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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1,217 - July 30, 2024 signedMINUTES OF THE 1,217th PUBLIC HEARINGS AND REGULAR MEETING HELD BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, the City Planning Commission of the City of Livonia held its 1,217th Public Hearing and Regular Meetings in the Livonia City Hall, 33000 Civic Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan. Mr. Ian Wilshaw, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Members present: Wafa Dinaro Glen Long Peter Ventura Sam Caramagno Ian Wilshaw Members absent: David Bongero Mr. Jacob Uhazie, Assistant Planning Director, and Stephanie Reece, Program Supervisor, were also present. 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 PETITION 2024-05-02-09 Kneaded Relief Massage Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the first item on the agenda, Petition 2024- 05-02-09 submitted by Kneaded Relief Massage & Spa requesting waiver use approval under Section 6.37 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to operate a massage establishment at 32003 Plymouth Road, located on the south side of Plymouth Road between Merriman and Hubbard Roads in the Northeast%I of Section 34. July 30, 2024 31527 On a motion by Caramagno, seconded by Ventura, and unanimously adopted, it was #07-37-2024 RESOLVED, That the City Planning Commission on July 30, 2024, on Petition 2024-05-02-09 submitted by Kneaded Relief Massage & Spa requesting waiver use approval under Section 6.37 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to operate a massage establishment at 32003 Plymouth Road, located on the south side of Plymouth Road between Merriman and Hubbard Roads in the Northeast'/4 of Section 34., does hereby remove the item from the table. Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Wilshaw: We did receive some letters of support or find some support and then I will go through some of the details to see if we're all on the same page. The proposed massage establishment is at the southwest corner of Plymouth and Ingram Avenue. The property zoning is C-1 (Local business), which treats massage establishments as a waiver use under Section 6.37 of the zoning ordinance. The ordinance requires at least 400 feet of separation between massage establishments and from any school, place of worship, state licensed daycare, public Library, playground or public parks. In addition. The operating hours of massage establishments are limited to 8am to 10pm. They would be located in a multi -tenant commercial building, which is two stories in height and approximately 6,600 square feet in size. Kneaded Relief would occupy approximately 1,200 square feet on the ground floor of the building. The space includes a lobby, three individual massage rooms and a manager's office. The operating hours would be from 10am to 8pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. The proposed location complies with all separation requirements, and no modifications are planned to the building's exterior. Massage establishments require one parking space for each 150 square feet of usable floor area. Kneaded Relief would require seven spaces. The other uses in the building require 11 spaces for a total of 18. Fifteen spaces are available on site with additional on - street parking provided along Ingram. A public city owned parking lot is located two properties to the west, midblock between Ingram and Blackburn Avenues. I misspoke earlier. It's two treatment rooms, three total rooms and here's the site plan layout. That's about all we have on this petition. All right. Great. Thank you. Is there any questions for our staff? If not...also, I do you want the minutes to reflect that Ms. Dinaro is with us as well. Good to have you here. If there is no questions for our staff, then I'll go to the petitioner. Again, this item has been July 30, 2024 31528 discussed at prior meetings, but just quickly see if there's any updates from our petitioner. Good evening, sir. Michael Malecki, 32003 Plymouth Road, Livonia, MI. Good evening. Thank you very much for having me back again. At the June 18 meeting, I apparently did not do a very good job of representing needed relief, massage and spa. And so, I apologize for that. And so, I'd like the opportunity to at least present a little bit more information that I may have failed to do on that initial meeting. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you, Mr. Malecki. Go ahead with your updated information. Mr. Malecki: A little bit of background about not only myself, my businesses and how Kneaded Relief came to Livonia...I've been a registered nurse for over 30 years. Currently a firefighter and EMT and former paramedic. I was a resident of the City of Livonia for over 20 years. In 2014, I established M & M Homecare, and established that in the City of Livonia. M & M Homecare takes care of those who've been catastrophically injured in motor vehicle accidents. In 2014, later in the year, I transformed AICM, which is Auto Injury Case Management in Michigan, from a struggling location in Redford. I acquired that business and brought it also to Livonia. In 2019, I acquired another business called Hearts and Hands from Milford and relocated that business, of course, to the City of Livonia. And then lastly, I acquired Kneaded Relief Massage and Spa. That was a Southgate business. In 2022, I acquired and bought the building on the corner of Ingram and Plymouth Road. It's 6,600 square feet. I did that to consolidate all my business under one roof in the City of Livonia. Recognizing that I had 1,200 square feet after all those businesses were settled in, I made the determination to bring my Southgate business and open a second location here in Livonia, and I did it because, and I apologize that this sounds like a commercial, but we had a great reputation. We've got over 2,000 five-star reviews and I decided that that would be a very good business for here in Livonia. We looked at the location of the business with my office, we did recognize that there was a very large void in the area, and we thought the Rosedale community was a great place to establish Kneaded Relief. That has in fact been the case. Initially it was determined or as stated in the June 18 meeting that I had not adequately established a need for such services. I respectfully disagree. We opened unfortunately, without a waiver, because we didn't know that one existed or was needed, but upon finding that out in June of 2024, within days, we had an application submitted to the city looking Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Caramagno: Mr. Malecki: Mr. Caramagno: Mr. Malecki: July 30, 2024 31529 to have that waiver granted to us. It was certainly by no means a blatant disregard of the zoning ordinances. We were just unaware of those things. And so, we tried to make sure that we are now in compliance. Within the first six months of 2024 we've had over 800 appointments at Kneaded Relief in Livonia, 33% of which have been new clients but 66% had been repeat clients who continue to come back. So, clearly, they see a need for our services for professional massage therapy. I cannot stress enough we are not a massage parlor. We are far from that. We are very professional. I believe that we meet the goals and objectives of Livonia city ordinances, or professional legitimate business. We are aligning with the ordinances that promote public health, safety and welfare. And with that, in light of these points, I come before you today to ask for that waiver. Well, thank you for the information, Mr. Malecki. Let me see if there's any questions from any of my fellow Commissioners for you. Are there any questions for our petitioner? I do have a question or two. So, you said March of'24 you found out you need the waiver. It was in June of'24 we discovered we needed the waiver. Okay. How did you how did you find that out? What brought that to your attention? The city does inspections of our business because we were already existing, and when the inspector came through, he saw that Kneaded Relief was there, and he pointed out that it needed to be registered and have a waiver. So, as soon as we found that out, we then applied. Mr. Caramagno: Okay, so it was just a month ago, month and a half ago. Were you required to stop doing massage at that point, or were you were you allowed to continue doing massage in the time it took from then to today? Mr. Malecki: We have continued. There was no indication from anybody that we were required to stop, so business has continued. Mr. Caramagno: Okay, very good. Thank you. Mr. Wilshaw: Ms. Dinaro: Thank you. Mr. Caramagno. Any other questions for our petitioner. How long have you been open? July 30, 2024 31530 Mr. Malecki: So, we opened our Livonia location in September if I'm not mistaken. So let me look at my notes here. Yes, in September of 2023. Ms. Dinaro: Mr. Malecki: Ms. Dinaro: Mr. Wilshaw: How many staff do you have? The Livonia location has currently five therapists, a manager and two receptionists. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Dinaro. Any other questions for the petitioner? I don't see any other questions from any of the commissioners. Again, this is an item that we have spoke about in previous meetings, but I don't know if there's anyone in our audience wishing to speak on this item. If so, we're going to give you the chance to come forward and speak just because you're here. And we'll give you a chance to come forward to our podium if you'd like. You could do that right now. Again, we'll just ask for your name and address. Jan Andretich, 11329 Melrose, Livonia, MI. I just moved back to Livonia after 45 years, so I'm thrilled to be back here. Got a great little house in Old Rosedale garden. I rely on about three health care providers to keep me in good shape at 69, my dentist, my eye doctor, and a good massage therapist, because I have found it immeasurably helpful to keep me feeling good. And I personally am thrilled to have this within walking distance of my house. So, I just wanted to speak up. I've also talked to a few of my neighbors, not the whole neighborhood, but everyone seems to be pretty excited about having it close by. I heard no negative talk at all about it. So, I'm right now...I'm going to one kind of a bit of a distance, and I'm very excited if I can go just a couple blocks away. So, I just wanted to speak up and say that and it's great to be back in Livonia. Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Malecki: Thank you I appreciate that. Anyone else in our audience wishing to speak on this item? If not, Mr. Malecki, you get the last word. Is there anything else you'd like to say before we make our decision? Those are the reasons we have the reviews that we do is because people realize it as a needed service. We are serving a community that has a void. We believe that the closest, reasonably comparable facility to us is over four miles away. We July 30, 2024 31531 fill a void, we do it well, and we do it with a high level of integrity. And so, I ask again, for your approval of the waiver. Mr. Wilshaw: All right, thank you. And again, I'll go to my commission. If our commissioners, is there anything else that they would like to say before we make our decision? If not, I will close the item and a motion is in order. On a motion by Long, seconded by Caramagno, and adopted, it was #07-38-2024 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on July 30, 2024, on Petition 2024-05-02-09 submitted by Kneaded Relief Massage & Spa requesting waiver use approval under Section 6.37 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to operate a massage establishment at 32003 Plymouth Road, located on the south side of Plymouth Road between Merriman and Hubbard Roads in the Northeast'/ of Section 34., the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 224-05-02-09 be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. This waiver approval is limited to this applicant and can only be transferred to another user with approval by the City Council. The petitioner shall comply with all the special waiver -use standards and requirements in Section 6.37 of the Zoning Ordinance and Chapter 5.49 of the Livonia Code of Ordinances; and 3. The Petitioner shall not engage in any form of solicitation for business within the public right-of-way of Plymouth Road or Ingram Avenue. FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 13.13 of Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to the City Council with an approving resolution. A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following: AYES: Long, Caramagno, Wilshaw NAYS: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: Dinaro, Ventura Bongero None July 30, 2024 31532 ITEM #2 PETITION 2023-06-02-08 Meijer - SDM Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Petition 2023- 06-02-08 submitted by Meijer, Inc., requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 6.03 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to utilize an SDM liquor license (sale of packaged beer and wine products for consumption off the premises) in connection with the operation of a new Meijer store at 33500 Seven Mile Road, located on the northwest corner of Seven Mile and Farmington Roads in the Southeast of Section 4. Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Uhazie: Mr. Wilshaw: On a motion #07-39-2024 The petitioners request to sell beer and wine products for consumption off premises is regulated under Section 6.03. The ordinance requires 500 feet of separation between SDM licensed establishment as measured between the buildings. There are three existing SDM businesses within 500 feet of the proposed Meijer store. They include Primos Pizza at the southwest corner of Seven Mile and Irving and which is about 424 feet away. Wine Castle Party Store at the southwest corner of Farmington and Seven Mile about 423 feet away and the Wintergreen Tavern at the northeast corner of Farmington and Seven Mile, which is about 463 feet away. City Council can waive the 500-foot separation requirement. The ordinance also requires at least 400 feet of separation from any church or school. There are no churches or schools existing within the 400 feet of the proposed Meijer store. That is all the information that I have on this. All right, thank you. There is no any new correspondence on this item, correct? Correct. All right. This item was tabled at our previous meeting. Is there a motion to remove this item from the table? by Caramagno, seconded by Dinaro, and unanimously adopted, it was RESOLVED, That the City Planning Commission on July 30, 2024, on Petition 2023-06-02-08 submitted by Meijer, Inc., requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 6.03 of the Mr. Wilshaw: July 30, 2024 31533 Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to utilize an SDM liquor license (sale of packaged beer and wine products for consumption off the premises) in connection with the operation of a new Meijer store at 33500 Seven Mile Road, located on the northwest corner of Seven Mile and Farmington Roads in the Southeast IA of Section 4, the Planning Commission does hereby remove the item from the table. Thank you. We will go to our Petitioner who is in our audience. Feel free to come forward and let us know if there's any new information you want to tell us. Good evening. Jason Vander Kodde, civil engineer with Fishback in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have with me this evening, Chris Jones, representative from Meijer Corporation, also from Grand Rapids, Michigan. We're very grateful to be here this evening and would like to give a brief presentation if we can. We had six slides and, Chris, feel free to interject at any point. Mr. Wilshaw: Thank you. Mr. Vander Kodde: Meijer grocery store is a family friendly local grocery store focusing on quality and convenience with a full family food offering. Like all of our competitors in the area, our beverage selection includes beer and wine offerings for off premises consumption only. As staff mentioned, we're here this evening to request a waiver to the 500-foot minimum space between our proposed business and the other adjacent businesses. To begin with, if you can go to the next slide, please, there are currently four businesses offering alcohol nearby. Livonia Italian Bakery and Cafe. Primos pizza. Wine Castle beer store and Wintergarden tavern. The bakery and the tavern have on premises seating available for consumption which Meijer does not offer. The pizza parlor has a full menu of personalized order for takeout of ribs and pizza, which Meijer does not offer personalized ordering for takeout. Although we do have those for taking them home and cooking them. Wine Castle has spirits which Meier is not pursuing at this location. And these four businesses average 412 feet apart with the closest being 275 feet. Cris Jones, Senior Real Estate Manager, Grand Rapids, MI. Good evening, Council thank you for seeing us and for your community work and ifs good to be back in front of you. I just wanted to add a couple items regarding this slide. We've been working really hard to strike a balance between spacing between the neighborhood and the back. Adhering to as many Vision 21 criteria as possible. So, Mr. Wilshaw: Mr. Long: Mr. Jones: Mr. Long: Mr. Wilshaw: July 30, 2024 31534 we've slid our building 30 feet towards Farmington and Seven mile. So that's putting us closer to these existing businesses. Not saying we would have been 500 feet away. I think we'd have been about 497 or something like that away at our previous location, but we're trying to strike that balance between privacy and buffering for neighbors and sound walls and those types of things in the rear of our building and some Vision 21 items. I'd like to point out...Jason mentioned some differences between the businesses. We're not selling liquor here; it is only beer and wine. And it's for off premises consumption. I'd like to say to the point about the existing businesses being close together, you know, we just like to be treated fairly and they either were grandfathered in or received waivers themselves. And this is just one block in the city. So, I'm sure there's probably hundreds of other examples of businesses being within 500 feet of each other, or less than 500 feet. So this category for us is a relatively small category. I think there's a slide that shows 3.7 square feet of our facility. And it's a relatively...typically small generator of sales. But nevertheless, very important. You think about maybe, maybe yourselves or me, my family. You know, it's a common occurrence to pick up adult beverages on a trip to a grocery store. Its convenient. There's Tots of food meals that are prepared with wine or celebrations with champagne or different functions like that. So we just like to be treated...we're not setting precedent. We just like to be treated equally. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Is there any questions for the petitioner? Mr. Jones, do you have any Meijer's in your fleet out there that do not sell beer and wine? We do not. We have 272 stores in our six -state footprint. We have no stores that do not sell beer and wine. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Any other questions for our petitioner? There are no other questions from the commissioners. Tom Blitzer, COO of Shostack Brothers. May I add something? You know, we've been here before. In a previous life, I was the Vice president of Borman's. Many of you know, Bormans owned Farmer Jack and owned other grocery store chains. We had a store on this site, we sold beer and wine. And the other point that I'd like to make is chains, I hate to speak well of my former competitors, Kroger and Meijer. Chains do a very good job of controlling the sale of beer and wine to minors, I would say maybe a better job of Mr. Wilshaw: July 30, 2024 31535 independents. So, it's not that we would run a risk by having Meijer's do this, we might be controlling it better. That's all I have to say. Thank you for your comments. Is there anyone else wishing to speak on this item? I don't see anyone else wishing to speak on this item. Is there any other questions from any of our commissioners? Any other comments that you guys would like to make as petitioners? Mr. Vander Kodde: Just with regard to the slide that's currently on the screen, it depicts the area of the sales for which we sell alcohol, which you can see is less than 5%. So approximately 96 and a half percent of our floor space is dedicated to non -alcohol sales, which are obviously the majority of our business. Mr. Jones: Mr. Wilshaw: I'd like to point out to we're going to carry if all, if not most of the Michigan breweries in the craft breweries. We're going to carry a good selection of Michigan wines. I think we do everything we can to support our Michigan business -based businesses. So that's going to be a wide selection of the offering as well. Thank you. One question that we asked at the study meeting, I think it's worth asking again to get it on record is what percentage of the business do you assume or believe would be based on? Mr. Jones: It's a great question, and the last time I checked on this, this item, it was 3.1% of sales was directly from alcohol. Beer and wine. Mr. Wilshaw: Okay. Thank you for answering that. Is there any other questions or comments from any of our commissioners? Mr. Caramagno: That 3.1% of total sales when you say alcohol, beer and wine, is that beer wine or alcohol, beer and wine? Mr. Jones: Beer and wine. Mr. Caramagno: Now that three and a half percent floor space , what requires you to keep only three and a half percent of floor space? Why can't you make that 10% floor space if you want? Mr. Jones: Well, nothing in your regulations prohibits that. And you know, we've taken a lot of thought into the...really the merchandisers within our organization control the size of our buildings, you know, we build the store from inside out to the walls. In the merchandising we have about 1,000 people in merchandising, so they're really planogram in the store laying out the selection, July 30, 2024 31536 laying out the size of infant, laying out the size of grocery, laying out the size of alcohol. So, the size of it derives from data that we have, you know, we could probably go to each of yours rooftops and tell you exactly how much is spent at Meijer on an annual basis and what products you buy. So, we mine that data to create our stores. So, there's nothing in the ordinance that prohibits the size of the selection. And but we've pre planned the store to offer this size of beverage offerings. Mr. Caramagno: Is it all cold? Or is it a combination? Mr. Jones: Mr. Wilshaw: It's a combination of cold and warm, correct. And we adhere to all Michigan laws and obtaining the licenses and they regulate, you know, Sunday sales and different things like that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Caramagno. Any other questions? If not, I think I can close the hearing that we're having again, and a motion would be an order. On a motion by Long, seconded by Dinaro, and adopted, it was #07-40-2024 RESOLVED, That pursuant to a Public Hearing having been held by the City Planning Commission on July 30, 2024, on Petition 2023-06-02-08 submitted by Meijer, Inc., requesting waiver use approval pursuant to Section 6.03 of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended, to utilize an SDM liquor license (sale of packaged beer and wine products for consumption off the premises) in connection with the operation of a new Meijer store at 33500 Seven Mile Road, located on the northwest corner of Seven Mile and Farmington Roads in the Southeast Y4 of Section 4, the Planning Commission does hereby recommend to the City Council that Petition 2023-06-02-08 be approved subject to the following conditions: 1. This approval is subject to the City Council waiving the requirement under Section 6.03(2)(A) of the Livonia Zoning Ordinance, which states that there be at least 500 feet of distance between SDM-licensed establishments. 2. The subject site has the capacity to accommodate the proposed use. 3. An SDM liquor license at this location will complement the grocery store by providing an additional service to customers; and July 30, 2024 31537 4. This waiver is granted to this petitioner only, and any new user shall first require the consent of the City Council. FURTHER RESOLVED, That notice of the above hearing was given in accordance with the provisions of Section 13.13 of Livonia Zoning Ordinance, as amended. Mr. Wilshaw: Is there any discussion? Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. It will go on to the City Council with an approving resolution. A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following: ITEM #5 AYES: NAYS: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: Long, Dinaro, Caramagno Ventura, Wilshaw Bongero None APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1,216th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting Mr. Caramagno, Secretary, announced the next item on the agenda, Approval of the Minutes of the 1,216th Public Hearing and Regular Meeting held on July 16, 2024. On a motion by Long , seconded by Ventura, and unanimously adopted, it was #07-41-2024 RESOLVED, That the Minutes of 1,216th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held by the Planning Commission on July 16, 2024, are hereby approved. A roll call vote on the foregoing resolution resulted in the following: AYES: NAYS: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: Long, Ventura, Caramagno, Wilshaw None Bongero Dinaro Mr. Wilshaw, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. July 30, 2024 31538 On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 1,217th Public Hearings and Regular Meeting held on July 30, 2024, was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. ATTEST: Ian Wilshaw, Chairman CITY PL NING COMMISSION am Camagno, Secretary