REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NOVI

MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1996 - 7:30 P.M.

Mayor Pro Tem Crawford called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM.

ROLL CALL: Mayor McLallen (Present-arrived at 8:30 PM), Mayor Pro Tem Crawford, Council Members Cassis, Clark, Mitzel, Mutch (Absent-Excused), Schmid

ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Edward Kriewall, City Attorney David Fried, Planning Consultant Brandon Rogers, Deputy City Clerk Nancy Reutter

Mayor Pro Tem Crawford stated the National Days of Remembrance are days of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. He then read a portion of the Proclamation to everyone.

Mayor Pro Tem Crawford read a portion of this Proclamation to everyone.

Chief Lenaghan indicated he has 11 members of the Fire Department that are paid on call members that have completed their training and are ready to be sworn in as members of the department. The Members were then sworn in by Mrs. Nancy Reutter, Deputy City Clerk.

Chief Lenaghan next introduced each Member to everyone as follows: Brian D. Chemotti, Wade M. Clay, Sunday Dwyer, George Link, Raymond Moruzzi, Lawrence F. Mosier, Paul A. Muraco, Kevin C. O’Sullivan, Mark A. Pehrson, Scott G. Roberson and Allen L. Vandenboss.

Mr. Bob Pheiffer, Chairman of Parks & Recreation Committee, indicated at the Joint Meeting in the Fall, we had talked about ways of improving communication between Parks & Recreation Commission and City Council, and came to the conclusion that trying to get on more than one Joint Meeting per year was difficult with everyone’s schedules. He stated they do issue a one to two page summary after each meeting highlighting decisions they have made, etc. He indicated it was decided that quarterly, they would schedule a ten minute presentation at one of Council’s regular meetings just to let them know of things that are difficult to write up in their summary.

North Novi Park Master Planning: Mr. Pheiffer indicated they have met with the contractors, who went through some information gathering, site analysis and also worked with JCK relative to the sensitive lands. A presentation was brought in that showed an 18 hole golf course was possible. Mr. Pheiffer asked to further develop it and come back with two or three alternatives of each proposal, one with a golf course and one without. There was a meeting on March 28th where they brought back three plans that included a golf course and three that did not. He said the three with a golf course, included a full 18 hole championship course and a short course of 18 holes and then a 9 hole championship golf course.

Mr. Pheiffer stated the Commission came to the conclusion that a full 18 hole championship course did not fit very well on the site so the contractors were asked to further refine the other two proposals, the 9 hole and the short 18 hole golf courses. He said part of the logic was they wanted what would benefit most of Novi, which the short course or 9 hole course would.

Mr. Pheiffer indicated there were also three proposals for the site without a golf course on it, and the Commission was pleased with those plans and picked two out of the three and asked them to go back and further refine those.

Mr. Pheiffer stated Faren and Associates will bring back plans with additions and definitions asked for at the April meeting and then at the May 9th meeting, they would like to conduct a public hearing prior to their meeting, to invite the City to take a look at the proposals and hear their feedback.

Memorial for Tim Pope

Mr. Staab indicated the Commission has decided to form a committee which would do the planning, funding and building of what they come up with. He has been in constant touch with Sarah Pope and she is well aware of what they want to do. He said basically, he was seeking Council’s input and approval to do this and would encourage one member of Council to be on committee. He indicated he has talked with other facilities and has that information for the committee.

Councilwoman Cassis asked if they would bring back a formal request to start the committee and Mr. Staab replied yes.

Mr. Chambers, Chairman, indicated last April seven members were appointed to the Police and Fire Needs Committee by the Novi City Council and the committee was asked to review and analyze the current level of services provided by the Police and Fire Departments and recommend possible changes.

Mr. Chambers reviewed the Police and Fire Protection Needs Committee, Final Report, dated April 8, 1996, included in Council packets. He then summarized the recommendations which were: a new dedicated millage of 2.25 mills to fund 23 new Fire Department and 50 new Police Department Officers to be hired from 1996-2010, a $6.1 million bond issue for building construction and renovations and replacement of the fire Department radio system, and expansion of the FPO program to include a weekend day shift. (Page 10 of report)

Mr. Nowicki indicated pursuant to the direction received by Council on February 26th, a team consisting of Department of Public Services representatives, Singh Development, NTH Consultants and JCK and Associates, began looking at the dewatering issue at 9 Mile and Beck Road to determine if there was any type of a relationship between the dewatering issue and the lowering of ponds along Garfield Road and also reports of water well problems.

Mr. Nowicki noted in packets were two reports, one from NTH Consultants and one from JCK, which provide historical data and background information concerning this issue. He then introduced Mr. Mike Kahm of Singh Development who was 50% of the team that did this investigation, Mr. Dave Nona of NTH Consultants, who would provide background on the hydro-geological aspects of this, and Mr. Ben Farnham of JCK who did the water-well testing.

Mr. Kahm indicated dewatering is not an unusual process and typically done in situations where you have deep utilities and it lowers the water table, which is normally temporary. He said subsequent to the completion of the sewer, there were concerns about the water table lowering out on the Garfield and Nine Mile Road area and we were confused at the time because normally with this type of process, you don’t have an effect on properties that far away. He said in order to get to the bottom of this, we hired NTH consultants to analyze the conditions out there.

Mr. Dave Nona of NTH indicated he was in charge of the study for dewatering. He said in developing the evaluations and the final conclusions, he relied on available information and available data generated by others for purposes other than the dewatering study.

Mr. Nona indicated MDOT installed several monitoring wells and they recorded the water levels in these monitoring wells starting in the beginning of 1995. In addition, there were three monitoring wells that had been installed in the area west of the gravel pits and these were the wells that were installed by Glen Miller Geologists for the evaluation of water levels in septic fields. He stated there was water level data that was provided by these wells over a period of several years. He stated there were some actual water level readings taken in the ponds by MDOT starting in April of 1995 as part of their wetland mitigation study, which is not included in his report.

Mr. Nona reviewed his report and various charts. He stated there is a significant fluctuation in the ground water level with time and on the average, this fluctuation is about 4-5 feet and in some cases, it goes up to about 6-7 feet and it is consistent on all of the three wells.

Mr. Nona noted they plotted the water levels as shown on the charts. He indicated the water levels on the monitoring wells went down during the dewatering operation and then stabilized and now are starting to come up. He indicated there was no drastic drop in the water levels as a result of the dewatering operations.

Mr. Nona remarked after completing the report, he and JCK looked at the actual water levels in the ponds and back in April, the water elevation was 956 and it was actually going up slightly and peaked around June and then started coming down and was coming down as of September of 1995 and continued coming down with the dewatering operation, then stabilized and then went down a bit more and now was coming up gradually. He said this same pattern is consistent with most of the ponds. He added that these ponds were created by mining operations so they are not natural water bodies. He briefly reviewed the pond patterns.

Mr. Nona felt based on their overall evaluation of the situation, it is our conclusion that the dewatering operation which is approximately 5,000 feet away from these ponds, has not had a significant impact on the water level in the ponds. He said there is definitely a drop in the water level in the ponds, but we believe this is part of the natural fluctuation of the water level due to seasonal variations, level of precipitation, snow accumulation, etc. He would add that these ponds are fed by static ground water levels and then any lowering of the ground water level in the general area is going to have an impact on these ponds. He said this conclusion is borne out by the data collected from the observation wells that have been there over a period of many years by Glen Miller and the wells installed by MDOT.

Mr. Ben Farnham of JCK discussed water quality testing and indicated he performed water quality testing on ten residences along the west side of Garfield Road adjacent to the pond area and did one sample by Holloway Sand and Gravel west of the site. He said there were concerns because of the old Anderson Landfill southwest of these ponds and with the lowering of the water table, that water coming through the landfill could be picking up pollutants possibly and bringing it into the well waters of the homeowners.

Mr. Farnham indicated of the wells tested, all the wells showed safe drinking water according to the Michigan Department of Public Health and at this time, we feel there is no concern or little concern that the drinking water for the residences has been impacted in any way by the lowering of the ground water table.

Mr. Nowicki concluded he felt the review team had the unique opportunity of identifying and locating a tremendous amount of historical data associated with the ground water levels in that area as well as the pond levels, and he felt the conclusion was that there was no real correlation between the dewatering activities and the pond levels, and the lowering of the ground water levels is fairly clear and based on documented fact. He then asked for any questions from Council.

Mayor Pro Tem Crawford said if anyone wanted to take action, it could be added to the Agenda for a discussion item. Councilman Schmid had questions and Mayor Pro Tem Crawford felt if they were short, he could ask them now.

Councilman Schmid said he has seen this area and there is some indication that the water level is coming back somewhat. He said Mr. Nona indicated the investigation was based primarily on monitoring the wells at MDOT and was that the extent of the investigation.

Mr. Nowicki explained the information utilized to draw the conclusions was the information obtained from MDOT the beginning of April, 1995 through approximately February-March, 1996. Additionally, JCK had secured readings as well and continued to monitor the information. There was information also that was provided by the developer to the immediate west and they had received a report from the developer’s geologist who had been monitoring the ground water levels in that area since 1988 and that information was used. There was also water well logs from Oakland County and we had a report that was commissioned in 1981 from Lyon Sand and Gravel which came in later.

Councilman Schmid asked if there was any interpretation in the number of gallons of water pumped out and which direction that water would flow.

Mr. Nona replied because of the time limitations, we didn’t go out and take new borings or install new wells, but in evaluating all the information, it appears that the ground water flow from this Nine Mile Beck area is in the southwesterly direction, towards a large wetland area. It also appears that the ground water flow in the area of the pits and the area west of the pits, is in the easterly or northeasterly direction towards the same wetland area.

Councilman Schmid asked if they pumped and pumped where would that water be coming from, the north or south, east or west and Mr. Nona replied based on available information and amount of water being pumped and their experience, we believe that this water is coming from a circular area with a radius of about 1500 feet and the water level is being depressed within a circular area of about 1500 feet.

Councilman Schmid said relative to underwater water levels, there is a source of that water through underground streams and the water just doesn’t sit there, so was he suggesting that in a circumference of 1500 feet, it just sits there and then when someone uses it, it goes down just in that area.

Mr. Nona explained generally the ground water flows at a much slower rate than surface water. In this case, we are really talking about two aquifers and an aquifer is basically a sand layer that holds water. The geology of this area is such that we have an upper sand layer and there is the clay underneath it and there is another sand layer and clay underneath it and there are several aquifers as you go deep, so you have some surface water in the upper aquifer and you have a lot of water in the second aquifer. Since the water in the second aquifer is confined by a clay level at the top and bottom, it is under pressure and that is what we call an artesian condition and if you punch a hole in the upper clay, water would tend to rise, while in the upper layer, the ground water is in static conditions and if you punch a hole in there or make an excavation, water will stay at the same level as the surrounding ground so most of the pumping in this case was coming from the second aquifer that has a lot of water under pressure.

Councilman Schmid said Mr. Nona suggested in his discussion that development will tend to lower the water table and is that because of the houses using the water. Mr. Nona explained there is the installation of underground utilities, sanitary lines, storm lines, etc., and it was on a long-term basis. Councilman Schmid asked why and Mr. Nona explained when you excavate an underground utility line, a storm line, etc., and that line is backfilled with sand, basically those lines act to depress the water level and carry some of that water to low areas and carries it away.

Councilman Schmid asked about the dewatering of the Nine Mile sewer, and in his opinion, did that have any effect on the wells in the immediate vicinity from a water level standpoint and Mr. Nona replied if you had some wells in the immediate vicinity with 1500 feet or so, chances are the dewatering operation would have had some impact on the water level in those shallow wells of say 40 feet. It was their opinion that this dewatering operation would not have had an impact on the deeper wells, because the deeper wells are separated from the second aquifer by another 30-40 feet of clay.

Councilman Schmid said he suggested there are no spring type wells in the ponds, but yet the people who live there swear that in certain spots it is very cold. Mr. Nona said based on the geology of the area and based on their evaluation of how these ponds are formed, these ponds are generally 20-30 feet at the most and there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of them being fed by springs to any extent.

Councilwoman Cassis referred to the recommendation on Page 5 of the report, which states, "that they recommend that water levels in the existing monitoring wells and pond surfaces be monitored on a bi-weekly basis for at least the next 6 months." She said that could also be done in connection with the GIS Program that we later tonight will be looking at. She felt that was a reasonable recommendation. Mayor Pro Tem Crawford said if they need to take action on that matter, we will add it to the Agenda when we approve it.

Councilman Clark said under Mayor and Council Issues, he would request to add an item, Arbor Drugs Outside Semi-Storage. Councilwoman Cassis requested to add Item 1A to discuss the Recommendations of NHT Consultants

Mayor McLallen arrived at the meeting.

Chuck Young of 50910 West Nine Mile Road indicated he was not a spokesman for SWAN. He then mentioned a problem he had with poor water pressure and had various parts of his well replaced, none of which solved the problem. The well head was then pulled which had burned out because the static level of the water had shifted from 40 to 46 feet. Unfortunately, the well head only goes down so far and then can go no further. He noted he received a very large bill from Edison. He is still having problems and his well people lowered the capacity of his well flow to save it.

Mr. Young said the study just discussed basically was done at the Garfield Road property but there are other properties involved. He noted where the million dollar homes are, there was another spring-fed pond that has done down. He wanted to know where the liability lies because he is in the process of looking to sell his home, but with this situation of having to sink a deeper well, he doesn’t know who will pay for it.

Jim Korte speaking on behalf of SES (South Lake East Lake Shawood Lake Homeowners Association) referred to Matters for Council Action, Items #4 and #12, which is the same property. He was at the Planning Commission meeting when this was unanimously turned down without discussion. The map that the Planning Commission received showed the actual intrusion into the subdivision, which is unacceptable. He felt there were other ways to solve the problems of this difficult piece of property. He also discussed Item #12 and the drainage situation. He also discussed the Business zoning and that it would be totally unacceptable to do a strip mall of three stories as was stated by the developer. He referred to Novi Road Sandstone/Vistas and when Novi Road becomes five lanes, the existing Novi Road between 12 1/2 and 13 Mile will be returned to a subdivision type road as it was 20-30 years ago. He then asked to not allow the change in zoning, not allow the encroachment into the subdivision, and certainly not allow B-1 or any Business zoning on the Shawood Canal.

A lady by the name of Cindy who lived on Garfield Road indicated she was here on behalf of herself and also Tim and Nancy Metz who could not be here this evening. She felt the water on Garfield Road has dropped 4-7 feet and various people have various stories and this concerns her as she has lived there for 17 years and has never seen anything like it.

She then asked Council if we are doing all this building and a geologist has said building in this area can alter the water level, shouldn’t some thought be given to this. Also we have at least four wells that have done dry on 9 Mile and Garfield Road and people who have geo-thermo systems that have broken during the coldest part of winter. She said we have a report that Singh Development has nothing to do with this, and she was asking Council, as homeowners and as citizens, to please not take this as the only answer. She said Mr. Nowicki had mentioned at the other meeting that there is need for regulation on dewatering in Novi and they should take that into serious consideration.

Tom Owens of 2250 Crown Drive spoke on Zoning Map Amendment No. 18.547 which is Item #4. His property butts up to the Shawood Canal which abuts this property in question for rezoning. He indicated a letter has been given to the City Clerk stating the reasons requesting that they not support this. He noted his key point is that we are a residential neighborhood and when he moved here nine years ago it was because it was a quiet neighborhood and the residents of this neighborhood want it to remain a quiet residential neighborhood. He hoped Council would support the residents and not support the request of one person who is a non-resident.

Peter Romanow referred to Item #3 , Map Amendment 18.546 Industrial to R-4. He felt it made a lot of sense. He wanted to go on record and say when these people are asking for this rezoning, he didn’t want to hear from them in a couple of years that they don’t want to be near other Industrial zoning.

Mark Abanatha of 2230 Crown Drive said aside from being a resident of Novi, he was also an architect. He wanted to go on record as a professional and as a resident dealing with Item #4, rezoning on Austin Road, that he was against that rezoning. He said the zoning along Novi Road is master planned business and the zoning just west of that is master planned residential. He felt that general area is trending toward residential. The Decker Road Extension and the realignment of Novi Road was done for a reason of pulling traffic out of that area and leaving it as more of a residential collector road. He concluded that they should stick to the Master Plan and go with a negative recommendation for the rezoning.

Ron Arnold of 43843 12 1/2 Mile Road spoke on Item #2. He was at the Planning Commission meeting on the rezoning of this particular property, and he urged the Council to heed the recommendations of the Planning Commission.

A gentleman by the name of Ray of Garfield Road said he lived on Pond A and has for 15 years. He felt the ponds were spring fed regardless of what has been said. He indicated regarding the pond level right now, there is an island out there that has never appeared before and it is approximately three feet out of the water now, so at this point, the water level is still about 3 feet low and it is coming back very slowly. His next concern would be having someone on the Council or the City come up with something on dewatering so this won’t happen again in another area. He said if we have a dewatering regulation where they may have to sink some wells to find out about the water tables, it could probably save all this trouble we are going through.

Bill Zure of 51000 9 Mile Road was an active member of SWAN here in Novi. He said he recently attended the dewatering meeting organized by Tony Nowicki, Singh Corporation, NTH Consultants, JCK and the invited residents of Garfield Road. At the meeting, NTH Consultants presented results from data gathered by MDOT and Glen Miller. The results of the lake level data really didn’t concur with a lot of the visual evidence that the homeowners and residents see every day. He wanted to say though that the results of the residential well testing for the contaminants by the Anderson Land Fill were thorough and appreciated.

Mr. Zure then listed his concerns with the study: (1) time constraint, 30 day limitation to produce the study, (2) the notice of the meeting was not given to any Nine Mile residents who had concerns about dewatering and it was strictly Garfield Road, (3) the study only focused on Garfield Road and did not take into consideration the properties along Nine Mile west of the Singh Development, (4) the water level study showed no results of actual field work and no new monitoring wells were dug and no elevation shots of other ponds were taken and all results were compiled strictly from existing data supplied by other sources, (5) the study did not touch on declining water levels of residential wells nor septic field water field saturation, (6) no evidence given on what direction the aquifer moves, (7) the study concluded that the 8 foot drop that we visually saw on the ponds was just due to evaporation and lack of precipitation.

Mr. Zure hoped the Council would pass a stringent dewatering ordinance to keep this problem from happening again and to take a stand to protect and preserve the properties of all the residents who might be affected by development in the future.

Mr. Chris Pargoff indicated they were planning their April 22nd Arbor Day Celebration and he would like to invite all Council members and the public to the City Hall Plaza where we are going to dedicate four trees in honor of Councilpersons Mason and Toth, and retired Assistant Treasurer Evelyn Natzel and also in memory of Tim Pope.

Mayor McLallen closed the Audience Participation.

1. Approval of Minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 8, 1996, Special Meeting of February 26, 1996.

2. Renewal of Michigan Municipal Liability Pool Membership.

3. Approval of Arcade License - Sterling Amusements at 12 Oaks Cinema.

4. Approval to design Commerce Township Sewer Outlet and begin Right-of-Way Easement Acquisition.

5. Approval to submit Crescent Boulevard Extension Environmental Assessment to MDOT, design the "industrial spur" and solicit proposals for right-of-way services.

6. Approval of Final Pay Estimate No. 5 and Final Balancing Change Order No. 5- Decker Road Improvements Project.

7. Approval to solicit construction bids for 1995-96 Concrete Paving Program.

8. Approval to award bid for Tanker Truck to low bidder, KME Fire Apparatus (Payette & Associates) in the amount of $140,591.00.

9. Approval to award bid for Community Sports Park-Backstop Fence Bid to low bidder, Future Fencing Company in the amount of $89,908.00.

Mayor McLallen asked to remove Items #3, #4, #6, and #9 from Communications as those were communications she felt the Council may want to take action on. She said those would go under Mayor and Council Issues.

Councilwoman Cassis said at the end of the NHT Consultants report is a recommendation she felt would be prudent to follow.

Councilman Schmid felt they should have a point of clarification of who is tracking and who is reporting and who is monitoring.

Mr. Nowicki explained the monitoring of the existing wells in part is being done by JCK and the Michigan Department of Transportation and we will coordinate that. What we would do is look at maximizing our dollars, where any of the monitoring is done by MDOT, we would utilize that data for the other areas and for the ponds that are not being monitored by MDOT, we could have JCK do that, but we would look to alternate sources to make sure that we could continue to contain our costs.

Councilman Schmid asked what can be anticipated as far as monthly or whatever time frame you want to use to report back to Council in writing. Mr. Nowicki suggested we currently provide you with a monthly report as part of the department’s information and we can include the monthly tracking in that report as well.

Councilwoman Mutch asked if the data that we have on the MDOT wells was data that MDOT was collecting already so we just picked up their data and Mr. Nowicki explained we had to fill in the gaps. For instance, MDOT stopped in certain areas, and they didn’t have the data towards the end of the period. He said they don’t monitor as frequently as we would like and he believed that right now the motion was on a bi-weekly basis and MDOT collects their data once a month.

Councilwoman Mutch asked if he saw any problem with us collecting data from their wells and Mr. Nowicki replied no and we have already asked them to continue supplying us with the data and there is no additional cost on that MDOT project.

Councilwoman Mutch asked if the area that JCK is monitoring apart from the MDOT wells, would be the ponds and Mr. Nowicki replied yes, plus the other monitoring wells and since MDOT only monitors once a month, we would have to supplement that by having JCK do the monitoring in the mid-month part.

Councilwoman Mutch asked since the information collected by MDOT is for other purposes did he have any reason to doubt the validity of that data and its appropriateness to this particular study and Mr. Nowicki believed from some of the information we have been provided, you can see a distinct correlation between the two wells and they generally reflect the same type of curves on the charts after the data is collected. He said if there were any problems in the data collected, you would see a distinct difference, but in these two pairs they pretty much parallel each other.

Councilwoman Mutch said it appears that the dewatering may not be the cause of a real effect that is out there, there is something taking place at Garfield and Nine Mile Road. While the report from the geologist hired by Singh may seem to indicate that the dewatering didn’t cause that, she felt the residents would like to know what is causing it. Her concern is possibly the monitoring will only further confirm what they have already told us and will not get at the root of the problem. She asked if Mr. Nowicki had any other suggestions apart from more frequent monitoring of the MDOT wells and also the ponds.

Mr. Nowicki stated the bi-weekly approach is fairly sound, but he felt the other component that Councilwoman Cassis had was to perform this in conjunction with the GIS data collection. In that particular phase, we would have the Wayne State Students go out and do all of the data collection of everything that is existing and it would be plotted in a giant data base. Then Dr. Carol Miller who is part of the team would be contracted after that to take a look at the data.

Councilwoman Mutch then said whether the problem was caused by the dewatering or not, there is a problem for these residents and the answer that they are seeking right now may not be the answer that finally solves the problem for them so she didn’t want to see us spend 6 months monitoring the wells and doing nothing else if there was something else we could be doing.

Councilwoman Mutch asked if people still had some concerns about the data and were skeptical of the conclusions, would there be any other resources that they might contact to have what they have heard confirmed or further explained.

Mr. Nowicki felt the United States Department of Interior would probably be one of the best sources through the geological survey unit that they have. He said we would have to continue to do the data collection, and he felt the data collection, both historical and future collection, is key to determining what is happening here and without the historical data, we cannot come close to determining what type, if any, relationship the dewatering had, so again the key is the continual collection of data.

Mayor McLallen said the motion is to continue monitoring these wells and the responsibility for that has been accepted by the Department of Public Services and will be reported back to this Council as a component of the Monthly Report and the support of this data information collection through the GIS System, for the wells and the ponds.

CM-96-05-120: Moved by Mitzel, Seconded by Cassis, MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY: To refer the issue of dewatering regulations to the Ordinance Review Committee and ask that they report back to Council within six months.

Mr. Morris Stein, architect, indicated that Soccer Zone attempts to go into Industrial sites and this site is in the Master Plan as Industrial although it is zoned NCC, and the Consent Judgement has asked for an Industrial type use.

Mr. Stein indicated it was a large building of 206 feet deep and 420 feet long. He noted the Consent Judgement states the building shall be compatible with the balance of the development but unfortunately nothing else is built, so we are starting from scratch.

Mr. Stein said in the planning code there are requirements for percentages of different materials to be used within each zone. He indicated we have used the NCC or Commercial zoning in terms of requirements for exterior materials.

Mr. Stein indicated they are basically using three materials. The main projecting entry portion is done in a fractured concrete block in two colors, a dark gray and a light gray. He indicated they use a blue-gray metal on just the entry portion to add a little color and then the balance of the building is much more quiet and subdued.

Mr. Stein commented they tried to get away from the typical banding look you see many times in the metal buildings in Industrial because it really accents the length and size of the buildings, and attempted to go to more vertical massing to break it up. We also used a lighter color ribbed metal across and above the entry.

Mr. Stein said relative to the plantings that you see, those are what he intends to plant, but not that size. He indicated they will put this type of planting all around the building to help soften it as well as the additional plantings required in the parking lots.

Councilman Schmid said that Mr. Rogers has suggested in his letter that this facade meets the standards of an NCC District which is primarily aluminum siding with some cement block.

Mr. Rogers explained that the percentages in the NCC District do allow certain materials to be used. He said it did permit the use of certain percentages of flat metal sheets and also ribbed metal panels and limits certain percentages either 25% or 50%. He said we can’t compare this to any other building on the Grand River frontage. The latest word he has from the owners of the property is that they are going to live by the 1990 Meadowbrook Run Shopping Center plan, so from a conceptual planning standpoint, he felt it was important to bring this to you before the Commission took action on the site plan and also the special land use for this use in this district. He said in his opinion, these percentages do comply.

Councilman Schmid asked him if he was suggesting that this complies with the B-1, B-2 Ordinances as it relates to building facades so we could have an A & W Restaurant or a similar use that would be allowed with this facade. Mr. Rogers replied it would be with a combination of materials but couldn’t be all of these materials.

Councilman Schmid commented the roof of this building is very large and he asked Mr. Rogers to give consideration when the roof color and so forth is considered. He assumed it was steel and he asked Mr. Rogers to take that into consideration as to how a steel roof would look because of its huge size and Mr. Rogers indicated he would consider it. Councilman Schmid also added that he was extremely concerned about the traffic with a use such as this.

Councilman Clark echoed the same concerns of Councilman Schmid. He felt the exterior leaves much for the imagination. He stated in terms of the exterior of the building and it being on one of their major thoroughfares, he was disappointed. He understood from Mr. Rogers that one of the options would be brick and he would suggest that anything would be better than this split block and the steel roof.

Councilwoman Mutch asked Mr. Rogers if brick is not required in NCC, and Mr. Rogers said brick per se is not and the point is made very clear that brick could be used if it was the option of the applicant, but we are not in a position to require it however.

Councilwoman Mutch felt it was successful insofar as not looking like a typical Industrial building. She also felt when this whole site is developed, it is unlikely that we are going to see even the front of this building let alone the roof of this building because it does not have Grand River frontage. She is familiar with the property and it sits up so chances are good that the Meadowbrook Road frontage development and the Grand River frontage development, regardless of what it might be, is likely to hide this from view anyway.

Councilman Crawford asked Mr. Fried if this was a modification or are we opening up the Consent Judgement or at least this portion of it, and Mr. Fried replied this was in accordance with the Consent Judgement. Councilman Crawford said even though it says for our review and approval and Mr. Fried said it was for their review and approval and that is what the Consent Judgement states.

Councilman Crawford asked are we now in a modified Consent Judgement, and Mr. Fried said the applicant is not bound by what is in the Ordinance. Councilman Crawford asked if we can make some modifications and Mr. Fried replied yes.

Councilman Crawford said we could say we would like to see 100% brick as an example and we will approve it under that. Mr. Fried said that may be beyond what you could do, and Councilman Crawford said within reason then and he more than felt the NCC requirements were within reason.

Councilwoman Mutch said to Mr. Fried that she thought based on the other information they had, we had to hold them to the NCC and were somewhat restricted in what we can ask for. Mr. Fried said it was his recollection that in the Consent Judgement, it was subject to the Council’s review and approval and the Council could ask for things within reason.

Councilwoman Cassis said this building would set a certain standard in the area and therefore, they have concerns about the materials that are being used. She asked Mr. Stein if they had considered any other alternative materials. She said this would be a signature building in an area that would have impact even if it is somewhat removed from the road.

Mr. Stein said it was in the Master Plan as Light Industrial and that was the intent of the Consent Judgement. He indicated it was surrounded on three sides with Light Industrial. He added it would not be sitting up on a hill because Meadowbrook Road drops off a little as you go north. He said they tried to look at some kind of a balance between what would typically go into an Industrial area and something that would blend with the Commercial development to the front. He said Soccer Zone traditionally goes into a Light Industrial area because Industrial property tends to be less expensive than commercial.

Mr. Stein indicated they have tried to look at considerable upgrades from some of the other Soccer Zones that they now operate which are primarily a metal building with split face block on the front entrance.

Mr. Stein said they tried to change both the texture and color to delineate the building and break the masses up and that is why we used the flat panel and ribbed panel. He felt other than the color, from Grand River you probably couldn’t tell whether the material is split face block or brick from a distance.

Councilman Clark commented he would feel more comfortable to see more brick on the long facade of the building.

Councilman Schmid felt if they allow this type of facade material to be used here, they are going a step backwards. He would like to recommend replacing the block with brick and have the rest of the building being compatible to the Ordinance, with the watching of that by the Planning Department and Mr. Rogers.

Councilman Mitzel asked if the motion would approve the ribbed metal that is already there and just replace the block with brick. Councilman Schmid said he left it up to the Planning Department. Councilman Mitzel said so the motion actually delegates our authority of the Consent Judgement to the Planning Department. Mr. Fried replied it really is not a delegation but an instruction with guidelines to the Planning Department and it is a delegation with certain limitations on the delegation which is proper.

Councilman Mitzel said the motion stated per the Ordinance and which district are you basing that on because the Consent Judgement says I-1 uses but it also states it shall be compatible with Phase I which are the NCC uses. He felt a simpler way of stating the motion would have been to say to replace the split block with brick and allow the rest as presented because that is already compatible with NCC as Mr. Rogers stated.

Councilman Mitzel asked Mr. Stein would the switch to brick from split face block make the project not financially feasible and Mr. Stein said he couldn’t answer that right now.

Councilman Mitzel said if the prominent area of the building on the south side was of brick that would address our concerns, but yet allow the rest of the building to remain as presented, which meets the NCC Ordinance. He said possibly even a more reasonable approach may help the applicant to meet their financial desires and the City meet our expectations of a signature type building, but that was slightly different than the motion, which would replace the entire building. Councilman Schmid said he could change his motion reluctantly to allow for that.

Member Clark wanted to be clear where the brick would be and Councilman Schmid said on the total frontage and Mr. Stein said total projected frontage and Chairman Clark said that was a very small portion of that building.

Councilman Schmid said his motion was the total front including the front corners would be of brick replacing the block. He felt it would look better to be consistent on the front.

Mr. Fried commented that the motion provided that it should be under the guidance of the Planning Department, so the problems he is raising are things that he would think the motion intended the Planning Department solve.

CM-96-04-122: Motion by Schmid, Seconded by Clark, MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY: To approve facade replacing the block with brick on the south side (front), and other materials on three sides to be compatible with NCC regulations, and to be monitored by the Planning Department.

DISCUSSION

Councilman Crawford asked on the south elevation, is only 25% of the total surface going to be brick and 75% would be the ribbed paneling or the flat metal panels. Mr. Stein replied actually they ran a little over on the fractured block on the south. Councilman Crawford said it looks to be more than 25% and Mr. Stein said it would be more.

Councilman Crawford asked when we see the split block on the other elevations, would they be of contrasting color to the ribbed panel and Mr. Stein said yes.

Councilman Crawford noted when looking at the elevations, he saw nothing on the roof so he assumed there were no air conditioning units or heating units and the facade will be very similar as he sees it here and Mr. Stein said yes and the only thing on the roof will be five small 4" vents.

Councilman Crawford asked if the landscaping is going to be anywhere near what is shown here and these look like rather mature trees and Mr. Stein said they tried to show more mature size trees than what they would actually be, but they would be to code.

Councilman Crawford asked what color will the brick be and would it be a brown or a red and Mr. Stein said since he hasn’t thought about using brick, he hasn’t thought that through, but he would like to look at the block colors when he looks at the brick and probably modify those so they work together better. He indicated he was thinking of a warm gray color. Councilman Crawford said that concerns him because looking at the colors, this is going to look like a gray or beige building from a distance no matter what the materials are. Mr. Stein said they would make sure that is a good contrast.

Councilman Crawford asked if the Planning Commission is going to review materials and colors and Mr. Fried said that was his understanding of the motion, and it should be under the direction of the Planning Department. Councilman Crawford wanted to be sure his comments get to them then that there should be more contrast that this.

Mayor McLallen noted this request has gone before the Planning Commission and they voted unanimously to deny the rezoning and the Community Development Department and Consultant do not recommend the rezoning either in part because it is not in compliance with the City’s Master Plan.

Councilman Mitzel said about a year ago, we had a request on Lot 17 for the same type of rezoning and at that point, we had asked the Planning Commission to look into studying the issue about zoning boundary and the Master Plan boundary and what really made sense for that area and he didn’t know if they ever had a chance to look at that.

Mr. Wahl indicated the Master Plan and Zoning Committee has not taken up the matter and have been pretty much occupied with the PD-1 issue that was before Council. He believed Mr. Rogers may have done some analysis and written some suggestions and opinions but the Commission has not formally taken up any review of that, but if it is still on Council’s Agenda, we will take immediate action accordingly.

Councilman Mitzel indicated the reason he raised this matter was he drives that road daily and it has very much a residential appearance and character. He was concerned in allowing a rezoning to residential and thus creating future conflicts with additional areas of residential adjacent to light industrial.

Councilman Mitzel said as it is currently zoned, he wasn’t certain if there actually would be industrial uses ever half way down Lanny’s Road from Grand River. In other words, these small parcels as currently zoned would have to be consolidated and used probably by one larger entity and he didn’t think they would end up having a light industrial building the size of a house on Lot 18 for instance.

Councilman Mitzel stated that is why he is really interested in what the professionals and the Planning Commission really recommends for the long-range solution for this area prior to rezoning on a lot-by-lot basis. He suggested tabling this request until such time as that information would come back to Council, or if we have to deny it and then based on the outcome of the study, reconsider the issue. He was concerned about actually having small industrial buildings way down on Lanny’s Road but yet he also did not want to encourage more potential conflicts between residential and light industrial by adding boundaries.

Mr. Rogers indicated this is a difficult case to call. He felt the optimum use of these lots would be for Lot 18 to be consolidated with the non-conforming house on Lot 17 and you do have some industrial uses up on Grand River to the east, east of Lots 11, 12, 13 and 14. He said there was a Nationwide Fence Company and that comes all the way down and back of Lot 11 so it was a difficult area. He indicated Lot 19 has a new house built within the past year and on Lanny’s Road there were four homes.

Mr. Rogers said as you go up Grand River, you are going to be sandwiching in residential uses and you will have more perimeter to screen than you have perhaps today and it is really a decision of Council as to which way to go. He said the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the rezoning, which they did a year and a half ago.

Councilman Mitzel said regarding Lots 9, 10, 20 and 19, Lots 9, 10 and 20 are older smaller homes and Lot 19 is a new house which is fairly large and in a sense that is master planned for light industrial, and he asked Mr. Rogers would he foresee that being a realistic Master Plan. Mr. Rogers said he would adjust the Master Plan boundary to that of the zoning district boundary.

Councilman Mitzel was wondering where the Master Plan zoning district boundary would be reasonable and as of right now, you are stating where the current zoning district boundary is. Mr. Rogers said north of that line is one house and that is on Lot 17 and the other 8 lots are either vacant or industrial uses.

Councilwoman Cassis said she was struck by this dilemma coming to the Council as it has happened in the past and would reoccur as long as there is a basic incapability between two zoning districts, one being light industrial and one being residential.

Councilwoman Cassis said in this area if there were to be a Master Plan Update to relook that whole R-4 area, suddenly at the very tip where it intersects with Grand River, there is an industrial zoning. It would seem to her a much more logical planning decision was to move the I-1 zoning north being separated by a natural barrier called Grand River.

Councilwoman Cassis had sympathy for the petitioner in this area that is a residential area and she would not support the motion to deny this request, because she didn’t feel it was good planning. These residences that go south have been there for years and years and why is it that we haven’t seen Industrial come to this area or even office and it just isn’t workable. She would hope that they would relook the I-1 Ordinance as well as where it is located both on the Zoning Map and the Master Plan Map.

Councilman Schmid said this has been before Council before and this is master planned industrial and zoned industrial and should remain industrial until such time as there is a movement to change the whole zoning. His concern the last time this came before Council was that it may open up the possibility of making this an area that is an eyesore. He felt to rezone this would create greater difficulty.

Councilwoman Mutch felt Lanny’s Road seems like a residential road and if she were living there, she would want to see a house versus all of the industrial or office possibilities and because drawing the line is such an arbitrary thing on this particular stretch in the middle of the block, she would go along seeing it drawn on the north side of Lot 18 than to maintain it on the south side.

Councilman Clark felt if they allow this rezoning, we have engaged in spot zoning and we will be challenged in the future.

Mr. Kriewall commented if you drive through this particular neighborhood, the property could be zoned either way and it could be zoned either light industrial or residential. Regarding the subject lot in question, there is a brand new home just to the south of that lot and there is a home to the north of that lot, so the chances of the character changing on that particular side of the street are not very high. He said the two existing residential homes on either side of that lot, would probably prefer that the lot be zoned residential.

Mr. Kriewall felt it was splitting hairs to concern themselves with where that zoning changes on this street and those people who bought and built there historically have known all along that there is some transition to light industrial that takes place on their block and they just built a new home there and someone bought it so he didn’t feel it was a primary concern if you are living in the neighborhood, but maybe we ought to ask the people who live on each side of that lot, what they would prefer to see that lot zoned.

Mayor McLallen indicated Mr. Jeff Teffer who was present in the Audience that evening was in favor of the rezoning of this lot and his comments were on Page 3 of the Planning Commission minutes.

Councilman Mitzel said possibly instead of asking what-if this development or what-if that development happened, maybe we should be asking if we were to lock it in as it currently exists now with those three industrial uses and leave those as industrial uses and leave the current non-conforming house and the two vacant lots as residential, how would that work in a planning scheme.

Councilman Mitzel said in other words, we know what industrial uses are there right now and we know that the character of most of the road tends to be residential. He stated we have a house on Lot 17 that came in and asked for a rezoning so that they would have a desire to be residential there for long-term and that was denied based on the fact it would be isolated.

Councilman Mitzel said he was just looking at it from a planning standpoint that we would just establish it as it basically exists today and draw the line where the residential and those two vacant lots are and then establish that as a boundary between the residential and the existing industrial. From a planning standpoint, it seems that would resolve some of the issues.

Mr. Wahl was requested to bring back recommendation on Lanny’s Road zoning within 30 days.

APPROVAL OF ZONING MAP AMENDMENT 18.547 - R-4 AND B-3 TO B-1 DISTRICTS, LOCATED SOUTHWEST CORNER OF AUSTIN DRIVE AND NOVI ROAD.

Mr. Dennis Dixteen appearing on behalf of the petitioner indicated that all sites have some B-3 zoning and taxes have been paid for years as commercial and all sites also have some R-4 zoning. This mixed zoning ranges from more B-3 on Lot 114 to almost all R-4 on Lot 108. This request has been initiated due to discussions of the City of Novi’s need to take away most of the B-3 zone property for easements to clean and service future needs of the City and to ensure drainage across Novi Road and lake drainage.

Mr. Dixteen said these easements, if taken, will render all of the property as currently zoned to be economically and physically unsuitable and unusable. The proposed compromise zoning to all B-1 will allow the City of Novi to construct and maintain an easily gained access to all of the needed easements, while allowing a reasonable development of the property. The proposed compromise zoning to all B-1 will allow the City of Novi to construct and maintain an easily gained access to all of the needed easements, while allowing a reasonable development of the property. It is respectfully requested that the Council grant the compromise zoning to B-1 which is not island zoning and the owners would then, in concurrence with that, accept the requested easement request from the City of Novi.

Mayor McLallen commented the maps in their packets are very difficult to read. She said along Novi Road the question was from the corner of Novi Road and Austin, following down through Lots 114 and 115, Lot 115 is not included in the request for rezoning so where does that leave Lot 115 because that leaves an odd lot that is the next corner on Pleasant Valley Drive and leaves an R-4 residential lot facing Novi Road.

Mr. Kapelczak explained most of Lot 115 is a B-3 zoning and Lot 115 is not owned by the Petitioners. Mayor McLallen indicated this rezoning would leave an isolated small frontage. Mr. Kapelczak indicated it would leave an isolated B-3 lot and a small triangle of residential on Lot 115.

Mayor McLallen said the question she had asked Mr. Nowicki was what was the length of frontage on Novi Road that would go from the mix into the single entity of B-1, and if the zoning was approved, that would become a commercial frontage.

Mr. Kapelczak explained there was currently approximately 185 feet of B-3 zoned property along Novi Road, so that would be now changed to B-1 if in fact the rezoning goes through. There is 185 feet there in length and of that 185 feet, the area in this auburn shading will be needed for a permanent drainage easement by the City of Novi. That length of frontage is approximately 60 feet so there would be a remainder of 125 feet of frontage on Novi Road after our easement is taken from the property.

Mr. Kapelczak said by the way, there is another easement that is in the rear of this lot, that would be granted to the City of Novi and if you go to the easterly side of the easement, the shallowest depth would be at 110 feet and then it would increase about 140-150 feet and then it would start to decrease back to 110 feet.

Councilman Schmid said so what we would be left with is a lot zoned B-3, 125 feet by 110 feet. Mr. Kapelczak said currently today, the B-3 frontage of this proprietor’s property is 185 feet by 100 feet in depth. Councilman Schmid said it would come back down to 125 when you take some land and Mr. Kapelczak said yes you will have 125 along Novi Road and you would then have approximately 150 feet on the Austin frontage and then this depth would run anywhere from 110 feet deep to 150 feet deep from its furthest point.

Mayor McLallen said but her question is at the very end of the corner of Novi Road and Pleasant Valley, which is not a subject of this rezoning, would remain, if this rezoning goes through, an isolated B-3 use. Mr. Kapelczak said yes.

Mayor McLallen said the Council is finding this extremely difficult to review because of the quality of the map that we were given.

CM-96-04-125: Motion by Mitzel, Seconded by Clark, MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY: To deny Map Amendment 18.547.

Councilman Mitzel said he based his motion on the recommendation of the Planning Commission and also on the fact that this area and the Master Plan need to be re-evaluated.

Councilman Mitzel said we have an area that is zoned B-3, a strip all along Novi Road for probably a quarter mile, which is very shallow, and Mr. Rogers may know off hand what the minimum setbacks are in a B-3 District and whether or not buildings of any size could even by built on that narrow strip of land that is zoned B-3.

Mr. Rogers replied for the B-3, front yard is 30 feet, side yard 15 feet, rear yard 20 feet.

Councilman Mitzel said at one point it was decided to go with residential and what happened was they started off by trying to change the existing businesses to residential zoning instead of looking at changing the vacant land to the residential zoning, and to allow long-time existing businesses that were there and even ones that have recently expanded to remain. They tried to avoid making that a quarter mile of a very narrow strip center, which he didn’t see how that would work, especially in light of the fact that once Decker Road and Novi Road were connected, this area would not be the main thoroughfare to the north anymore.

Councilman Mitzel said there are already existing houses in that area that are B-3 and he felt that was the more appropriate route to make that frontage R-4 as Mr. Rogers stated and therefore change the Master Plan and change the Zoning Ordinance, but yet allow the existing businesses that have been there years to remain. That is why he didn’t support.

Councilwoman Mutch asked whether it could be all zoned R-4 as well because she would support that and then deal with Lot 115 at another time. Mr. Fried replied there would be no problem in that because the notice implied that there might be a rezoning to another district.

Councilwoman Mutch asked Mr. Fried is it necessary to, if one were to rezone, vote on passing a denial of the request. Mr. Fried replied they could deny the request and rezone it to another district or just rezone it.

Councilman Mitzel asked if all the motions were in proper order for the sequence they did with the Zoning Map Amendment. He said by the previous action of denying that number, does it still allow us to make this motion now with the same advertised number and Mr. Fried said that does create a problem and he misspoke earlier to Councilwoman Mutch’s question.

Councilman Mitzel felt they would have to rescind their previous action and Mr. Fried agreed.

CM-96-04-127: Moved by Mitzel, Seconded by Clark, MOTION WITHDRAWN: To rescind the previous motion which passed, which was to deny Map Amendment No. 18.457.

DISCUSSION

Councilman Schmid said he generally would agree with what the maker of the motion is trying to do, which is to eventually get this property rezoned, but he is uncomfortable in doing it in the manner in which we are doing it. He felt it should go back to the Planning Department and come forward as soon as possible so the owners and petitioners know what is going on and give them an opportunity to discuss the merits from their standpoint.

The owner of the property stated the petition he had signed does not state, "any other zoning district" and it just states B-1.

Councilman Mitzel then withdrew his motion and Councilman Clark withdrew his second.

Mayor McLallen said there was a consensus of the Council that while the request for rezoning has been denied, that Council will take time to hear the department and owners’ positions on the R-4, but at this time, we will not move forward with the R-4 rezoning.

Councilman Mitzel requested that this whole issue of this stretch of Novi Road be sent to the Planning Commission for study and/or revision of the Master Plan and recommendation for zoning.

Councilman Schmid said to Mr. Nowicki he did not support the initial phase of this project and he felt it was putting bad money after bad money, but he asked Mr. Nowicki to tell the dollars that we are talking about for the total project and to also explain what this project is.

Mr. Nowicki said the total amount budgeted was approved by Council in July of 1995, of $750,000. Councilman Schmid said as he recalled, that would not encompass the total project and Mr. Nowicki said it would be very very close.

Councilman Schmid asked how much of this is labor intensified by Wayne University and Mr. Nowicki said approximately $171,000 is hardware and software associated with the Geographic Information System, plus we have some other aspects in there including a planned record document and maintenance package of $25,000; a Community Land Information System of $100,000, a Facilities Maintenance and Infrastructure and Maintenance Management System of 60,000. He indicated we had put in there approximately $140,000 for a base map that Oakland county will be doing for us. So to answer briefly, in the area of $418,00-$420,000 for Wayne State University to do the data collection, to write the reports, and to generate a lot of the information that is needed to go into this particular program and the rest would be other software and hardware.

Councilman Schmid said then just under a half million dollars labor to Wayne State University to get the information together.

Mr. Nowicki said one of the projects we were talking about earlier today was the hydrology system, and what they would be doing in that case is they would be going through existing DNR records, Oakland County records and well logs, and categorizing all the information, building the geographic information data base for that particular task itself, so it was primarily associated with research work.

Mr. Nowicki said late last summer, they came in and surveyed and inventoried all of our streets, and mapped our streets we have here, and they brought in a number of students that went through and did all of our traffic counts, turning movements, things that will help us into the future.

Councilman Schmid asked if the intent for the information was for the Planning Commission and Council’s information and Mr. Nowicki replied the intent is for the Council, the Planning Department, Planning Commission, Department of Public Services and all City organizations.

Mr. Nowicki said Margaret Jolin our computer analyst could go through and pull together all of the districts for advertising and all the properties that would be effected in five to ten minutes, where now manually it would take someone 5-6 hours to do that work. He stated our intent is to link all of the work stations together, so everyone within the City Government would have access to all of the information that all the other departments have. Right now you run back and forth between departments extracting information and there is no way to economically inventory, categorize and log that information and manipulate the data, use it and make it work to our benefit and hopefully in the very near future, this information will be available globally.

Mr. Nowicki said they were talking to the Road Commission for Oakland County for sharing data and we have information from the Rouge River Program and they provided us data free of charge and we could put all the hazardous sites in there. What it is turning out to be is actually a globally sharing of information for the community.

Councilman Schmid asked Mr. Nowicki how many global sharing facilities do we have in the State of Michigan, and Mr. Nowicki replied quite a few and more each day, such as Rochester Hills, Highland Township, Berkley, Wixom and Farmington Hills.

Councilman Schmid said we are paying the people of Wayne State University almost $500,000 to acquire this information and his point continues to be that this was not studied sufficiently and we got into a project that is like a road to nowhere, and he was not confident it will go anywhere and not confident it will be utilized particularly by the public, and we are expending almost a million dollars. He would gamble it would be close to a million dollars before they get done, in addition to the upkeep and loading that will have to be a continual process. He felt that was a lot of money for the citizens of Novi to be spending, with very little background. He felt this was a mistake and we are spending far too much money on a project that was not time tested and not looked into sufficiently.

Councilman Clark said although this money is coming from dedicated funds, when he drives around the City and he sees the state the City streets are in that should be repaired, it seems to him to be somewhat questionable to be taking almost $200,000 out of the Municipal Street Fund to put it into this project.

Councilman Clark said he had no qualms that this information would be helpful to City employees, but he knows from experience that the information is not used at all or very seldom. He felt it was a question between wants and needs. He questioned does technology come before the people or do the people come before the technology.

Councilman Clark said he would rather see the needs of the Citizens Committee and Fire and Police Committee addressed first and the technology come later. He said he also has commented on the proposal for an Information Kiosk for $100,000 and he didn’t feel they need a machine that would cost the City and taxpayers $100,000 to figure out where they want to go.

Councilwoman Mutch said she only agreed with part of what Councilman Clark said. She said the Council did approve moving forward with Phase One and did approve allocating funds for the approval of drawing money from the dedicated funds.

Councilwoman Mutch said one way to look at the GIS is that while there are big numbers involved, there are also big benefits and long-term benefits. From what she understood, they were on track and have not exceeded what the Council was presented with.

Councilwoman Mutch commented they are already finding ways to use it and she felt this will be a tool that will pay for itself over and over again, but there is the initial investment to be made.

Councilwoman Mutch said they are paying for Wayne State University’s services, but she would bet that the amount of money that we have to pay students will be a lot less than what other communities are paying professional consultant staffs because they have already paid over $900,000 in Troy, which is closer to a million dollars.

Councilman Schmid said Councilwoman Mutch is making several assumptions. First that this would pay for itself several times over and that isn’t a proven fact in his opinion. Two, that we are paying Wayne State University a lot less than what we would get from anyone else has not been verified.

Councilman Schmid said when the decision was made to move forward, it was made for the sole purpose not to move forward necessarily, but to move forward to that extent and stop and take a look at it and see what it can do for us and then make a decision to go forward.

Nays: Clark, Schmid

Mayor McLallen indicated the ballots were on the table and during the break, we will fill them out and announce the results as Item #13.

Councilman Mitzel said it was now 11:30 PM and according to their rules, he would have to make a motion to extend the meeting.

James Korte said the Council did a wonderful thing with Item #4. He indicated there was a SES meeting tomorrow night and it would be an Agenda item. He said they would send Council a Resolution and also Planning.

Mr. Korte agreed the maps were awful and when they get into the purchase of the Shawood Canal, he would hope they would ask for maps that show them where the water is. Shawood Canal is a ditch and that ditch is a bowl shaped terrain that is 40-50 feet wide and you need to know that. You are purchasing a very small portion of it for an easement, but when you look at what you can build next to it, and you know you have a 30 foot wide drop off, you have to know that or you can’t make a legitimate decision that will effect us.

Jeff Teffer of 26075 Lanny’s Road, owner of Lot 19, indicated he has been to the Planning Commission meetings where industrial has been proposed next to residential and from what he saw, the Council always denied them unless it was a big lot. He said his concerns were the air-conditioning units on the buildings making noise, car doors slamming, people coming in and out of this building and it would be unsafe to him to let his children play in the yard, etc.

Mr. Teffer said other than that, all six residents that live on Lanny’s Road has signed a petition in favor of the R-4 zoning and no one is opposed to it. Basically if anyone would drive by the subdivision and look at Lot 18, and if you put a house right on Lot 18, it would enhance the subdivision as his house has and it would be a nice small subdivision with Lot 18 and as Mr. Rogers said even Lot 17 has a house on it in very good shape and is right next to the EDM building. He felt in the future, Lots 17 and 18 could be connected, but he would still oppose anything as far as industrial being built on it. He felt with Planning Commission approving it twice and Council denying it twice already, the applicant will never be able to do anything with that lot.

Mayor McLallen closed the Audience Participation.

Mr. Fried discussed that Andrew Mutch has offered to be a member of the Library Board and therefore his mother would be disenfranchised from voting on it.

Councilwoman Mutch asked if she had to refrain from voting on all three positions just because he is one of the applicants.

Mr. Fried said to vote on each separate position or the Council could all agree she doesn’t have to abstain from voting but according to Charter, five votes were required.

It was discussed further and decided that Councilwoman Mutch would vote on the Cable Access Committee and Community Clubs, but refrain from voting on the Library Board.

Deborah Bundoff of 12 Mile Road area had a question as to the SAD-94 and the decision that was made this evening to not approve the rezoning to RM-2. She said she had asked before about the capacity of the sewer that is currently built because there are very few taps currently being used on that sewer and what happens when the sewer doesn’t flow because it was not at its maximum capacity. She would have hoped there could have been some discussion as to the validity of the RM-2 zoning and the fact that sewer has to have a certain capacity in order to work in the future, otherwise it is basically a useless sewer. No one has come up with the hard fact figures as to what the current structure is suppose to be at for its capacity and its future capacity and that has to be looked at closely.

Mayor McLallen asked Mr. Kriewall by the first meeting in May, to give us an update on the capacity and the zoning implications on SAD-94 in Section 10.

Mayor McLallen closed the Audience Participation.

Councilwoman Mutch said she has never given a report on the SEMCOG meetings she has attended and she would do so in memo form for the next packet.

Mayor McLallen indicated she pulled off four items, which were letters. Item #3 was a letter from Matthew Quinn, to the Council requesting that some proposed changes in B-1 be sent to Ordinance Review to see if they meet with any reception and the same for letter #4 from Police Chief Shaeffer regarding revision in the Massage Ordinance and both of those were direct requests to go to Ordinance Review.

Councilman Mitzel said regarding Item #3, that letter concerned the Zoning Ordinance, which typically Ordinance Review has not handled due to advice from Mr. Fried that said that the proper mechanism is through the Planning Commission, which is where Mr. Quinn had his problem. Perhaps we should talk to the Planning Commission. Mayor McLallen asked the Planning Department to please advise Council.

Mayor McLallen said Item #4 had to do with unisex bathrooms and the Chief had no objections in sending it forward to Ordinance Review. Councilman Schmid had objections to sending it forward but he supposed it could go forward.

Mayor McLallen said the other letter was Item #9, a letter from the Charter Township of Plymouth and it was information concerning the fact that they may form a Rouge River Drainage Basin that would be a governmental body that would have certain financial obligations for the environmental issues relating to the Rouge River. Basically we didn’t know anything about it, but it would have an impact and she would like the staff to check on it as there was a meeting tomorrow night.

Mr. Kriewall indicated he would send someone.

Mayor McLallen said Item #6 was a fax from Sue Hillebrand regarding the State Police Tower on 7 Mile Road, and we talked about this a few meetings ago, and they wanted to know if we would support their position, which was to request that the State Police do something about the tower and there were very specific recommendations.

Mayor McLallen asked if we could send a letter in agreement with the township and it was agreed to do so.

Councilman Clark referred to the Arbor Drug Warehouse on Novi Road. He said it looks like some of the trailers have been parked there so long they are a permanent part of the landscape. It was stated he may be referring to Johnson Controls and Councilman Clark asked that someone check on all parking issues on Gen-Mar Drive.

Councilman Mitzel said we are approaching another planning season and he was wondering what the status of the Fretter site is and regarding a bond for landscaping. He asked the City Administration and Attorney to briefly update Council on the status and what their options are. Mr. Kriewall said he would get Council a report.

Councilwoman Cassis referred to the former gas station site on Ten Mile and Novi Road and that the site was not showing improvement in terms of landscape and facade. She requested Administration to monitor the situation closely.

Mr. Kriewall thought there was a 30 day time limit on this and it was being monitored closely.

Community Clubs - Board of Trustees: Thomas Kenny, William McDonald, Jeff Russell, terms expiring 11/1/98; Nick Valenti, Tom Smith, Kelle Vela-terms expiring 11/1/97: Graham Ward-term expiring 11/1/96. Cable Access Committee: Carol Bauer reappointed-term expiring 4/1/99 and Timothy Macaddino-term expiring 4/1/98 left by Wayne Wrobel. Library Board: James Evenhuis reappointed-term expiring 3/1/01, Eric Krieger-term expiring 3/1/99 left by Judith Fuoco, and Andrew Mutch-term expiring 3/1/98 left by Paul Black. Appointments to fill unexpired terms to be effective upon receipt of written resignations.

Councilwoman Cassis said she understood they have a letter from Andrew Mutch who said that he would resign from his position with the Novi Board if he were elected to this position and he works with the Library Board and that he would resign employment if he were elected to this and she thought that was the understanding and it was stated that was correct.

Councilman Mitzel also commented that those appointments also are subject to our official receipt of resignation from Mr. Black and Ms. Fuoco because he didn’t believe Council has ever received written resignations or acted upon them. Mayor McLallen said they would get copies and they have resigned and it would be made pursuant to that.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business before City Council, the meeting was adjourned at 12:25 AM.

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Mayor Deputy City Clerk

Date approved: August 12, 1996

Transcribed by Sharon Hendrian