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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNING MINUTES 2018-04-17 MINUTES OF THE 1,121st PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA On Tuesday, April 17, 2018, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia I held its 1,121st Public Hearings and Regular Meeting in the Livonia City Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan. Mr. Ian Wilshaw, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Members present: Sam Caramagno Glen Long Betsy McCue Carol Smiley Ian Wilshaw Members absent: Kevin Priddy, Peter Ventura Others present: Paul Lippens, McKenna Mark Taormina, Planning Director Margie Watson, Program Supervisor Chairman Wilshaw informed the audience that if a petition on tonight's agenda involves a rezoning request, this Commission makes a recommendation to the City Council who, in turn, will hold its own public hearing and make the final determination as to whether a petition is approved or denied. The Planning Commission holds the only public hearing on a request for preliminary plat and/or vacating petition. The Commission's recommendation is forwarded to the City Council for the final determination as to whether a plat is accepted or rejected. If a petition requesting a waiver of use or site plan approval is denied tonight, the petitioner has ten days in which to appeal the decision, in writing, to the City Council. Resolutions adopted by the City Planning Commission become effective seven (7) days after the date of adoption. The Planning Commission and the professional staff have reviewed each of these petitions upon their filing. The staff has furnished the Commission with both approving and denying resolutions, which the Commission may, or may not, use depending on the outcome of the proceedings tonight. ITEM #1 LIVONIA VISION 21 UPDATE Mr. Taormina: I'll just give a brief introduction to this item. This is really the first time that we've been able to present to the Planning Commission and the public in terms of where we're with the development of the comprehensive Master Plan for the city. As many of you know, we embarked on this effort about seven months ago selecting a consultant to help us prepare the comprehensive Master Plan. A team consisting of McKenna and OHM was selected and awarded the contract. We've been working with a designated Steering Committee now for several months. Today April 17, 2018 28501 was the first day of a two-day charrette process. Paul is going to give us an update on where we are with the master planning process, and he will also show some slides from today's event, which was very productive. He will also announce tomorrow's events since this is a two-day endeavor. We want to get as many people to our public open house tomorrow from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the Bennett Civic Center Library. With that, I'll be happy to hand this off to Paul. He is going to make a brief presentation and then answer any questions you may have. Paul Lippens, Good evening, Planning Commissioners, public. It's my pleasure to be here this evening. I'm going to provide a brief update. I want to cover both the roll the Master Plan plays in city policy and the overall process we're taking on creating the comprehensive Master Plan, as well as some of the highlights from today as the Planning Director, Mark, said. To start off with, we've come up with a unique name and idea for the Master Plan, which we're calling Livonia Vision 21. What we've heard from the Steering Committee through this process is that the City is really interested in an action-oriented plan and something that will focus around key projects that can be implemented soon. So the idea behind Vision 21 is we want to identify projects that can be implemented in the next three years, by 2021, that will secure the City's future for the next 100 years, looking forward to 2100. We've heard about the success of past city government efforts, the importance of infrastructure and the importance of sustainability and investment in good planning. With that in mind, I'm going to walk you through a little bit of this presentation. Today, I'm going to briefly cover overall what master plans are and what we're doing for the process. I'm going to show you some of the initial planning maps that we've made and how we've tied this process into research on Livonia's planning history. Then I'll conclude just with a bit of photos from today's charrette event. For people that haven't participated in a master planning process, it's important to cover what a Master Plan is. The Master Plan is really the go- to guide for the City in guiding land use policy, but it also consolidates other goals for the City, like transportation policy, recreational policy. You can have special area plans, corridor plans, and all this can be collected into that guide that is the Master Plan. Master Plans are regulated, part of the State's Planning and Enabling Act, which requires municipalities to update their Master Plan every five years. The City has done these processes in the past, but this time we're taking a comprehensive look and we want to create a new vision and guide that is combining some of the City's plan history but also setting a new direction. Master Plans are not zoning. They are the basis for zoning. A lot of what the Planning Commission deals April 17, 2018 28502 with on a day-to-day basis actually deals with the regulations that apply to land use and development. Those are laws. That's the City's Zoning Ordinance. When you make changes to the Zoning Ordinance, it's important that they're based in policy and the Master Plan really is that policy. That's why it's important when you do a Master Plan update to get good public feedback and really look in a comprehensive way at demographic trends, market trends and also the wants and desires for the residents on how the city should develop. It is a guide and it's a policy guide but it doesn't carry the weight of law. The Master Plan is a policy document while the Zoning Ordinance is actually the law that relates to land use regulation. The Master Plan is adopted by the Planning Commission, but the Zoning Ordinance is adopted by City Council, which is why on a rezoning, the Planning Commission will make a recommendation to City Council on that rezoning, and the actual decision is made by City Council. The Master Plan shows how land is supposed to be used or planned to be used in the future, but the Zoning Ordinance really deals with how land uses are required to be developed today. The two documents play an equal role in charting the course for the City's future and they're related and integrated but really separate things and involved in separate types of processes for updating them. That being said, there is a correlation between how your Future Land Use Map might show the way you want to develop in the City. So you have maybe districts that correlate to future commercial uses. They might not be the same as the actual zoned commercial uses, but your Master Plan will show you how you might want to permit recommend changes to the zoning in the future. Sometimes you might plan for transitional uses in the areas that right now are used in a different way and zoned in a different way. In that way, the Master Plan really allows the City to look into the future and plan for some anticipated needs as things change. Master Plans are very important if any zoning decision or development decision is challenged in court. Having a Master Plan that supports your decision will support city decisions on development, but it also is important to have a Master Plan to guide other types of policy decisions, budgeting, the creation of events, the creation of and updating of the Capital Improvements Plan. The Master Plan is a way to guide other decisions that aren't related to land use as well. It's also an opportunity to do some special area plans, which we're looking at as part of this process. Where are we in terms of this process? We've done a lot of the analysis work and we're working closely with the City's appointed Steering Committee on making decisions in helping inform us throughout the process and interpret some of the results of the analysis that we've done. But really, we're still fairly early in this process. It takes a lot of effort April 17, 2018 28503 to get to the point where you're seeking substantive input from the public and it really is one of the City's primary goals to get that input. So the next two days is really important. We're trying to get feedback on the community's desires and get as much feedback as possible. The other point that I would make is that all of the events that we've planned for these days, we've also put on-line at a website which is Livoniavision21.com. There's an opportunity for anyone that can't attend the events that we're doing over the next two days in person to provide their feedback on the subject areas we've identified by going on-line and taking surveys. We really hope that people do take time to provide input in that way as well, especially if you can't come down and talk to us in person. So this is the overall schedule. You see this two-day charrette is the red box that's happening in April, which is the fifth month of the project timeline. Moving forward, we will synthetize the results from this outreach event into goals, objectives and strategies. One of the subject matters that we're seeking involvement and opinions on over this two days and on-line is goals, objectives and strategies that we formulated from researching the City's past planning efforts as well as some of the outreach that happened from the Livonia Tomorrow project and feedback that we've gotten from the Steering Committee on the successes of some various prior efforts. We're hoping that working with residents we can formulate new directions. I think that the goals that we're looking for feedback on captured a lot of new ideas and we're looking forward to hearing from residents and developing some additional ideas through this process. We're going to create a map for Livonia's future. This is really candidate recommendations for land use, transportation, as well as three course sites that we've been asked to take a look at. We're looking closely at the Civic Center site, the former Livonia Mall site at Middlebelt and Seven Mile, and then we're also looking at east side of the Plymouth Road corridor between Middlebelt and Inkster. Those sites were largely identified for their potential to have catalytic transformation when redeveloped, but also because they really are a good model for other types of similar areas and the type of development the City might like to see. Following the roadmap for the future, we're going to look at implementation strategies including developing a specific plan for how the City should modify its zoning in the near term. The bottom part of this chart that's being shown on the screen is the Steering Committee and Planning Commission and Council role in the process. Up until now, we've been working primarily with the Steering Committee which includes members of Council, members of the Planning Commission, members of the public, and Chamber. This is an appointed committee and that committee was also tasked with initiating this process by April 17, 2018 28504 evaluating the consultant's teams that you wanted to work with to complete it. The Steering Committee was involved in project initiation and they'll be seeing it through with a partnership with the Planning Commission until we reached the stage where we ask for adoption. The State of Michigan does have a statutory requirement for Master Plan adoption. We hope the Steering Committee will initiate the process by reviewing a candidate draft document and recommending that to the Planning Commission. We plan to have the Planning Commission have a draft document, but also have a recommendation from the Steering Committee on that when we reach that point, and then the Planning Commission will recommend that the City Council approve that document for the initiation of a public review period. That public review period would last 63 days. Once City Council has authorized the plan to be released for the public review period of 63 days, we will post the plan, we will do outreach with the surrounding communities, and outreach to the public to get specific comments on the draft Master Plan. During that time, we will consolidate those plans and then we'll come back to the Planning Commission with all the comments that were received, any adjustments that were recommended by the Steering Committee during that time and ask for Planning Commission's approval. The Planning Commission does have the authority to approve the Master Plan. We will, of course, forwarded that document to the City Council once the Planning Commission has done their review. I want to take a minute and tell people what happened today and also what's happening tomorrow. The charrette is really an opportunity for us to do a deep dive into planning issues, look at the three planning areas I just mentioned. Today started with a brainstorm exercise and a design exercise around those three areas that was attended by more than 50 people. We had 10 different tables strategizing around planning areas; two focused on Plymouth Road, two tables focused on the former Livonia Mall, and three tables focused on ideas for City Center. It was really a fun, informative session and I really was inspired by how many ideas came from everybody and a lot of new things that I hadn't heard prior came out at that meeting. We then spent a good part of the afternoon synthesizing those results, trying to basically combine the alternative plans we've heard into one plan for feedback at an open house that literally we just finished a half hour ago. That was really exciting too. At the open house, we're looking for feedback on goals, preferences for architecture, and streetscape design. We're looking at broad scape ideas for improving the City's neighborhoods, improving the City's businesses and any specific development ideas around the Future Land Use Map. We've also presented a series of candidate goals and priority objectives and we're asking April 17, 2018 28505 participants to actually prioritize those objectives and let us know what goals are important to them. At 7:00, right now, we're doing the Planning Commission briefing. This part of the schedule is happening right now as I talk. Tomorrow morning is also a really exciting day. We're going to start at 8:00 a.m. in the library repeating the open house. So anyone who couldn't come tonight and would like to provide feedback, look at the exhibits that have been prepared, we'll be there at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow and even if you're going to work, if you want to get out a little early, stop by and see us on your way in. We'll make sure it's a valuable stop- in for you. We'd like to talk to people. So if you have time to stop in and see us tomorrow, we'll be there. The library is opening early for us at 8:00 a.m. so that we can talk to everybody, and I walk to thank the Library Staff for doing that. The consultant team and the city leadership, we're going to be camped out at the Michigan Room at the Library all day tomorrow working on synthesizing the results from all of the open house events and what we've heard in these design exercises into really the preliminary recommendations for the plan which we plan to present tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. Even if you can't come at a structured time, we will be there if you want to do a drop-in during the day. It's kind of an open studio environment, so we'll be there working. We hope people can come down for our presentation tomorrow night at 6:00. I've probably taken a little bit more of my time but should I go through this a little bit more? I'm going to go through these slides pretty quickly. I do have some information on demographic trends. All of this information is actually posted on the website Livoniavision21.com. If anyone would like to read through the analysis, we do have these initial in-fill demographic findings on the website. I just wanted to mention that Livonia does have a lot of important documents that have policies that we've analyzed and prioritized with the Steering Committee to develop the candidate goals and recommendations that I've referenced. All of these ideas have come from past successes and priorities in the City of Livonia. This information is also included in the analysis on the Livoniavision2l website for everyone to review. I just wanted to end my presentation by showing some of the photographs from today. This is Forest, a landscape architect from OHM, working on synthesizing some of the feedback that we got at the morning meeting. These are two panorama photos showing some of the exhibits. We had more than 50 participants today. We hope to have more people tomorrow, but an open house is a longer event so it allows people to drop in on their own schedule and provide the feedback that they're most interested in giving. This is the goals presentation. This is the example of the visual preference survey that had feedback on different architectural character, different types of parks amenities. In the April 17, 2018 28506 center of the room, we have a six foot by six foot map of Livonia for people to provide specific ideas about their neighborhoods, locations, which we will use to develop recommendations for the Future Land Use Map. Here is a close up of the Plymouth Road corridor drawing. We're looking to develop some ideas, candidate ideas for in-fill buildings and corridor treatments, as well as gateway fixtures on the east side of the city to really make Inkster and Plymouth Road a great place where people want to invest. Out of the process, we're coming up with some principles that we'd like to use around the Civic Campus. These are actually the sketches that were made by residents and city leaders that participated in our charrette process this morning. This is the synthesis plan that we're going to continue to work on this evening and then present tomorrow. These are principles for Livonia Mall. I'll show you the sketches that were made this morning about the ideas for the Livonia Mall development and then the synthesis that we worked on today of those ideas for the redevelopment of the Livonia Mall area. This was the synthesis we worked on this afternoon for ideas around the Plymouth Road corridor. And that's it. So you see, we're in the middle of the process and looking forward to a productive day tomorrow and hope that residents and Planning Commissioners if you'd like to come to the presentation tomorrow night, we'll see you then. Mr. Wilshaw: Wonderful, Paul, I appreciate that. Is there any questions from any of our Commissioners for Mr. Lippens? Mr. Caramagno: I'll make a comment. I had the time to get by today and look and I found it very interesting. It's nothing to be scared of. It's something to add your comments and have your input. It's a good time to be involved and I'm glad I stopped by. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there anybody in the audience with any questions about what you've seen? We have an unusually large audience specifically just for your, Mr. Lippens. One thing I did want to mention is the Master Planning process has been undergone by a committee of people made up of a Chairman, who is someone familiar to all of us, Peter Ventura from the Planning Commission. Kevin Priddy is also acting as liaison between the Planning Commission and this committee. And the committee is made up of a number of a really fabulous group of people from the business community, city leadership, community leaders, residents. It's a really good group. I've attended most of their meetings and I found that the group works together really well. It is focused on trying to make the best Master Plan possible and is coming up with some pretty creative ideas. And this charrette process, where we are really getting public input on what you want to see for the future of April 17, 2018 28507 Livonia, is a really exciting and important part of this process. would encourage anybody in the community, here in the audience or listening on TV, to try to attend those public meetings tomorrow if they can or I believe the online survey is still available. Mr. Lippens; We will keep the online survey up at least for two weeks, maybe longer. I kind of watched to see how much traffic we're getting. When it stops, we'll close the window on that. Mr. Wilshaw: Hopefully, our vast TV audience will be rushing online as we speak. Mr. Lippens: Now is the time. We want to generate those hits. The Steering Committee was very impressed by our website analytics too so even just going to the website would be very useful. Mr. Wilshaw: Yes. So definitely anybody watching who wants to go to our website and look at the information that's available there or participate in the survey, I would certainly encourage that. So thank you very much, Mr. Lippens, for coming in and speaking to us tonight. Mr. Long: Could you repeat the website? Mr. Wilshaw: Livoniavision2l.com. Mr. Wilshaw: Anything else on this item, Mr. Taormina? Mr. Taormina: No. That's it. ITEM #2 PETITION 2018-03-01-04 COMFORT CARE Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2018- 03-01-04 submitted by Comfort Care Senior Living pursuant to Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting to rezone the property at 34020 Plymouth Road, located on the north side of Plymouth Road between Farmington and Stark Roads in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 28, from C-1 (Local Business), C-2 (General Business) and R-U-F (Rural Urban Farm) to OS (Office Services). Mr. Taormina: This is a request to rezone property that is located on Plymouth Road just east of Stark Road. It's a single parcel that is roughly 3.8 acres in size. It has 142 feet of frontage on Plymouth Road and extends for a depth of roughly 650 feet. Currently, the area proposed to be rezoned is vacant and has three different zoning April 17, 2018 28508 classifications. The southern portion of the site is zoned C-2, General Business, and then the area immediately to the north is zoned C-1, Local Business. The northwesterly portion of the site is zoned RUF, Rural Urban Farm, which is a residential category. Originally, the front portion of the property as well as the adjacent property to the east contained a Hyfy gasoline station. Once that site was demolished years ago, redevelopment of the property occurred which included only the easterly portion of the site. That portion was split off from the larger parcel and a Social Security Administration office building was constructed. Immediately to the north and west is a stormwater detention basin that was developed as part of the Social Security Administration development. The change in zoning as requested is to facilitate the development of the site with a one-story 50,000 square foot senior assisted living facility. The zoning to the OS, Office Services, district would allow for convalescent nursing homes and homes for the elderly but subject to waiver use approval. Should this zoning change move forward, there would have to be a subsequent petition filed involving a waiver use in order to allow for the senior housing development that is shown. The ordinance does allow for this at a density equal to roughly 500 square feet of land area per bed, plus an additional acre. The conceptual plan that was submitted with the application shows a senior apartment building located mostly on the northern half of the property. This would consist of 60 rooms — 25 studio units, 21 one-bedroom units, 4 two-bedroom units and then 10 memory care units. The proposed 64 beds is well below the maximum of what could be allowed under OS zoning. Also on the plan is shown a new stormwater detention basin. This basin would be located on the southerly half of the property and it would really have to serve not only this property, but also the Social Security Administration property. The Future Land Use does split this site in half. The southerly part is consistent with the currently zoning which is Commercial. The land use designation pretty much corresponds to the C-2 zoning that exists on the property and then the northerly portion is identified on the plan as low density residential, which corresponds to a density of about 1 to 5 dwelling units per acre. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please. Mr. Taormina: There are several items of correspondence. The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated March 27, 2018, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced petition. We have no objections to the proposed rezoning at this time. The existing April 17, 2018 28509 parcel is assigned the address of 34020 Plymouth Road. The legal description provided with the petition appears to be correct and should be used in conjunction with the proposed rezoning. The existing parcel is currently serviced by sanitary and storm sewer, but the submitted drawings do not show proposed connections or calculations, so we cannot determine impacts to the existing systems at this time. Public water main is available on the south side of Plymouth Road. The owner will need to bore across the roadway as open-cut construction will not be allowed on Plymouth Road. MDOT permits will be needed for any work within the Plymouth Road right-of-way. The submitted drawings indicate storm water detention will be provided along the southeasterly portion of the property, but does not show what will happen to the existing storm detention pond for the abutting Social Security Administration building, or the easement that covers that portion of the property. Also, the drawings indicate the approximate location of the proposed building will be over the top of the existing 120" storm drain that runs through the middle of the property. No buildings or foundations will be allowed within the 30' wide easement for the storm drain. The owner will need to contact Wayne County Department of Public Services to obtain permits for any storm sewer connections or work within the drain easement."The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The second letter is from the Treasurer's Department, dated March 28, 2018, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Treasurer's Office has reviewed the address connected with the above noted petition. At this time, there are current Real Property Taxes due, as shown below. Amount Due for 2017 Winter and Summer Taxes: $9,358.36 if paid by March 31, 2018; $9,447.79 if paid by April 30, 2018. Must be paid to Wayne County." The letter is signed by Lynda Scheel, Treasurer. The third letter is from the Finance Department, dated March 29, 2018, which reads as follows: "I have reviewed the addresses connected with the above noted petition. As there are no outstanding amounts receivable, general or water and sewer, I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Coline Coleman, Chief Accountant. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Ms. Smiley: That piece of property to the left that has trees on it, who does that belong to? Mr. Taormina: If you're talking bout the adjacent parcel to the west . . . . Ms. Smiley: It's a little strip. April 17, 2018 28510 Mr. Taormina: Part of the parcel where Zerbo's is located includes that strip of land that runs alongside the western border of this property. It separates this site from the residential homes that are located along Stark Road. Ms. Smiley: Then you wouldn't be able to do anything with that, would you? mean they couldn't develop it. Mr. Taormina: Well, it's not part of this rezoning petition. Ms. Smiley: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Is the petitioner here this evening? We will need your name and address for the record please. Douglas Boehm, Executive Director, Comfort Care Senior Living, 4180 Titabawassee, Saginaw, Michigan 48604. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there anything else you'd like to add from what you've heard so far tonight? Mr. Boehm: Regarding the tax issue, we received that letter the day we turned in our application, and we had confirmation from West Second Street, who is the current owners of the property, that they paid the taxes that day. So that should be cleared. I'll check tomorrow with Mark and the City just to verify those taxes. And also, the line that goes through the property, we have adjusted the one end of the building to stay clear of the easement there. So we have adjusted for that as well. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. The one thing I did neglect to mention, and I usually like to do this with these types of petitions, especially for our audience who are here to learn about this item. What's before us tonight is the rezoning of the property. We're going to focus on discussion about the zoning. The potential use of the property is always something that we like to know to get an idea as to what the intent is for the use of the property, but the site plan is conceptual in nature. Only if this rezoning was to be passed, would the petitioner have to come back and present a detailed site plan with information. I just want to point that out so everyone understands. Is there anything else you would like to add before we go to questions, Mr. Boehm? Mr. Boehm: Just to kind of go over what Mark was saying about the property. It is a 60-unit facility. It will be licensed by the State of Michigan as HFA, which is Homes for the Aged, which includes the April 17, 2018 28511 assisted living and memory care. The Memory Care unit is locked down so the residents are confined to that area. It is about an $8 million project, a little north of$8 million. During construction it will create about 50 jobs, and then once the facility is actually opened, about another 100 full-time and part-time jobs will be created. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Do we have any questions from the Commission for the petitioner? Mr. Caramagno: If this changes to Offices Services, what does that require on the borders of the property abutting the residential neighbors? Does that mean there's a wall? Does it mean it's to be determined? What would that mean? Mr. Taormina: Typically, where you have non-residential zoning, including OS, bordering on residential properties, a masonry wall is required, but there is a provision in the ordinance that allows landscaping to be substituted for the wall, but that's subject to Planning Commission and City Council approval. Mr. Caramagno: So there is or would be a buffer of one form or another. Mr. Taormina: That is correct. Mr. Caramagno: That would separate the properties. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Any other questions? If not, is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or against this item? ti Michael Zimmerman, 34239 Wadsworth, Livonia, Michigan 48150. This is just to the north of Stark Road, which would be just behind the proposed property. So I guess I would want the Planning Commission to take into consideration the stormwater runoff issue that is a potential issue. I'm not sure if any of you have been out to this site itself, but the wooded area behind it is kind of a low lying area. From my understanding, there actually used to be a creek bed that went through that area until they updated the storm sewer water retention pond there. I just want to know if basically that's going to be enough water retention for both sites, for both the Social Security building and the proposed building because there's a lot of low lying areas there that retains water as it is. My neighbor currently has standing water in his backyard. My concern is if you have a large building there, then I mean you take a look at all the water that hits your roof, runs off, you have gutters. Where is that water going to go? Is it going to backup into our backyards at that particular point? So that would be my concern there, and then also I would want you to take into April 17, 2018 28512 consideration is, when you're talking about rezoning, there's several large parcels that already exist on Plymouth Road that have been vacant for some time. You have the furniture store there on Plymouth Road. You have another vacant lot across the street from the Ford Plant that's been vacant for some time. I understand that they may not be exactly the same size, but you also have to consider the area of the parcel that's being proposed is really unusable area. There's going to be a road and a water retention area along there. Why would we be rezoning additional areas for office and commercial space when there's already areas that need to be developed within the City, would be my main concern there. The question really would be for the engineering area, but I really have a concern about the water runoff because like I said, it's a low lying area. I don't feel that the water retention pond is going to be enough to handle the amount of water for that large of a hardscape building. Where is all that water going to go? Mr. Wilshaw: That's an excellent question, Mr. Zimmerman. What I can tell you is, the County has very stringent water retention policies that are in place which has required for many years now all developers of residential or commercial or office properties, to retain their water on the their property and then slowly discharge it into the storm sewer system, which is why you see all these ponds showing up at all these developments. Those have to go through an engineering process, and they have to be engineered and sized to accommodate the water for that property knowing that this is going to also accommodate the water for the Social Security office. That would also be factored into that engineering process. But what I can say is,just based on my years of experience, when you have a property that is undeveloped, and water just seeps into the ground or stays on the ground in that area, you see what you're talking about which is ponding or little lakes forming and so on. When properties are developed, and they have the proper roof systems, gutters, all the channeling of the water into those ponds, oftentimes we actually find that it reduces or eliminates existing drainage problems and issues with it seeping onto neighboring properties. A lot of times it's actually a good thing to see that kind of development,just based on experience. As far as this particular location, again, that would have to go through an engineering process. Is there anything else, Mr. Taormina, that you would add? Mr. Taormina: I think the only thing I would add is when the engineers look at the stormwater system, they factor in the contributing area, which could include adjoining properties. So if the topography is such that the homes in the area that border this, or any sites that border April 17, 2018 28513 this property, have their natural drainage occurring on this property, the development cannot impede the flow of water and also would have to account for it as part of its stormwater system. They look at not only the situation that exists on this property, but they have to go beyond that and take a look at the adjoining properties to make sure that those contributing areas are accounted for and that any infrastructure that is provided on the site property accommodates that. Again, we're a long way off from any of that, and while this is a plan that shows very conceptually a detention basin, it's size really doesn't mean much right now until the engineers are able to review all the numbers and see whether or not it would have the capacity to accommodate all the drainage and then release it back into the storm system at that controlled rate, which is really what it's all about. The size of that detention basin is determined by the contributing area, the amount of runoff entering that basin, and then the outflow at a rate that is very predetermined in terms of what the rate of that runoff is. That really determines the size of the basin. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. I hope that helps you, Mr. Zimmerman, at least in understanding a little bit about the process that we will go through and the engineers will go through on that issue, because I know that certainly is an important issue for you guys if you have water in your backyards. Mr. Zimmerman: Can I follow-up? Mr. Wilshaw: Certainly. Mr. Zimmerman: I do have a question. So you're going to be deciding if this goes to the next level, correct? You're going to be deciding if there's going to be a rezoning allowed. Correct? Mr. Wilshaw: Exactly. What we're looking at tonight is the zoning change, and if this zoning change is appropriate for this area for this type of use. Mr. Zimmerman: Correct. So then, in order to make an informed decision, I understand that this is conceptualized, but in order to make an informed decision on what you're going to do, I feel like it's kind of weird that you would decide on a rezoning on a project based on a conceptualized plan. Do you understand what I'm saying? Why wouldn't you want that information upfront before you make a decision? April 17, 2018 28514 Mr. Taomina: It's difficult to go through that extent of design this early in the process. And I understand the concern there, but really, this is a recommendation to the Council who ultimately decides on the rezoning. Number two, the process works in a way that the City will not commit to the rezoning until such time that the site plan is reviewed and vetted, not only by this body but also by the City Council. So the zoning is the first step in the process but before the final zoning takes place, there is a much more detailed analysis done relative to the project on all of the details of the project including stormwater detention. It may not be full engineering, but there's enough information provided as part of that site plan process that would really indicate if it's being dealt with properly. Mr. Wilshaw: That's a good point, Mr. Taormina. I hope this helps, at least educates you guys, as to how the process is going to work. What normally would happen is, we're going to make a recommendation on should this property be rezoned or not. That then goes to City Council who conducts a public hearing and goes through a very similar process. But what they've been doing for a number of years, which I think is really interesting and it's a good process, is they will hold the final approval of the rezoning until the site plan then starts it process. So again, we get to look at the site plan and work through all the details. It goes to City Council, and the City Council will make the decision about the zoning and the site plan kind of together at the same meeting. So that way, we're not in a situation where we are rezoning the property or the City Council is making the final determination to rezone the process until they've seen that site plan. So it does kind of catch it's way up so that they are making an informed decision. Again, I hope that helps. Mr. Zimmerman:Okay. I don't want to take up everyone's time, but can I just ask you another question? Mr. Wilshaw: You're welcome to. Mr. Zimmerman:Would the committee be willing to address my concerns about the properties that are already properly zoned for something like this not being utilized and what incentives maybe were giving for people to purchase those properties? I guess what I'm getting at is, what would be the point in rezoning land use when there's already available land for that use? Mr. Wilshaw: That's something that we factor into our decision making. We are not in a position where we can tell petitioners what property they should go to because obviously they are negotiating with buyers, April 17, 2018 28515 sellers of property for different prices or whatever. They may be priced out of a particular property or what have you. But that's a decision that we make in our decision-making is, hey, is this use appropriate or are there other areas where this could be used. One question that, based on your questioning, we will often ask the petitioner and I'm sure he'll be hearing here shortly, because we want to gather all your questions first and then we'll ask the petitioner again, is did they look at other sites and what's their take on that. So you'll probably hear that question here shortly. Mr. Zimmerman: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Anyone else in the audience wishing to speak? Pete Briggs, 34125 Wadsworth, Livonia, Michigan 48150. I'm directly next door to him, just north of where you guys want to rezone. Mike pretty much asked all my questions, so I would just like to double up on what he said, especially on the point about the other areas that could be used for something like this. To rezone based on something that the details aren't all worked out. I got a lot of well, we're not sure yet. We'd have to this and this. Wouldn't it make sense to do that somewhere else that's already available instead of going through the whole process of rezoning all this land and potentially putting something that would be in our backyards. know the rest of my neighbors aren't here but there's a few of us. This will only affect a few houses, so therefore is there a lot of us? I could pretty much assure that we all feel the same way about keeping it zoned how it's currently zoned. I just want you guys to think about the people that live there, our houses. My yard is one of the ones that water runs, half my backyard runs into the woods there. If you were to build a wall, if you were to do like a berm or anything thing like that, that's cutting off my property, the water that drains. Now you're blocking it and it's staying in my backyard. That's just some of my concerns. Mr. Wilshaw: We appreciate your coming and giving us your opinion on the rezoning. That's why we have these meetings. Thank you. Anybody else in the audience wishing to speak? Lori Adkins, 11614 Stark Road, Livonia, Michigan 48150. We're actually the large parcel. We've got a lot and a half I think. I can't believe that all the neighbors didn't come, and he said there's only a couple that I counted and there's like ten. My family's been there for 40 years. I actually took a picture before I came up here. I look out my back window and I see peace. I go out my front door, and there's 40 mile an hour traffic flying down the road, but I've always got my backyard. It's woods. And you're going to come in and first of all, April 17, 2018 28516 you're wanting to rezone it to Office, but it sounds more commercial to me. And water, we've already got water issues in our backyard that we've never had before because Zerbo's played around with their property a little bit. I'm not sure how wide Zerbo's property is between our lot and the proposed lot. It's not very large, and the woods there would be very thin and we'd be looking at an office building. So you're opening up Plymouth Road to all of our backyards. I haven't been down Wadsworth since I was a teenager, but it's quiet. I mean like I said, Stark Road is a very busy, hectic road, but we go into our homes and it's quiet. There's so many places you could put something like this like he said. I just don't understand why you want to dig out the woods and put another building in. It's just saddening. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Just so you understand, the rezoning to Office allows for the waiver use of these types of facilities, homes for seniors or homes for aged as they call it, nursing home type facilities. The reason that it's allowed in Office zoning is because Office zoning is generally considered a less intense type of zoning than you would have say as a Commercial zoning. The last thing you'd want is commercial zoning in your backyard. The Office is a lesser intense use. It's not exactly what you want, of course, but it is a lesser intense use. Ms. Adkins: How large was this building supposed to be? Mr. Wilshaw: The conceptual shows about a 50,000 square foot building. Ms. Adkins: Yeah, and where was the placement of it? Like up against all the homes or . . . . Mr. Wilshaw: That's what's showing on the conceptual plan, yes, towards the backend of the property. Ms. Adkins: And the thing with the berm and the wall, the water issue, yes. don't even know if I would have a stand on a wall being on the west side because it butts up against Zerbo's, but yeah. If it has to go in there and they can't find somewhere else to go, a wall because without it you're clearing the woods, you're putting in another business and then like I said, you're opening up our yards to Plymouth Road. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you for your opinion. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to speak? Kimberly Briggs, 34125 Wadsworth, Livonia, Michigan 48150. I just had a few questions and I guess my predominant question right now is, why 1 April 17, 2018 28517 are we considering to build this particular site? There's at least 18 other properties in Livonia that are designated for our seniors. I mean they vary from assisted living to nursing homes, convalescent homes, you name it, and pretty much every time drive through somewhere in Livonia, I see a different property that's being designated for our seniors. From what I understand, less than 40 percent of Livonia is a senior citizen, so not saying to take away from that, but I feel like kind of what the other comments that were made. I feel that it would be pretty important to designate the little bit of land that we have that's preserved and zoned off to keep that like the other commenters said. Just looking at different properties and that, I feel I mean I found at least 10 different properties myself that are three or more acres. Pretty much similar in size, throughout different areas of Livonia. So I'm just wondering why that particular area. And then, I think that was pretty much it. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Ms. Briggs. We appreciate the questions. We'll carry those on. Anyone else in the audience wishing to speak for or against? Seeing no one coming forward, we'll go back to our petitioner. Mr. Boehm, you've heard a number of questions from some of our residents, particularly as to why this location. If you could speak to some of that, we'd appreciate it. Mr. Boehm: Yes. Definitely. We started this process back early fall of 2017. We worked with Van Esley Real Estate and then Mark as well with different properties that we were looking at. Our first property under contract was on the east side of town. I can't remember the exact location of that property, but we were turned away because the wetlands on that property took up probably about 50 percent of that property and to get those wetlands and deal with the MDEQ and to move those wetlands into a different area wouldn't be feasible. So then we started working with Van Esley Real Estate. They had this property listed. I know there's three different zonings on that property. So if it's not us, another person at some point will probably come in and want to build on that property and do something and they'll also have to go through the rezoning process since there is three different zonings on that property. In regards to a wall or landscaping, we're definitely open to that. All of our buildings, you can visit our website Comfortcares.com and check out our current facilities, beautiful architecture, brand new state of the art buildings and landscaping. We don't fall short in that category. So we're open to different scenarios or either a wall or landscaping trees or so forth. Mr. Wilshaw: How many facilities do you currently run? April 17, 2018 28518 Mr. Boehm: Six. Five assisted living and one skilled nursing facility. Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any other questions for our petitioner? Ms. Smiley: Did you do some kind of research to see if there is a need for it in this area? Mr. Boehm: Yes. We got our market study through Nancy Patser and there's actually a need for 921 units for assisted living in the City of Livonia. Ms. Smiley: 920 beds? Okay. And you're proposing 64. Mr. Boehm: Yes. Ms. Smiley: Thank you. Mr. Caramagno: Of your facilities that you named, you said you had six of them. How many are in Michigan? Mr. Boehm: All six. Mr. Caramagno: Whereabouts? Mr. Boehm: In Saginaw County we have Chesaning Comfort Care, Serenity Springs, Bavarian Comfort Care, which is the Frankenmuth area, Shields Comfort Care, which is a suburb of Saginaw and then Bay County, we have Bay City Comfort Care. And then our skilled nursing is Great Lakes Rehab which is a new facility which just opened up in October. Mr. Caramagno: How long have you been in business? Mr. Boehm: Four years. Mr. Caramagno: Four years and grown six. This will be seven? Mr. Boehm: Yes. And then we also plan in 2018, Clarkston, Sterling Heights, Commerce, and Mount Morris in Genesee County. There's definitely a need for assisted living in the State of Michigan. Mr. Caramagno: What's the vacancy at your other locations? Are you 80 percent, 90 percent, 100 percent full? Mr. Boehm: Chesaning Comfort Care opened up last fall and they're about 45 percent full, but all the other facilities are 95 and above. April 17, 2018 28519 Mr. Caramagno: Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Any other questions for our petitioner? Seeing none, I think we can close the public hearing and ask for a motion. On a motion by Caramagno, seconded by Smiley, and unanimously adopted, it was #04-22-2018 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on April 17, 2018, on Petition 2018-03-01-04 submitted by Comfort Care Senior Living pursuant to Section 23.01 of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, requesting to rezone the property at 34020 Plymouth Road, located on the north side of Plymouth Road between Farmington and Stark Roads in the Southeast '/ of Section 28, from C-1 (Local Business), C-2 (General Business) and R-U-F (Rural Urban Farm) to OS (Office Services), the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2018-03-01-04 be approved for the following reasons: 1. That OS zoning is compatible to and in harmony with the surrounding zoning districts and land uses in the area; 2. That OS zoning would allow for the development of a one- story senior assisted housing facility; and 3. That the anticipated senior assisted housing facility is a use that is consistent with the goals and policies of the City. FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 23.05 of Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended. Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving recommendation. They will then hold their own public hearing on this process. For our residents, please stay tuned and you'll see both a site plan coming back at some point and also a meeting at City Council for the rezoning. So if you'd like to participate in those, please do so. If April 17, 2018 28520 ITEM #3 PETITION 2018-03-02-05 VIBE CREDIT UNION Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2018- 03-02-05 submitted by Vibe Credit Union requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(n)(3) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended, to construct and operate a credit union with drive-thru facilities at 16825 Middlebelt Road, located on the west side of Middlebelt Road between Puritan Avenue and Six Mile Road in the Northeast % of Section 14. Mr. Taormina: This is a request to construct and operate a credit union with drive-thru facilities that would be on the west side of Middlebelt Road, south of Six Ile Road. The property is currently zoned C-2, General Business, which would allow for the credit union as a principal permitted use; however, applicable to all of the land uses in the C-2 district, drive-thru facilities are treated as a waiver use under Section 11.03(n)(3). This property is about 1.2 acres in size. It includes 165 feet of frontage on Middlebelt Road. The average depth is 360 feet along the north property line. The site, as well as the parcel to the south, which is now a Tim Horton's, was originally developed as a Moy's Chinese restaurant, but the Tim Horton's was developed separately from this site and now the northerly portion of what was originally that restaurant site is up for a review. In terms of the surrounding land uses, to the north are commercial establishments, this includes the Teacher's Store as well as a restaurant and other commercial buildings. Immediately to the south, fronting on Middlebelt Road, again is the Tim Horton's restaurant, also zoned C-2. There are some office buildings further to the south from there. East across Middlebelt Road is a funeral home as well as a multi-tenant office building, both zoned OS, Office Services, and then to the west is church property. The proposed credit union would be one-story in height, 3,365 square feet in size, and it would be situated near the middle of the property. There is an overhead canopy that would be provided in the southwest corner of the building that measures about 34 feet by 16 feet in total size. Parking would be available both in front of the building as well as to the rear of the building. There would be two driveways servicing this site, one is an existing driveway that is located in the northeast corner of the site and the second is connection through the adjacent Tim Hortons' parking lot immediately to the south. This building is shown having a setback of 85 feet from Middlebelt Road, which conforms to the ordinance. In terms of the drive-thru operations, there are three lanes, two of which would be auto teller lanes, one which is an ATM lane. Traffic for the drive-thru would commence on the north side of the building via a 15 foot one-way driveway and then it would proceed south towards those transaction areas; April 17, 2018 28521 and then once the trans action is complete, vehicles exiting the site would have two options. One is to turn left or north and head out the main driveway on the northeast part of the site or they could turn night and exit out the driveway that is provided on the Tim Hortons' site. A couple of other factors with respect to the drive-thru lane. The lane serving the drive-thru operations are required to be 12 feet in width; this is shown slightly less than that; however, in dialog with the petitioner, they are willing to provide 9.5-foot wide lanes which is consist with previous approvals that we've granted involving similar operations. In terms of stacking, the ordinance requires that there be room for at least four vehicles to stack, not including the vehicle that is at the teller. As you can see from the plan, there is ample waiting space provided at each of the lanes. There is no dumpster shown on the plan. That is something that was described to us at the study meeting would be handled internally. Site lighting would meet the ordinance. It would be limited to a maximum height of 20 feet. Any poles. Stormwater detention, as identified on the westerly portion of the site where you see there's a portion of the site that would be undeveloped. This would be dedicated for the purpose of stormwater management. It would be a grassy area mostly underground detention is identified on the plan, but it could be a combination of both surface as well as underground detention, again, subject to final approval by our Engineering Department. Parking — the ordinance requires one space for every 150 square feet of useable floor area. That translates to a requirement for 18 parking spaces/This plan provides 28 parking spaces so it complies with the ordinance. Overall landscaping is required to be 15 percent of the site area; this plan shows 46 percent of the site area dedicated to landscaping. A fully detailed plan has been provided with the application. Floor plans were included as well showing how the bank would be laid out and then lastly with respect to the exterior elevations, the building would consist primarily of metal panels as well as limestone which would be placed on the front portion of the site. The architect is here this evening and he can describe that in greater detail. A unique element to the design that really garnered a lot of discussion at our study session, I think the architect addressed that to most everyone's satisfaction and then lastly, with respect to signage, this site would be allows two signs. One would be in the form of a wall sign which would be limited to 58 square feet. It doesn't seem to be a problem with complying with the ordinance. There is a single sign shown on this front elevation. Then one monument sign would be allowed on the site, 30 square feet maximum and six feet in height. While we might not have details on that monument sign, I think the petitioner has indicated it's no 3 April 17, 2018 28522 problem complying with the ordinance in that respect. With that, Mr. Chairman, I can read out the departmental correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Yes, please. Mr. Taormina: There are six items of correspondence. The first item is from the Engineering Division, dated March 26, 2018, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Engineering Division has reviewed the above referenced petition. We have no objections to the waiver use at this time. The existing parcel is assigned the address of 16825 Middlebelt Road. The submitted legal description appears to be correct and should be used in conjunction with this petition. The existing parcel is currently serviced by public water main, sanitary sewer and storm sewer. The submitted drawings do indicate that storm water detention will be included in the site design, but no details for the proposed services are shown. The owner will need to submit full engineering drawings to this Department to determine what permits will be required. Also, should the owner need to complete work within the Middlebelt Road right-of-way, permits from the Wayne County Department of Public Services will be required." The letter is signed by David W. Lear, P.E., Assistant City Engineer. The second letter is from the Livonia Fire & Rescue Division, dated April 3, 2018, which reads as follows: "This office has reviewed the site plan submitted in connection with a request to construct and operate a credit union with drive-thru facilities on property located at the above referenced address. We have no objections to this proposal."The letter is signed by Keith Bo, Fire Marshal. The third letter is from the Division of Police, dated March 27, 2018, which reads as follows: "I have reviewed the plans in connection with the petition. I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Brian Leigh, Sergeant, Traffic Bureau. The fourth letter is from the Inspection Department, dated April 10, 2018, which reads as follows: "Pursuant to your request, the above-referenced petition has been reviewed. (1) The width of the drive thru lanes shall be a minimum of twelve (12) foot in width. (2) This plan does not make provision for a dumpster or dumpster enclosure. The Commission and/or Council may wish to determine how trash disposal will be maintained at this site. This Department has no further objections to this petition."The letter is signed by Jerome Hanna, Director of Inspection. The fifth letter is from the Treasurer's Department, dated March 26, 2018, which reads as follows: "In accordance with your request, the Treasurer's Office has reviewed the address connected with the above noted petition. At this time, there are no outstanding amounts receivable for taxes. Therefore, I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is April 17, 2018 28523 signed by Lynda Scheel, Treasurer. The sixth letter is from the Finance Department, dated March 29, 2018, which reads as follows: "I have reviewed the addresses connected with the above noted petition. As there are no outstanding amounts receivable, general or water and sewer, I have no objections to the proposal." The letter is signed by Coline Coleman, Chief Accountant. That is the extent of the correspondence. Mr. Wilshaw: Are there any questions of the Planning Director? Seeing none, would the petitioner please come forward? We will need your name and address for the record please. Mark Zimmerman, Zimmerman Design, L.L.C., 12875 Moorcroft Court, Plymouth, Michigan 48170. Just a couple of side notes. Vibe Credit Union is one of Michigan's oldest credit unions; it's over 80 years old and going strong. They're in a building mode basically, so they're expanding. They're kind of pushing northward and westward. They do have a currently branch in Livonia on Middlebelt Road near West Chicago. It isn't clear what the plan is going forward for that branch are, but this branch will become a replacement for that. This is a prototype building or a building that we built in other locations. There is a similar building to this in Southfield and Sterling Heights. This is number three in a series of hopefully what will become a fair number of these. Just a little bit about hours of operations. Normal business hours 8:30 a.m. drive-thru open, lobby opens at 9:00 a.m. The drive-thru closes at 6:00 p.m., that's Monday through Friday. Lobby closes at 5:00 p.m. and then half day only drive-thru operation on Saturday. Closed Sundays. I think that's just sort of the general overview. One comment about the landscape plan. It's our intent to rather than build a screen wall to heavily landscape the zone that separates this property, C-2, from the residential property that's to the southwest. We're proposing a 10-foot wide landscape band actually along the south property line and our west property line. Although we're against commercial to 100 feet of our west property line, we're proposing to do a heavy landscape screen there as well. One of Vibe's hallmarks is they pride themselves on doing a good site. They general landscape quite a bit more than required and maybe that has to do with the fact that that's just the CEO's orientation. He happens to go for that sort of thing. His brother is a landscape architect and it just makes for a better presentation. Whenever we do this building, we generally try to, if there's a decision to be made, we generally go for more softscape than hardscape. So that's basically the general story. I have some samples that I brought with me. I'm not sure how present those things mounted to a board and there were some questions at the study session about the zinc tiles on the circular April 17, 2018 28524 meeting room — that circular shape that you see there with the tapered cornice on the top of it. That's basically the conference room for the branch. Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Zimmerman, as far as showing your materials, I think it's probably best if you can hold the board up with you at the podium. I think we'll be able to catch that just fine. That way you can tell us about each of the materials that are going to be on the property. Mr. Zimmerman: Sure. This is the overall image of the building showing a zinc panel, almost a fish scale pattern, and that's an example of the metal panel that is the cladding for the conference room. The primary material on the building is a champagne metal panel. That probably represents 60 percent of the skin of the building. There is an accent panel which probably represents 25 percent of the building and then Indiana limestone at the entry of the building. This other sample represents an aluminum store front system and we use clear glass in our store front. Then there is an architectural element, this beam, which is done in the green material which is also metal. So it's a wrap that is placed on an architectural element. It's really a design element, and it carries the Vibe green color. So there's a little bit of discussion about the reflectivity, how does this material wear, the zinc panel. It's a building material that's been in existence for thousands of years, actually, zinc. It's a component that when you create an alloy by combining it with bronze, you get brass. I brought a sample of the actual patina. This is what they call a pre-patina. So it's a steel panel with a zinc coating on it. This is the material. It's an 80 to 100 year material. It's used for roofing. It's use for cladding. It's a very substantial material, weathers well. You have to clean it now and then just as any material, brick, stone, whatever. This more accurately represents the shade. This little thing that just fell off is the monument sign. Vibe's logo is a circular logo, hence the circular shape of the meeting room. This is the type of signage that would go on the building as a single sided, interior back lit sign, and it would be a double-sided monument sign. This particular one is 60 inches in diameter. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. I appreciate your presentation. It was very comprehensive. Do we have any questions for our petitioner? 1 Ms. Smiley: Are the green panels back-lit, the green accents? Mr. Zimmerman: No, they are not. Ms. Smiley: So the lighting is around the sign, and you said that's back-lit'? April 17, 2018 28525 Mr. Zimmerman:The sign is internally illuminated. That's correct. Both signs. You're asking about the cornice or maybe the flying beam? The flying beam is not illuminated. It doesn't need it. We do typically site lighting so there is pedestrian level lighting bollards at the entry. Typically, we do three of them, and it depends on the site and the amount of paving, but we usually end up with six to seven light stanchions or light poles on the building with LED lighting. By the way, back to zinc again, I'm a big proponent of this. This is a very green material basically. It melts at a lower temperature and hence can be recycled much easier. So there is a9 reen component to that. Ms. Smiley: And your building on Haggerty Road in Novi, that was previously something else and it was repurposed as a Vibe? Mr. Zimmerman: Between Eight and Nine Mile, that branch? I'm not sure what that was before. That was before my time. Ms. Smiley: Does it have any of that look? Mr. Zimmerman: Pardon? Ms. Smiley: It doesn't have any of that look. Mr. Zimmerman: Correct. Ms. Smiley: So it was a repurposed building. Mr. Zimmerman: I'm not sure if that was originally some other branch. Vibe merged with another credit union a few years ago and, in fact, I think that's how they came to have the existing Middlebelt Road property. I think that was the headquarters for another credit union. It was Telecom Credit Union at the time, and about five years ago they 1 embarked on a rebranding exercise, changed the name to Vibe, and so we go forward from there. Ms. Smiley: Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: The branch on Haggerty Road north of Eight Mile, the name is escaping me but it was a railroad employees credit union that merged into Vibe. I forget the exact name of the railroad but that was originally designed by them. Any other questions for our petitioner? Mr. Caramagno: So the round portion of the building, that's a conference room? April 17, 2018 28526 Mr. Zimmerman: It is. Mr. Caramagno: How many square feet? Mr. Zimmerman:Well, I'm going to say it's about 150 to 175 square feet. It's about a 14-foot diameter so it's maybe 150 square feet, 160 square feet. Mr. Caramagno: The brick on the building in the front on the entrance. What did you say it was? Mr. Zimmerman:There's no brick. There is Indiana Limestone, 2-1/4 thick slab material, 4 x 4. Mr. Caramagno: I don't see any on the backside of the building. What's the back side of the building look like? Mr. Zimmerman:All sides are metal panel with the exception of the limestone and with the exception glass. So for instance in this drawing that's up on the screen, the lines that you see reveals in metal panel. Those are all landscape metal panels. The lighter color is champagne metal panel. The darker color is the slate color as an accent and that only winds up appearing sort of as an element above the glazing and at the front entrance. Mr. Caramagno: The metal panel goes right to the floor on the backside of the building. There's no limestone, nothing here. Mr. Zimmerman: No limestone. We do a maintenance strip that's 18 inches deep around the building. Mr. Caramagno: What is a maintenance strip? Mr. Zimmerman: Basically, limestone or river pebbles, just so you don't have dirt and mulch splashing up against the building and workers and so on. It's on the flat. Maybe I'm offering too much detail at this point, but it's simply a way of providing a margin around the building before the landscape begins. They're not irrigating there. You're not having to have landscape maintenance people do any work in that area. It preserves the panel, keeps it from getting dented, damaged, soiled. Mr. Caramagno: Does it scratch up? Mr. Zimmerman: It can be abused just as almost any material can be. We've not had problems with it. It's probably something that could be repainted in 20-25 years, but the metal panels are factory April 17, 2018 28527 fabricated, factory finished. It's a rather residential commercial grade industrial product. Mr. Caramagno: It's just a little different. I can't think of any buildings that are metal all the way to the floor. It's something that I can't picture anywhere else. Mr. Zimmerman:Well, there's one in Southfield and it looks exactly like the one in the picture. I know Washtenaw County Community College, they have a very large metal panel building. It's probably 75,000 square feet, maybe more, metal panel to grade. Mr. Caramagno: Okay. The other question that I've got for you is, on your drawing, I know that in the approving resolution it says all sodded grass, yet on the drawing it shows hydroseeding back where the detention would be. There's a contrast there between what we're asking for and what you've got on the plan. Mr. Zimmerman:A conflict, yeah. If allowed, we would probably hydroseed the 100 x 100 foot, the most westerly portion that's above the underground stormwater detention area. And by the way, about that, we haven't confirmed with the Engineering Department what the preference would be to put it in the west portion of the site but if that doesn't work for us and we can't tie into the storm sewer line there, and if we can't tie into that one, then we go the opposite direction, which is exactly what Tim Hortons did. So they have underground stormwater detention on their site on the west side basically below the parking. So what was your question? I got a little bit off track there. Mr. Caramagno: Sodding versus hydroseeding in the back portion. Mr. Zimmerman: I would sod everything inside if you will. There's a drive that rings the building. Everything within the building, everything outside of the building to property lines, north and south except where there's heavy landscaping, which would need to be mulched, and then the last 100 square feet by 100 square feet, that area to the back would be hydroseed. Mr. Caramagno: Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: If we required that all areas be sodded, is that a problem for your client'? Mr. Zimmerman: I don't think so. 4 April 17, 2018 28528 Mr. Wilshaw: It didn't seem like it would be a show stopper. Okay. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or against this item? Seeing no one coming forward, we will close the public hearing and ask for a motion. On a motion by McCue, seconded by Long, and unanimously adopted, it was #04-23-2018 RESOLVED, that pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on April 17, 2018, on Petition 2018-03-02-05 submitted by Vibe Credit Union requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 11.03(n)(3) of the City of Livonia Zoning Ordinance#543, as amended, to construct and operate a credit union with drive-thru facilities at 16825 Middlebelt Road, located on the west side of Middlebelt Road between Puritan Avenue and Six Mile Road in the Northeast 1/4 of Section 14, which property is zoned C-2, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2018-03-02- 05 be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. That the site plan marked SP-1 prepared by Zimmerman Design, L.L.C., dated March 23, 2018 is hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 2. That the traffic lanes serving the drive-up teller facilities and ATM shall be allowed to be nine feet six inches (9'-6") in width only if the twelve-foot (12') requirement is waived by the City Council by means of a separate resolution by which two-thirds of the members of the City Council concur; 3. That appropriate recordable legal instrumentation, such as a cross access agreement, that gives notice and outlines the terms of how the subject property would share access with the abutting Tim Hortons property to the south, shall be supplied to the Inspection Department at the time a building permit is applied for; 4. That the landscape plan marked LP-1 and the plant information plan marked LP-2 prepared by Zimmerman Design, L.L.C., both dated March 23, 2018 are hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 5. That all disturbed lawn areas, including road right-of-way, shall be sodded in lieu of hydro-seeding; 6. That underground sprinklers are to be provided for all landscaped and sodded areas and all planted materials shall be installed to the satisfaction of the Inspection April 17, 2018 28529 Department and thereafter permanently maintained in a healthy condition; 7. That the landscaped greenbelt along the west property line, as shown on the approved landscape plan, is hereby accepted and shall be substituted for the protective wall required by Section 18.45 of the Zoning Ordinance; 8. That any change of circumstances in the area containing the greenbelt resulting in a diminution of the greenbelt's effectiveness as a protective barrier, the owner of the property shall be required to submit such changes to the Planning Commission for their review and approval or immediately construct the protective wall pursuant to Section 18.45; 9. That the elevation plans marked A-2 and A-3 prepared by Zimmerman Design, L.L.C., both dated March 23, 2018 are hereby approved and shall be adhered to; 10. That all rooftop mechanical equipment shall be concealed from public view on all sides by screening that shall be of a compatible character, material and color to other exterior materials on the building; 11. That there shall be no outside dumpster located on the site, and all trash must be contained within the building except on the day trash is scheduled for removal; 12. That this site shall meet either the City of Livonia or the Wayne County Storm Water Management Ordinance, whichever applies, and shall secure any required permits, including soil erosion and sedimentation control permits; 13. That all light fixtures shall not exceed twenty feet (20') in height and shall be aimed and shielded so as to minimize stray light trespassing across property lines and glaring into adjacent roadway; 14. That only conforming signage is approved with this petition, and any additional signage shall be separately submitted for review and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals; 15. That no exposed LED lightband neon shall be permitted on this site including, but not limited to, the building or around the windows; April 17, 2018 28530 17. That unless approved by the proper local authority, any type of exterior advertising, such as promotional flags, streamers or sponsor vehicles designed to attract the attention of passing motorists, shall be prohibited; 18. That the specific plans referenced in this approving resolution shall be submitted to the Inspection Department at the time of application for building permits, and 19. Pursuant to Section 19.10 of Ordinance #543, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Livonia, this approval is valid for a period of ONE YEAR ONLY from the date of approval by City Council, and unless a building permit is obtained, this approval shall be null and void at the expiration of said period. FURTHER RESOLVED, that notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 19.05 of Zoning Ordinance #543, as amended. Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to City Council with an approving recommendation. ITEM #4 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,120TH Public Hearings and Regular Meeting Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the Minutes of the 1,120th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on March 27, 2018. On a motion by Long, seconded by McCue, and adopted, it was #04-24-2018 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of 1,120th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on March 27, 2018, are hereby approved. A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following: AYES: Long, McCue, Caramagno, Wilshaw NAYS: None ABSENT: Priddy, Ventura ABSTAIN: Smiley Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. ii April 17, 2018 28531 On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously a o ted, the 1,121st Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on April 17, 2018, aq adjourned at 8:37 p.m. i CITY PLA, ING COMMISSION Aellir Sam Ca magno, Secretary ATTEST: Ian Wilshaw,airman 1 1 i i