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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 2002-03-21 MINUTES OF THE 133rd REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 133rd Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia,Michigan was called to order at 3:05 PM, Thursday, March 21, 2002 in the 4th floor conference room of City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Jack E. Kirksey Mr. Jerry Wordhouse, Chairman Mr. Scott Grace, Vice Chairman Mr. Bill Pike Mr. Mike Polsinelli Mr. Stan Anderson Mrs. Toni Mette Mr. Rod Crider Mr. John Walsh Members Absent: Mr. Marvin Walkon(excused) Mr. Dennis Kujawa(excused) Mr. Duane Wolfgang (excused) Mr. Lowell Peterson(excused) tre Others Present: Mr. John Nagy, Director Mr. Michael Slater,Finance Director Mr. Rich O'Brien&Tim Knutsen, Beckett&Raeder Dr. Robert Auth, Rosedale Gardens Homeowners Association Mr. Ralph Williams, Citizen Mr. Chris Martin, Citizen Mrs. Robby Williams, Secretary 1. Roll was called. 2. Adoption of 131' and 132nd Regular Meeting minutes: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, it was #2002-06 RESOLVED,that the Minutes of the 131' Regular Meeting held on January 17, 2002 and the Minutes of the 132nd Regular Meeting held on February 28, 2002 by the Plymouth Road Development Authority are hereby approved. Mr. Wordhouse, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 3. Comments from Chairman: Chairman Wordhouse commended the Mayor on �► his State of the City address and extended a thank you to Beckett&Raeder for providing a table for the PRDA Board Members. 1 4. Finance Report: Mr. Slater reported the Fund Balance as of February 28, 2002 (6,„ was $2,181,535.53 and that liabilities were in the amount of$39,732.27. There was a construction committee meeting this morning. Projects discussed are on the table for Phase V. An update on where we stand will be given at the Board meeting of April 18t. By that time we will have received our bids on the Phase V contract. Expenses for the month of February totaled $105,003.54. The Budget Performance Report for the month ending February 28, 2002 showed that property taxes were received in December and what our tax capture amount is. 5. Construction Report—Beckett &Raeder: Rich O'Brien reported that Tim Knutsen is the new project manager, taking over for Scott Reinholt. Detroit Edison is finished raising the poles for Phase IV. Phase V traffic signal replacement work at Merriman Road. The contractor is ready to start as soon as we receive the permit from MDOT. Plans were to start on April 1. The MDOT permit was promised by tomorrow. The hardscape plans have been placed out for bids and the bids will be due Wednesday April 10th. The construction is to start May 1 st. The people from the banner company would like some new ideas and I expressed to them that the PRDA board is interested in having them attend its next meeting. Scott Grace brought up the matter of the litter that collects around Wonderland Shopping Center and the Sheldon Shopping Center. Once the snow melts it looks bad. Is someone going to clean it up? tr, Mr. O'Brien reported that he will check on this after the contractor is out. The contractor has been authorized to do the spring clean up work. Also,the light pole bases have all been replaced except for a couple more that need repair. Thirty four(34)burned out light bulbs along the Farmington side has never been lit, reported by Dr. Auth, citizen. Mayor Kirksey suggested that there needs to be some kind of schedule to inspect the lights similar to the schedule for the irrigation system. Mrs. Melte questioned why they are taking so long to fix the lights that are out. Mr. O'Brien reported that it is a different company and that they don't have a contract with them, Rauhorn Electric. Mr. Polsinelli advised the Board that this was brought up in the Construction Committee meeting this morning and that by April we will have this aspect covered in our budget. Mr. O'Brien reported that Jacobs replaced about 42 bulbs last fall and that the bulbs only last about 1-1/2 years. Between the labor and the cost of the bulb, each bulb costs about $600.00 each. It was then referred to the Construction Committee for discussion. Mr. Anderson reported that on the mast arm on Middlebelt and Farmington there are no street name signs on the south bound lane or the west bound lane. If you are driving west on Plymouth, once you get to Middlebelt there are no signs that indicate that this is Middlebelt. At Harrison and Deering there are signs but 2 nothing at Middlebelt and Merriman. (It was reported that the street names are on the mast arm on one side only.) Also Mr. Anderson questioned what appears to be a missing light pole. Mr. O'Brien advised the Board that due to the height of the wires and the ornamental pole a light pole was not installed at this location. Mr. Pike stated that the PRDA Board needs to get the banner company to attend the next meeting. There are issues that need to be discussed such as the mast arms,the seasonal banners and the quality of the materials used. Mr. Wordhouse thought the triangular banners were terrible from day one and feels that the board has a real issue to discuss. Mr. Nagy reported that the banner company said that the design and material used was based on the PRDA budget concerns. This statement was of concern to Mr. Nagy and the Board because the budget was never a concern involving the quality of the banners and was so stated to the banner company. Mr. Grace felt the color zones should be discontinued. 6. Reports from Committees: Public Relations Committee: Mr. Anderson reported that the newsletter is almost ready for a final look and then ready for Mette's Printery. Also included this time is a business form that can be completed and returned to PRDA for the business web page. We will be sending out approximately 2,000 mailings and Clif hope to get back about 1,500. The web page address will be available for anyone interested in getting connected to see what it looks like and to input their business information, whether they are located in a mall or shopping strip and the type of business they are and what they sell. Mr. Polsinelli advised that the business will have access to the web page and can send in their information themselves. We are still interested in receiving the old newsletters from Susan Lang, Fisher Creative Services, for the web page. We would like to have all of the newsletters. Mr. Anderson stated that there will be an article on the progress of the Leone project and Phase V in the newsletter and what it is going to look like. In answer to Mr. Grace's questions concerning a picture of the Olympic torch runner,yes, there will be a picture of him in the newsletter. Construction Committee: Mr. Pike - We met today and we may be making some changes to Phase V due to some cost constraints. Detroit was called concerning Phase I and the matter of the poles and were advised that we wanted the poles out of there. There was discussion about the banners and having the people at our next meeting. We need to start talking to contractors directly ourselves. Mr. Nagy will start contacting them and report back to the Board. Vacant Buildings Committee: Mr. Grace— Nothing to report. Mr. Nagy reported that the petition for CAT Rental Equipment is in the Committee of the 3 Whole and will be on Council's agenda for March 27, 2002 and it looks optimistic for them. Inspection Committee: Mrs. Mette reported a tree located west of Middlebelt just past the bus stop on the north side beyond the wall, in front of Ford and that it looks like it died. The empty Lasky Furniture store looks bad with the windows covered inside with paper. It looks tacky. Mr. Wordhouse suggested the dead tree should be taken out by the landscape people and taken off the site. Clean it up and get it out of there. Mrs. Mette asked about the status of"Fountain Park"which is now called "Rosedale Town Square". Mr. Nagy reported that Mr. Schafer has applied for this demolition permit and the work should start sometime soon. Mr. Schafer was surprised by the P.R.D.A. Board's denial of an extension of the conditions of his grant request. He thought he should have been given an opportunity to appear before the Board and argue his own case. Mr. Schafer is not buying the property from the current property owner and that is complicating things. Mr. Grace questioned whether Waigreen's was still going in there and Mr. Nagy advised that it is a zoning issue. Mrs. Mette questioned the Leone property and whether it was commercial or warehouse. She felt that it looked like it was a retail building. Mr. Nagy advised that it was all warehouse and office. The property is not zoned for commercial uses. Development Assistance: Mr. Grace - Lasky Furniture is like House of Maple. They have a big building but not much parking. Keep these properties when you hear someone is looking for this type of property. Mrs. Mette questioned whether calls come in looking for empty buildings if they are referred to Plymouth Road. Mr. Nagy advised that Jeff Bryant is trying to help with the retail as well as the industrial buildings. Mr. Grace has a request from Rosedale Cleaners for help with the cost of the removal of their current sign, which is in great disrepair. The cost of the new sign is$4,723.00. Their wall sign is 30"X 60'. They have asked for 50%of the removal cost which would be $400.00 from us. The Committee would recommend that we do approve $400.00, which is one half of the cost of the removal. He is replacing an old sign and it will be internally lighted. A letter will have to be sent advising them that payment will be made up to $400.00. On a motion by Mr. Anderson, seconded by Mrs. Mette and unanimously approved, it was #2002-07 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby approve and authorize a grant to the paid to Rosedale Cleaners in the amount of$400.00 representing 50%of the sign removal cost, as shown on an invoice from Acme Architectural Sign Company, P. O. Box 751,Northville, Michigan 48167 dated February 22,2002, for their building located at 31619 Plymouth Road,Livonia, Michigan. 4 Mr. Wordhouse, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution is krie adopted. Web Site: Mr. Polsinelli reported that the web site is up and running. I think Stan came up with a good idea. When we get this information back from the newsletter, it will be a valuable piece of information, getting it into the web page and hitting the people in the corridor and get it into John's new computer. We want the people to send their information to the PRDA. Right now it is going to the servicing company but it is something that could be sent to us. John will be getting a computer soon and will be getting hooked into the internet and will then be able to receive this information. We will want to talk to the manager on site of the business and know that they are corridor related. Information we will want is their business information. Mr. Nagy advised that a subcontractor to Stopka is doing the maintenance for the system. 7. Director's Report: We received our first check for damage to one of the light poles at Belden Court,west of Stark Road. It was in the amount of$5,000.00. An invoice from the PRDA was sent to AAA for damage to our wall at the plaza at Middlebelt. The Annual Livonia Community Prayer Breakfast is to be held Thursday, May 2, 2002. The new Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, will speak. It will be held at Burton Manor if anyone is interested in attending. Please let me know. The City Council held a public hearing on the auto repair petition, Blue Oval Repair. This petition was denied by the Planning Commission. Mr. Anderson advised the Board that he attended the City Council meeting on this matter. He stated that the Council has put a number of restrictions on what he can do and cannot do. It will make it difficult for him to operate. When I asked Joe Taylor who would supervise the restrictions, he said the neighborhood should. Mr. Anderson replied that that was not his idea of who should be doing that. The Council made an approving resolution at the Public Hearing. It will go to a voting meeting on April 10, 2002. 8. Polling of Board Members: Mrs. Mette commented on the white marks on the brick walls. Advice was given that it needed to be acid washed but if it was done now it would kill the plants. Mr. Wordhouse advised that baking soda would take it off. Mr. Nagy will ask Beckett&Raeder to give the Board a report at the next meeting. 9. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted,the 133rd Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority was adjourned at 4:20 pm. The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on Thursday, April 18, 2002. Gc%'��,o�rd Secretary 5