resolution in which two-thirds of the City Council concur;
9. That only conforming signage is approved with this petition,
and any additional signage shall be separately submitted
for review and approval by the Planning Commission and
City Council;
10. That all other conditions imposed by Council Resolution
#439-03, which granted site plan approval for the
development of the subject property, shall remain in effect
to the extent that they are not in conflict with the foregoing
conditions; and
11. That the specific plans referenced in this approving
resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department
atthe time the building permits are applied for.
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons:
1. That the proposed use complies with all of the general
waiver use standards and requirements as set forth in
Section 19.06 ofthe Zoning Ordinance #543;
2. That the subject site has the capacity to accommodate the
proposed use; and
3. That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony
with the surrounding uses in the area.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that rotice of the above hearing was
given in accordance with the provisions of Section 23.05 of
Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended.
Ms. Smiley: Is there any discussion?
Mr. La Pine: I intend to vole no on this proposal. I believe what this
gentleman says. I think he's really sincere in everything he
stated here this evening. My position is, this is a waiver use.
No matter how many restrictions we put in the resolution, I still
have my doubts that will always be what will happen. Secondly,
we spent a lot of money, a lot of money, supposedly to beautify
Plymouth Road. The beautification of Plymouth Road also not
22093
only means the beautification of the buildings and other things,
but also to bring in a little higher caliber type of business than an
used car lot. I realize there's a number of used car lots and new
car dealerships along Plymouth Road, but they've been there
for many, many years. I don't believe this is the right
enhancement for what we want Plymouth Road to look like and
therefore I'm going to be voting against it.
Mr. Morrow: One of the reasons I supported this motion by Mr. Shane is I
was cognizant of the fad that the Plymouth Road Development
Authority was not in favor of this, even despite the fact that the
petitioner wasn't given the opportunity and was unable to make
his case before them. I dont want to go on record as voting for
something that I think, let's say, detracts from the aesthetics of
what theyre trying to accomplish on Plymouth Road. However,
based on what I heard tonight with the restrictions, basically
we're going to have a completed building and relatively no
parking outside. All business as far as used cars would be
inside. So in my way of thinlang, I don't see how that detracts
from a G2 zoning that would have a lot more cars pulling in and
out of it. So I'm comfortable with supporting the motion. Thank
you.
Ms. Smiley: Mr. Percecchi, would you call the roll?
A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES: Shane, Morrow, Smiley
NAYES: LaPine, Piercecohi
ABSTAIN: None
ABSENT: Alanskas, Walsh
Ms. Smiley, Acting 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 2005-01-02-02 DCA, LLC
Mr. Piercecchi, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda,
Petition 2005-01-02-02, submitted by DCA, LLC, requesting
waiver use approval for the outdoor storage of vehicles and
materials in connection with a lawn care business at 33760
Plymouth Road, located on the north side of Plymouth Road
between Farmington Road and Stark Road in the Southeast
of Section 28.
22094
Mr. Nowak presented a map showing the property under petition plus the existing
zoning ofthe surrounding area.
Mr. Morrow:
Madam Chairman, I have a question for the staff. Can we go
back to the zoning map? The C-2 there is Consumers Power.
Is that Consumers' building?
Mr. Nowak:
Here is where the Consumers Power building is.
Mr. Morrow:
Do they have any at the industrial portion?
Mr. Nowak:
Yes, this is still part of their property back to this line here, and
that is zoned M-1. This property is splilzoned M-1 and C-2.
Mr. Morrow:
Did we not just recently send to Council a resolution to amend
the Future Land Use Plan for residential in that area?
Mr. Nowak:
Medium density residential is the proposed designation for that
property on the Future Land Use Plan.
Mr. Morrow:
But are we considering changing that particular area as far as
the Future Land Use Plan?
Mr. Nowak:
Yes.
Mr. Morrow:
One of the concerns I had was perhaps should that come to
fruition through future land use and subsequent zoning and
development, I'm not sure that we want outside storage of
vehicles back there, but that's long range planning. I just
wanted to gel that out of the way. Thank you.
Ms. Smiley:
Is there any correspondence on this petition?
Mr. Miller:
There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated January 27, 2005, which reads
as follows: 'Pursuant to your request, the Engineering Division
has reviewed the above -referenced petition. We have no
objection to the proposal except that the vehicle storage area
should be paved. Our records indicate that right-of-way should
be dedicated as follows (legal description). If the Planning
Commission and City Council wish to limit the waiver use to the
northern portion of the parcel, we recommend that the following
description be used." The letter is signed by Robert J. Schron,
P.E., City Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire &
Rescue Division, dated February 4, 2005, which reads as
22095
follows: "This office has mviewed the site plan submitted in
connection with a request for approval of outdoor storage of
vehicles and materials in connection with a lawn cam business
on property located at the above -referenced address. We have
no objections to this proposal with the following stipulation: Fire
apparatus access to parking area shall be not less than 20 feet
of unobstructed width, able to withstand live loads of fire
apparatus, and have a minimum of 13 feet 6 inches of vertical
clearance." The letter is signed by Donald F. Donnelley, Sr. Fire
Inspector. The third letter is from the Division of Police, dated
February 9, 2005, which reads as follows: We have reviewed
the plans in connection with a proposal by Hollywood Lawn
Care at 33720 Plymouth Road. We have no objections or
recommendations to the plans as submitted." The letter is
signed by David Sludl, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth
letter is from the Inspection Department, dated February 9,
2005, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request of
January 26, 2005, the above -referenced petition has been
reviewed. The following is noted. There are several issues with
the pre-existing noncronforming mixed use property. (1) There
is no zoning compliance for Hollywood Lawn Cam. (2) This
property should be split and separate tax ID numbers issued per
the Assessing Department rules. Then easements should be
recorded for ingress and egress. (3) The parking areas and
storage areas must be fully hard surfaced. The storage area
should be better defined and utilized for usable materials and
not as a dumping ground. Vehicles and/or trailers should be
fully operational also. (4) The Commission and/or Council may
wish to address the lack of a fully fenced area as required. This
Department has no further objections to this petition." The letter
is signed by Alex Bishop, Assistant Director of Inspection. That
is the extent of the correspondence.
Ms. Smiley: Is the petitioner here this evening?
Gary Daniels, DCA, LLC, 48321 North Territorial, Plymouth, Michigan 48170.
Ms. Smiley: Is there anything you'd like to add to the presentation?
Mr. Daniels: I'm the new owner of the property here. It is my understanding
that Hollywood has been parking his vehicles for the last 14
years with no issues. So I'm kind of not sure why ... something
must have changed to have this needed to be a waiver. You
had a map up there and Mr. Morrow was saying that the zoning
was going to be changed in the blue area.
22096
Mr. Morrow:
What I was saying was it's a long way from changing that
zoning. The Future Land Use Plan only indicates what we
would like to see developed in that area. It has nothing to do
with zoning or changing zoning. It's just that if we had our best
way, we would encourage people to request it be zoned to
medium density residential. I don't want to lead you to believe
that we're in the throes of rezoning that property. It's a long way
from that, but we would sure like to see it developed in that
area.
Mr. Daniels:
Okay. Like I said, Hollywood has been panting for 14 years.
My point right now, it helps me pay the taxes on the property
back there, along with I believe he maintains the grass cutting.
The grass does get overgrown. So at this point in time, I think
if s good for the community that's next to us.
Ms. Smiley:
Are there any questions from the Commissioners?
Mr. La Pine:
Over the 14 years that Hollywood has been there, have they
done anything to enhance the property, upgrade it, do anything
for it, make it better?
Mr. Daniels:
If I can bring Steve up. He used to be part owner of the
property here, so he has more history on it than I do. He's the
owner of Hollywood, and he might be able to address that better
than I can.
Ms. Smiley:
Could you give us your name and address?
Steven Klein, 35991 Perth, Livonia.
Mr. LaPine:
What have you done over the last 14 years to enhance the
property, make the property better, beautify d?
Mr. Klein:
The property before the sale to Mr. Daniels was purchased in
1949 by my grandparents. Myself, as a kid, I grew up there. My
parents built the buildings, which Mr. Daniels currently owns,
and the area that I'm panting in actually was fanned by my
grandparents. Upon their age and whatnot, I've always
maintained the property since I was a child. I've been parking
my vehicles there since 1989 with permission from my
grandmother. My trucks and stuff have been back there since
then. I was approached by the Plymouth Road beautification in
approximately 1997 or 1998 when you guys were working on
that project. I was told at that lime that the parking of vehicles,
due to the fact that it was zoned industrial, was not breaking any
22097
ordinances with the City of Livonia. I'm paying rent to Mr.
Daniels, and that was part of the deal upon the sale of the
property when we sold it to him in 2003, that I would continue to
stay there and pay the rent for the property. As far as
enhancing the property, I maintain it. I do the snow removal. I
keep the grass mowed. We've got issues with Consumers on
one side. Then with CAT moving out of there last year, we had
a lot of issues with that whole fence line down the west side of
the property line, which we maintain our end, and I was also
taking care of CAT. I just maintain it.
Mr. LaPine:
Well, as I staled in a previous case when you were here, I dont
believe a landscaping firm on Plymouth Road enhances what
we're trying to do on Plymouth Road with the amount of money
being spent on that road.
Mr. Klein:
Did you see where we're although? You can't see us.
Mr. LaPine:
I was out at your property. I checked it out. I'll give you an
example. We
just approved a landscaping building or
enhancing of a landscaping building on Stark Road- Clippers.
Mr. Klein:
That's Ed McIntosh. I'm agood fiend of his.
Mr. LaPine:
Okay. Now there, in my opinion, they've done something to
enhance the looks of that building, the front of that building.
Mr. Klein:
Theyre selling material.
Mr. LaPine:
I know it and they're allowed to do it because they happen to be
in the M-1 district just like you are, but at least they've done
something to enhance the building from the outside. You go by
there, it's beautiful. Theyve got a waterfall there.
Mr. Klein:
Yes, it's gorgeous.
Mr. LaPine:
There's nothing there. To me, that doesn't do nothing to
enhance my way of thinlang what we're trying to do on Plymouth
Road.
Mr. Klein:
I'm not trying to sell anything on Plymouth Road. All I'm doing is
parking the vehicles there. That's it.
Mr. LaPine:
I understand that.
22098
Mr. Klein:
If I build a building back there, how is that going to enhance it?
You wont even be able to see it.
Mr. LaPine:
You wouldn't be able to see the trucks either.
Mr. Klein:
It's hard to see them.
Mr. LaPine:
I'm not going to argue, but that's my own personal opinion.
Mr. Shane:
Are you aware of the requirement for paving the entire area
where the trucks are stored on and that fencing is required
around that area?
Mr. Daniels:
I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. Can you repeat the question,
please?
Mr. Shane:
The zoning ordinance requires that if this is approved, that you
must pave the area where the trucks are stored.
Mr. Daniels:
I understand that.
Mr. Shane:
You understand that?
Mr. Daniels:
I spoke with an Alex Bishop and his letter to the Commission
here, he cited it to be a hard surface, and in a report from Bob
Schron, he said it would need to be paved. I'm not sure what
the differences are between the responses from the
departments. One said hard surfaced, one said paved. So
maybe some clarification there.
Mr. Shane:
But my question to you was, are you willing to do that?
Mr. Daniels:
For the area where the trucks are being parked?
Mr.Shane:
Yes.
Mr. Daniels:
That's something we'll need to discuss with Steve from
Hollywood and see if that's something that would make sense
for us to do.
Mr. Shane:
I just wanted to make sure you were aware of those
requirements, and also for tend rig.
Mr. Daniels:
I spoke with Alex Bishop on fencing. He was not concerned if
there was not a fence on the front of the property. He did not
22099
Mr. Morrow: No, I didn't. It looked to me like there was one area that was
mounded up with a lot of excess dirt or something. It didn't look
to me like it was a part of landscaping soils or anything like that.
It just looked like it was dumped there, but I'm not really a expert
on landscaping materials either. So, I don't know where we're
going with this, but whether its approved or not, if it were
approved, we certainly wouldn't want a lot of dumping back
there.
have a problem if there was no fencing put there, and that was
the conversation on 2/18 with him.
Mr.Shane:
Okay. Thank you.
Ms. Smiley:
Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
against this petition?
Mr. Daniels:
I just had one other thing. So far as an improvement on the
back end, I've been here probably 14 months and the owner of
the place. Obviously my intent is not to have an acre and half of
land sit there vacant and with how its working right now, this
was a nice ...for a time period, to have Hollywood, help him out
with his business. Times are tight. It's good for him; its good
for me. Certainly I understand in the future, a few years down
the road, I do intend to do something with that back property to
develop it, to generate some tax and generate some more
revenue for myself.
Mr. Morrow:
I noticed behind the row of trucks that were parked there the
day I looked at it, there's some debris stored back there and a
lot of miscellaneous items. Is that part of the Hollywood
operation?
Mr. Daniels:
What is behind the trucks is not DCA's. I believe that is from
Steve's business there. It looks to be supplies left over from
work. The time I've been there, I've not seen him using it as
space for inventory.
Mr. Morrow:
You know, landscaping supplies require some outdoor storage
of items, but we don't like to look forward to using it as a
dumping grounds either for excess materials that are just
dumped helter skelter and not really a part of the operation.
Mr. Daniels:
When I walk back there, it seems like things are nicely stacked
and kind of in order. I'm not sure if you've walked back there.
Mr. Morrow: No, I didn't. It looked to me like there was one area that was
mounded up with a lot of excess dirt or something. It didn't look
to me like it was a part of landscaping soils or anything like that.
It just looked like it was dumped there, but I'm not really a expert
on landscaping materials either. So, I don't know where we're
going with this, but whether its approved or not, if it were
approved, we certainly wouldn't want a lot of dumping back
there.
22100
Mr. Daniels:
I understand that.
Mr. Morrow:
Good housekeeping is one was to phrase it.
Ms. Smiley:
Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
against this pefifion? Seeing no one, is there anything else you
want to say?
Mr. Daniels:
No, I think I'm all set unless there s any questions you still might
need to ask me.
Ms. Smiley:
No, wejusl need a resolution.
Mr. Daniels:
Okay. I appreciate the time.
Ms. Smiley:
Thankyou.
On a motion by
La Pine, seconded by Shane, and unanimously adopted, ilwas
#03-20-2005
RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on March 1, 2005, on
Pefifion 2005-01-02-02, submitted by DCA, LLC, requesting
waiver use approval for the outdoor storage of vehicles and
materials in connection with a lawn care business at 33760
Plymouth Road, located on the north side of Plymouth Road
between Farmington Road and Stark Road in the Southeast
of Section 28, the Planning Commission does hereby
recommend to the City Council that Petition 2005-01-02-02 be
denied for the following reasons:
1. That the petitioner has failed to affirmatively shay that the
proposed use is in compliance with all of the special and
general waiver use standards and requirements as set
forth in Sections 16.11 and 19.06 ofthe Zoning Ordinance;
2. That the proposal fails to fully comply with the provisions of
the Zoning Ordinance relative to the requirement that the
lot area, except for the front yard setback, shall be
enclosed by a fence which shall be located and maintained
on the boundaries of such lot area with only such openings
therein as may be necessary for ingress and egress;
3. That the proposal fails to comply with the provisions of the
Zoning Ordinance relative to the requirement that the
parking areas and storage area must be fully hard
surfaced;
22101
4. That the proposal does not indicate that other issues of
concern listed in a letter dated February 9, 2005 from the
Inspection Departmentwill be rectified;
5. That the proposed parking/storage of contractors vehicles,
equipment and materials will be detrimental to the
maintenance of the site in an orderly and satisfactory
condition and will adversely affect the long term stability of
this area;
6. That the proposed use is incompatible to and not in
harmony with the surrounding uses in the area; and
7. That the proposed use does not represent an aesthetically
pleasing use that will enhance Plymouth Road.
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.
Ms. Smiley: Is there any discussion?
Mr. Shane: The reason I supported the denying resolution is that the waiver
use runs with the land, and I dont believe that this use is a good
permanent solution for the use of this land. That's principally
why I'm against it. I think a temporary storage of this kind of
material would be okay, but waiver uses are permanent, so I
would not like to see that happen.
Ms. Smiley, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. The petitioner has ten days to appeal the
decision to the City Council in writing.
ITEM #5 PETITION 2005-01-02-03 FIFTH THIRD BANK
Mr. Pieroecchi, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda,
Petition 2005-01-02-03, submitted by K4 Architecture, LLC, on
behalf of Fifth Third Bank, requesting waiver use approval to
construct a full service banking center with drive -up window
facilities at 19025 Newburgh Road, located on the west side of
Newburgh Road between Seven Mile Road and Kingsbum
Drive in the Northeast %of Section 7.
22102
Mr. Nowak presented a map shoving the property under petition plus the existing
zoning ofthe surrounding area.
Ms. Smiley: Is there any correspondence?
Mr. Miller: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated February 1, 2005, which reads
as follow: 'Pursuant to your request, the Engineering Division
has reviewed the above -referenced petition. We have no
objection to the proposal. There is a typographic error in the
legal description as submitted. The legal description should
read as follows. The drive approach to Seven Mile Road and
the detention facilities will require the approval of Wayne County
and the encroachment into the wetlands will require a permit
from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality." The
letter is signed by Robert J. Schron, P.E., City Engineer. The
second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated
February 4, 2005, which reads as follows: `This office has
reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a request to
construct a fuXservice banking center with drive -up window
facilities on property located at the above -referenced address.
We have no objections to this proposal with the following
stipulations: (1) If subject building is to be provided with an
automatic sprinkler system, a hydrant shall be located between
50 feet and 100 feet from the Fire Department connection. (2)
Due to the noted width of the drives of 16 feet and 20 feet, this
Division requests that `Fire Lane — No Parking" be posted on
building sides (east and west). (3) Access around building shall
be provided for emergency vehicles with turning radius up to
forty-five feet wall-to-wall and a minimum vertical clearance of
13N feet (4) Hydrant spacing in the commercial/retail
groupings shall be consistent with City of Livonia Ordinances.
(5) Fire lanes shall be marked with freestanding signs or marked
curbs, sidewalks, or other traffic surfaces that have the words
'Fire Lane — No Parking' painted in contrasting colors at a size
and spacing approved by the authority having junsdiction." The
letter is signed by Donald F. Donnelley, Sr. Fire Inspector. The
third letter is from the Division of Police, dated February 10,
2005, which reads as follows: We have reviewed the plans in
connection with a proposal by Fifth Third Bank for 19025
Newburgh Road. We submit the following for your review and
consideration: (1) We recommend a deceleration lane on
eastbound Seven Mile Road west of the driveway. (2) We
recommend a deceleration lane on southbound Newburgh Road
north of the driveway. (3) A stop sign is needed for exiting
vehicles at Seven Mile Road. (4) A stop sign is needed for
22103
exiting vehicles at Newburgh Road. (5) We recommend the
installation of no left tum signs at both exits." The letter is
signed by David W. Studt, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth
letter is from the Inspection Department, dated February 9,
2005, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request of
January 31, 2005, the above -referenced petition has been
reviewed. The following is noted. (1) As this project is a waiver
use in an OS District, the drive thru configuration is subject to
design approval by the Commission and Council. While this
design does not meet drive thru requirements in a Cl or C2
District, it may be acceptable to the Commission and Council.
The Commission and Council may wish to eliminate the fourth
space (diagonal) stacking spot to enable drivers to exit if they no
longer want to wait. (2) This petition will need to obtain sign
variances thru the Zoning Board of Appeals as they exceed
what is allowable in an OS District for a single tenant building.
They art= allowed a freestanding sign of up to 16 square feet
and a nameplate on the door. Anything else is excessive.
(excluding directional signage, etc.). This Department has no
further objections to this petition." The letter is signed by Alex
Bishop, Assistant Director of Inspection. That is the extent of
the correspondence.
Ms.
Smiley:
Are there any questions from the Commissioners for staff?
Mr.
LaPine:
Mr. Nowak, just one question. The two wall signs - are they the
two signs that are referenced on the plans with just a logo? It
says eight fool?
Mr.
Nowak:
That's coned. Those signs are approximately three feet by two
feel eight inches, l think it is.
Mr.
LaPine:
That's one on the east elevation and one on the north elevation.
Its just the logo. It doesn't have the Fifth Third Bank?
Mr.
Nowak:
No, just the logo.
Mr.
LaPine:
The only time Fifth Third Bank is applied is on the freestanding
sign. Is that correct?
Mr.
Nowak:
That's correct.
Mr.
LaPine:
Okay. Thankyou.
Ms.
Smiley:
Is the petitioner here this evening?
22104
Marcos Makohon, K4 Architecture, LLC, 26899 Northwestern Highway, Suite 208
Southfield, Michigan 48034.
Ms. Smiley:
Are there any questions from the Commissioners?
Mr. Piercecchi:
I'd like to make a comment, Madam Chairman. The letter you
submitted after our study meeting was very much appreciated.
The one that you sent to our Director, Mr. Taormina, regarding
the areas we discussed like deceleration lanes and no left turn
signs and no parking signs, etc., etc., that you complied with R.
1, for one, am grateful for your cooperation.
Mr. Makohon:
Thank you.
Mr. LaPine:
I'm the one that requested that you do some more landscaping
out in front there on the comer where you're going to have your
sign. I had it here in front of me a second ago, if I can find it
again. Are most of those flowers that you're going to plant out
there, are they going to be annuals?
Mr. Makohon:
There's a combination of perennial shrubs and also annuals that
each of our bank managers actually take it upon themselves to
go ahead and make that enhancement. To answer your
question directly, we actually eliminated two parking spaces out
of the comer to enhance that area.
Mr. LaPine:
And I appreciate that because as I mentioned, this is right, as
you come into Livonia, a very important intersection and we
really want it to be spruced up. Unfortunately, we have a gas
station on the other side and Federal Savings and Loan on the
other. The other question I have, your freestanding sign, is that
going to have a brick base on it? How is that sign being
constructed?
Mr. Makohon:
Yes. There is a brick base that matches the building brick and
then the sign sits on lop of it as a pedestal, yes.
Mr. LaPine:
And the sign will be lit up and go off atter the bank closes at
night?
Mr. Makohon:
I believe the sign stays on all the time, but I would verify that if
that's an issue.
Mr. LaPine:
Normally speaking, I and some other members along with me
would probably have some objection, but due to the fact that the
22105
Mr. Makohon:
Speedway sign is on all night, I guess I dont really have a big
hang up on this one. Thank you
Mr. Morrow:
Are you with the architectural firm?
Mr. Makohon:
Yes.
Mr. Morrow:
And you are representing your client, Fifth Third?
Mr. Makohon:
Yes, quite eminently. Actually, just the way we speak, we are
part of the bank.
Mr. Morrow:
That's always good.
Mr. Makohon:
Yes.
Mr. Morrow:
You own the property now or is it subject to approval of the site
Mr. Morrow:
plan?
Mr. Makohon:
It is subject to approval of the site plan, yes.
Mr. Morrow:
One thing that caught my attention was going to the Engineering
Department where you're required to obtain a permit from the
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and I think
that's because you're going in there and you're encroaching on
the wetlands.
Mr. Makohon:
Yes. The site as depicted, it's kind of an interesting challenge
where we're leaving a considerable amount of it untouched and
unaltered. Yes, we are encroaching on the wetlands. We're
mitigating quite a portion of it on the south side of our property,
or at least on that development. With any positive outcome
tonight, we'll do a parallel line through DEQ, through the County
for the Seven Mile Road entrance, so that we really have all of
ourducks in a row prior to final approval.
Mr. Morrow:
So I'm assuming you don't have the permit as of now?
Mr. Makohon:
No, not without at least the first step.
Mr. Morrow:
Do you have reason to believe you will not be able to secure
that permit?
Mr. Makohon:
No. None whatsoever. We have retained a wetland expert that
will guide us through that and there's already been some
preliminary discussions with them.
22106
Mr. Morrow: That's what I was wondering.
Mr. Makohon: We started that process.
Mr. Morrow: With the DEQ or whatever they call themselves today?
Mr. Makohon: That's right.
Mr. Morrow: Okay. That was the one thing that caught my attention. I want
to make sure that things are progressing in that area because
sometimes you really get hung up developing a site if you can't
get those permits, and I think we've had some around the City
that have been held up for years because of trying to get
together to develop a site.
Mr. Makohon: That really was our initial emphasis on developing the site is to
truly mitigate as little as we can to minimize the impact of a
great natural area that is still lett natural. Beyond that, it is just
cumbersome, the approval cyde that it would take. I dont want
to spend another year trying to get this plan through. I'd like to
get a bank built.
Mr. Morrow: Okay. Thank you.
Ms. Smiley: Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or
against this petition? Seeing none, does the petitioner have
anything to add?
Mr. Makohon: No. I just believe the technical meat of the plan speaks for
itself. The one thing that we perhaps talked about, and it's more
of a discretionary issue, is the way we have set up the drive-thru
and the stacking as we had discussed during the study session.
It is imperative as a banking center we dispatch the drive-thru
people as quickly as we can because our customers are not
going to sit behind 10 or 12 cars. So we really would not see a
great deal of interference between the drive thru and the main
east and west drive. That's was something we wanted to point
out.
Ms. Smiley: Thank you. That being said, a motion is in order.
On a motion by Piercecchi, seconded by La Pine, and unanimously adopted, it
was
22107
#03-21-2005 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on March 1, 2005, on
Petition 200501-02-03, submitted by K4 Architecture, LLC, on
behalf of Fifth Third Bank, requesting waiver use approval to
construct a full service banking center with drive -up window
facilities at 19025 Newburgh Road, located on the west side of
Newburgh Road between Seven Mile Road and Kingsbum
Drive in the Northeast % of Section 7, the Planning Commission
does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2005-
01-02-03 be approved subject to the following conditions:
1. That the Site Plan marked Sheet SDP -1 prepared by K4
Architecture, LLC, dated February 21, 2005, as revised, is
hereby approved and shall be adhered to;
2. That the Landscape Plan marked Sheet L-1 prepared by J.
Eppink Partners, Inc., dated February 21, 2005, as revised,
is hereby approved and shall be adhered to;
3. That all disturbed and new lawn areas shall be sodded in
lieu of hydroseeding;
4. That an automated irrigation system shall be provided for
all lawn and planting bed 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 Building Elevations Plan marked Sheet A-2
prepared by K4 Architecture, LLC, dated February 21,
2005, as revised, is hereby approved and shall be adhered
to;
6. That the brick used for the construction of the building and
for the screen wall for the mechanical equipment enclosure
shall be full face 4 -inch brick, no exceptions;
7. That all pole mounted light fixtures shall be shielded and
shall not exceed a maximum height of 20 feel above grade;
8. That all parking spaces provided in connection with this
use shall be double striped;
9. That the petitioner shall secure the necessary storm water
management permits from Wayne County, the City of
Livonia, and/or the State of Michigan;
22108
10. That the total of all signage, both ground and wall signs,
shall not exceed 40 square feet, subject to the granting of a
variance for excess signage by the Zoning Board of
Appeals and any conditions pertaining thereto;
11. That any additional signage shall come back before the
Planning Commission and City Council for their review and
approval;
12. That no LED lightband or exposed neon shall be permitted
on this site including, but not limited to, the building or
around the windows;
13. That the petitioner shall comply with the following
stipulations listed in the correspondence dated February 4,
2005, from the Livonia Fire and Rescue Division;
- If subject building is to be provided with an automatic
sprinkler system, a hydrant shall be located between 50
feet and 100 feel from the Fire Department connection;
- Due to the noted width of the drives of 16 feel and 20
feet, this Division requests that "Fire Lane — No
Parking' be posted on building sides (east and west);
- Access around building shall be provided for
emergency vehicles with turning radius up to 45 feel
wall-to-wall and a minimum vertical clearance of 13'6
feet;
- Hydrant spacing in the commercial/retail groupings
shall be consistent with City of Livonia Ordinances;
- Fire lanes shall be marked with freestanding signs or
marked curbs, sidewalks, or other traffic surfaces that
have the words "Fire Lane — No Parking' painted in
contrasting colors at a size and spacing approved by
the authority having jurisdiction;
14. That this approval shall incorporate the following
recommendations listed in the correspondence dated
February 10, 2005, from the Traffic Bureau of the Division
of Police;
22109
Installation of a slop sign for existing vehicles at Seven
Mile Road;
Installation of a stop sign for exiting vehicles at
Newburgh Road;
Installation of no leRtum signs at both exits; and
15. That the specific plans referenced in this approving
resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department
atthe time the building permits are applied for.
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons:
1. That the proposed use complies with all of the special and
general waiver use standards and requirements as set
forth in Sections 9.03 and 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance
#543;
2. That the subject site has the capacity to accommodate the
proposed use; and
3. That the proposed use is compatible to and in harmony
with the surrounding uses in the area.
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.
Ms. Smiley, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution.
ITEM #6 PETITION 2005-01-02-04 LINENS'N THINGS
Mr. Pieroecchi, Acting Secretary, announced the neM item on the agenda,
Petition 2005-01-02-04, submitted by WT West, Inc., on behalf
of Linens 'n Things, requesting waiver use approval to operate
an SDM license in connection with an existing retail use at
13250 Middlebell Road, located on the east side of Middlebell
Road between Schoolcraft Road/1-96 Expressway and the CSX
Railroad in the Northwest % of Section 25.
22110
Ms. Smiley: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. We have received a letter from Kelly
A. Allen, Adkison, Need & Allen, PLLC, dated February 28,
2005, requesting that the public hearing be postponed
indefinitely, and we are going to grant that request.
ITEM #7 PETITION 2005-01-02-05 WADE SHOWS
Mr. Pieroecchi, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda,
Petition 2005-01-02-05, submitted by Jeff Williams, on behalf of
Wade Shows, Inc., requesting waiver use approval to conduct a
carnival sponsored by the Livonia Rotary Club consisting of
rides, games and food concessions from Thursday, May 12
through Sunday, May 22, 2005, inclusive, on properly located
on the south side of Plymouth Road between Middlebell Road
and Milburn Avenue in the Northeast 114 of Section 35.
Mr. Nowak presented a map showing the property under petition plus the existing
zoning ofthe surrounding area.
Ms. Smiley: Is there any correspondence?
Mr. Miller: There are four items of correspondence. The first item is from
the Engineering Division, dated February 1, 2005, which reads
as follows: 'Pursuant to your request, the Engineering Division
has reviewed the above -referenced petition. We have no
objection to the proposal or the use of the legal description from
last year's petition." The letter is signed by Robert J. Schron,
P.E., City Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire &
Rescue Division, dated February 4, 2005, which reads as
follows: "This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in
connection with a request to conduct a carnival sponsored by
the Livonia Rotary Club consisting of rides, games and food
concessions from Thursday, May 12, 2005 through Sunday,
May 22, 2005 on property located at the above -referenced
address. We have no objections to this proposal with the
following stipulation: In the interest of safety, evaluate the
asphalt to determine if it is currently in suitable condition
supportive of this usage." The letter is signed by Donald F.
Donnelley, Sr. Fire Inspector. The third letter is from the
Division of Police, dated February 9, 2005, which reads as
follows: We have reviewed the plans in connection with a
proposal by Wade Shows, Inc., for the carnival. We have no
objections or recommendations to the plans as submitted." The
letter is signed by Dave Sludl, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The
fourth letter is from the Inspection Department, dated February
22111
1, 2005, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request of
January 31, 2005, the above -referenced petition has been
reviewed. This Department has no objections to this petition."
The letter is signed by Alex Bishop, Assistant Director
of
Inspection. That is the extent of the correspondence.
Ms. Smiley:
Are there any questions from the Commissioners for staff?
Mr. La Pine:
What do they mean by "evaluate the asphalt"? Who does that
evaluation, and if it has to be repaired, who is responsible for
that- Wonderland or Wade Shows?
Mr. Nowak:
I talked to Alex Bishop of the Inspection Department. He said
that would be something that they would normally review in their
issuance of a permit for this use. If they found that there was an
area of the parking lot that could be hazardous, they might
require it to be patched or possibly roped off, but that would be
reviewed in connection with their issuance of a permit for this
use.
Mr. La Pine:
So they would not receive a permit if they found something that
needed to be repaired. Is that correct?
Mr. Nowak:
They would have to remedy it to the satisfaction of the
Inspection Department.
Ms. Smiley:
Is the petitioner here this evening?
Jeff Williams,
Wade Shows, Inc., 31250 Cooley Street, Westland, Michigan
48185.
Ms. Smiley:
Is there anything you'd like to add to the presentation?
Mr. Williams:
No. I think its all covered pretty good.
Ms. Smiley:
Are there any questions from the Commissioners?
Mr. Piercecchi:
How many rides are you bringing in?
Mr. Williams:
Eighteen to 20, room permitting.
Mr. Piercecchi:
And how many food concessions?
Mr. Williams:
Five to six, room permitting.
Mr. Piercecchi:
And games?
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Mr. Williams:
Twelve to 14.
Mr. Piercecchi:
What about portajohns?
Mr. Williams:
Six. Five for regular and one handicap.
Mr. Piercecchi:
Just six, five and one. Is that what you used last year? I
thought you did eight Iasi time.
Mr. Williams:
I used to use four and one. We went to five and one. We have
them cleaned daily.
Mr. Piercecchi:
I realize that.
Mr. Williams:
It seems to work. We want to make our customers as
comfortable as possible, so if we saw a need, we would be on
lop of that right away.
Mr. Piercecchi:
I recall you sent a letter to the Commission. I think it was last
year or the year before and you had listed them based on how
many people. That's why I thought you would be at eight.
Mr. Williams:
That was the year before and then we went from four portajohns
to six. That seemed to work last year.
Mr. La Pine: Just one question because I asked the same question to the
carnival that's coming to the Livonia Mall. Seeing that the
Wonderland Shopping Center basically is closed down except
for the Target store, do you anticipate that your volume will be
down or the same? Did you draw that much from Wonderland?
I'm just curious.
Mr. Williams: We're a little concemed but the Rotary does a great job
advertising with discount coupons up and down Plymouth Road
for the going retail businesses, so we think it will work.
Mr. La Pine: Do you know if they advertise the carnival outside the Livonia
area? Do they go to Westland or Detroit? How far do they try
to advertise this to draw people into the carnival?
Mr. Williams: Livonia area, northern Westland, a little bit into Redford. Just
that area.
Mr. La Pine: Okay. I was just curious. I was mostly curious because of the
fad that you don't have Wonderland there to have a certain
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amount of draw during the time the carnival is there. I just
wondered if itwas going to be successful. I hope itis.
Mr. Williams:
I'm sure it will be.
Mr. La Pine:
Well also, I would think you would have to be thinking in the
future if Wonderland was developed the way it may or may not
be developed, if you would be there in future years or looking for
a new location.
Mr. Williams:
This is a concem.
Ms. Smiley:
I don't see anybody in the audience. Do we have a final word
from our pefilioner this evening?
Mr. Williams:
That's d.
Ms. Smiley:
Okay. We wish you good weather. A motion is in order.
On a motion by
Morrow, seconded by Shane, and unanimously adopted, ilwas
#03-22-2005
RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been
held by the City Planning Commission on March 1, 2005, on
Pefifion 2005-01-02-05, submitted by Jeff Williams, on behalf of
Wade Shows, Inc., requesting waiver use approval to conduct a
carnival sponsored by the Livonia Rotary Club consisting of
ides, games and food concessions from Thursday, May 12
through Sunday, May 22, 2005, inclusive, on property located
on the south side of Plymouth Road between Middlebelt Road
and Milburn Avenue in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 35, the
Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City
Council that Petition 2005-01-02-05 be approved subject to the
following conditions:
1. That the carnival shall be limited to the dates as specified
by Wade Shows, Inc., which are May 12, 2005 through
May 22, 2005, inclusive;
2. That the proposed carnival operation shall be confined to
the area as illustrated on the site plan submitted with this
request;
3. That all ides, food concessions, booths and all other
equipment and apparatus relating to the operation of he
carnival shall be located at least 60 feet distant from the
Plymouth Road rlghtof--way line;
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4. That no fewer than eight (8) portable restroom facilities
shall be provided on site during the carnival and this
equipment shall be maintained daily;
5. That all trucks and other transportation -related vehicles
and equipment shall be parked or stored within the
southwesterly portion of the Wonderland Mall parking lot,
but no doser than 200 feet from the adjacent residential
properties to the south;
6. That there shall be no motors running on the stored trucks
during late hours, especially between 11:00 p.m. to 700
a.m. inducing motors on any refrigeration trucks;
7. That there shall be no housing trailers or other temporary
living quarters to accommodate carnival employees on the
Wonderland Mall site, except for the Security Trailer
(limited to security personnel only);
8. That the hours of operation of the carnival shall be as
stated in a letter dated January 19, 2005, from Jeff
Williams, Routing Director of Wade Shows, Inc., which
have been approved bylhe Police Department;
9. That unobstructed access to any hydrants within the
carnival area be provided for the Fire Department;
10. That Fire Lanes shall not be less than 20 feet of
unobstructed width, able to withstand live loads of fire
apparatus, and have a minimum of 13 feet.6 inches of
vertical clearance; and
11. That barricades be put up on the south side of the carnival
to prevent patrons/children from stepping or running into
the roadway portion of the parking lot.
Subject to the preceding conditions, this petition is approved for
the following reasons:
1. That the proposed use complies with all of the special and
general waiver use standards and requirements as set
forth in Sections 11.03 and 19.06 of the Zoning Ordinance
#543;
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2. That the site has the capacity to accommodate the
proposed use;
3. That the use of the subject property for carnival purposes
will not interrupt the normal traffic flow and circulation in the
area and will not impede access to the Wonderland Mall;
and
4. That no reporting City department objects to the proposed
use.
Ms. Smiley: Is there any discussion?
Mr. Morrow: Do we have a conflict with the number of portajohns?
Mr. Pieroecchi: I would leave eight in there, myself.
Mr. Morrow: Do you have any problem with the eight?
Mr. Williams: No.
Mr. Morrow: We will just leave it in there then.
Mr. Williams: Okay.
Mr. Morrow: And then next year if you're there, we'll address that concern
again, if it is adequate or too much.
Ms. Smiley, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an
approving resolution.
ITEM #8 APPROVAL OF MINUTES B99TM Public Hearings
and Regular Meeting
Mr. Piercecohi, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda,
Approval of the Minutes of the 899"' Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting held on January25, 2005.
On a motion by Shane, seconded by La Pine, and unanimously adopted, itwas
#03-23-2005 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 899" Public Hearings and
Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on January
25, 2005, are hereby approved.
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A roll call vole on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES:
Shane, LaPine, Pieroecchi, Morrow, Smiley
NAYS:
None
ABSENT:
Alanskas, Walsh
Ms. Smiley, Acting Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
ITEM#9 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 900' Regular Meeting
Mr. Pieroecchi, Acting Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda,
Approval of the Minutes of the 900"' Regular Meeting held on
February 8, 2005.
On a motion by LaPine, seconded by Morav, and adopted, it was
#03-24-2005 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 900" Regular Meeting held by
the Planning Commission on February 8, 2005, are hereby
approved.
A roll call vole on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following:
AYES:
LaPine, Morrow, Shane, Pieroecchi
NAYS:
None
ABSENT:
Alanskas, Walsh
ABSTAIN:
Smiley
Ms. Smiley, Acting Chairman, dedared the motion is carried and the foregoing
resolution adopted.
On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 901sTPublic
Hearings and Regular Meeting held on March 1, 2005, was adjourned at 9:40
p.m.
CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
Daniel Piercecchi, Acting Secretary
ATTEST:
Carol Smiley, Acting Chairman