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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 2002-11-21 I MINUTES OF THE 140th REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA L The 140th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 3:05 PM, Thursday,November 21, 2002 in the 4th floor conference room of City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Jack Kirksey Mr. Jerry Wordhouse, Chairman Mr. Scott Grace, Vice Chairman Mr. Bill Pike Mr. Lowell Peterson Mr. Stan Anderson Mrs. Toni Mette Mr. Dennis Kujawa Mr. Rod Crider Members Absent: Mr. John Walsh(excused) Mr. Duane Wolfgang(excused) Mr. Marvin Walkon(excused) Others Present: Mr. John Nagy, Director Mr. Michael Slater, Finance Director Cry Mr. Mark Taormina, Planning Director Mr. Rich O'Brien, Beckett &Raeder Mr. Ralph Williams, Citizen Dr. Robert Auth, Rosedale Gardens Homeowners Association Mr. Christopher Martin, Citizen Mrs. Robby Williams, Secretary 1. Roll was called. 2. Adoption of 139th revised Regular Meeting Minutes: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, it was #2002-25 RESOLVED, that the revised Minutes of the 139th Regular Meeting held on October 17, 2002,by the Plymouth Road Development Authority are hereby approved. Mr. Wordhouse, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. At this time the Board congratulated Mayor Kirksey on his birthday and celebrated by singing Happy Birthday to him. At the conclusion Mayor Kirksey thanked the members. At this time Mayor Kirksey presented Mr.Nagy with a service award pin for 35 years of his services to the City of Livonia. 1 3. Comments from Chairman: Mr. Wordhouse expressed condolences to Stan Anderson on the passing of his wife. Stan expressed his heartfelt thanks to the board for their visits to the funeral home and for the beautiful flowers that were sent on behalf of the P.R.D.A. There is a letter in our packets from the Engineering Division regarding the issue of Hubbard Road and the location of curbs in front of St. Michael's Catholic Church, which is submitted to the Board Members for their reading. 4. Finance Report —Mr. Slater reported that the balance sheet for 10/31/02 shows Total Assets in the amount of$477,270.93, Total Liabilities in the amount of $24,732.27 and a Total Fund Balance of$452,538.66. There were two large payments listed in the disbursements, one was an interest payment of$154,246.88 and the other one was to Peter A. Basile Sons, Inc. in the amount of$189,115.73 for Phase V hardscape. The PRDA did receive a check from the State of Michigan for$344,000 for the ISTEA grant. That amount was not received until November and will appear in the November Finance report. The separate line item for the PRDA newsletter will appear in the Finance report beginning in the next fiscal year. Our fiscal year begins December 1. 5. Construction Report—Beckett &Raeder: Rich O'Brien reported that the ISTEA grant money was an over payment. It should have been$195,000. He had discussions with the State of Michigan personnel regarding this overpayment and was told that instead of issuing any type of refund they would not process any Cre more payments until the amount of$344,000 had been reached. It was suggested that Mr. O'Brien get something in writing to verify this statement. He will take care of it. Phase V is nearing completion. East to Merriman will be completed by tomorrow, Friday 22, 2002. Committee Reports 6. Inspection—Toni Mette—wants to go on record with a few items while Mr. O'Brien is present. (1) There is a sidewalk issue regarding the Cingular store. The sidewalk is too low and water ponds in front of their door. Mr. Wordhouse suggested that the drain be installed before the ground freezes and asked Mr. O'Brien to prepare appropriate drawing and specifications and then present this to Mr.Nagy for authorization and then go ahead and take care of it. (2) The trees replaced between Inkster and Middlebelt were planted on a couple of days when the temperature was around 30 degrees. Mrs. Mette wants to make sure the warranty will cover this time frame and will the trees survive being planted in these low temperatures? Mr. O'Brien reported that there is a two year warranty on the new trees being planted. (3) The trucks that use the entrance for Rousch and Farmer Jack are destroying the curb and grass. Isn't there some other entrance that could be used to lighten this load? It was advised that there is an entrance from Inkster to this industrial site but it passes by the residential area on the south side. 2 Mayor Kirksey reported that we have asked the company to negotiate with the County to come through the County property on Inkster. We'll check to see if they have pursed that or not. The County did not give them a flat out "no". Mr. Nagy reported that they are supposed to reconstruct that driveway on Plymouth Road. Mr. Wordhouse asked Mr. Nagy to report back on this issue. Mr. Anderson reported that the Friends of the Barn have planted four new trees and were advised that it was very important to water the newly planted trees with just a light watering and he advised that he has not seen any watering for the new trees planted on Plymouth Road. Mr. O'Brien said he will check to make sure that is being done. There was discussion regarding total disregard by the utility companies of where they park their vehicles while working in the Plymouth Road right-of-way and at the intersections where our new brick pavers and new sod is. They are parking on the grassy areas and on the brick pavers when it is not necessary. They are damaging the sod and oil is dripping from their vehicles onto the brick pavers. It was suggested that a letter be written to the utility companies, requesting that they be aware of the damage they are causing along with a request that this information be forwarded on to their subcontractors. It was reported that there may be federal dollars available to the PRDA due to the problems caused by the Emerald Ash Borer. It was suggested that possibly Debbie Stabnow might be able to help with this issue. Mayor Kirksey was looking for some type of status report on the unauthorized work that was done at Merriman and Plymouth by our contractor installing the new traffic signal poles and billed us for this extra footing work. Mr. Wordhouse said the issue would have to come back to the PRDA for action and then the Board will decide whether to pay or not. Regarding the matter of replacing dead trees under warranty by the Irish Company, Mr.Nagy advised the Board that with the authorization that he had received from the Board for$1,000.00 for an expert witness, William Pickhardt, he is developing our case. We are going to try and make Irish comply with the terms of our contract with respect to the warranty. There will be a report for the next Board meeting. Public Relations—Stan Anderson—Brought along extra copies of the newsletter. The pictures in the newsletter turned out very nicely. Sue Lang took the picture of Tim Horton's, the pictures that appeared in the newsletter regarding the holiday parade came from Mike DiFazio of the Cable Department and the Observer&Eccentric Newspapers. It was requested that a newsletter be sent to Mike Polsinelli. Mr. Anderson was advised that it will be taken care of. There is nothing more to report. Construction Committee—Bill Pike— No report except to take action on suggestion to complete Middlebelt to Merriman in the next phase of our construction schedule. 3 Mr. Nagy advised that during Phase VI we will work with Peter A. Basile and Sons to secure pricing for this work instead of going out for bids. We would like to get that going as soon as possible when Beckett &Raeder completes the plans and specifications. Mr. Wordhouse asked if it is needed to be documented that our contracts are bid out and awarded to low bidders or can we negotiate contract prices. This matter of awarding contracts was questioned previously and the Board was advised we could award contracts this way because there is no State or Federal money involved. Banner Committee—Mr. Nagy—The holiday banners with the new design have been installed. They are made of a vinyl material and can be cleaned by power washing them. They will be tested and see how it looks and withstood our weather conditions. If successful we will call the Banner Committee together for other items to discuss and programs for the future. Vacant Building—Scott Grace—No report. Development Assistance—No report 7. Director's Report - John Nagy—We have already talked about the banners and the budget. There was a minor problem with the lower bar for the banners. It was taken care of. Since there isn't a Web Committee there is no report but according to the number of hits we have had on our web page it appears that we are experiencing a good amount of interest. Mark Taormina, Planning Director, gave a presentation regarding the revisions made to the site plan for the Rosedale Town Square development located at Plymouth and Farmington Roads. He had rendering to show the Board and questions were asked and answered. Mr. Nagy reported that the CAT rental facility is actually showing signs of activity. They are in the process of moving in. 8. Polling of Board Members— Mrs. Mette mentioned the article in the Crain's Magazine regarding the lawsuit involving Garden City and a contractor who was awarded a contract regarding some water main and streetscape project and easements that were not secured at the time the contractor was working on the job. There was a judgment against Garden City in the amount of $12,000,000. She suggested that the PRDA be vigilant when processing easements for their projects. C Mr. Pike relayed to the Board that he was given a golden opportunity to speak to the Leadership of Livonia due to Mr. Crider's absence. He enjoyed it very much. 4 Mr. Grace asked the question, "How can we get people to promote the web site?" It would be nice if we could promote the idea to "Shop Plymouth Road"and to get people to think about Plymouth Road as a large shopping mall or a place to go shopping. We could possibly hold a contest to promote the idea of shopping Plymouth Road and circulate the name to a wider area. Mr. Anderson suggested having a dedication to Plymouth Road. Mr. Christopher Martin spoke to the Board regarding the intersection and parking spaces at St. Michael's Catholic Church and the letter written by Mr. Schron, City Engineer regarding his concern. He is not satisfied with the solution reached by the Engineering Department. Mr. Nagy has agreed to meet with Mr. Martin, along with Mr. Schron at the site and discuss a solution for this concern. Mr. Martin passed along the information that he was given the opportunity to take the landscaping from the Rally's Restaurant during the demolition of the restaurant. He was very appreciative of his new landscaping. 9. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 140th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority was adjourned at 4:40 pm. The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on Thursday, December 12, 2002. Robby/Williams, Secretary /rw C 5