HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-01-27
CITY OF LIVONIA – CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD JANUARY 27, 2020
Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by President Kathleen McIntyre. Present:
Cathy White, Brandon McCullough, Rob Donovic, Jim Jolly, Laura Toy, Scott Bahr and
Kathleen McIntyre. Absent: None.
Elected and appointed officials present: Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and
Economic Development; Dave Lear, Assistant City Engineer; Paul Bernier, City Attorney;
Susan M. Nash, City Clerk; Dave Heavener, Fire Chief; Curtis Caid, Chief of Police; Ted
Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation; and Dave Varga, Director of
Administrative Services.
Councilmember Cathy White requested to refer the subject matter of Local Government
response to climate change issues to the Administration to investigate possible efforts
that the City of Livonia could undertake to address those issues.
Councilmember Jolly gave an update on the results of the Chili Cook Off that he and
Councilmember McCollough participated in a couple weeks ago, stating that McCollough
won a prize for the best decorated table.
1. REQUEST FOR PROCLAMATION FOR THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS:
Paula Bowman, President, League of Women Voters’ of Northwest Wayne County,
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re: to commemorate the 100 anniversary of the passage of the 19 amendment
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and the 100 anniversary of the League of Women Voters as a public service
organization.
Paula Bowman, President, League of Women Voters, presented this request to
Council. She stated there are a number of League members in the audience as
well. She stated the League originated in Livonia in 1960, their League chapter,
and about 25% of their membership is from Livonia but they also service the other
communities in Northwest Wayne County. She stated on behalf of the League of
Women Voters serving the Livonia community and they are grateful for the
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Council’s good wishes on the League’s 100 birthday and for the opportunity to
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call attention to the 100 Anniversary of the 19 Amendment. She went on to state
many of us have grandmothers or great grandmothers who could remember their
complete disenfranchisement from participating in Government that created laws
and enforced those laws about them. Since before the Civil War women and men
have organized, marched, protested, lobbied, and have even gone to jail in a
collective fight for voting rights for women. We can be proud that Michigan gave
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women the right to vote in 1917, three years before the 19 Amendment was
ratified. And then of course Michigan was one of the first states to ratify the
Amendment in 1919. This was not a cake walk. The 1917 vote was preceded by
two unsuccessful attempts to change Michigan’s Constitution: in 1850 and 1857.
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And among other protests there were three separate different petition drives to
bring women’s suffrage to the State legislature, the petitions were virtually ignored,
the legislature wouldn’t even call a vote. But eventually equality prevailed and
women did win the right to vote in 1920. The League of Women Voters was
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organized as a result of the passage of the 19 Amendment and its main purpose
then was providing candidate and issue information to the 50% of the now voting
population who hadn’t voted before. Over the nearly ten decades of our existence
the League of Women Voters has applied the lessons learned in those early days
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to engage and empower all voters. As we celebrate the 100 Anniversary of the
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League and the 100 Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, we are reminded that
government of the people, by the people, and for the people cannot function
without the active involvement of the people. This is the year to remember the
struggles of our ancestors who fought for the right to vote for all citizens. This is
the year to increase Michigan’s voter turnout from the embarrassingly low rate of
63% in 2016. This is the year to realize that thanks to the passage of Proposal 3
last year, voter registration and no reason absentee ballots have made it more
convenient than ever to exercise the privilege of voting. This is the year to realize
that there is more power at the ballot box than complaining on social media. We
ask all of you here and I know you will, to join the League of Women Voters of
Northwest Wayne County to urge all Michigan voters to make our democracy
strong by voting.
Councilmember Toy thanked Bowman and the other League members for all they
have done through the years, the candidates night so graciously put on for all of
us and the information they provide. She stated her aunt was a Suffragette and
marched and she has one of the pins her aunt received, she has since passed.
She went on to state it was Bowman who influenced and asked Council to have
Audience Communication at the beginning of their meetings which they had never
done. So it’s because of the League of Women Voters that Council adhered to
some of the kinds of suggestions they were given and at that time Toy was
President of Council and requested there be two podiums and two mics in the
auditorium to accommodate Audience Communication. She also stated that not
only does the ballot invite people, Council has invited people more so with our
President and past Presidents to accommodate our residents that come in and be
gracious enough to invite them because their input is very important to us. She
thanked Bowman for her work and suggestions over the years, it has made a big
difference.
Councilmember Jolly stated he wanted to share a brief story, that he was actually
a little nervous to see Bowman at the podium and her colleagues in the audience,
not knowing what questions he would be asked. He went on to state that recently
he was watching Mary Poppins with his daughters who are almost nine and almost
seven, and that there is one character, either the mother or the aunt, who is fighting
for Women’s Suffrage, and trying to explain that to his daughters, that women
couldn’t vote at one time, blew their minds. They couldn’t understand. And having
that conversation with them allowed me to see it through their eyes and just
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absolutely how absurd to even think about women not being able to vote, not being
able to participate. So it made me appreciate the suffrage movement and those
things that were fought for in a different kind of way, so really the effort has gone
a long ways because the mindset of these little girls, they expect nothing less and
a whole lot more in terms of their democracy, so thank you again.
Bowman stated they are so appreciative of all of the Livonia candidates that they
have seen at their candidate forums, that says a lot when all of you are there
because it tells us that you are anxious for your voters to learn about you and
you’re giving them the opportunity to vote with the information they need to make
a sound decision. So we’re all volunteers doing this but we need your help to
inform the voters, too, so we’re grateful for all your help.
Vice President Bahr stated that he echoed the sentiment of his colleagues in
thanking Bowman for all she has done and that the candidate forums are one of
his favorite parts of campaigning. He went on to state that he feels that we have
a total unhealthy in his opinion preoccupation with Presidential elections in this
country, but we’ve had three years of elections since 2016, including one where
we’ve already seen the impact of the Proposal 3 that passed, it’s already very
much in effect and Clerk Nash can certainly attest to it as well. It’s just important
for people to remember that as much attention as the Presidential election gets in
those years, you can make a really strong argument that the years in between
actually have way more impact on our lives than that does and he just wanted to
remind people of that.
Councilmember Toy offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR
2. REAPPOINTMENT OF LORA WEINGARDEN TO THE LIVONIA BOARD OF
ETHICS: Office of the Mayor, for a three-year term, which will expire on March 1,
2023.
Paul Bernier, City Attorney, presented this request to Council. He stated he has
worked with Ms. Weingarden over the years and she is a longtime Livonia resident
and that the Mayor is asking for Council’s approval on this.
Councilmember Toy stated there is no bio on Ms. Weingarden in the packet and
Bernier replied that she is an original member of the Board and has been on the
Board since it started.
President McIntyre reiterated Councilmember Toy’s request that when there is an
appointment or reappointment to the Board, that Council be given at least a
summary of the resume’ of the individual.
Councilmember White offered on approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
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DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
3. REQUEST TO PURCHASE FOUR (4) REPLACEMENT CARDIAC MONITORS:
Livonia Fire and Rescue, re: from Zoll Medical Corporation, the sole supplier, from
budgeted funds.
Dave Heavener, Fire Chief, presented this request to Council. He stated he is
requesting Council’s approval to purchase four Zoll Cardiac Monitors. This
equipment is used on a daily basis, it is critical to providing high quality care to the
residents in the community and this equipment will complete the Department’s
department-wide upgrade and standardize all front line cardiac monitors on all Fire
Department vehicles. The old monitors are well beyond their life expectancy,
which is about seven to ten years, currently those monitors average eighteen years
of use so we’ve certainly got our money’s worth out of them and plan to be traded
in to reduce the overall purchase price of the new equipment and we will be
receiving a $3,000 trade-in per unit to help offset the costs of the new equipment.
Councilmember Jolly asked Chief Heavener if when he says cardiac monitors, is
he basically talking about mobile EKG’s and the Chief replied yes, they are mobile
cardiac units where they can read and interpret EKG’s and then render various
types of advanced life support remedies including medication or other electronic
type of interventions in serious life threatening health conditions so the equipment
is critical and it is required for them to have on all of their vehicles that are licensed
as advanced life support units, which all of their front line vehicles are.
Councilmember Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
4. REQUEST TO MODIFY AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CONFERENCE OF
WESTERN WAYNE AND THE CITY OF LIVONIA YOUTH ASSISTANCE
PROGRAM THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 2020: Department of Community
Resources, re: to receive $17,178.00 to be used for the Youth Employment
Resource Program, the Youth Assistance Group Facilitators and Jail Tour
expenses.
Linda McCann, Director of Community Resources, presented this request to
Council. She stated she is asking for approval of the modifications, and it really
just extends the contract agreement until September, the City will still get their
$17,178.00. For those unaware of what this program is, it’s a diversion program
for first time juvenile offenders that come out of the court system, they have to have
some classes, community service, we do jail tours so they can see where they
would end up. It’s a very successful program, there is not a lot of recidivism
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Councilmember Toy asked if this was similar to the “Scared Straight” and McCann
replied they still do that; it is part of the jail tour program.
Councilmember Toy offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
5. AWARD OF BID: Public Service Division, re: for a five-year Elevator Maintenance
Program, for the period from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2024, with funding
to come from the Building Maintenance budget.
Don Rohraff, Director of Public Works, presented this request to Council. He
stated this is a five-year contract for the ten City elevators and this did go out to
MITN, and they are recommending the low bidder which is Elevator Technology
for $82,596.00. They’ve had the contract for the last ten years and do a good job
for the City.
Councilmember McCullough asked if this includes the State certification, the load
tests that are required and probably time and materials for any repairs that are
needed and Rohraff replied absolutely.
McCullough stated that he deals with this in his profession and that the costs
seem well in line and he then offered an approving resolution for the Consent
Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
6. REQUEST TO APPROVE FINAL COST INFORMATION AND TO AUTHORIZE
ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATION AND EXPENDITURE: Engineering Division, re:
for the 2019 Sidewalk Program - Contract 19-G. (CR 96-19)
David Lear, Assistant City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated
this is their yearly sidewalk program final numbers from 2019. There is a
breakdown of what was authorized and what the final costs were and that they are
actually very close to what was originally authorized. There was an additional
number of houses that requested the sidewalk be fixed in front of theirs and that’s
the bulk of why it’s a little bit over. They were quite a bit under on tree root repairs
and miscellaneous things but in general it more or less comes out to where they
were planning.
Vice President Bahr stated they just dealt with the 2018 version of this in their last
meeting and he is just curious why both the 2018 and 2019 were in front of Council
in back to back meetings.
Lear responded that in 2018, the project actually got cut off at the end of the year,
weather conditions prohibited them from finishing the 2018 program on time, so
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the 2018 program half of it was delayed and it was finished up in 2019. So, the
final numbers for the 2018 were just put together and the 2019 were finished up at
the same time.
Councilmember Donovic asked how many miles of sidewalk do they anticipate
fixing and Lear replied it’s hard to say it in miles, but for the 2019 program there
were just under 600 locations that they did and it varies from one slab of concrete
to the whole frontage. Typically they will try and shoot for around 500 or so
locations, homeowner ones and then they also do a number of the City ramps,
sidewalk ramps and miscellaneous repairs for grinding and tree roots as well.
Councilmember Jolly stated he’s noticed as the City is doing sidewalk repairs,
when sidewalks at intersections that cross streets are often repaired, they are
repaired with a different formatting with some red texture on there and asked Lear
to explain why that is.
Lear replied the contrasting dome pectar plates that they put in there are for
persons with vision problems so it’s easier for them to see the contrast in between
and the dome on there are for blind or sight impaired where they can feel the
domes before they get out into the roadway.
Councilmember McCullough asked when the grinding of the sidewalk is done, is it
more of a preventative approach were they would come back and do a final
replacement and Lear replied yes, the grinding is more of a temporary that they
hope is going to be permanent. Usually it just buys time. If they start moving, it’s
going to keep moving almost all the time but in instances where it’s less than an
inch or two, we can kind of touch those up and still make them passable where
once they get to a certain point you can’t grind off too much slab and you have to
replace them.
Vice President Bahr offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
7. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2019-08-08-13
submitted by Build to Suit, Inc. to construct a new medical clinic on property located
on the south side of Plymouth Road between Middlebelt Road and Milburn Avenue
(29959 Plymouth) in the Northeast ¼ of Section 35.
Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented this
request to Council. He stated this is a request to construct a new plasma collection
center that would be called BioLife and it’s within the Wonderland Village Shopping
Center which is on the south side of Plymouth Road between Middlebelt and
Milburn roads. This site is about 2.3 acres in size and has 265 feet of frontage on
Plymouth Road and a depth of roughly 280 feet. The subject property is part of
the shopping complex known as The Village Shops of Wonderland and as the site
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plan shows as originally approved, the Village Shops included five buildings
fronting on Plymouth Road that extended west from Middlebelt Road for a distance
of about 1,650 feet. Four of those five original buildings have been constructed
and the proposed BioLife would occupy the last remaining building pad which is
located at the far left end of the Village Shops and this was referred to as Retail
Building F on the original plans, that’s the one on the far left on this drawing. Retail
F was originally approved to be approximately 28,000 square feet in size, it was a
multi-tenant building. The proposed BioLIfe building will be a single-use structure,
it will be one story in height and about 14,390 square feet, so roughly half the size
of the original building. As you can see from the site plan, the building would be
placed in the middle of the site, there would be parking on the west, north and east
sides of the building. This site does not have direct access from Plymouth Road,
instead access would be provided by the existing drive aisles and maneuvering
lanes that are part of the existing layout of Wonderland Village. The building’s
interior would be divided into three main parts, the front part would be the reception
area, donor processing areas as well as various exam rooms, training, conference,
and other administrative offices. There’s a middle section which is labeled “Donor
Floor” which contains multiple cubicle partitions and then the back part is used
mainly for service as a receiving area, processing area, freezers, as well as break
rooms and changing rooms.
In a C-2 Zoning District, the minimum required setback is 60 feet for the right of
way, in this case the building would be 95 feet from Plymouth Road. In terms of
parking, there is a requirement for 105 parking spaces; the site plan provides for
129 parking spaces, so it totally complies in that respect. Looking at the site plan,
too, you’ll see that behind the building there is a separate access drive that would
be for pick-ups and deliveries in this area. There would also be trash dumpster,
there is an enclosure that would be built of masonry and it would be about 6.5 feet
in height. Looking at the design of the building, there are two different color bricks,
there’s a dark gray and then a lighter gray. There’s also composite siding, that’s
the other gray color that is above most of the glazing of the windows. EIFS would
be used only as a material where those signs are located, so I think there are three
areas on the building that would contain the DRYVIT material and then dark bronze
metal panels would also be used as part of the design.
You can see there are signs proposed, what’s allowed is one wall sign not to
exceed 85 square feet in the area of the site plan. These plans show three signs
on the northeast and west sides of the building so that’s going to require a variance.
Existing light fixtures are already provided as is most of the parking, that would not
change. There was also a fully detailed landscape plan that was presented that
shows about 25% of the site being landscaped, so that, too, complies with our
minimum standards.
The Planning Commission has approved this design, they spent quite a bit of time
reviewing the exterior design of the building, several changes were made and I’ll
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let the architect speak to those. And with that, Madam Chair, I’d be happy to
answer any questions.
Councilmember White asked that the slide of the south side of the building be put
on the screen and then asked how far is the south side of this building from the
single family residences. Taormina replied to show that he will go back to the
aerial photograph and what you’ll see here, the area highlighted in yellow is the
building pad, the area immediately to the south or below that is a vacant
developable part of the original Wonderland Development. The white building in
the lower right hand corner, that’s actually the Walmart, so you have to go further,
it’s off this photograph, but you have to go further to the south before you get to
the residential. This plan shows it a little bit better, the yellow area being the
residential, so several hundred feet there.
Councilmember White stated that’s good because she knows the homeowners in
that area have been upset with the Walmart trucks and so forth being parked back
there, but whatever is happening on this piece is very far from impacting those
single family residences, correct, and Taormina replied in the affirmative.
She then asked if this is a private entity not associated with the Red Cross at all
and Taormina believed he doesn’t believe so but he’ll let the Petitioner respond to
that.
Councilmember Donovic asked if BioLife had other locations where they operate
at and Taormina replied it is his understanding they have over 100 throughout the
country and in Michigan the majority of their operations are in Grand Rapids and
Ann Arbor and maybe a few other locations but that he believes this is the first
Metro Detroit location.
Donovic then asked if they were going to add more parking to the existing parking
around it and Taormina replied no, that the existing parking is adequate to meet
the needs of this development. You can see the area is undeveloped other than
the parking around it, that was built in anticipation of what was going to be that
retail building F but was never constructed.
Donovic stated he frequents that area a lot, he lives next door to it, and it’s
awesome to see some potential development there.
Councilmember McCullough stated it’s been some time that the Wonderland
Village property has been sitting vacant, this is between the White Castle and then
the other property of Wonderland Village that was developed to the east, correct
and Taormina replied correct. McCullough then asked if there are other medical
types of businesses inside the Wonderland Village or the neighboring vicinity.
Taormina replied in the vicinity, yes, but in the Wonderland Village he can’t think
of anything directly medical related, dental for sure.
President McIntyre called the Petitioner to the podium.
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Jason Harder, Build to Suit, came to the podium and stated that they worked
closely with staff on modifications to this site and they’re excited about the potential
of being in Livonia. He is here representing the development company who goes
around helps do some site selection and handles the front end work like this, where
the construction company will actually GC this with local subs. And then the
ownership of this building will stay within his organization and BioLife is a tenant
of theirs in numerous other locations across the country. They’re a great tenant.
Vice President Bahr thanked the Petitioner for all the work he did with the Planning
Commission on this, that he read through each of their meeting minutes in detail
and can see the evidence of you responding to their requests and what they have
before them is an attractive building by and large. He stated his only question is,
he noticed in those minutes, there was a comment made about this matching the
materials on the existing Wonderland Village and there was some reference to that
and he indicated this is a very gray building, it doesn’t look like the rest of
Wonderland Village and he was a little surprised by that because it’s a pretty
consistent look across that right now.
Harder replied that he is not an architect by trade, he’s a civil engineer, but they
have two architects who work solely with this client and they have a trade dress, if
you will, that they like to typically have their buildings look like. This is stretching,
a happy medium hopefully between where they’d like to be and Wonderland
Village. He said it took an architectural brain to sit and look at the building
articulations and try and match Wonderland Village multi-tenant shops and I think
they did a pretty good job.
Councilmember Toy asked what the business is of BioLife and Harder replied that
it is a plasma donation center, so they actually take the plasma and store it and
then ship it out to two facilities that they have, one on the west coast, and one on
the east coast and turn it into different medications that are used for numerous
medications.
Vice President Bahr stated when he was in college he knew a lot of college
students that this is an easy money making opportunity when you’re in college, but
there is a need, they pay for plasma and that he knew people in college that were
going every two weeks and doing this and it was an income stream for them, so
it’s a legitimate thing to do that serves a legitimate need and he thinks it’s pretty
neat that this is coming to Livonia.
President McIntyre stated she imagines this business generates a significant
volume of medical waste that is handled in a specialized way required by law and
Harder said there is a biohazard room inside the facility and all way medical waste
goes inside there, nothing goes to the dumpster exterior, it’s hauled away by
licensed haulers. McIntyre then confirmed that the company has been in
compliance and Harder replied yes.
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Councilmember Toy offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
8. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2019-11-08-15
submitted by Hobbs + Black Architects on behalf of 2|42 Community Church to
renovate the exterior of the church located on the south side of Five Mile Road
between Yale Avenue and Levan Road (35475 Five Mile Road) in the Northeast
¼ of Section 20.
Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented this
request to Council. He stated he put the slide of the existing building on the screen
and stated that the proposed changes would only effect the north elevation of the
building. And this is the side facing Five Mile Road, this is an aerial photograph of
the site itself, as you indicated it’s on Five Mile Road between Yale and Country
Club Drive. He put the rendering of the building on the screen showing the
changes proposed to the side facing Five Mile. The changes involve adding new
materials and colors in order to transform the appearance of the façade, consistent
with the church’s other locations. The new materials mostly include corrugated
metal, reclaimed wood, some EIFS as well as some other minor materials. But the
four main features of the design, first is the tallest feature, this consists of the
rectangular shaped area, this is a wall that’s comprised of corrugated metal, in this
case it’s painted red and it’s located on the west side of the façade. This feature
is about 25 feet in height. The second tallest feature is about 20 feet in height and
that’s actually EIFS material that would have a finish and it would give the
appearance of a rusted metal or an oxidized steel, so that’s the reddish color
pattern immediately on the right hand side of where you see the 242 sign. There’s
some vertical lines on that, white vertical lines, those are actually recessed LED
accent lighting. The third detail is about 9 feet in height and this is the part of the
façade that it’s a rectangular archway that’s over the entrance doors. This, too,
would consist of corrugated metal and would have a blue finish. The fourth
element of the design involves covering the existing brick on the east side of the
current wall with reclaimed wood siding, so you see that horizontal siding on the
left hand side of the rendering, that’s actually a barn wood type of material and I’ll
let the architect explain that further. But you can also see that that same wood
material would be applied somewhat randomly over portions of the stone walls that
are located on either side of the entrance. Again, the Planning Commission spent
quite a lot of time with the Petitioner going over this design, tweaking certain
elements and colors and this is what they landed on and with that, I’ll be happy to
answer any questions.
Vice President Bahr asked if the recessed LED lighting, is that something that we
typically allow? Don’t we usually have stipulations against something like that and
Taormina replied we do; we typically prohibit LED light bands or strips or neon type
of lighting unless it’s in the form of accent lighting and we can verify that. We have
been told that this is recessed, it’s used strictly for accent purposes and I think your
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review this evening would confirm whether or not that’s something that would fall
outside of the prohibition for LED light bands or other type of lighting which is
actually a condition of the approval that was presented to you by the Planning
Commission.
Bahr stated there are a number of renderings in the Council packets with different
colored materials and none of them look like the image that is on the screen and
Taormina replied that would be labeled as Option 3.
Councilmember McCullough stated that he thought there could be a photometric
plan that would show it to be accent lighting, but just looking at the drawings, he
was pretty excited to see the reclaimed lumber, metal panels, and just looking at
the old façade and bringing it into 2020, the sustainability components that went
into this design are pretty awesome. One question to the Petitioner would be
you’ve got reclaimed lumber, which is awesome, what do you use on the elements,
is there some kind of a coating that would go over it?
Eric Rauch, Executive Pastor at 242 Community Church, came to the podium and
stated they’re excited to be in this community and take a church that has a long,
rich history here since 1945 and continue it forward. So, specific to a couple of the
questions I heard, I heard a question about lighting, I would not anticipate any foot
candles coming out of that lighting. The reason being is because those are very
deeply shielded lights, we’ve used them at another one of our locations and there’s
no real light that’s coming out of them, it just kind of highlights that area and breaks
up that mass of steel look of it, so it breaks up that mass a bit and we really like
the look of it. If it becomes an issue, we will remove it as well, but we’d prefer to
keep it in. As far as it being a light source, it’s not really, it is strictly accent lighting
in our opinion. The other question you asked was in regard to the barn wood, and
how do we treat that, and we ran into this in previous projects, too. That barn wood
will be anywhere between 100 and 200 years old and there’s actually a clear coat
that goes over it to help protect it a little bit. We also don’t want, there is as well,
we make sure that we don’t have barn wood that has lead paint in it, as an
example, that’s actually a big issue with reclaimed lumber now. So, we do that
research as well, and make sure that’s not present in our barn wood, so those are
things we’ve ran into in the past and those are how we’ve addressed them.
McCullough stated he’s excited to see a project like this and taking a façade from
something that’s dated and bringing it up to a nice cool look as this. He then
offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
Councilmember Jolly commented that this looks great, it’s very forward and
modern and this will be a new congregation utilizing a building that had been
previously utilized since 1945, is that what you were saying?
Rauch replied that recently this past June adopted what was Compass Christian
Church, so what that looks like is the existing congregation, the business side, if
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you will, is now run by 242 and then we’ll be changing the name here on February
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9 and kind of updating the imaging a little bit. So, it offers an opportunity to take
churches, many of them these days are 50 to 70 years old or so, and offers an
opportunity to kind of reimagine them a little bit and kind of bring them up to a little
more modern stance. So, certainly the imaging is part of that and the architecture
is a part of that, along with other elements, too. But the existing congregation is
still there, in fact, they voted for us to be merged together.
Councilmember Jolly inquired about the denomination and Rauch replied they’re
a nondenominational Christian church. Jolly then commented that there was a
statistic at one point, he doesn’t know if it’s still on point or not, that Livonia had
more churches and houses of worship per capita than any other city in the country
and he thinks that might still be true and it’s nice to see the renovation of this church
structure, making updates and improvements for the congregation, but they’ve
seen it at other churches and congregations here in the City of Livonia quite often.
He welcomed him to the community.
Councilmember Donovic asked if on the six options the only difference is the color,
and not the actual material being used and Taormina replied he thinks that’s
accurate; it was mostly just variations on the colors is what was looked at at our
last Study Session and again it was this Option 3. Donovic then asked if the east
and west side of the building are not being updated, they will stay the same, and
Taormina replied at the present time they will remain as they are now. Donovic
then welcomed the Petitioner to the community and stated that the lighting is not
a source of illumination, but more just esthetically pleasing, it kind of highlights the
differences between materials a little bit and is absolutely beautiful. He then
welcomed him to Livonia.
President McIntyre asked if the existing flanking stone walls to the east and the
west, do those remain and Rauch replied yes. She then asked how do you
transition from your modern materials to the existing 1957 stone walls with some
reclaimed pieces of wood on it, she is not clear on how that transitions.
Rauch replied the stone walls are natural stone walls and they’ve been there for
many years and that’s actually an element and material that’s up to date, it’s
something you see pretty often now. To help blend in together the transition
between the wood, the barn wood and that, they decided to start tearing that away
a little bit and so just literally kind of piecing it on top of that and it helps in our
opinion kind of blend these two together because our thought was when we looked
at the renderings before that those older stone wall columns kind of stood out as
oh, they kind of looked like we worked on the middle section but didn’t do much on
the ends, and we felt like it really helped blend those two things together so we
thought it was just a neat, creative way to provide that.
Councilmember Toy asked the Petitioner if they are going to do anything on the
inside and Rauch stated they have done some already, that they’re not moving
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any walls or anything but they repainted and did the floors and new lighting and
everything and new signage and all, so that’s been in effect for several months
and it will continue in the months ahead.
Toy then asked if they were going to try and bring some of those elements into the
monument sign that is currently there and Rauch replied they recently quickly
changed the sign, just yesterday, to say 242 Community Church, and they look to
do this construction in the summer and he anticipates they will relook at that ground
sign as well and do something more permanent and a little bit nicer. They put an
idea on the plans but it’s not an official submittal for a sign permit but the would
like to take a look at that and have it match it better.
Vice President Bahr asked the Petitioner if he mentioned recessed LED lighting on
some of his other locations and asked which ones. Rauch replied their Ann Arbor
location has it on the exterior as well, that they built a community center in Ann
Arbor that was completed two years ago and so that has on the exterior the main
entry there. They’ve used them on the interior on some of their projects, including
our Brighton location has a hallway that has them on the interior. Bahr then stated
that if Council is okay with that, they need to specify that condition prohibiting the
LED lighting.
Councilmember Donovic asked if on the existing stone wall, the transitioning that
you mentioned earlier that was on the screen, are you actually going to grind down
the existing stone so that the pieces are flush or are you going to put the pieces
on top of the stone. Rauch replied that those pieces are about ¾ of an inch thick
so they’re just going to put them right on the stone with a screw or something with
a small head on it but wouldn’t be seen but would go right into that.
Councilmember White stated she likes the accent lighting and she thinks the
proposal is beautiful so she will be in support of it.
President McIntyre asked McCullough if it was his intention to offer the approving
resolution with the LED lighting in it and McCullough replied in the affirmative.
Attorney Bernier stated that the way he put it down is that the condition that the
LED lighting is removed except as to the accent lighting as shown on the drawing.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
9. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LIVONIA CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS
AMENDED: Department of Law, re: to amend Chapter 88 of Title 9 (sale of
tobacco products to persons under age 21) to bring into alignment with the Federal
law and expected amendment of Michigan’s Youth Tobacco Act.
Paul Bernier, City Attorney, presented this request to Council. He stated as
Council members are aware, last month the Federal Government changed the sale
14
of tobacco to prohibit anyone under the age of 21. Our ordinance clearly says
under the age of 18 now, so they want the ability to enforce the law between 18
and 21 under local ordinance as opposed to State law when they eventually
change it which they’re going to do very soon. So it’s really just raising the age to
21 consistent with Federal law and what State law will be.
Councilmember White offered an approving resolution for First Read for the
Regular Agenda.
DIRECTION: FIRST READ REGULAR
10. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LIVONIA CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS
AMENDED: Department of Law, re: to amend Chapter 16 of Title 12 (Parks and
Playgrounds) to add Washington Park and land adjacent to Rudolph R. Kleinert
Park to the roster of City parklands.
Paul Bernier, City Attorney, presented this request to Council. He stated this is a
matter so we can actually get it on our roster of parks.
Councilmember White stated she is very familiar with this property since it’s around
the corner from her house and she was looking for a diagram and then asked if
right now the park goes to the edge of vacated Hubbard Road and this would bring
it the full right of way distance east as well as when we talk about the left 100 feet
of specific lot, so she’s trying to picture it in her mind, does that mean that the park
will now extend the width of Hubbard, vacated Hubbard Road, as well as anything
to the left of that vacated road. In other words, what she refers to as the Ross
Kelly property rule remain as a property that will ultimately be developed for
residential purposes, right?
Attorney Bernier asked Superintendent Davis to come to the podium to respond.
Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, came to the podium and
stated he is not an engineer, nor does he ever claim to be one, but reading this
description he would read it as you do where it is going to include the vacated
Hubbard Road and the 100 feet west in addition to that.
White then stated her conclusion that the property that is available for residential
development will remain intact and Davis replied in the affirmative, that it doesn’t
effect that at all, and White stated it just effects the vacated right of way portion as
well as everything to the left of the vacated right of way and Davis replied correct.
Councilmember White offered an approving resolution for First Read for the
Regular Agenda.
DIRECTION: FIRST READ REGULAR
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AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION None heard.
As there were no further questions or comments, President McIntyre adjourned
the Study Session at 9:07 p.m. on Monday, January 27, 2020.
th
For the 1,890 Regular Meeting of February 10, 2020
DATED: February 3, 2020 SUSAN M. NASH, CITY CLERK