Called to order at 7:30 PM by Mayor Kathleen McLallen.

PRESENT: Mayor McLallen, Mayor ProTem Crawford, Council Members Cassis, Clark, Mutch, Schmid

ABSENT/EXCUSED: Council Member Mitzel

ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Edward Kriewall, Assistant City Attorney Dennis Watson, City Clerk Tonni Bartholomew

The Council viewed a clip regarding Crime in Oakland County which was shown about a week ago on Channel 4. Mayor McLallen then read a letter she wrote to Chief Schaeffer on behalf of the citizens.

Lt. Tim McNamara

Chief Shaeffer indicated there were two promotions and one new hire in the Police Department. He introduced Tim McNamara, who has been with the organization some 17 years and has risen through the ranks starting as a Patrolman. He said recently Tim McNamara went through a series of promotional testing which speaks very highly of their supervisors and Tim McNamara who was able to prevail over that type of group. He then stated Lt. McNamara would be in charge of heading up the Patrol Division.

Sgt. Ken Meier

Chief Shaeffer introduced Ken Meier who has been in the community for about 14 years. He said Ken Meier has twice competed in the promotional process and prevailed both times but it was under the Union Contract that the list expired before they had the opportunity to promote him, so Ken Meier subjected himself once again to the promotional process and has once again prevailed so it speaks doubly highly of him of being able to do it twice, and he is very pleased to promote Mr. Meier to Sergeant from Detective.

Police Department Office Manager Linda Harrison

Chief Shaeffer introduced Ms. Harrison and indicated she comes to Novi as their new Office Manager for the Records Section, from the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office, where she spent numerous years in charge of their records section. She has a Masters Degree from Walsh College and also founded a few years ago the law Enforcement Records Management Association for the State of Michigan so the City was looking forward to working with her.

Recreation Coordinator Scott Mercer

Mr. Davis introduced Scott Mercer to everyone who would be the new Recreation Coordinator. He indicated Mr. Mercer worked for the City as an Intern for approximately six months in 1995 and worked the Adult Softball Program and a variety of special events. He said with some restructuring, Mr. Mercer would be coordinating their Adult Athletic programs along with a variety of special events. He also has a degree from Wayne State University and is currently working on his Masters Degree from Wayne State.

Deputy Treasurer Steve Babinchak

Mr. Gibson introduced Steve Babinchak to everyone. He said Mr. Babinchak started part-time with Parks & Recreation and then for the last eight years he has been an Ordinance Enforcement Officer. He indicated Mr. Babinchak brings a lot of talent to the job, and he has been aiming for a finance position for quite some time and has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Wayne State University majoring in Operations, and a Masters Degree from Walsh College in Finance and graduated with honors.

Special Presentation Mall Projects - Taubman

Mr. Morosco said there were three major areas they were looking at which were really customer driven and customer friendly. He said the three were enhanced entranceways to the center, which would be much stronger and brighter and much easier to see when coming from the parking lot whether day or night. He indicated they were also bringing in a brand-new elevator, which would be faster and larger than the one they have now. He said once the new elevator is installed, they would redo the old one so they would both match. He said then they were going to replace the handrails and redo the columns on the upper level for a much better sight line for the customers.

Mr. Morosco said there were also two other areas they were defining that they hope to get done this year. He said one was a family restroom, which besides enhancing the facilities they now have, they would have another room that would be specific. He said for example, if someone had a spouse in a wheelchair and needed some assistance, they could go into that room to help. He said there was another room, which was actually a room for kids specifically with a toilet and sink and those were still being defined and they hope to get it done this year. He then asked Mr. Lock to present his renderings.

Mr. Ron Lock presented photographs and said the entryways would be brighter and the approach would be replaced with concrete and brick paving. He said the canopy, which provides some weather protection, would be fully weather protected. He stated they would be using glass and an automatic sliding glass door system that would be very customer friendly.

Mr. Lock said the existing elevator is located between the JC Penny and Lord and Taylor Courts, and directly across from that is the new elevator. He said it is adjacent to the Information Booth between the Hudson’s and Sears’ Court and would be of marble and stainless steel and glass. He indicated once the elevator is completed, the second existing elevator would be made to match the new system.

Mr. Lock also indicated if a person can’t find their store to shop at, there will be a telephone which you just pick up and it will hook you up to the Information Booth and an attendant will give you additional information. He said they will have new family restrooms and will have a large men’s and women’s facility and in addition to that, the family restroom will have small fixtures for children and a separate waiting area.

Mr. Lock said the last addition is to be located at the Lord and Taylor Court and will be the Children’s Play area, which will be brightly colored and the structure would be of all soft foam.

Mayor McLallen asked the time-line and Mr. Morosco replied they would see a barricade go up in about a week around one of the center areas where the new elevator would be constructed and the new Information Desk and then sometime in February, they would begin the entranceways and handrail systems and they were hoping to be done late summer or fall with everything.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

Mr. Harry Avagian said he was unhappy to convey this message to City Administration and to Council. He said about two weeks ago, he faxed a letter on behalf of the membership of the Lakes Area Residents Association, directed to the Novi City Manager and the Novi City Council.

Mr. Avagian said nowhere in the last Council Agenda nor on this evening’s Agenda, is it listed as a communication to the City.

Mr. Avagian said he was asking for an apology for whoever is holding on to that fax and an apology because he has not received an answer and an apology because it hasn’t been listed as an official communication to the City of Novi.

Mayor McLallen asked Mr. Kriewall to respond to Mr. Avagian at a later time on this matter.

Ken Paul of 613 S. Lake Drive indicated his issue was the Lakewood Preserve development. He indicated he spoke to Mr. Watson last week regarding this issue and when this development first came in front of the Planning Commission, one of the big subjects was the preservation easement that was going to be granted regarding the lakefront area. He said the original map that the developer showed to the Planning Commission included two areas that were going to be excepted out of that preservation easement, which included what looked like a walk area that they had initially had in their plan, and then withdrew and also what appeared to be a driveway that comes down off from South Lake Court and comes all the way down to the lake. He said it looked like a boat launch.

Mr. Paul indicated he was a member of LARA and SCS and what they have strived to do is to get those issues resolved before their homeowners so they were dealing with one entity. He said at that Planning Commission meeting the developers agreed, but not clearly in his book, that those areas would be included in the preservation easement during the final draft, and he understood that the final legal description of that easement could not be done at this time because of the need of final engineering numbers to be done to actually describe that easement, but he would like the Council to address to them whether that area is actually going to be included in the preservation easement or if they are trying to hide something from them.

Mayor McLallen said those questions would be brought up under Item #5.

Mike Connon of 1321 S. Lake Drive indicated he also had concerns with Lakewood Preserve. He said the residents had asked that no launching or usage of the lakefront be specified out as early as possible and the residents want to make sure this is not a fight that goes on forever. He said he was one of the ones that agreed to make the exception and rather than just allow 49 homes to own that frontage, to let all 232 have common use of it but with certain stipulations, so if they were all going to make that exception, he would urge the Council to make sure the developers have that in their plans now and as early as possible.

Mr. Connon also indicated he was part of the Taft Road Committee and at one time, someone figured that the citizens’ involvement did log over 250 some hours and he was not sure if there were land deals going on that it is taking awhile, but he would ask for some input.

Mayor McLallen indicated the City Manager will report on that matter under City Managers’ Reports.

Donna Rail of 2250 Paddington Court indicated she hoped the Council approves the Ice Arena that evening as she has three boys that play hockey.

Mayor McLallen closed the Audience Participation.

CONSENT AGENDA

1. Adoption of Ordinance 96-82-04 - Amendment - Soil and Sedimentation Regulations - II - Reading.

2. Adoption of Ordinance 96-18-126 - Amendment - TC-1 Zoning District - Criteria for Retail Commercial Buildings II - Reading.

3. Approval of Traffic Control Order 96-1, Parking is prohibited on the West side of Expo Center Drive.

4. Approval of Traffic Control Order 96-2, No Right Turn on Red for southbound Town Center Drive at Grand River Avenue - Removed by Councilman Crawford.

5. Approval of Traffic Control Order 96-3, Southbound Venture Drive to stop at Nine Mile Road.

6. Award bid for utility vehicle to Weingartz Supply Co. In the amount of $6,322.00.

7. Award bid for riding mower to Spartan Distributors in the amount of $13,315.00.

8. Award bid for T-shirt contract to American Silkscreen.

9. Award bid for Photography to Russ & Associates.

10. Approval to purchase two (2) vehicles through the State of Michigan Joint Purchasing Program: One (1) 4 x 4 Dodge Dakota pickup truck in the amount of $16,532.88 from Bill Snethkamp Lansing Dodge and one (1) Jeep Cherokee in the amount of $18,769.88 from Snethkamp Jeep Eagle - Removed by Councilwoman Cassis

11. Acceptance of Water Main, Sanitary Sewer, Storm Sewer and Roadway - Royal Crown Estates Subdivision Phase IV.

12. Acceptance of Water Main, Sanitary Sewer, Storm Sewer and Roadway - Addington Park Subdivision #2 and #3.

13. Approval of Budget Amendment 96-12 in the amount of $7,500.00 for Conferences and Workshops (101-101.00-956.000).

1. Approval of Ice Arena Development Agreement.

Mr. Davis indicated he felt all of Council’s concerns have been addressed. He pointed out to Council that last Wednesday there was a public information meeting with a rough presentation, which was well received. He then asked Mr. Seyler to review the proposal.

Mr. Seyler said they were proposing to come together between Center Ice Management and the City of Novi to work together to plan, design, build, and finance a rink independent of the City taxpayers’ obligation. He indicated the rink would be designed as specified in conjunction with the Committee of Trustees that they would appoint, which was 11 trustees probably, but it could be up to 24 trustees with one trustee being appointed by themselves. He said, therefore, there were no plans outstanding and what they really have a plan for is a joint venture.

Mr. Seyler said on the one side would be the City of Novi, the Council, and the Mayor, and on the other side would be Center Ice Management, which would come together to form Community Clubs of Novi, a 501C3 independent non-profit corporation.

Mr. Seyler said under the terms of this agreement, the City of Novi would lease space in the park on Twelve Mile Road to Community Clubs, and they would act as Consultants to Community Clubs to design, finance, and build the entire facility. He said once this development agreement is undertaken, they would go through a process of developing this project almost identical to what any private developer would go through. He said they would have to get site plan approval, building permits, etc., just like a private developer.

Mr. Seyler indicated the bonds would be sold through the Strategic Fund on behalf of Community Clubs and they would not be bonds of the City and they would be tax-exempt and would be paid off 100% by the proceeds of the operations of the rink. He said there was no way the City could lose its title to the land, and the collateral for the facility is solely the income derived out of the operations of the rink. He said at the end of 20 years, the lease will expire, and the control, which was in the hands of Community Clubs, would revert back to the City of Novi.

Mr. Seyler said they have set up a number of agreements which everyone has read and the development agreement which is a frame-work agreement for everything that goes ahead. He indicated they have also put in the development agreement, a ground lease which will take over at a time once they have financing, the building permit, and a design-build agreement and a management contract. He said the development agreement would be the City and the Community Clubs and Center Ice and once they appoint a Board of Trustees, they would provide additional financing for Community Clubs and they would agree upon a ground lease. He said the ground lease is between the Community Clubs and the City, and Center Ice has nothing to do with that.

Mr. Seyler said once that is done, Community Clubs will retain Center Ice to design and build it and manage it once it is done and they would then prepare the plan, they would bring the plan to the City for site plan review and once they are done, they would prepare a guaranteed maximum price for Community Clubs and once the guaranteed maximum price is agreed upon, they will sell the bonds and once the bonds are sold and the financing is in place, they will obtain a building permit, and then will initialize the ground lease. He said at the time, the City will enter into a formal agreement with Community Clubs to lease the land to Community Clubs and at that time, of course, they will sell the bonds and go ahead and build the facility. He said it would be up to the Trustees to work out the plans and make the decisions as to how the facility is operated and where it goes in the figure.

DISCUSSION

Councilman Clark was not opposed to the project and liked the idea of the City not being directly involved in the day-to-day operations. He said the only thing Council is approving that night is the language of the proposed development agreement and the only question he had dealt with some of the language on Page 5, which stated, "In the event that it should become necessary to incur additional development costs in excess of funds available to Clubs, with the prior consent of the City, Center Ice may, (but shall not be obligated to) increase its loan contribution to fund such necessary costs. Upon receipt of project financing from the sale of revenue bonds, Community Clubs shall reimburse Center Ice for 100% of its loan contribution, including interest at the rate of 7% per annum."

Councilman Clark said the development agreement also talks about Center Ice contributing in-kind or like-kind services. He wanted to be clear that at some point in the future, they were not looking at Center Ice saying to the Board of Trustees of Community Clubs or the City, that we made in-kind contributions of an additional $50,000 and are looking for some type of repayment of that sum. He wanted to be clear they were talking solely about a cash contribution in the event that it would become necessary and should Center Ice elect to do so, to go beyond its commitment of $100,000 and was that correct.

Mr. Seyler said yes and they would retain an architect and if they get into a situation where they have to do more work than they anticipated, first of all, they would have to go back to Community Clubs and get approval to do the work and they couldn’t just decide they were going to do more work and bill Community Clubs for it. He said the contract specifies what work they will do and how much they would get paid for it.

Mr. Seyler said financing is late and they want to get along with the project and keep it on Budget, and it may be necessary that they want to advance some architectural money so that they can proceed beyond the initial phase and get the drawings in shape so that they don’t miss a deadline. He said if they couldn’t lend the money to Community Clubs to finance that additional cost, there would be no way for Community Clubs to pay for it and would get stuck, but by lending it to Community Clubs ourselves, they can keep the project going on time.

Councilman Schmid said any of the bonding would be paid back by the revenues generated out of the ice arena, and he asked if the funds were not sufficient, what would pay off the bonds and would the ice arena go into bankruptcy.

Mr. Seyler replied the ice arena could go into bankruptcy and if it goes into bankruptcy, the Trustees possibly would be appointed to run the rink and deliver the proceeds after expenses to the bond holders and that would be the only recourse of the bond holders in this deal. He said the City obviously might look for a different Manager, or the Community Clubs might default and have someone else run it better and make it work, but it couldn’t take the land for example.

Councilman Schmid said he was concerned about the citizens of Novi being obligated through a special taxing procedure to have to be special assessed for maintaining this project to continue or pay off the bonds and he assumed the attorney has clarified the matter.

Mr. Watson indicated the language they discussed in December was redrafted and the language that was asked to be put in, has been put into the agreement. Councilman Schmid asked if Mr. Watson was absolutely comfortable that if this project is not successful, that the City of Novi in no way would be obligated to any of the indebtness of this project, and Mr. Watson said correct. Councilman Schmid asked if they could get the building and Mr. Watson said the Trustee would have the right to operate the building to generate the revenues to pay off those debts but it would have to be operated as an ice arena.

DISCUSSION

Councilwoman Cassis said many people in this community have young children looking for facilities for their children. She felt comfortable with the general structure that has been proposed. She said the Council would be looking toward nominating in the very near future the oversight board, which would be drawn from this community and they would be looking for certain types of expertise.

Councilman Crawford assumed their next course of action would be the Board of Trustees and would they have to take up that matter that evening to direct someone to come back with a proposed make-up of the Trustees.

Mayor McLallen felt it would speed things along if the Council frames it that they would like it to go forward. Mr. Davis said as far as his time frame, he was ready to bring forward a proposal in the form of a resolution establishing that Board of Trustees and obviously they would look to the Council for suggestions for what that make-up will be.

Mr. Davis said in his cover letter he talked about possibly a Council member appointment, a Parks Commissioner appointment, and he even mentioned a Planning Commissioner, but he had some second thoughts because of the site plan review and the potential conflict there, but with the citizens as a whole working with the attorney’s office, they could structure that resolution and bring forward a recommendation to the next available meeting.

Councilman Mutch asked if they were going to wait until they get the resolution or is there going to be a public announcement soliciting participation. She also asked would there be some direction given to those in the community who would like to participate.

Mayor McLallen said she could see that as a challenge for this Council to put that direction out based on Mr. Davis’ time-line and his time-line indicates that they would like to have this open for business by July of 1997.

Mayor McLallen indicated that this Agreement, in order to be more than a piece of paper, requires three signatories and as has been pointed out this evening, one of the signatories does not exist and that is known as the Community Clubs of Novi, and what she was hearing from Council that night would be a motion to direct the Administration to go ahead and advertise for members and more than that, to formulate what would be the overview of the different kinds of expertise that they were looking for so that they could guarantee that this would be a success.

Councilwoman Mutch said she was willing to make a motion but she felt the Council needed more input as to what the selection process was going to be. She would suggest a list from Parks & Recreation, both the Department and the Commission, of recommended people.

Mayor McLallen indicated they have said that Community Clubs will exist, but now they are going to be defining who is going to hold the jobs. She asked Mr. Davis if he has formulated what backgrounds would be needed.

Mr. Davis said he could come up with some of those recommendations on the qualifications and criteria of the membership. He said one of the things he would like to stress is within their agreement, they call for the possibility to appoint anywhere between 8 and 24 members, and for the initial phase, he would recommend keeping it to a manageable number to start with.

Mr. Davis explained the initial steps would be to start working with Center Ice and the Design and Construction documents, for the ground lease and things like that, so someone in the initial stages, should be more versed in those specialty items, and then later on they would get into adding people as they need to, that would specialize more into the operational side into the formation of the hockey and figure skating programs, etc., so he would be adding people as necessary throughout the process.

Mayor McLallen asked if he wanted to recommend a number of various backgrounds that would be beneficial by their next meeting. Mr. Davis said yes and then they could have a dialogue in discussion. Mayor McLallen said that would allow the Council to begin to look at actual interviews towards the second meeting in February, and look towards appointments in March. Mr. Davis said he would work with Mr. Kriewall and Ms. Bartholomew as far as future meeting dates and to see how they could incorporate those dates into either existing meetings or if necessary, special meetings to expedite the process.

Councilman Schmid asked were they going out for advertising or not and Mayor McLallen said the question was could they start soliciting.

Mr. Davis said there were a lot of people who have expressed interest informally to him about being on the board and he wasn’t familiar enough with Council’s rules as to formal procedures, but they could start the process now.

Mayor McLallen said they don’t want him to get off his schedule because there are people waiting for this service. She felt they need to do this this week, but wanted to be sure how wide were they opening this and was it to anyone to or would there be any requirements.

Mr. Davis said the people who are going to apply are going to have a vast variety of interests and there are people out there that obviously are more in line with the hockey associations and operations, and then some more in line with figure skating.

Councilman Clark felt they do need a workable number to begin with which could be added to. He felt they should look at people’s backgrounds such as knowledge of finance, engineering, or construction, real estate, hockey, figure skating, etc. He felt they should have a broad outline of what they were looking for in place before they advertise to interview people. Mr. Kriewall felt they could move ahead and advertise this job.

Councilman Clark asked Mr. Fried as they stand now, Community Clubs does not exist and Mr. Fried said it was not a legal organization. Councilman Clark said do they not have to establish it as a legal organization before they could appoint someone. Mr. Fried said there was a structure form for it now and as soon as Council appoints the Trustees, the Trustees will then form the organization formally, so it was all in place now.

Mr. Davis felt they could take what they know they want basically as far as the criteria that has been discussed and incorporate that in what Mr. Kriewall had, and get it out this week and advertise.

Councilman Crawford said the document answers most of the questions. He said first of all in the development agreement, it talks about a representative of the developer, which is Center Ice

and not less than 9 other people, so that defines their initial Board of Trustees, and then in the By-Laws, which are not officially adopted, that is on Page 1 of 7, it gives a description and an attorney, a financial person, a business person were listed, so it gives some suggestions and he felt they could use those guidelines when they interview.

Mayor McLallen said the City Administration will go ahead and begin advertising this week with a goal of the appointments being made in March.

DISCUSSION

Councilman Schmid said to Mr. Fried he does not recall seeing a great number of these, and is this something relatively new and Mr. Fried explained the reason you don’t see many of them was because most of them are on the private property and this is on public property and that is why it was a license.

NOVI HOTEL FUND LTD. PARTNERSHIP TRANSFER OF B HOTEL LICENSE WITH DANCE PERMIT AND ENTERTAINMENT PERMIT.

Mr. John Carlin explained this is a simple transfer of ownership and the current licensees and property owners will be selling the hotel and the land to Mr. Slater’s organization. He stated the corporation was currently the owner of 12 hotels in the United States, mostly in the west, and this would be the 13th. He said all they were asking for is approval by City Council for the recommendation of the Liquor Commission for the transfer of ownership of the Class B Hotel and SDM License.

DISCUSSION

Councilman Schmid noticed one local partner of this organization, Blair Bowman, and was he the sole local partner and Mr. Carlin said yes and the hotel corporation, the general partner of the limited partnership, will own 50% and then the other 50% has been distributed among four investors, one of which is Mr. Blair Bowman and his wife.

Councilman Schmid asked if these four investors are local and Mr. Carlin said Mr. Bowman was the only local person, but in each instance, the corporation has become involved in the community and would be a member of the Chamber.

Councilman Schmid asked Mr. Slater if he planned on any major renovations or a change in the type of operation and Mr. Slater replied they were in the process of reviewing what remodeling they were going to do and have engaged Lee Mamola and are formulating the plans now.

Mr. Slater said the hotel is running at 77% occupancy so obviously it is not broke, so they are certainly going to try and continue on with the good strong management that is in place and then hopefully upgrade the amenities.

DISCUSSION

Councilwoman Mutch asked if the business would continue as the Sheraton and Mr. Carlin replied it will for now but they will be looking into that along with other changes to the Hotel, and any changes would come to the City.

Councilwoman Mutch asked if the plans were to stay at the same level that the Sheraton is and Mr. Slater replied if they do make a change in the franchise, it would be a shift up.

Councilman Mutch said she noticed in the material provided that Mr. Slater tends to have the property for a limited period of time and then sells it. Mr. Slater said they have not sold a hotel yet, and they started out as a management company in the 80's, so that is why it looks like they had a short-hold because they were managing for lenders that had foreclosed on hotels, and their goal was to sell it as quickly as possible.

Mr. Slater said in 1990, they have shifted from a management company that had no equity interest in the hotel to now, so they own all the hotels that they operate and to date, they have not sold one of their hotels and they would eventually, but none of their equity interests have they disposed of yet.

VOTE ON CM-96-01-019: CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

DELFINO ESTATES SUBDIVISION, SP95-06D - TENTATIVE PRELIMINARY PLAT APPROVAL.

Mr. Mike Priest representing Laura Marchesotti owner of the property indicated that Ms. Marchesotti lives in the existing home which is located up at the northwest corner of the property and her plans are to build a new home in the southeast corner of the site and the existing home will be removed. He said the sites were half acre sites and the Thornton Creek traverses the property, just barely touching on the western side. He said they have reserved the park to protect the wetlands and the stream itself of approximately 4 tenths of an acre. He said most of the lots will avail themselves to walk-out basements so it would be a small development but a very nice one.

DISCUSSION

Councilwoman Mutch asked about access to the park area and the recommendation says the applicant shall provide access if feasible. Mr. Priest indicated he moved the road a little further east, and there is a strip of land that goes all the way out to Nine Mile which is a minimum of 10 feet wide.

Councilwoman Mutch stated the Planning Commission had recommended that there be access to the wet areas if feasible and the applicant has pointed out that that access is now there. She asked Mr. Rogers if the access is not only appropriate but adequate.

Mr. Rogers indicated he personally checked with Mr. Bluhm on that matter and it has been resolved. He said the other issue of intrusion into some detention areas by three lots would require a variance from Council but Mr. Kapelczakl could comment on that issue.

Mr. Kapelczak said they do need the variance and his office didn’t see any problems with it just as long as the lots don’t go into the wetlands areas, which they really don’t.

Councilman Schmid and Councilman Clark said that would be part of the motion to grant that variance.

Councilman Crawford asked who retains ownership of Thornton Park and would that stay an association or were there plans to deed it to the City and Mr. Priest said normally a private park like that would be covered in the dedication and it could be owned by the eight owners of the lots or it could be dedicated as a public park.

Councilman Crawford said he wasn’t suggesting that and he wasn’t so sure that the City would want it, but he just wanted to know where that issue stood. He said it wasn’t being deeded to the City in this document and Mr. Priest said he didn’t think that has been addressed. Councilman Crawford said that was good because that was probably the way it will end up and he was sure the Parks & Recreation Commission and Department would have an opinion on whether they wanted a little piece of park there, but right now it belongs with the development and Mr. Priest said absolutely.

Councilwoman Cassis said they do have an Ordinance in the City of Novi that prohibits platting in wetlands and she thought Mr. Watson made mention that it wasn’t so much the platting in the wetlands, but it was who would hold title to the parkland and what happens to those lots 8, 7, and 4 that do seem to have wetlands as part of their property. She asked how does the title reflect that and how are individual property owners apprised of that situation prior to purchase.

Mr. Fried explained there was a Disclosure Ordinance and Councilwoman Cassis said that Disclosure Ordinance happens to come to them just before the very end of the transaction and Mr. Fried indicated the buyer would find it when they get their title insurance policy and are ready to purchase the property if the developer doesn’t disclose that, but he should have in his office the plats and easements on the plats. Mr. Kapelczak said actually it isn’t a wetlands and it is just a detention area, and there will be an easement on the plat over those lots for that detention area.

Mr. Priest said in addition to showing it on the plat, everyone who buys a lot is going to be able to see that, and they would put it in the Deed Restrictions, which would explain the park area and speak to the maintenance of the park and the fact that it is reserved. Councilwoman Cassis asked if they would see that prior to the purchase of property and Mr. Priest said yes.

LAKEWOOD PRESERVE SUBDIVISION-SP95-17F - TENTATIVE PRELIMINARY PLAT AND WETLAND PERMIT APPROVALS

Mr. Serlin indicated they were not asking for any variances as they were consistent with the ordinances. He said he was fully aware of the comments that the consultants have made and have accepted them and are developing the plans further.

Mr. Serlin indicated there was a question of the detail on the plans and the plans presented for Tentative Preliminary Plat were complete as far as what they were required to prepare. He felt the questions that were raised by some Commissioners, although valid at a later stage, are not valid at this point. He said as the detailed plans continue to be developed, they would respond to the issues in a proper timely fashion.

Mr. Serlin referred to Mr. Condon’s concern and stated he has agreed to not access the lake. He said they have a preservation easement strip that runs consistently and continuously along the lakefront along the property that would have to be crossed in order to provide any form of access to the lake. He said the language in the agreement indicates in two sections these are areas that are restrictions to the grantor, which would be us as the property owners. Mr. Serlin indicated those restrictions require them to receive approvals for anything they may do in the preservation area, but further, also indicates that they were agreeing not to construct, to install, or place any improvements within the preservation easement including but not limited to, boathouses, boat docks, beaches, or to make any other alterations to the lakefront that would provide access to the lakefront.

Mr. Serlin felt they have been clear and they have also included in the language in the easement agreement, things like water skiing, beaches, boating, etc., and he was comfortable they have fulfilled their obligation to the preservation easement to protect the lakefront against any intrusion or development and he felt this was reasonable and provided for in the agreement. He said this by the way will continue on and be assigned to our residents who will form a homeowners association and will be obligated to the same obligations that we have committed to in the agreement that will be recorded.

Mr. Serlin said they have reserved the right if it was a preservation area, that perhaps the reasonable activities that might occur, hiking or bird observations, etc., and anything we may do in the way of a board walk or walks that would require any invasive activity in the wetlands or the preservation area, would be before this group, the DNR if appropriate, and any other member of the City staff that would require a review before anything would be installed, so he felt they have committed themselves to Lakewood Preserve and to the preservation of the open space delineated on the plan.

COUNCIL DISCUSSION

Councilman Schmid asked the price ranges of the homes and Mr. Serlin replied probably under $200,000 to begin with and then there would be premiums for lake views, etc.

Councilwoman Cassis asked Mr. Fried about the concern that was brought forward by the residents regarding the easement that looked like a potential for a boat launch.

Mr. Fried said they were concerned from the beginning and had originally drafted the preservation easement and redrafted it and included specific language in that regard and a copy is in the file so we are comfortable with it. He said it was technically called the Open Space Preservation Easement.

Councilwoman Cassis asked if in the future, the residents themselves would have to go through a process of coming to the Planning Commission, and Mr. Fried stated they would have to come back to the Council and modify the agreement and a site plan would have to be submitted.

Councilwoman Cassis asked the time frame for build-out of the 241 lots and Mr. Serlin stated if they could get started this year, they might have a model up at the end of the year and build-out maybe a minimum of three years. Mr. Serlin also mentioned that if the next time they see this, it doesn’t have the name of Lakewood Preserve, don’t be surprised because apparently they can’t use the name Lakewood as there is another in the community. He said they were looking at the name Bentley Point which has some historic significance to it and also has a nice ring to it.

Councilwoman Mutch referred to the South Lake and West Road area and said there used to be a problem wet area and now it was not included at all or was it just Lakewood Preserve South. Mr. Serlin said that was just Lakewood South, and there are actually three subdivisions we are talking about, west, north and south and that is a technicality that is required by the Subdivision Plat Act and we cannot plat across a main thoroughfare such as a public road like West Road or South Lake, so they in effect have three separate plats.

Mr. Serlin said the area of Lakewood South has always been in that form and it has been refined some, because at the very southern tip, we thought we didn’t own the property and it was the City’s property for some future extension for Taft Road, however, it was a right-of-way that went right through the middle of that property. He said this was a rescindable easement that was given to the City for the extension of Taft Road that if it didn’t occur, and if the City didn’t take advantage of the Taft Road extension within a five-year period, there was a reversion back to the owners of the property and that is why you don’t see it in the same character that you see it now.

Mr. Serlin said when they realized that it was really their property and it no longer belonged to the City, we did go to the Planning Commission to reserve the very southern tip of that in the event that Taft Road needed to go through their property, which would allow a transition to West Road, so he felt they have covered all bases.

CM-96-01-021: Moved by Mutch, Seconded by Clark, MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Council approve Tentative Preliminary Plat and Wetland Permit Approvals per Consultants’ letters for Lakewood Preserve Subdivision, SP95-17F.

CASTLEGATE SUBDIVISION, SP95-54 - TENTATIVE PRELIMINARY PLAT APPROVAL.

Mr. Bob Schron indicated this piece of land was originally developed as Cardinal Court with seven lots but that subdivision was never built and Mr. Rossi then took possession of the property and decided to reduce the number of lots and make them significantly larger and move them over to the eastern side of the subdivision to present more of a buffer between the homes in this subdivision and Southwyck of Novi, which lies immediately to the west.

DISCUSSION

Councilman Schmid was pleased they came in within the proper zoning and without a design to reduce the lot size.

VOTE ON CM-96-01-022: CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

APPROVAL OF INCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP OF THE BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION.

Mayor McLallen said this Commission originally had a lot of members and was cut down but then they found they had attracted quite a large group of people who were excited about being there, so they would increase it by two members.

APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS

Mayor McLallen thanked all the people who have applied for the many Boards and Commissions. She indicated her recommendation for Planning Commission would be Gwen Markham and she would request the support of Council for that nomination.

Mayor McLallen said Ms. Markham is a resident of the City in Royal Crown and she is by profession an engineer and that was a talent not seen on the Commission for some time and she felt that would add to the talents already on the Commission.

DISCUSSION

Councilwoman Cassis said in the Mayor’s choice, a couple of preferences seemed to have emerged. She said first there was a preference for relative newcomers, people perhaps with very good ideas, but without a depth of community knowledge, and secondly, another preference would be for individuals whose involvement in the City is just beginning to emerge. She would ask why pass over persons with a long track record of investing and living in Novi, individuals with an abundance of active civic involvement, experience, and contribution, while also being lay people who draw their opinion from a rich understanding of their community. She said why pass over individuals such as Michael Meyer who has 14 years residency or Denise Jenkins who has 15 years of residency, for someone who has just lived in Novi for under one year.

Councilwoman Cassis said both individuals have an impressive and extensive resume of community service, to the extent that they have committed themselves in the recent run for City Council. She also added after interviewing them, they bring a diversity of talent to what is currently present on the Planning Commission, in particular Michael Meyer’s background as a counselor to people and his long school board history, which could bring a welcomed balance. or Denise Jenkins, whose talents too were in the area of working with people in a very sensitive role of reviewing citizen’s requests for tax relief. She said those were the points she felt may be valuable to consider in this nomination.

Councilman Schmid said he would not normally oppose the Mayor’s appointment and he was surprised about it but it just didn’t occur to him that Ms. Markham would be the selected one. He remembered the interview and she did a nice job but she has been with the City less than 3-4 months, and he didn’t feel she had the background for this community. He was surprised at the selection and he would prefer someone with experience of what was going on in the community and what has gone on in the past and what the future of the community is.

Nays: Cassis & Schmid

Mayor McLallen asked the Council members to complete the ballots and return them to the City Clerk and they would announce the rest of the appointments after the break.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION - None

GRAND MEADOWBROOK DEVELOPMENT COMPANY CONSENT JUDGEMENT

Mr. Keith Rogers indicated in 1989 the Board or the Council and the Grand Meadowbrook Development Company made an agreement on a judgment to develop this property and to agree on a site plan. He said he had marketed the property to try and find users for a plan that was determined to be something that was good and something that the Grand Meadowbrook Company wanted to see happen.

Mr. Rogers said since then though it has been very difficult to try and find financing for the project the way it was originally conceived and very hard to find users that were willing to go into the pre-determined square footages and structures that were agreed to, so they asked him to come up with some ideas and try and find some users that were willing to buy the property.

Mr. Rogers said he had Mr. Cliff Seiber put together a site plan that would divide the property into seven parcels, one being industrial and then dividing the proposed retail portion of the property into six individual pieces of property to be sold individually, site planned individually for uses that may be allowed under the current zoning.

Mr. Rogers said he submitted a letter with the proposed site plan and lot split plan. There were two things that he wanted to accomplish that night. He said one was they have three users that were interested in buying pieces of property, a jeweler who would buy the first parcel, a music store owner who wants to buy the third parcel and an indoor soccer facility who would buy the industrial parcel to do a private indoor soccer facility.

Mr. Rogers wanted some direction from the Council as to how to go about altering the Consent Judgement or what the process might be to change the Consent Judgement to fit more of a flexible plan that would allow us to sell the property to users that the City may want to see and are allowed in the current ordinances. He said they want to keep some of the items that were negotiated in the original Consent Judgement and to also maximize the value of the property.

Mayor McLallen asked Mr. Fried if there are any parameters that would guide this conversation and could he direct both the petitioner and Council as to what the next step should be if the Council wishes to entertain this conversation.

Mr. Fried said the Council should decide whether they were interested at all in modifying the Consent Judgement, and if they are, then the proposed developer/purchaser should then present a plan and have it reviewed by the Consultants and have the Consultants bring it back to the City with the developer and have the Council comment on it and see whether it was going along the lines the Council is interested in and then modification of the Consent Judgement can be had after that.

Mayor McLallen asked the Council if they were interested in entering into a new discussion of this parcel and an opening of the Consent Judgement.

Councilman Clark indicated he was not interested in reopening this. He said he remembered what was originally proposed was turned down because of the substantial adverse impact that it would have had at the intersection of Grand River and Meadowbrook Road, which led to litigation and to this Agreement and they went into that Consent Agreement knowing full well that there were no guarantees involved.

Councilman Clark said that remedy was fashioned in an attempt to provide relief and also to meet the concerns that the City had at that time and while it is unfortunate that no one has come along yet, it doesn’t mean that someone might not come along in the future that fits within the parameters of the Consent Judgement.

Councilman Crawford asked if the Planning Consultant could perhaps compare what is proposed here to what we agreed to in general several years ago. He said this project appears to be less intense than what they agreed to several years ago and this project may very well satisfy what they wanted to accomplish but he needed to be clear on that and if it does, he may be willing to take a second look at it because obviously whatever we agreed to several years ago has not come to fruition for whatever reason. He then asked Mr. Brandon Rogers to respond.

Mr. Brandon Rogers reviewed his letter of January 15, 1996 (as attached) and compared the differences as he saw them. He said the NCC District is a flexible district, which we all know was adopted in 1985 to do something with Grand River.

Mr. Rogers said the indoor soccer facility is two acres on the roof and four regulation size indoor soccer fields inside the building. He said this one would use 6.6 acres and would have on the site plan two points of access, one at the far westerly end off of Grand River, and one at the northeast corner on Meadowbrook. The Consent Judgement said this back property if it is to be used for industrial, would have to have 3 points of access and that can be provided in his opinion if they wish and it also said that the architecture and building facades of any industrial building in that area be compatible with the style of design of what was then conceived of as a planned shopping center. He said this plan here under site condominium would have six different buildings and we can’t tell as no plans have been submitted but we know there wouldn’t be an internal road system and there would be some site planning requirements.

Mr. Rogers said if the indoor soccer facility comes in, it will require site plan review by the ZBA for their interpretation that this type of indoor recreation use is in harmony with other indoor recreational uses that were already permitted under Section 1903 of the Zoning Ordinance and a couple of them, the Grand Slam on Ten Mile Road at Catherine Drive, received a ZBA variance and there is also another indoor facility up on Heslip Drive north of 9 Mile that also received a variance from the ZBA.

Mr. Rogers said this certainly requires an amendment of the Consent Judgement for several reasons. It was a different area and smaller than what was previously approved and maybe that is not a hindrance but it only has two points of vehicular access and needs three.

Councilman Schmid said back in 1985 or 1986, there was some indication that Mr. Rogers knew some of the developers at that time and Mr. Rogers indicated he had met Mr. Curran in a development he had in the Town Center with Mr. Gold and he has known Mr. Curran for a number of years and he lives in Grosse Pointe but he has never done work for him. Councilman Schmid said Mr. Curran bought this and then almost immediately started a lawsuit and was that correct, and Mr. Rogers said he didn’t recall how long he had it before he presented the law suit.

Councilman Schmid said under the zoning requested, what kind of commercial are they asking for, and Mr. Rogers replied the zoning is not being proposed to change and it would still be B-1 more or less and Councilman Schmid said it wouldn’t be B-3 and Mr. Rogers said no and added that B-1 does not permit open display of sales or gas stations. Councilman Schmid said the NCC allows some B-1 and Mr. Rogers said and a few B-2 uses.

Councilman Schmid said his concern was the curb cuts and they cannot allow 4 curb cuts on Grand River and what he needed from Mr. Rogers was whether or not this intensifies, from a traffic standpoint. Mr. Rogers replied he couldn’t tell him because there was no site plan and they don’t have a firm use.

Mr. Fried said if Council is interested in considering this, he felt the developer should present a plan that the Consultant can review and then comment on.

Councilman Schmid said he would be willing to look at this if, in fact, it didn’t intensify the use of this area any more than what NCC did or the Consent Judgement, although we can do whatever we want and we can go back to the NCC zoning if we wish if they don’t want to use the Consent Judgement and rely on that for the zoning.

Councilman Schmid said regarding the soccer facility, he was sure they would have to look at the traffic generated on that. He said he was going back to what the original Ordinance was for and the intent and relying heavily on that and whether or not he would be in a position to allow a change in the Consent Judgement. He said this Council has some direction in changing the Consent Judgements, which he totally disagreed with normally but if it makes sense, it makes sense and they have to wait and see if it makes sense.

Councilwoman Cassis said this seems in many ways to keep the intent of the original Ordinance of a 2 acre minimum lot and 200 feet of frontage, and she didn’t think it was increasing the number of uses necessarily from the original one that we saw, but we might like to see some confirmation of that. Councilwoman Cassis said she could see in concept, a reason for him to come back to them with further information, etc.

Mr. Keith Rogers said they were trying to shoehorn people into what they thought they needed and he didn’t know what they needed. He said for the two users he has now, he knows what they need and they could probably submit site plans and drawings that they could put on a plan that could be part of the deal, but if those deals die, he has their building drawings sitting on a plan that he can’t use for someone else and they have approved it and have changed the Consent Judgement and everyone was happy, but he still can’t sell the property nor utilize it.

Mr. Keith Rogers felt the reason just for having sites is because those people that want to use the property should be able to site plan the property the way they want to do it, and that is the market they were trying to attract. He said they went through five brokers and went through 4-5 developers to try and get this deal financed and tried to bring in users that would lease a portion of the property but in the future’s finance market, if you don’t have a 75% leased facility, you are not going to get financing for it.

Mr. Rogers said they never get more than 2 or 3 users at a time that want to take small sections of the property and we were marketing this strongly for five years and tried every retail broker in town that had a user to bring to the property, so it was not for lack of trying. He said they went to every major broker in town to try and figure out who can use the property the way it was agreed to be used and couldn’t find anyone and couldn’t find anyone to finance it or take it off his hands.

Mr. Rogers said so he was trying to build some flexibility into the plan and allow people who want to use the property to come back and say this is what they want to site plan the property for and the Council has the ability to approve or disapprove their site plan. He said it allows them to sell the property potentially to a user that you have the ability to see before the building goes up without having to change the Consent Agreement every time.

Councilwoman Mutch asked if they were willing to take a look at something other than what has previously been agreed to. She said the challenge to you is to come up with something in whatever form that answers the point that Councilman Clark made initially, which is a proposed plan, a use that would be no more intense than what the Consent Agreement allows for. She felt if there is anything negative to it as compared to what is already allowed under the Consent Agreement, you are wasting your time.

Mr. Rogers said he would like to have the limitations be in words and have their Master Deed for the lot split be incorporated into the Consent Agreement, so there is some control put into the Consent Agreement, and everyone feels comfortable about what and what cannot be there.

Councilwoman Mutch asked Mr. Fried if they choose to be open to something that would change that, what would be their options. Mr. Fried said you have an open slate on it, you have a clean slate, and write what you want on it.

Mr. Fried said you don’t even have to start with the agreement and he would suggest to the developer that he start with the NCC Ordinance and move from there and he felt that was the sense he got from the Council and if the developer wants variances, he would have to convince the Council.

Councilman Clark said the developer made the comment that the parties to the original agreement agreed to something they could not sell, and just so the record is clear, they agreed to something that they wanted that they negotiated for and insisted upon after a law suit, so it was not simply a situation where they are being imposed upon.

Councilman Clark said we are being asked to bend, change, or modify a Consent Agreement, when we have seen nothing concrete, yet Council is supposed to give some expression of what we might be willing to do or perhaps what the representatives who want to modify this Consent Judgement, can do with this plan. He did not feel it was incumbent upon us to do that and the developer should go through the normal procedure just like everyone else and go back to the Commission and take their chances there.

Councilman Schmid said Meadowbrook and Grand River is an extremely busy area and should they have a major recreational facility at this intersection, it would generate a lot of traffic and he felt that should be looked at.

Mayor McLallen felt the statements have been fairly clear to the petitioner that the Council as a whole is willing to revisit the situation but the developer needs to be very clear that whatever is proposed is no more intense than the underlying zoning which there was no sympathy here tonight to change whatsoever.

Mr. Keith Rogers asked should they put it in writing or a plan, and Mayor McLallen said part of what she understood him to say is you have certain users but you do not want to restrict the site to specific lot lines, and you want a maximum flexibility governed by a master deed and that rigid lines would allow you to deal with people as they came in and that is something we haven’t dealt with in this community particularly.

Mr. Rogers asked if he submitted that to City Council or to the Planning Commission first and the Mayor said through the site planning process and Mr. Fried replied it should go to the Consultants and then to the Planning Commission after the Consultants review it, and in the end it might not be done as a normal process, but at least the Council would have that information before it, when making a determination as to whether or not to modify the judgement.

Councilwoman Mutch said if they were to submit something for review by the Consultants and we were to be kept informed of the results of that review process, would it be appropriate at that time for Council to take a look at the results of those reviews, and say right then and there whether it should even go on, and Mr. Fried said absolutely because that would save everyone involved quite a bit of time if they were to run into a major roadblock at that point.

Mayor McLallen said then they were in agreement at this point that the Petitioner has been told that there is some interest in hearing a new proposal and he is to put it into a format that is capable of being reviewed by engineering, traffic, and planning and based on their recommendations, it will come to this body and if it leaves here, it may get a life after that.

Mr. Mike Garrett from Soccer Zone was present and indicated Soccer Zone was a company that develops and operates indoor soccer facilities. He said he was proposing a four-field indoor soccer complex on the parcel and a four-field complex is actually one of a kind in the world. He said they feel the need is here as well as surrounding communities.

Mr. Garrett said they did some pre-planning and had a meeting with Mr. Rogers to deal with some of the issues that we may face here and we are in the process right now of putting our site plan together and it should be ready by February 1 for submission. He said the Consent Judgement was raised at that time so they went ahead and contacted the City Attorney’s office and had an opinion from the Assistant City Attorney, which is that we should not be entangled with the Consent Judgement.

Mr. Garret said knowing that was a potential delay for us, we wanted to try to divorce ourselves from any potential hurdles. He said the zoning on this site is light industrial and they have dealt with one of the things that Mr. Rogers mentioned, which was the special permit or the ability to do indoor soccer, and in a couple of locations where they have had to deal with that, they have always gotten approval very quickly.

Mr. Garret said in Lansing indoor soccer was not identified as a permitted use, however, the feeling was that it was consistent with the other uses that are identified in the Code, i.e., ice hockey, hockey, roller skating rinks, etc., He said indoor soccer is very new and it probably didn’t exist when the code was written. He added he was concerned about their time line and that this is a site that we would like to develop immediately and that means starting construction in spring and being open in the fall of 1996.

Councilman Crawford asked about indoor hockey and if this site ever happens, do you have any plans for an indoor rink, and Mr. Garret said what they have right now is indoor soccer of the professional caliber fields and at two of our sites this summer, we will be offering in-line hockey, which is roller hockey and it is a rapidly growing sport and there is a tremendous number of youth participants now that are in unstructured drive-way pick-up games and we are going to transition one of our fields in each location to accommodate in-line hockey. Mr. Garret said we have a rather seasonal business and it suits our down-time to offer that.

Councilman Crawford said so that is something he would like to offer then and Mr. Garret said yes and it was something he was going to offer for our sites now. He said the floor that we use for that is a floor that is popular for volleyball and for in-line hockey and it is a multi-purpose type of appeal. He said if he can get through the approval process and get this done, he would anticipate he would try and make it a part of our program.

Mr. Fried clarified what Mr. Garret just stated and what Mr. Garret intends is to put this indoor soccer in this I-1 District, and that is a permitted use under the Consent Judgement, so if he complies with all the other uses in the Consent Judgement, he would not have to have a modification of the Consent Judgement, so he didn’t know why they were intermingling these two things and it was confusing the issue as he saw it.

Mr. Garret asked what he meant and they were not entangled and Mr. Fried replied except as there may be provisions within the Consent Judgement that would have to be modified and he didn’t know what they are and if you read Mr. Watson’s letter, he indicates he doesn’t think there are any but until you see a site plan, you don’t know where it is and as he points out, and as Mr. Rogers points out, if you want to put this soccer field up there, you are going to have to get the Consent of the Zoning Board of Appeals because he was not certain whether that was a permitted use in an Industrial District.

Mr. Fried said so you might not be surprised if they find this is before the Zoning Board of Appeals. Mr. Rogers also pointed out that it has been mentioned that the property is zoned I-1 and it is not, and it is zoned NCC, but it is master planned for light industrial and in the Consent Judgement, you can obviously accommodate a light industrial use.

Mr. Fried said the Consent Judgement says it can be used for I-1 purposes and he would not need a modification of the Consent Judgement to use it for an I-1 purpose, and Mayor McLallen said then he has no outstanding zoning issue, and Mr. Fried said he complies with the Consent Judgement as to that particular parcel.

Mr. Rogers said maybe they can eliminate one of the three points of access and conclude that two points of access are adequate and they are not expanding the industrial and they are down to 6.6 acres from the 7 acres so he felt it was achievable.

Councilwoman Mutch said this was under a Consent Judgement, so someone just can’t come in and build a building without that, and Mr. Fried explained this is the one building they could build because it would be in compliance if it is a use that is permitted in an I-1 District and he is not commenting on that, but assuming it is a use that is permitted in the I-1 District, they would then be complying with the Judgement and the Judgement doesn’t say that you have to build all of these buildings at one time. As a matter of fact, the Judgement recognizes that the industrial use would come in separate from the other buildings, so this proposal, if it is a use permitted in an I-1 District, would be in conformity with the Consent Judgement, so the way it is presented, you would not need modification of Consent Judgement to do that.

Councilwoman Mutch said as the developer envisions developing the balance of the property, does it make a difference whether the Consent Agreement is modified or not in terms of placement of this building and it is essentially going to be in the same place.

Mr. Garret said the reason we asked to come today is to submit a site plan, and whether or not the Consent Judgement changed or not and it might come in before we have an opportunity to come back to you and he didn’t want the Council to be confused.

Mr. Fried said he would assume that this matter would probably go before the Zoning Board of Appeals and he felt the issues raised by this Council in regards to the intensity of that use in that corner will be raised.

APPROVAL OF BECK/WIXOM ROAD - I-96 EXPRESSWAY CONSULTANT AGREEMENT.

Mayor McLallen explained this was a Tri-Party Agreement and the cost to the City would be approximately $14,000 and it is to hire an independent facilitator who would focus solely on the moving of this process through all the various steps before the full interchange is gotten. She said in the agreement are the City of Wixom and Providence Hospital and the proposed Consultant chosen would be Loomis and Associates represented by Mr. David Lick.

Mr. Kriewall explained he was convinced that after working with the Adhoc Committee for over two years now, that if they were serious about this project moving forward and gaining some steps in terms of priority, that they need to bring in someone like Mr. Lick because apparently the key to moving this project up is a higher priority. He said they think they have it in the five-year window now which is somewhat an accomplishment, but to accelerate it more, they would need to assemble the actual right-of-way required for the interchange.

Mr. Kriewall said they have at least some cooperation by Providence Hospital in Novi and some developers in the City of Wixom, that under certain circumstances, would be willing to donate maybe not all of the right-of-way but substantial pieces for this particular project and that needs to be accomplished through a public-private partnership that will come out legally as a private corporation and that is how they could move this project forward.

Mr. Kriewall said apparently even a substantial contribution by the community as our local share or a part of a state share will not qualify them for a higher priority. He stated there was inadequate state match for a lot of these particular projects around the state. He said the projects that have been moving quicker are projects such as the Vining Road Interchange project on I-94 in Romulus, which has a lot of private dollars behind it and we think we need to kick this particular project in that direction, but it was going to take a considerable amount of legal work and expertise to develop this approach and of all the people we interviewed for this task, Mr. Lick has the experience in public/private partnerships and he is one of the key individuals putting together the MERF Facility through RRRASOC that we are a partner in, in the City of Southfield. He stated Mr. Lick is clearly the most capable individual to move us in this direction.

Mr. Kriewall indicated we have interviewed several consultants and some are engineering firms but it is the general consensus between the City of Wixom Administration, Providence Hospital, himself, and other members of the Ad-Hoc Committee, that they engage Mr. Lick. He said for the $14,000 a year annual cost, if Mr. Lick can move this project up one year, which he felt he could, it would be money well spent because road building is very inflationary as is right-of-way acquisition for any kind of project in this area. He said they all know how land values just go upwards and that small investment of $14,000 should repay itself if they could move it up in one year or even six months.

Mr. Kriewall said they need to do this to move this program along and they have had a lot of cooperation from their County Commissioners and State Representatives Office and Congressman Knollenberg has had representatives at this meeting and this committee is serious and he felt they know what they need to do and this is the next step in the process.

Councilman Schmid asked Mr. Kriewall if he would have to identify those parcels he has to buy and Mr. Kriewall said yes, and Councilman Schmid asked Mr. Kriewall who would buy them and Mr. Kriewall replied they were counting on donations for a lot of them.

CM-96-01-025: Motion by Crawford, Seconded by Clark: MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY: For approval of the Consultant Agreement for the Beck Road/Wixom Road Interchange.

DISCUSSION

Councilwoman Cassis asked Mr. Kriewall if his feeling then is that their current lobbyist’s activities would not be appropriate to this job and Mr. Kriewall said their lobbyist is Public Affairs Associates which is primarily concerned with legislation that affects this community and certain administrative and bureaucratic affairs such as this development grant that they were seeking near Orchard Hills Subdivision, but this project would be a hands-on situation where they were actually going to go out and assemble properties and a lot of time would be devoted administratively to a specific project, so it was really a different task than a lobbying effort.

Vote on CM-96-01-025: CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Vote on CM-96-01-027: CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Vote on CM-96-01-029: CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION - None.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Mayor McLallen said Ordinance Review met last Thursday and were very productive.

MAYOR AND COUNCIL ISSUES

Councilwoman Cassis said they have a notice of the upcoming Chamber meetings and there was a period of time when a Chamber Liaison/Council Member was attending those meetings and she asked if there was interest from the Chamber to have Council Members alternate and come to their meetings.

Councilwoman Cassis said typically Mr. Kriewall attends those meetings and she would bring it back to Council if there was an interest in the Chamber to continue this process and Mr. Kriewall said he would discuss it with them.

MANAGER’S REPORTS

Mayor McLallen said there were a couple of comments that were brought up earlier that she asked Mr. Kriewall to respond to.

Mr. Kriewall said a subject was brought up earlier by Mr. Harry Avagian representing LARA and his concern was he had faxed over a memo to City Council and he believed that memo was presented to Council that evening with an attachment he had provided explaining the particular situation. Mr. Kriewall said the situation was exactly that he had communicated to the Committee Chairperson, Martha Hoyer, that we were in fact, holding up her report to City Council on the status of that Committee, pending some critical right-of-way property acquisitions in the area.

Mr. Kriewall said that particular evening it was on the Agenda for the property acquisition and he had talked to Mr. Avagian briefly in the hallway and said his letter was received last Friday and distributed to City Council and it was not on the Agenda because the Agenda had already been printed. He also said the reasons you have not seen the committee report to City Council was because we were engaged in some very important property acquisition in the area that affected many of the routes on this particular road and we were at a point this evening, that it was on the Agenda for Council decision and if Council approved the purchase agreement that evening, we would contact Martha Hoyer and advise her that the Committee Report would be brought forward at the next Council meeting.

Mr. Kriewall said he talked to Ms. Hoyer the next day and she had indicated she wanted two more weeks to get her committee report reviewed again and she wanted time to sit down with Mr. Nowicki and prepare for the presentations, so Ms. Hoyer has indicated to him the day after the last Council meeting that she would like to present the Taft Road Committee Report at the February 5, 1996 Council meeting and that is the status.

Mr. Kriewall next discussed prospect of a mid-decade census, which this community had conducted in the mid-seventies and also again in the mid-eighties. He said the purpose for a mid-decade census is two-fold and one is if you gain a population growth of at least 15% by the mid-decade, you would entitle your community to significant increases in state revenue sharings mid-decade, providing the legislature appropriates additional funding for communities that run mid-decade census and they have done that in the 70's and again in the 80's.

Mr. Kriewall said it can amount to significant money for the community, as much as $200,000 to $300,000 a year which we would get immediately and if we run one this year, it could be effective in the next state budget appropriation for fall of 1996, so we have been watching the timing of when we should bring this back to City Council.

Mr. Kriewall indicated Mrs. Bartholomew has been monitoring the status of when we should go ahead with this in terms of the state agencies that regulate the special censuses and he believed it was time to get it moving in the next month or two, so we are going to come back to City Council at the next regular meeting with a proposal and it will be a standard state resolution to entertain a mid-decade census. He said they were talking with Pat Loder, who is our former Deputy Clerk and who ran at least two census counts for this community years ago and has had a lot of experience.

Mr. Kriewall said we are also talking to other potential consultants that might be interested in providing this service to us and we may have a proposal or two before Council at the next regular meeting.

Mr. Kriewall said the other benefit of a mid-decade census is to replenish our supply of Class C Liquor Licenses and you can run a separate liquor license census or you can run a mid-decade census which has a few more restrictions, but the mid-decade census not only increases your state revenue sharing, if the money is appropriated at the other end, but you also will receive additional liquor licenses. He estimated that we can probably pick up four to five additional liquor licenses at this time, so those are the two benefits. He said he would estimate the cost at this point in time is probably going to be between $40,000-$50,000 to conduct this census and that was a just a ballpark figure.

DISCUSSION

Councilwoman Mutch referred to the Communications and said it is not at all unusual that things that come after the packets are delivered expeditiously to Council such as at the meeting and those never do make it into any notation on an Agenda that has arrived or been distributed, so she didn’t feel there was anything at all unusual about that.

Councilman Crawford said after hearing Mr. Kriewall’s response, it is too bad he couldn’t have made that response in prime time, and it was now 11:20 and probably 90-95% of the people who heard Mr. Avagian’s comments, were not around to hear Mr. Kriewall’s response and it would have put Mr. Avagian’s comments in a whole different perspective. Councilman Crawford felt in the future, maybe they could make a brief comment that puts some things in perspective when they need to be.

Councilman Schmid referred to letter from Patrick Brunett of SEMCOG, no longer getting fiscal impacts of land use, and he asked if we have someone representing Council on SEMCOG.

Councilman Schmid said he was not thrilled with SEMCOG and their motivations as they relate to urban sprawl and so he frankly did not agree with their positions and their motivations for the outlying communities. He said SEMCOG is geared to keeping development within the City of Detroit or older cities and has trouble going outside.

Mr. Kriewall responded it was going to be data development and they are going to look at all the statistics that bear on a community such as lot sizes, housing mix, and commercial/residential development and they are going to try and tell us what all this means. He felt there was some concern by some members of Council over the Chamber of Commerce report and what did that really mean. He felt this was really going to be an unbiased political look at statistics and what they mean for a community and they are going to try and tell us whether our development mix is good, bad or indifferent based on numbers and extensive studies and he felt it was valuable to the community.

Councilman Schmid felt it would not be unbiased and it would be strictly SEMCOG’s position and he could guarantee SEMCOG would suggest small lots. He said SEMCOG is not a friend of Novi. He then asked if they had solicited them and Mr. Kriewall replied no and SEMCOG had indicated that they might be doing some kind of a study and would we be interested and we gave Council a memo that we were interested in that kind of thing just from an information standpoint.

Councilman Schmid said he was disappointed that they were coming out here and Mr. Kriewall said it was just for information.

ATTORNEY’S REPORTS - None.

APPROVAL OF TRAFFIC CONTROL ORDER 96-2 NO RIGHT TURN ON RED FOR SOUTHBOUND TOWN CENTER DRIVE AT GRAND RIVER AVENUE.

Councilman Crawford said he pulled this item because he was not in favor of restricting traffic flow when maybe other alternatives exist and if you are familiar with that area, the request came from the Chief, and he spoke to the Chief this afternoon, and a couple of his people had a request too, that on some occasions when they make a left turn out of the Fire Station, there are people making right turns from Town Center Drive. He could probably name 10-20 other areas in the community that generate more conflicting traffic than people exiting from the Fire Station.

Councilman Crawford asked has there been any survey or statistics done just to generate numbers as to how many times this really happens and if it is a dangerous situation, and whether there were any other alternatives that can be done.

Mr. Kriewall said he would get Council more information. Councilwoman Mutch said if they were going to take another look at that, there is another problem, and she knows not too many people go to the Fire Station, but when you exit from the Fire Station onto Grand River, you are in no-man’s land when it comes to even making a right turn because you can’t see that signal very well and the traffic that is going eastbound on Grand River may be pulling up to where you are and it is very confusing sometimes because you are not sure who has the right of way coming out of Town Center and going eastbound on Grand River.

Mayor McLallen asked Mr. Kriewall to review traffic challenges at the Fire Station, Market Street, and Grand River.

APPROVAL TO PURCHASE TWO (2) VEHICLES THROUGH THE STATE OF MICHIGAN JOINT PURCHASING PROGRAM: ONE (1) 4 X 4 DODGE DAKOTA PICKUP TRUCK IN THE AMOUNT OF $16,532.88 FROM BILL SNETHKAMP LANSING DODGE AND ONE (1) JEEP CHEROKEE IN THE AMOUNT OF $18,769.88 FROM SNETHKAMP JEEP EAGLE - Removed by Councilwoman Cassis.

Councilwoman Cassis said the department requesting a pick-up truck and a Jeep Cherokee is the Ordinance Enforcement Department and she wondered what the need was and why is there a need for a Jeep Cherokee.

Mr. Kriewall explained the Cherokee is for the Weighmaster and typically they would have a station wagon which they presently have, or they would drive a Plymouth Reliance and they looked at alternative vehicles, including Chevy Blazers, etc., and this was the cheapest one of the bunch.

Mr. Kriewall said they do some off-road work in terms of Weighmaster duties and they also enforce the dirt in the subdivisions and new developments and they really get off the road and get into these projects that are under construction. Councilwoman Cassis asked if these were replacement vehicles and Mr. Kriewall said yes.

CM-96-01-030: Motion by Cassis, Seconded by Clark, MOTION CARRIED: To approve these two purchases through the State of Michigan Joint Purchase Program.

Vote on CM-96-01-030: CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Mayor McLallen then gave the appointment results as follows for the Boards and Commissions: Helen Stabler, Appointed to the Elections Commission; Gerald Harris & Laverne Reinke - Returned to Zoning Board of Appeals; Pam Superfisky - Continuing on the Beautification Commission and when the Ordinance is revised to permit the expansion of the Commission, Gretchen Pugsley will take that seat; Gwen Markham - Appointed as Planning Commissioner; Timothy Burke - Appointed to Computer Advisory Committee; David Byrwa - Appointed to Construction Board of Appeals; Mark Christiansen and Eleanor Rzepecki - Appointed to the Economic Development Corporation.

COMMUNICATIONS

Councilman Crawford said regarding the last Communication, Item #5, we have a letter from Mr. Capote and a letter from Mr. Antosiak from Preservation Novi and it is regarding the relocation of the Old Novi Methodist Church and Mr. Antonsiak states that Hughlan Development decided that they were not interested any longer and gave no reason for that decision and he would like more information on that matter. Mayor McLallen asked Mr. Kriewall to get a response to that.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:35 P.M.

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Mayor Clerk

Date approved:________________________