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REGULAR MEETING - ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS Proceedings had and Testimony taken in the matters of the ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS, at City of Novi, 45175 West Ten Mile Road, Novi, Michigan, on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. BOARD MEMBERS ALSO PRESENT: REPORTED BY: 1 Novi, 2 Michigan 3 Tuesday, 4 July 13, 2010 5 7:00 p.m. 6 - - - 7 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Good 8 evening. I'm going to call the Tuesday, 9 July 13th, 2010 Zoning Board of Appeals 10 meeting to order. Would everybody please 11 rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. 12 Member Krieger, start us, 13 please. 14 BOARD MEMBERS: I pledge 15 allegiance to the flag, of the United 16 States of America, and to the republic 17 for which it stands, one nation, under 18 God, indivisible, with liberty and 19 justice for all. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 21 you. And, Ms. Martin, please call 22 the roll. 23 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 24 MEMBER SANGHVI: Here. 25 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 1 MEMBER CASSIS: Here. 2 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 3 MEMBER KRIEGER: Here. 4 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 5 MEMBER IBE: Present. 6 MS. MARTIN: Chairmember 7 Ghannam? 8 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Here. 9 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 10 MEMBER SKELCY: Here. 11 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 12 MEMBER GEDEON: Here. 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: As I 14 indicated, this is the July 13, 2010, 15 Zoning Board of Appeals hearing. We have 16 copies of rules of conduct in the back, 17 if you need a copy of them. Please turn 18 off all pagers and cellphones during the 19 meeting. 20 When your case is called, the 21 applicants will come to the front and be 22 recognized. And if you are not an 23 attorney, you will be sworn in by our 24 secretary. 25 Each applicant will be given 1 five minutes to present their case. We 2 may give extensions, if necessary. 3 Certainly, if anybody from the audience 4 wants to be recognized to speak on a 5 particular case, they will also come up 6 after the applicant has spoken. You will 7 be given an opportunity to address the 8 board and potentially be questioned by 9 them. 10 First on the agenda is the 11 approval of the agenda. Are there any 12 corrections or deletions or additions to 13 the agenda? 14 MS. MARTIN: There is none. 15 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anybody 16 else have any potential corrections or 17 additions? 18 Seeing none, all in favor of 19 the agenda, please say aye. 20 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: All 22 opposed? Seeing none, the agenda is 23 approved. 24 Next is the approval of the 25 minutes, and we'll take them one by one. 1 First is the May 11th, 2010 2 minutes. Anybody have any corrections or 3 additions to the May 11th minutes? 4 Ms. Kudla. 5 MS. KUDLA: Page 19, line 14, 6 the word "cost" should be "cross." 7 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 8 Anything else? 9 MS. KUDLA: That's it. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 11 Anything else? 12 Member Krieger. 13 MEMBER KRIEGER: I can't 14 remember specifically, but on page 46, 15 line 20, "I think," I would like to 16 scratch that out. And to scratch out 17 "you want to be." 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Say 19 that again. Starting line 20, what part? 20 MEMBER KRIEGER: To scratch 21 out "I think." 22 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 23 MEMBER KRIEGER: And line 22, 24 to scratch out "you want to be." 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 1 Anybody else? 2 Member Sanghvi. 3 MEMBER SANGHVI: This is 4 not -- I believe this is attributed to 5 Chairman Wrobel on page 52, line 13. It 6 reads "Chairman" -- "Chairperson Wrobel: 7 Okay, motion failed, seven-zero." I 8 think there is an error there. It should 9 have been -- usually Ms. Martin tells 10 that and not the chairperson. And motion 11 didn't fail; motion passed, seven-zero. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Is that 13 accurate, Ms. Martin? That particular 14 motion did pass? 15 MS. MARTIN: That I would 16 have to check; I'm not sure. 17 MEMBER SANGVHI: Thank you. 18 MR. BOULARD: I believe it 19 was a motion to deny. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: It was 21 a motion to deny that passed, seven-zero. 22 Okay. Any other corrections? 23 With that in mind, all in favor of 24 approving the May 11th minutes of the 25 meeting, with the stated corrections, say 1 aye. 2 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye. 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: All 4 opposed? Seeing none, the May 11th 5 minutes of the meeting are passed and 6 approved. 7 Next is the June 8, 2010, 8 minutes of the meeting. Any corrections 9 or deletions? Anything from the city? 10 MS. KUDLA: No. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 12 Seeing none, all in favor of approving 13 the June 8, 2010 minutes, say, aye. 14 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye. 15 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: All 16 opposed? Seeing none, the June 8, 2010, 17 minutes of the meeting are passed. 18 This is the time for public 19 remarks. Is there anybody in the 20 audience who would like to make a public 21 remark not pertaining to a particular 22 case that's on the agenda tonight? 23 Seeing none, we'll close the 24 public remarks section, and proceed to 25 Case No. 10-019 for 40393 Grand River, 1 Kroger. Kroger is requesting a variance 2 to allow a reduced interior side yard 3 parking setback in the western side yard 4 parking setback in the I-1 district to 5 zero feet from the required ten foot. 6 The property is zoned I-1 and is located 7 at 40393 Grand River between Meadowbrook 8 and Haggerty Road. 9 Will the applicant please 10 come forward. What's your name, sir? 11 MR. FOCHTMAN: My name is 12 Jason Fochtman from Jeffrey Scott 13 Architects. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You are 15 not an attorney, correct? 16 MR. FOCHTMAN: No, I'm not. 17 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 18 raise your right hand and be sworn. 19 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in 20 Case No. 10-019, 40393 -- strike that. 21 In Case No. 10-019, 40393 22 Grand River Avenue, Kroger Offices, do 23 you swear or affirm to tell the truth? 24 MR. FOCHTMAN: I do. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Go 1 ahead, sir. 2 MR. FOCHTMAN: Do you need my 3 address? 4 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 5 state your name and your business 6 address. 7 MR. FOCHTMAN: Jason, Jeffrey 8 Scott Architects, 32316 Grand River 9 Avenue, Farmington, Michigan, 48336. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Go 11 ahead. 12 MR. FOCHTMAN: The Kroger 13 Company recently purchased the Airgas 14 building, which is next door to their 15 Kroger main headquarters right now. And 16 we were proposing to extend the parking 17 to better meet the needs of the building 18 and civil engineering that will be going 19 inside that. With that we would like to 20 extend the existing drive and parking 21 down along to align with the adjacent 22 parking of the adjacent building. And 23 that requires a zero lot setback, because 24 the property line runs down the center of 25 the drive that services the two parking 1 lots. 2 It's basically what we are 3 looking to achieve here. And we have 4 extended the parking lot, added 5 landscaping and that, and, of course, 6 (inaudible) and approval of the 7 departments. Really, all we are looking 8 for is the setback in the zoning. 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 10 Anybody in the audience who wishes to 11 address the board in this particular 12 issue? Seeing none -- 13 I'm sorry. If you would like 14 to address the board, please come up 15 front. 16 MR. ASPARTE: My name is Mark 17 Asparte (ph). I represent (inaudible) 18 who owns one of the buildings that are 19 adjoining this property. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 21 Before you start, are you an attorney? 22 MR. ASPARTE: No. 23 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay, 24 you need to raise your right hand and be 25 sworn. 1 MEMBER IBE: Do you swear or 2 affirm to tell the truth in this case? 3 MR. ASPARTE: I do. 4 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 5 MR. ASPARTE: I guess first I 6 want some clarification. I'm trying to 7 see, because I thought this was the 8 western side of the parking lot. 9 MR. FOCHTMAN: It's the 10 western side of the Airgas parking lot. 11 MR. ASPARTE: Airgas parking 12 lot, not the Kroger parking lot? 13 MR. FOCHTMAN: Well, it's 14 owned by Kroger now. 15 MR. ASPARTE: We have the 16 adjoining property to the Kroger, so this 17 really -- I thought this was going to 18 impact us; it was really the western. 19 MR. FOCHTMAN: This is the 20 eastern side of that lot. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: So you 22 have no objections, sir? 23 MR. ASPARTE: I have no 24 objection. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anybody 1 else who wishes to address the board and 2 make a statement on this particular case? 3 Seeing none, we'll close the public 4 remarks section. 5 Would the secretary please 6 read any correspondence into the record. 7 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, 8 Mr. Chair. There were 268 notices 9 mailed. There is no returns, one 10 approval, two objections, and one 11 concern. 12 The concern was dated July 13 12, 2010, and it reads: "The Zoning 14 Board of Appeals, City of Novi, Attention 15 Malinda Martin, Case No. 10-019, 40393 16 Grand River Avenue. 17 "Can you please reconsider 18 planting a high quality tree landscaping 19 on our property, 24830 Willowbrook. The 20 trees behind our property is of a lower 21 quality than what was agreed to about 10 22 to 12 years ago. After everything was 23 agreed to by the city and on the 40393 24 Grand River, the former owner and City of 25 Novi agreed to cut the landscaping cost 1 in half, and planted less trees and 2 shrubs. Plus, they were of lower 3 quality. 4 "When I called the city to 5 complain about landscaping, I was told by 6 the city changes were made due to high 7 cost to the owner. This change was made 8 after a public hearing and agreement. 9 "I would like to add that the 10 existing landscaping on the hill directly 11 behind 40399 Grand River is of higher 12 quality, such as Colorado Blue Spruce 13 trees. The landscaping hill runs 14 directly behind commercial properties 15 40399 and 40303 Grand River. This type 16 of landscaping planting were initially 17 agreed upon behind our house, but was 18 changed (inaudible) trees. This type of 19 tree does not hide the buildings well. I 20 would like to have trees to remain, but 21 I'm asking that the new owner, Kroger, 22 plants trees on the north side of the 23 hill, such as six Colorado Blue Spruce 24 trees. This will be a natural blockage 25 where the building and parking lot can't 1 be seen and heard." 2 Signed Gene and Cindy Callis 3 (ph), 24830 Willowbrook, Novi, Michigan, 4 48375." 5 As for the objections, this 6 one is dated July 9, 2010. And it 7 reads: "Dear Ms. Martin. The June 25th, 8 2010 petition as written appears to be in 9 error. The western side of the yard 10 mentioned already enjoys a variance to 11 the ten-foot interior side yard parking 12 setback ordinance. The western side yard 13 is adjoined to the adjacent property and, 14 therefore, already has a zero setback. 15 After inspecting the mentioned property 16 and surveyor's stakes, it appears the 17 variance is for zero setback on the south 18 property boundary. 19 "Given: The proximity to a 20 single-family residential housing 21 subdivision. The proximity to the 22 existing parking lot lights and adjoining 23 western property. And three, the 24 annoying loud noise and vibrations from a 25 stamping plant immediately on the east. 1 "A zero foot setback will 2 allow commercial activity to further 3 encroach private property and is not in 4 the residents' best interest. 5 "I do not agree to the 6 variance and hereby request the City of 7 Novi, Code of Ordinances, Section 2400, 8 which requires a ten foot interior 9 setback be maintained." 10 Respectfully signed, Bernard 11 A. Steer, 24759 Willowbrook Road, Novi, 12 Michigan, 48375." 13 And another objection is from 14 Julie Bohil, of 24569 Bashian, 48375, 15 signed on 6/28/2010. 16 And it reads, "Do not want a 17 Kroger store on Grand River." 18 And, of course, there is one 19 approval from Eugene and Mary Drafta, 20 address, 44599 Bashian Drive, Applegate 21 One Condos, 6/28/2010. 22 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 23 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 24 you. Any input from the City of Novi? 25 MS. KUDLA: No. 1 MR. BOULARD: Nothing to add. 2 If there is any questions, I would be 3 happy to assist. 4 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 5 I will open it up to the board, but 6 before I do that, for discussion, 7 obviously, there is some confusion in 8 what you are trying to do. One person 9 says they think you are building a 10 Kroger, and there is apparently some 11 confusion as to the layout. Why don't 12 you explain, if you don't mind, for my 13 sake as well as the audience, exactly 14 what you plan to do one more time. 15 MR. FOCHTMAN: The western 16 property line setback that is along the 17 division between the two properties. And 18 we are looking to extend the parking -- 19 from here back is new parking lot, which 20 is (inaudible) existing on. And we are 21 extending that, and to have the parking 22 here. And to continue the existing 23 shared drive, we just needed ten 24 foot easement. Not easement. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 1 Variance. 2 MR. FOCHTMAN: Variance. The 3 back, we are well over ten feet setback 4 from the back property line. We even had 5 the retention pond that shared among 6 these two properties, that staying and 7 remaining in place, and running 8 landscaping in between and in the parking 9 lot area. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 11 I will open it up to the board for 12 discussion. 13 MEMBER GEDEON: Just one 14 question on the difference between the 15 site plan that we have here and the site 16 plan you have up there. 17 MR. FOCHTMAN: The 18 landscaping, I'm sorry, was added through 19 our discussions with the planning 20 department. 21 MEMBER GEDEON: Okay. And 22 the three circles at the edge of the 23 requested variance, are those trees? 24 MR. FOCHTMAN: Those are 25 trees. 1 MEMBER GEDEON: Just to 2 address the concern of the one homeowner, 3 what type of trees are they? 4 MR. FOCHTMAN: It's a -- they 5 are, I believe, a Blue Spruce or a heavy 6 pine. 7 MEMBER GEDEON: Okay, thank 8 you. 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anybody 10 else? 11 Member Cassis. 12 MEMBER CASSIS: The neighbor 13 objects to those pines; are you willing 14 to give them Spruce? Spruce trees 15 instead of pine trees? 16 MR. FOCHTMAN: I believe they 17 are Blue Spruce. Yeah, I believe those 18 three are. 19 MEMBER CASSIS: You said 20 pine. 21 MR. FOCHTMAN: I believe they 22 are a Blue Spruce Evergreen. I have to 23 double-check exactly, but we can 24 definitely do Blue Spruce. 25 MEMBER CASSIS: Because 1 that's -- 2 MR. FOCHTMAN: For those 3 three. 4 MEMBER CASSIS: -- what the 5 neighbor would say. Those pines, they 6 shed a lot and really not that 7 attractive, so maybe you can pacify the 8 neighbor by doing that. Is that okay? 9 MR. FOCHTMAN: Yep. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anybody 11 else? 12 MEMBER CASSIS: Thank you, 13 Mr. Chair. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You're 15 welcome. Anybody else have any question? 16 MEMBER SANGHVI: I have no 17 question. I just want to suggest if you 18 put the correct orientation of your 19 drawing, the confusion will go away 20 (inaudible). You see, originally, the 21 top of the page is north and bottom is 22 south, and the right side the east and 23 the west. This is not the correct 24 orientation of your site here the way it 25 is displayed. And that's what creates 1 the confusion (inaudible) included on 2 your plans. If you turn it around -- 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: He's 4 saying turn it vertical. 5 MEMBER SANGHVI: This is east 6 and this is west. 7 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 8 Actually, it would be the other way 9 around. Isn't the top facing south now? 10 MR. FOCHTMAN: That's north 11 and south. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: That's 13 facing north? 14 MEMBER CASSIS: That's north. 15 MEMBER SANGHVI: He's okay 16 now. 17 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 18 Anybody else have any questions for the 19 applicant? Does anybody have a motion? 20 MEMBER SANGHVI: May I make a 21 motion, Mr. Chairman? 22 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes, 23 please. 24 MEMBER SANGHVI: That in 25 Case No. 10-019, 40393 Grand River 1 Avenue, Kroger offices, we grant the 2 request of the applicant for the variance 3 as requested in the application. And 4 setback, frontage, height, bulk, density 5 requirements unreasonably prevent the use 6 of the property for a permitted purpose. 7 Variance will provide substantial justice 8 to the petitioner and surrounding 9 property owners in the zoning district. 10 There are unique circumstances to this 11 property. And, also, this is not a 12 self-created problem. There is not 13 likely to be any interference with the 14 light or air to the adjacent properties 15 by doing this, by granting this variance. 16 Thank you. 17 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 18 second? 19 MEMBER SKELCY: Second. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Now 21 that we've got a motion and a second, 22 Ms. Martin, can you call the roll? 23 I'm sorry. 24 MR. BOULARD: Did you want to 25 memorialize the planting plan? Because 1 that's not part of the file. 2 MEMBER SANGHVI: I don't know 3 whether it is within the terms of our 4 reference. I believe our terms of 5 reference here is granting the variance, 6 not the planting of the shrubs and the 7 trees and other things. I think that 8 should come up at the stage of the site 9 plan and everything. If I am wrong, you 10 can ask the counsel. 11 MS. KUDLA: The trees would 12 be a hard condition to connect to a ten 13 foot setback. 14 MR. BOULARD: Okay. 15 MEMBER SANGVHI: Thank you. 16 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Can we 17 call roll now? 18 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 19 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 20 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 21 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 22 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 23 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 24 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 25 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 1 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 2 Ghannam? 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 4 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 5 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 6 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 7 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 8 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 9 seven to zero. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Next is 11 Case No. 2, 10-020, for 26800 Meadowbrook 12 Road. Colliers International is 13 requesting a renewal of a sign variance 14 for 60 square foot real estate leasing 15 sign, located 26800 Meadowbrook Road. 16 Property is zoned OST and located south 17 of Twelve Mile and east of Meadowbrook 18 Road. 19 Will the applicant please 20 come forward. Can you state your name, 21 please. 22 MS. SMITH: My name is Kozue 23 Smith. 24 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 25 Can you spell that for us? 1 MS. SMITH: K-O-Z-U-E, 2 S-M-I-T-H. 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: And are 4 you an attorney? 5 MS. SMITH: No. 6 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Can you 7 please raise your right hand and be 8 sworn. 9 MEMBER IBE: In Case 10-020, 10 26800 Meadowbrook Road, do you swear or 11 affirm to tell the truth? 12 MS. SMITH: Yes. 13 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Go 15 ahead and give us your business 16 address. 17 MS. MARTIN: Mr. Chairman? 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 19 MS. MARTIN: This is not the 20 right applicant for this case. She's 21 coming up a little bit farther down. 22 Mike just came in. 23 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 24 you. 25 MS. MARTIN: You wouldn't 1 have known. 2 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: I 3 wouldn't have known. Are you here for 4 Case 10-020? Is that your case, 10-020? 5 MR. YUMATI: Yes. 6 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Come 7 forward. Just trying to confirm. Go 8 ahead and state your name. 9 MR. YUMATI: Michael Yumati 10 (ph) from Colliers International. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Go 12 ahead and raise your right hand, sir, if 13 you are not an attorney, and be sworn. 14 Are you an attorney? 15 MR. YUMATI: No, I'm not. 16 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in 17 Case No. 10-020, 26800 Meadowbrook Road, 18 do you swear or affirm to tell the truth? 19 MR. YUMATI: Yes. 20 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: State 22 your address, and you can make your 23 presentation. 24 MR. YUMATI: Yes, well, 25 address? 1 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 2 Address, please. 3 MR. YUMATI: Well, the 4 signage is for Meadowbrook Corporate 5 Park, and the address is 26800 6 Meadowbrook Road. And the signage is 7 over-sized, you know, (inaudible) traffic 8 to the park. But we have not been able 9 to attract enough tenants or buyers to 10 the park for the last several years. 11 And, actually, we are losing some tenants 12 because of the down-turn of the economy 13 for the last two years. And we request a 14 variance for an oversized signage. 15 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 16 Anything else, sir? 17 MR. YUMATI: That's about it. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 19 I will turn it over to -- well, first, 20 before we do that, any members of the 21 audience want to be recognized and make 22 any type of statement on this particular 23 case? Seeing none, we'll close the 24 public remarks section. 25 The secretary will read any 1 notices into the record. 2 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, 14 3 notices were mailed, six mail returned, 4 zero responses. 5 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 6 Is there any input from community 7 development or City of Novi? 8 MR. BOULARD: Nothing to 9 add. 10 MS. KUDLA: No. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: I will 12 turn it over to the board for discussion. 13 Does anybody have any questions? 14 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, Mr. 15 Chair. 16 Mr. Yumati? 17 MR. YUMATI: Yes. 18 MEMBER IBE: What other steps 19 have you taken to assist with the 20 marketing of this -- 21 MR. YUMATI: Park? 22 MEMBER IBE: Yeah, the 23 park. 24 MR. YUMATI: We use internet 25 advertisement and we send out E-flyers to 1 specific number of potential buyers or 2 tenants. It's about 400 over three 3 months, 400 e-mails going out over three 4 months. And other than that, we just are 5 just fielding inquiries from mortgage 6 brokers or passersby on Meadowbrook Road 7 who saw our sign. 8 MEMBER IBE: So you think the 9 passersby who see the sign, they stop in 10 and make inquiries, is that what you are 11 saying? 12 MR. YUMATI: Yes, few times a 13 month. 14 MEMBER IBE: Has it resulted 15 in any sales? 16 MR. YUMATI: No, not yet. 17 MEMBER IBE: Now, sir, you 18 have had this sign since 2006, I assume, 19 right? 20 MR. YUMATI: Yes. 21 MEMBER IBE: Would you say 22 since 2006, how would you -- how would 23 you rate the efficiency of this 24 (inaudible) that you have out there? 25 MR. YUMATI: Well, the 1 building, there are two buildings, and we 2 have achieved 100 percent occupancy at 3 the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009. 4 However, that's the time companies 5 started to down-sizing, and some 6 companies actually returned spaces they 7 already took. And 100 percent occupancy 8 lasted only less than six months, so we 9 kept that signage to now. 10 MEMBER IBE: What is -- what 11 is the present occupancy right now? 12 MR. YUMATI: Right now it's 13 about 80 -- 80 percent. 14 MEMBER IBE: Eighty percent? 15 MR. YUMATI: Yes. 16 MEMBER IBE: Of course, you 17 desire 100 percent, is that correct? 18 MR. YUMATI: But we are 19 expecting the tenants moving out by the 20 end of this year. We -- the vacancy -- 21 occupancy rate will be 60 -- 64 or 65 22 percent at the end of this year. 23 MEMBER IBE: So January 1st, 24 2011, you expect it to drop down to about 25 60 percent? 1 MR. YUMATI: Yes. That's why 2 we need to keep advertising the 3 property. 4 MEMBER IBE: How much longer 5 you think you need this sign? 6 MR. YUMATI: How much? 7 MEMBER IBE: How much longer 8 would you prefer to have it? 9 MR. YUMATI: Well, this sign, 10 I try to be -- this will be the last 11 request. And it's, you know, five years 12 is long enough for one design. And we 13 like to change design as well as size of 14 the sign. 15 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, 16 Mr. Yumati. 17 MR. YUMATI: You're welcome. 18 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, 19 Mr. Chair. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Your 21 welcome. Go ahead, please. 22 MEMBER GEDEON: When you did 23 reach 100 percent occupancy, did you 24 remove the sign? 25 MR. YUMATI: No, we did 1 not. 2 MEMBER GEDEON: If you 3 reached a hundred percent occupancy 4 again, would you remove the sign? 5 MR. YUMATI: This time, yes. 6 MEMBER GEDEON: Would there 7 be any occupancy rate less than 100 8 percent that you would remove the sign? 9 MR. YUMATI: If it's less 10 than 100 percent, I don't think we 11 remove. But we like to change the sign. 12 Right now, we -- I came here -- I come 13 here every year to request for 14 continuance of oversized signage. And 15 five years is, you know, out -- I start 16 seeing wear and tear on the signage. So, 17 I think this will be the last time I 18 request this variance. 19 MEMBER GEDEON: Thank you. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anybody 21 else have any questions? 22 Member Krieger. 23 MEMBER KRIEGER: I agree 24 that -- I remember a business class, that 25 five years tells you if a business is 1 going to succeed or fail. When I drove 2 by the sign, I'm not sure that the 3 address that you give is correct for 4 Meadowbrook, but yet you did state that 5 the sign is in disrepair. 6 MR. YUMATI: Yeah. 7 MEMBER KRIEGER: It's on the 8 north side; it's falling apart. 9 MR. YUMATI: Yes. 10 MEMBER KRIEGER: And it has 11 been up there a number of years, so I 12 don't know if somebody was driving by, 13 what they would think. "Oh, my goodness, 14 the sign is falling down. What's going 15 on in the business?" And it's been there 16 a while, so it's almost like it's a 17 permanent sign. So I'm having a hard 18 time seeing the practical difficulty of 19 the necessity for the sign. 20 That's all right now. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 22 you. Anybody else have any comments? 23 Member Cassis. 24 MEMBER CASSIS: Thank you, 25 Mr. Chairman. In addition to what my 1 colleague just stated, the sign is very 2 huge, too, you know, for that street. 3 You are not like on a freeway or busy 4 kind of road that you need a huge sign 5 like this. 6 Also, I don't know what our 7 colleagues are going to say tonight, but 8 if they grant you this time, I would tear 9 this baby down. 10 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 11 MR. GHANNAM: You're welcome. 12 Anybody else? I actually have a couple 13 comments, too. I tend to be in agreement 14 with them. It is a two-lane road in that 15 area. You are entitled to a sign; there 16 is no question about a real estate sign. 17 The question is how big. You are 18 entitled apparently by rule, 16 square 19 feet, and you are asking for 60. The 20 question becomes what is the practical 21 difficulty, why you need something 22 bigger. 23 And I agree with the 24 comments, that if you are on a freeway, 25 if your property is unique, then you get 1 an exception to the rule. The rule is 2 you get 16 square feet, so the question 3 is do you come within that exception. At 4 this point, I just don't see (inaudible). 5 Anybody else have any 6 questions or comments? Any motions? 7 Member Krieger. 8 MEMBER KRIEGER: In Case No. 9 10-020, 26800 Meadowbrook Road for 10 Meadowbrook Corporate Park, I move to 11 deny the request for the continuation of 12 this current sign, as evidenced by the 13 lack of practical difficulty, the 14 features -- it is -- that the sign has 15 been there for adequate time, and because 16 of it's falling apart that it's -- 17 MEMBER CASSIS: Maintenance. 18 MEMBER KRIEGER: Maintenance. 19 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 20 Do I hear a second? 21 MEMBER SKELCY: Second. 22 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 23 Ms. Martin, can you call the roll? 24 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 25 MEMBER SANGHVI: No. 1 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 2 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 3 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 4 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 5 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 6 MEMBER IBE: No. 7 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 8 Ghannam? 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 10 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 11 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 12 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 13 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 14 MS. MARTIN: Okay, motion to 15 deny, five to two. 16 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 17 you, sir. 18 MR. YUMATI: Thank you. 19 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Next on 20 the agenda, is Case No. 10-021, Island 21 Lake of Novi. Jason Minock of Toll 22 Brothers - Island Lake is requesting an 23 extension to the six oversized real 24 estate advertising signs and six 25 directional signs located in Island Lakes 1 Community Development. Property is zoned 2 RA, and is located south of Grand River 3 Avenue, north of Ten Mile, east of Napier 4 and west of Wixom. 5 Will the applicant please 6 come forward. Sir, state your name, 7 please. 8 MR. MINOCK: Jason Minock. 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Are you 10 an attorney? 11 MR. MINOCK: No, I'm not. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 13 raise your right hand and be sworn. 14 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in 15 Case No. 10-021, Island Lake of Novi, do 16 you swear or affirm to tell the truth? 17 MR. MINOCK: I do. 18 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 19 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Can you 20 please give us your business address and 21 then present your case. 22 MR. MINOCK: The address is 23 25622 Napier Road, Novi, 48374. That's 24 actually the mailing address for the 25 business. 1 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: That's 2 fine. 3 MR. MINOCK: My name is Jason 4 Minock. I'm the senior project manager 5 of the Toll Brothers at Island Lake 6 Community. I was here I believe it was 7 18 months ago, our trailer (inaudible) 8 our trailer down. I think it was 18 9 months ago roughly that I was here, and 10 you granted a continuation on some of the 11 signage that we have. 12 Since that time I have 13 removed eight signs from the last 14 approval that you gave me, based on we 15 sold a few more homes and did some 16 consolidation of what we needed for 17 signs, to be honest. We had some kids 18 that kept destroying some signs, so I 19 just gave up on it. 20 And the issue really is for 21 those of you -- I'm pretty sure most of 22 the people know about Island Lake; it's a 23 very large community, multiple entrances. 24 We just opened a brand new model a month 25 ago, if you haven't been out; it's a very 1 nice model. 2 The issue is it's in the 3 center of the community, so it's a little 4 bit difficult to get there. People that 5 are driving by on Wixom Road and on Ten 6 Mile and actually now on Napier, since 7 it's been paved, tend to think the place 8 is sold out, when, in fact, we actually 9 have 75 units to go. So we do need 10 additional signage to sort of direct 11 people. People get lost and they come in 12 off Wixom Road off the north side of the 13 lake and so forth. And our goal is to 14 try to get people to the community. 15 And since we were last here, 16 we have had actually an increase of 17 sales, which is I think good for 18 everybody. We tend to -- there seems to 19 be a little bit of an uptick, and that's 20 why I sort of was willing to reduce some 21 of the signage. 22 I think most of you have a 23 map, it looks like. Number six, seven, 24 eight and nine are actually the only lots 25 that we have that's north of the lake, if 1 you will. So those are actually lot 2 signs, those lots up there. People tend 3 to not think that anything is for sale 4 still up there. They are sort of tucked 5 in the center of the community, a little 6 difficult to find. So those are those 7 four. And the balance are just directing 8 people in to our model. 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 10 Anything else, sir? 11 MR. MINOCK: No, sir. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anyone 13 in the audience who would like to make a 14 comment regarding this particular case? 15 Please come forward, sir. Please come 16 forward. Go ahead and state your name 17 and address. 18 MR. MILSTEIN: Elliott 19 Milstein, 25812 Island Lake Drive, Novi, 20 Michigan. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 22 raise your right hand and be sworn. 23 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in this 24 particular case do you swear or affirm to 25 tell the truth? 1 MR. MILSTEIN: I so affirm. 2 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, 3 sir. 4 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Go 5 ahead. 6 MR. MILSTEIN: I sent in a 7 letter; I don't know if you have it on 8 record to read, but I can read it now or 9 wait for the secretary to read it. I'm 10 basically here to answer any counter 11 arguments or any questions from the 12 board. 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You can 14 go ahead and read it, sir. 15 MR. MILSTEIN: "The Zoning 16 Board of Appeals is conducting a public 17 hearing regarding an extension for 18 advertising signs for Toll Brothers. 19 This extension and any other request from 20 Toll Brothers should be denied by the 21 city in the interest of its residents. 22 "We are residents of Island 23 Lake of Novi and North Bay Condominium 24 Association, having built our condo with 25 Toll, taking up residence July 1, 2004. 1 "We have had a myriad of 2 problems from the moment we moved in. 3 Many were the usual stuff new homeowners 4 encounter, but much involves workmanship 5 so shoddy and negligent as to border on 6 the criminal. In fact, our association 7 is currently engaged in a lawsuit with 8 Toll Brothers right now. 9 "Below is the list of faults 10 found in most of our condominiums. One, 11 lack of fire stops as required by code. 12 Two, lack of drainage under the 13 driveways, causing them to buckle and 14 create unsafe surfaces. Three, crumbling 15 sidewalks, porches and porch steps. 16 Four, inadequate insulation throughout. 17 We have pictures of that during 18 construction. Five, substandard pipes 19 which freeze and burst in the winter. 20 Six, leaking roofs. Seven, large 21 uncaulked open spaces causing drafts. 22 "It is my understanding that 23 other associations in Island Lake have 24 similar problems and other problems not 25 listed, and several others are also suing 1 Toll or contemplating it. 2 "It should also be noted that 3 Toll's construction of the beaches around 4 the lake were unsound, and as a result 5 caused environmental damage around the 6 coastline and the lake itself. 7 "Furthermore, Toll's own 8 repairman told us that the only way to 9 prevent our pipes from freezing was to 10 keep the water running while it's cold 11 outside, another environmentally unsound 12 practice. 13 "For this reason, we believe 14 that as representatives of the citizens 15 of Novi, it is incumbent for to you act 16 on our best interest and refuse Toll any 17 extensions or permits to do any work in 18 the City of Novi until the current 19 residents, who have been harmed by its 20 negligence, have been made whole. You 21 certainly should not allow it to approve 22 its advertising practices to allow it to 23 sell more of these poorly constructed 24 homes." 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank
1 you, sir. I appreciate your comments, 2 but as you know, this is strictly for a 3 variance for signage. I understand you 4 may have your legal issues about 5 building; this is not what this hearing 6 is about. 7 MR. MILSTEIN: My point is 8 that these signages are to help Toll sell 9 more of these units, and I don't think 10 the City of Novi should allow that. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay, 12 thank you. Anybody else in the audience 13 like to make comments about this 14 particular case? 15 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes, I 16 agree a hundred percent with what he 17 said. 18 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: As do 19 I. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: If you 21 want to be recognized for the record, you 22 need to come and give your name and 23 address. Just go ahead and give us your 24 name and address, sir, and be sworn, and 25 raise your right hand. 1 MR. OSLA: My name is Barry 2 Osla (ph). I live at 49970 Blackberry 3 Drive. 4 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Go 5 ahead and raise your right hand and be 6 sworn, sir. 7 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in Case No. 8 10-021, Island Lake of Novi, do you swear 9 or affirm to tell the truth? 10 MR. OSLA: I do. 11 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Go 13 ahead and make your comments, sir. 14 MR. OSLA: I just want to say 15 I concur 100 percent to the statement 16 that was made relative to the request 17 from Toll Brothers to have additional 18 sales, relative to their unfinished 19 business (inaudible). 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: And I 21 presume you have someone with you; is 22 that your wife? 23 MR. OSLA: Yes. 24 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 25 you, sir. Anybody else in the audience 1 have any comments regarding this 2 particular case? Seeing none, we'll 3 close the public remarks section, and I 4 will have my secretary read any notices 5 pertaining to this particular case, other 6 than what the neighbor and gentleman 7 already read into the record. 8 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, 9 Mr. Chair. 449 notices were mailed, 103 10 mail returned, three objections, zero 11 approvals. 12 We had one objection read by 13 Elliott and Elise Milstein. The 14 second objection was written by a name, 15 single name signature, Dettloff. 16 Address, 25842 Island Lake Drive, signed 17 June 27, 2010. And it reads: "There 18 should be no change in the City of Novi 19 code of ordinances, one sign only, not 20 six. We did not move into this 21 development to have real estate signs 22 posted throughout. Toll Brothers can do 23 the advertising through other forms of 24 media, newspapers and television, et 25 cetera." 1 And the third objection was 2 written and signed by David E. Perry, of 3 25946 Island Lake Drive, Novi, Michigan, 4 48374-2172, dated 6/28/2010. And it 5 reads: "Until Island Lake North Bay suit 6 against Toll is settled, I am not in 7 favor of granting any of their requests." 8 Signed, David E. Perry." 9 That's all, Mr. Chair. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 11 you. Any comments from the city? 12 MS. KUDLA: No. 13 MR. BOULARD: No. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 15 I will turn it over to the board for 16 discussion. Anybody have any questions 17 or comments for the applicant? 18 Member Skelcy. 19 MS. SKELCY: Thank you, 20 Mr. Chairman. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Sir, 22 can you step up, please. 23 MEMBER SKELCY: I was 24 wondering, are the signs up already and 25 you want the new ones that you want to 1 put up? 2 MR. MINOCK: These aren't 3 new; these are existing signs that we are 4 just asking for renewal. 5 MEMBER SKELCY: But it says 6 on the application that you are 7 requesting additional six variances for 8 directional signage within the 9 development. That is not up? 10 MR. MINOCK: Yes. 11 MEMBER SKELCY: Those are up? 12 Because when I drove through it, I 13 couldn't really see them. 14 MR. MINOCK: Well, a couple 15 of them, like I said, there has been some 16 theft recently of signs, but the signs 17 that -- on this map here, the ones in 18 black, 18 months ago were all there. And 19 then I don't know if yours are in color, 20 hopefully they are, the ones that are in 21 red we have eliminated. And then so the 22 balance should also -- are all there. 23 MEMBER SANGHVI: Why don't 24 you put it on the overhead, sir. 25 Everybody can see what you are talking 1 about. 2 MR. MINOCK: So, in other 3 words, this sign here is existing, and 4 that was -- nothing is new from what we 5 had last time. In other words, last time 6 all the numbers on here, 1 through 21, 7 were approved by the zoning board for 18 8 months, and that 18 months is now 9 expired. So I'm going back asking for 10 renewal of all of those minus the eight. 11 So it's just a renewal; I'm not asking 12 for anything that's not already there. I 13 have no intention of putting any 14 additional signs in whatsoever, unless 15 somebody takes them, obviously. 16 MEMBER SKELCY: All right. 17 Thank you very much. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anybody 19 else have any questions? Actually, I 20 have a few questions while everybody is 21 thinking. 22 Just for our city, it says 23 here that they are allowed six square 24 feet signs, correct? 25 MR. BOULARD: Yes. 1 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: That 2 would be in each of the areas they are 3 asking for, is that right? 4 MR. MINOCK: Actually, I 5 think that might be -- 6 MR. BOULARD: One sign for 7 the development. 8 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: One 9 sign for the development at six foot? 10 MR. BOULARD: Yes. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 12 Does that include directional signs, or 13 no? Because the way it's phrased, he's 14 asking for six variances, so, obviously, 15 I'm assuming he's entitled to some; I 16 don't know how much he's entitled to and 17 what the difference is. 18 MEMBER CASSIS: It's an 19 extension. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: I 21 understand that. 22 MR. MINOCK: I believe that 23 they are -- 24 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Hold on 25 a second. 1 MR. MINOCK: All right. 2 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 3 Directional signs are not permitted? 4 MS. KUDLA: Not expressly 5 permitted for residential. 6 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: So any 7 directional sign would be a variance, 8 correct? 9 MS. KUDLA: Correct. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 11 And now the other signs for the 12 particular sites, they are entitled to 13 six square foot signs. What are the 14 existing square footage, do we know? 15 Do you know, sir, what the 16 existing square footage of the signs are? 17 Not the directional ones, but for the 18 lots. 19 MR. MINOCK: I don't exactly. 20 I believe they are just over the six 21 square feet. I think the lot signs are 22 allowed -- I'm not exactly sure. I think 23 they are two-by-three. But the lot signs 24 that are allowed, I believe, under the 25 ordinance, are a little bit smaller than 1 that. Sorry, I don't know exactly. 2 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: It's 3 requesting oversized, so I assume they 4 are over. 5 MR. BOULARD: And I believe 6 one of the reasons for that was some of 7 the signs were larger, at least the ones 8 in the past that directed folks to 9 certain areas. You have some signs -- 10 you have a number of different sizes of 11 signs. 12 MR. MINOCK: Correct. All 13 the directional signs would be -- I 14 believe would be under six square feet. 15 The ones that would be a little bit 16 larger would be the ones on the north 17 side of the lake here. These lot signs 18 are a little bit larger, and then the one 19 in front of my model is a larger sign. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Do you 21 know how much larger than the six square 22 foot you are entitled? 23 MR. MINOCK: These lot signs 24 I believe would be -- I think they are 25 three-by-four roughly. 1 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Just 2 one other question. Is the variance 3 because they are oversized? 4 MS. KUDLA: I think because 5 there is so many. 6 MR. BOULARD: Yes, the 7 variance is for size as well as the fact 8 that the sign ordinance limits for sale, 9 rental or lease signs, which identifies 10 someone leasing residential property, 11 other than multi-family. Which is, you 12 know, apartment complexes, basically 13 allowed one ground -- 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: For the 15 entire community? 16 MR. BOULARD: Of six square 17 feet, correct. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: I 19 understand. 20 MS. KUDLA: And you are 21 saying at least one of these is 22 oversized? 23 MR. BOULARD: Yes. 24 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: I 25 understand. I don't have any other 1 questions, sir. Thank you. Member 2 Cassis. 3 MEMBER CASSIS: Thank you, 4 Mr. Chairman. You know, I know Toll 5 Brothers to be high-end builders. Are 6 you guilty of all that (inaudible)? 7 MR. MINOCK: I'm not sure 8 this is the right place to talk about the 9 lawsuit. 10 MEMBER CASSIS: I agree with 11 you. I didn't expect you to answer. 12 What the gentleman objected 13 to is not really within our purview of 14 what they are looking at. I did traverse 15 and drive through and looked at the 16 signs. They are not really any 17 unordinary signs for real estate homes, 18 and so on, sales. And I believe because 19 of the oversized development that you are 20 in charge of, if I went to go and look at 21 the house, I need some direction, 22 Mr. Chairman; I don't want to be driving 23 around. 24 In fact, I have some friends 25 live in there, and I have hard time 1 finding the street and address and so on, 2 because it's such an extensive and big 3 development. So I really don't see, 4 Mr. Chairman, anything that is not really 5 conforming that badly with the tradition 6 of real estate sales in our community, in 7 general. And needless to say, with the 8 size of this development, I see no 9 objection. I would be voting for. Thank 10 you, Mr. Chair. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 12 you. Any other questions or concerns? 13 Member Gedeon -- yeah, Gedeon. 14 MEMBER GEDEON: I guess I 15 would just echo that, that we understand 16 that the homeowners are -- certain 17 homeowners are unhappy there. But it's 18 really not clear, you know, what denying 19 this variance, how that would help your 20 case. And, also, if you have already 21 initiated a lawsuit, you have a potential 22 avenue of recourse through the courts 23 rather than coming to the Zoning Board to 24 address your issues. 25 So I think that, you know, we 1 have to look at the interest of the 2 entire city of Novi versus the interest 3 of certain homeowners. And I think it 4 would be in the interest of the entire 5 city to have this development completed 6 (inaudible). 7 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Sir, 8 you have to sit down; you are not 9 recognized at this point. 10 MEMBER KRIEGER: How long of 11 an extension are you looking for? 12 MR. MINOCK: I think for me, 13 one year. What we have done the last two 14 times we have come in, we have reduced by 15 about a third each time the number of 16 signs. I think in a year I could come 17 back, and I'm not going to tell you I'm 18 not going to ask for any; we are not 19 going to be sold out in a year, unless 20 something unbelievable happens in the 21 economy. I think in a year from now, I 22 think we would be able to reduce the 23 number of signs again from where we are 24 now. And, you know, we are getting on a 25 pace where a couple years we'll be done 1 here hopefully, and then we won't have 2 any signs. 3 MEMBER KRIEGER: Thank you. 4 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 5 you. Any other comments from the board? 6 MEMBER GEDEON: Are we going 7 to give the audience a chance to speak 8 again? 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Did I 10 forget to do that? No, actually, we 11 closed the public remarks section. 12 MS. KUDLA: Correct. 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 14 other comments from the board or 15 questions for the applicant? Seeing 16 none, I will entertain a motion at this 17 point. 18 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, in 19 Case No. 10-021, Island Lake of Novi, I 20 move that we grant the petitioner's 21 request as requested for a period of 12 22 months. The reasons for granting this 23 motion, having considered the objections 24 that were brought forth, it is still 25 appropriate to grant this motion because 1 the objections are not within the 2 jurisdiction or purview of this board. 3 The request made by petitioner is based 4 upon circumstances and features that are 5 exceptional and unique to the property, 6 and do not result from conditions that 7 exist generally in the City of Novi and 8 are not self-created. And, specifically, 9 the community is so large, that it would 10 be crazy not to have directional signs. 11 Frankly, I think it will 12 decrease the potential of more lawsuits, 13 not just for the developer, but perhaps 14 even for the homeowners and their guests. 15 And, also, the visitors who visit this 16 establishment do need some sense of 17 direction so that they can find where 18 they are going. 19 Secondly, the failure to 20 grant relief will unreasonably prevent or 21 limit the use of the property and will 22 result in substantially more than mere 23 inconvenience to attain a higher economic 24 or financial return. The developer has a 25 right to obviously maximize the community 1 and have it to their satisfaction. 2 And, finally, the grant of 3 relief will not result in a use of a 4 structure that is incompatible and would 5 not unreasonably interfere with adjacent 6 surrounding properties. And will be 7 consistent with the spirit of the zoning 8 ordinance. 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 10 seconds? 11 MEMBER SKELCY: Second. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: We have 13 a motion and a second. Ms. Martin. 14 MS. MARTIN: Who second that? 15 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Member 16 Skelcy seconded. 17 MS. MARTIN: Thank you. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: So you 19 may call the roll. 20 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 21 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 22 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 23 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 24 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 25 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 1 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 2 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 3 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 4 Ghannam? 5 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 6 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 7 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 8 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 9 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 10 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 11 seven to zero. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 13 you, sir. 14 Next is item four, Case 15 10-022, 23800 Meadowbrook Road. The 16 petitioner is requesting a variance to 17 install an open carport in the front of 18 the existing residence located at that 19 address. Property is zoned R-4, and is 20 south of Ten Mile Road and east of 21 Meadowbrook. 22 Ma'am, we are ready for you 23 now. Can you state your name? 24 MS. SMITH: Kozue Smith. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 1 raise your right hand and be sworn 2 again. 3 MEMBER IBE: Ma'am, in Case 4 10-022, 23800 Meadowbrook Road, do you 5 swear or affirm to tell the truth? 6 MS. SMITH: Yes. 7 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 8 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You may 9 proceed, ma'am. 10 MS. SMITH: I have to make at 11 the front of the house a carport, and I 12 went to association to see -- ask 13 association. They don't sign the paper, 14 you know, say why I cannot build a house 15 and the carport for the house. I just 16 can't cooperate with them. 17 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Do you 18 want to present any other information to 19 the board in support of your petition? 20 MS. SMITH: No. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 22 Anybody from the audience would like to 23 make a public comment on this particular 24 case, please come forward. Seeing none, 25 we'll close the public remarks section. 1 Will the secretary please 2 read any notices or correspondence into 3 the record. 4 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, 52 5 notices were mailed, one mail returned, 6 zero responses. 7 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 8 you. 9 MEMBER IBE: You're welcome. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 11 comments from the city? 12 MS. KUDLA: No. 13 MR. BOULARD: Nothing to add. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 15 I will open it up to the board for 16 discussion at this time. 17 Member Sanghvi. 18 MEMBER SANGHVI: Thank you. 19 This particular residence is a very small 20 lot and no room for garage. Only way 21 they can provide some protection for 22 their vehicles is putting in a temporary 23 structure like that, and I personally 24 have no objection to that. Thank you. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 1 other -- Member Skelcy. 2 MEMBER SKELCY: I needed some 3 clarification, Mr. Boulard, with regard 4 to comments and the recommendations. It 5 says that the drawing provided with the 6 application indicates a distance of 50 7 feet from the proposed carport to the 8 street. This appears in actuality to be 9 the distance to the pavement, given the 10 120 foot right-of-way. How far is it 11 from the street? 12 MR. BOULARD: The drawing 13 that's provided shows a 50-foot 14 dimension. But if you take a look at the 15 survey, you will see from the property 16 line there is actually approximately 31 17 feet, and the house jogs back out six 18 feet, and then we are 23 feet from the 19 addition. So, based on the best numbers 20 that I could come up with, the required 21 30 foot front setback is proposed to be 22 reduced to 1.9 feet, so 28.1 feet of 23 variance. 24 MEMBER SKELCY: How many feet 25 from the street when it -- where it ends? 1 MR. BOULARD: In what appears 2 to be the pavement, approximately 45, 47 3 feet. 4 MEMBER SKELCY: Okay, so -- 5 MR. BOULARD: For the 6 property line. And then an additional 7 roughly two feet for the proposed 8 addition. 9 MEMBER SKELCY: The city had 10 no -- did you guys look into whether it 11 would interfere with people driving down 12 the street? Would it create a hazard at 13 all, or is it close enough to the house? 14 MR. BOULARD: At this 15 particular time, the right-of-way is 120 16 feet, and the street is narrow. At some 17 point in the future if the street is 18 expanded, it's more likely to be an 19 issue. Potentially the -- potentially 20 the pavement could be much closer to the 21 property line. 22 MEMBER SKELCY: I see. 23 MR. BOULARD: In the future. 24 MEMBER SKELCY: Thank you. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 1 other questions? Anybody else have any 2 questions or comments? Seeing none, 3 anybody want to state a motion? 4 MEMBER IBE: I have a 5 question for the city. 6 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Member 7 Ibe. 8 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, 9 Mr. Chair. Mr. Boulard, maybe 10 you can help me with this. This 11 particular residential (inaudible) that 12 we have here, do we have anything similar 13 to this located in the city that you know 14 of? This is first time we are getting a 15 request for a carport to be installed 16 here. 17 MR. BOULARD: I believe there 18 is similar types of sizes and types of 19 lots in and around the city. With regard 20 to the specifics of this case and this 21 request, none come to mind that would be 22 applicable, in my mind. 23 MEMBER IBE: A question for 24 the petitioner, Mr. Chair, if I may. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Sure. 1 MEMBER IBE: Do I understand 2 correctly that your homeowners 3 association did not approve your request? 4 MS. SMITH: Well, I ask her 5 and the president for the association, 6 and she have -- didn't sign the paper or 7 why -- I ask her, "Why did you deny it?" 8 She said just, "No." That's what she 9 said. 10 MEMBER IBE: She didn't offer 11 you any explanation? 12 MS. SMITH: No. 13 MEMBER IBE: Do you know if 14 there are any other carports around you, 15 similar structures in front of you? 16 MS. SMITH: No. They have in 17 the back, in the back of the house. They 18 have carport there. 19 MEMBER IBE: In the back of 20 the house? 21 MS. SMITH: Yeah. 22 MEMBER IBE: But you want to 23 build yours in the front yard? 24 MS. SMITH: No, I mean, back 25 yard, they have a, you know, house like 1 my house, they have a carport. 2 MEMBER IBE: Okay. The house 3 behind your house? 4 MS. SMITH: Yes. 5 MEMBER IBE: They have a 6 carport? 7 MS. SMITH: Yes. 8 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 9 MS. SMITH: You're welcome. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Member 11 Cassis. 12 MEMBER CASSIS: Yeah, thank 13 you, Mr. Chairman. 14 I see the material here that 15 was used, pressure treated -- what is 16 that, wood? Is it wood? Is it -- 17 MS. SMITH: I don't know. 18 MEMBER CASSIS: Is it made of 19 wood? What kind of material is it? 20 MS. SMITH: Oh, I think they 21 use metal. I don't know. I'm not 22 sure. 23 MEMBER CASSIS: No, it says 24 pressure treated; I think that's wood. 25 Do we have any concerns with the facade 1 or material being used, especially in the 2 front of house like this, facing the 3 street? The homeowners association that 4 says, "Wait a minute, you know, this 5 doesn't reflect" -- 6 MR. BOULARD: I can't speak 7 for the homeowners association in this 8 particular case. The drawing does show 9 posts, pressure treated posts with a 10 pitched roof with siding that tends to 11 match the house. Normally -- 12 MEMBER CASSIS: Is that 13 shingled roof? 14 MR. BOULARD: Yes, I believe. 15 That's my interpretation. 16 MEMBER CASSIS: Do you know 17 anything about shingle roof here? 18 MR. BOULARD: It's three-tab 19 shingles. Normally, if there were 20 concerns in a situation like this, the 21 addition needs to match -- more or less 22 match the house. And those posts, it 23 might be where those posts do not have 24 the exposed -- do not have exposed 25 pressure treated wood. But that would be 1 something that would be exclusive of the 2 zoning and setbacks and so on. 3 MEMBER CASSIS: Did we send 4 anything to the homeowners association 5 regarding this, any notice? 6 MS. MARTIN: We did not. The 7 city did not; she contacted them. 8 MEMBER CASSIS: You know, if 9 they had objected, then I don't know why 10 they are not represented here tonight. 11 Is it because we didn't send them notice, 12 or what? 13 MR. BOULARD: We sent the 14 notices to the required residents in the 15 area. 16 MEMBER CASSIS: You did? 17 MR. BOULARD: Yes. 18 MEMBER CASSIS: Okay. That's 19 my concern, you know. I mean, I realize 20 what my colleague is saying that they 21 need protection for the cars and so on, 22 but this is facing the road. And I don't 23 know if it really presents a good image 24 to the rest of the homes in that area. 25 I'm just questioning, you know. Thank 1 you, Mr. Chair. 2 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You're 3 welcome. Anybody else have any 4 questions? Member Skelcy. 5 MEMBER SKELCY: I have to 6 join with Member Cassis' opinion about 7 how it's going to present with the rest 8 of the homes, because it's coming out so 9 far. And I note that the city was 10 suggesting that you explore conforming 11 alternative. What would that have been? 12 MR. BOULARD: My 13 understanding is that this particular 14 residence at one time may have actually 15 had an attached garage, and that that was 16 finished or made into living space at 17 some point in the past. So, I understand 18 that, you know, that was in front of the 19 space, and that may be the space that 20 works best, but -- in terms of accessing 21 the house where the proposed carport is. 22 But, unless I'm mistaken, there wouldn't 23 be room -- and there is not grades on 24 here, but, unless I'm mistaken, there 25 wouldn't be room to have a driveway to 1 get by the south side of the house and 2 construct a carport or a detached or 3 attached carport or garage in the rear of 4 the lot. 5 There is a metal shed back 6 there. If it was a detached building, it 7 would be a maximum of one detached 8 structure. Or, depending on the layout, 9 (inaudible) based on just the preliminary 10 information, it appeared there would very 11 likely be an alternative. 12 MEMBER SKELCY: Did you 13 explore or look at putting the carport on 14 the side of the house? 15 MS. SMITH: My neighbors not 16 really agree on it, because I don't have 17 much room. 18 MEMBER SKELCY: You have 21 19 feet? 20 MS. SMITH: On the side of 21 the house? 22 MEMBER SKELCY: On the side 23 of the house. 24 MS. SMITH: For one car? 25 MEMBER SKELCY: For the 1 carport. Could you have -- did you look 2 at putting it on the side of the house? 3 MS. MARTIN: Yes, I did, but 4 not -- my neighbors not -- is not happy 5 about it. 6 MEMBER SKELCY: Your neighbor 7 didn't want you to do it on the side? 8 MS. SMITH: No, no. 9 MEMBER SKELCY: Okay. Thank 10 you. 11 MS. SMITH: You're welcome. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 13 other questions or comments? 14 Member Krieger. Oh, I'm sorry. 15 MS. KUDLA: I just wanted to 16 clarify the notices issued. The notices 17 would go to addresses and buildings 18 rather than entities such as an 19 association. So what would happen is the 20 individual members at residences and 21 addresses of the association would have 22 gotten notification. Rather than, you 23 know, an entity. So if the association 24 members were within the distance that the 25 notice requirement is, they would have 1 been the parties that would have gotten 2 the notice and not, per se, whatever 3 entity the association is. 4 MEMBER GEDEON: I guess I 5 would also like to add that just 6 because -- even if we did approve the 7 variance, that that would not necessarily 8 give her the right to build the carport 9 if the association was objecting to it. 10 Because based on whatever the rules are 11 for the association, they could still 12 have some sort of issue. 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 14 other questions or comments? 15 Member Krieger. 16 MEMBER KRIEGER: I agree with 17 having the carport. Have you explored in 18 the back, like if you had a driveway to 19 the south side? 20 MS. SMITH: That's not my -- 21 it cost a lot of money. Carport in the 22 front of house is more I can afford. 23 MEMBER KRIEGER: That's all I 24 have. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Member 1 Cassis. 2 MEMBER CASSIS: Just that 3 question still lingers about the 4 association, as far as what my colleague 5 has just said. That do we just take the 6 preemptive action here at the ZBA without 7 regard to the homeowners and our city 8 attorney? 9 MS. KUDLA: We are not 10 required to notice the association. 11 MEMBER CASSIS: No, I'm not 12 talking about notice. 13 MS. KUDLA: They wouldn't be 14 your deciding factor. That may be an 15 issue you may consider, whether they 16 rejected the proposal, but it would not 17 have to be a deciding factor. You need 18 to look at the standards of the 19 ordinance. 20 MEMBER CASSIS: No, my 21 question is this: Let's say we approve 22 it. Homeowners association says no, you 23 cannot build, can they do that? 24 MS. KUDLA: If they have some 25 deed restrictions that, you know, were -- 1 when she purchased the property, she may 2 have purchased with deed restrictions 3 that prohibit that or require their 4 approval. So, in the event that the deed 5 restrictions, or she didn't get the 6 necessary approval, it would be up to 7 them to go to court to stop her from 8 doing that, not the city. 9 MEMBER CASSIS: That's what I 10 was -- 11 MS. KUDLA: That's correct. 12 It would be up to them to stop them under 13 whatever private deed restrictions or 14 agreement that they have with the 15 property owner. 16 MEMBER CASSIS: Our neighbors 17 across the street, they wanted to add a 18 room above their garage; they have to get 19 our association approval first. I know 20 that. So, I don't know how much you know 21 about this, but I'm just cautioning you 22 about whether you get approval, and then 23 you try to build, and then they tell you, 24 "No, you can't." 25 MS. SMITH: I talk to 1 association, and I say I need yes or no. 2 MEMBER CASSIS: What did she 3 say? 4 MS. SMITH: She said, "Well, 5 if I say no, Novi City going to say yes 6 anyway, so what's the difference?" 7 That's her answer. She denied to sign 8 it, or (inaudible) say why I'm not follow 9 association rules. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 11 Member Sanghvi. 12 MEMBER SANGVHI: Thank you. 13 I think the issue here is whether the 14 Zoning Board of Appeals decide to give a 15 variance or the homeowners association 16 decide. And there is no doubt about it, 17 it is the responsibility and sole 18 responsibility of the Zoning Board of 19 Appeals to grant a variance and not the 20 homeowners association. 21 MEMBER GEDEON: I think the 22 difference, though, is that the 23 association might have like an 24 architectural control committee to 25 approve the actual design. 1 MEMBER SANGVHI: Yeah, some 2 of them do have it, yes. I don't know 3 all of them have it. And a lot of 4 subdivisions in this city where they 5 don't have homeowner association. 6 MEMBER GEDEON: Right. So 7 the point of clarification is even if we 8 grant the variance, she might still have 9 to get approval from the homeowners 10 association. They are independent 11 decisions. Just because we say yes or 12 no, that does not affect the other 13 decision that has to be made. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 15 other questions or comments for the 16 applicant? Anybody like to make a motion 17 in this case? 18 MEMBER SANGHVI: I will make 19 a motion; let's give it a try. In 20 Case No. 10-022, 23800 Meadowbrook Road, 21 the petitioner is requesting a variance 22 to install an open carport in the front 23 of the existing residence located at 24 23800 Meadowbrook Road. I make a motion 25 that we grant this request, and this is 1 based on the practical difficulty to her 2 that she cannot have a garage, and she 3 needs a place to keep her cars during the 4 inclement weather. And the variance 5 will, if granted, provide substantial 6 justice to petitioner and surrounding 7 property owners in the zoning district. 8 And there are -- this particular instance 9 is unique, and the problem is not 10 self-created. Adequate light and air is 11 provided to adjacent properties. And it 12 doesn't appear to increase fire danger or 13 public safety. Thank you. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 15 seconds? 16 MEMBER GEDEON: I will 17 second. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 19 Ms. Martin, can you call the roll, 20 please? 21 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 22 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 23 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 24 MEMBER CASSIS: No. 25 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 1 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 2 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 3 MEMBER IBE: No. 4 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 5 Ghannam? 6 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: No. 7 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 8 MEMBER SKELCY: No. 9 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 10 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 11 MS. MARTIN: Motion denied; 12 it did not pass, four and three. 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Your 14 variance was denied. 15 MS. MARTIN: It was a motion 16 to approve, and it did not pass, so you 17 are denied. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Next 19 case is item number five, Case No. 10-023 20 for 39475 Lewis Drive, Suite 110. The 21 petitioner is requesting a variance to 22 locate a pharmacy in a portion of the 23 building located at 39475 Lewis Drive. 24 The property is zoned OST and is located 25 north of Lewis Drive and west of Haggerty 1 Road. 2 Sir, you are the petitioner? 3 MR. HUGHES: Yes, I am. 4 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay, 5 please state your name. 6 MR. HUGHES: Brian Hughes. 7 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Are you 8 an attorney? 9 MR. HUGHES: No, I'm not. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 11 raise your right hand and be sworn. 12 MEMBER IBE: In Case 10-023, 13 39475 Lewis Drive, Suite 110, do you 14 swear or affirm to tell the truth? 15 MR. HUGHES: Yes. 16 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 17 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 18 state your business address and then 19 proceed. 20 MR. HUGHES: 39000 Country 21 Club Drive, Farmington Hills, Michigan, 22 48331. 23 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 24 MR. HUGHES: I'm here this 25 evening representing Lewis MOC, LLC. 1 It's a medical building located at Lewis 2 and Haggerty. And the purpose of being 3 here is there is a pharmacy that's made 4 application to be a tenant in the 5 building, and it's a 1,300 square foot 6 space. Unbeknownst to us when we started 7 negotiating with them, because the 8 building is less than 50,000 square feet, 9 technically that requires a variance. 10 And that was brought to our attention by 11 your building department. 12 The building itself is 45,870 13 square feet, and right now there is 14 approximately eight tenants there in the 15 building. And, unfortunately, the way 16 the building is positioned, it's 17 impossible for us to actually physically 18 increase the size of the building. But 19 the square footage here in the southwest 20 corner of the first floor is ideal for 21 the pharmacy. 22 We have also a number of the 23 medical practices there in the building 24 express their interest in having a 25 pharmacy there, because they feel it 1 would be beneficial for their patients, 2 should they choose to use that pharmacy 3 and to have it located right in the 4 building. 5 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 6 you, sir. 7 MR. HUGHES: Thank you. 8 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: I will 9 open it up to any comments from the 10 public regarding this particular issue. 11 Is there anybody that would like to 12 address the board? Seeing none, I will 13 close the public remarks section. 14 The secretary will read the 15 correspondence into the record. 16 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, 29 17 notices were mailed, one mail returned, 18 two approvals and one objection. 19 The approvals, they were from 20 Novi Docs, and the two approvals are 21 exactly identical. 22 The first one is written by 23 Dr. Derek Einhorn, and second approval is 24 from Dr. Daniel Rosenberg. And it reads, 25 "Please be advised we are in support of 1 having a pharmacy located in the Lewis 2 Medical Center as referenced above. We 3 feel the pharmacy will be an asset to the 4 building. Thank you." 5 As to the lone objection, it 6 was written by Gabriel J. Gabriel, of 7 394 -- I'm sorry, 39346 Geneva, 8 Farmington Hills, 48331, dated 6/28/2010. 9 And it reads, "My house is just across 10 from Lewis Drive. Me and my family have 11 enjoyed a family residential neighborhood 12 for years, and I don't need a commercial 13 retail traffic right across, which would 14 increase the noise, lower our home value 15 and bring unwanted traffic to a quiet 16 street." 17 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 19 you. Any comments from the city? 20 MS. KUDLA: No. 21 MR. BOULARD: I have one 22 question, if I could, for the 23 petitioner. 24 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Sure. 25 MR. BOULARD: The -- I just 1 want to verify. This space is only 1,300 2 square feet? 3 MR. HUGHES: Correct. 4 MR. BOULARD: So this is not 5 a Walgreens, Rite-Aid, or something like 6 that? This is kind of basically a corner 7 of the building for serving the customers 8 of the building? 9 MR. HUGHES: Correct. 10 MR. BOULARD: Can you comment 11 on the hours? Is this pharmacy going to 12 be open 24 hours, weeknights and 13 weekends? 14 MR. HUGHES: No. Typically 15 it would coincide and complement the 16 hours of the other practices that are in 17 the building. And those are typically 18 from 8:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday. 19 The Novi Internal Doctors, 20 they are a thriving practice, and they do 21 keep some evening hours, typically it's 22 Thursday evenings, and then they might 23 alternate on Saturdays. But even on 24 Saturdays, they would be open from like 25 nine to one. I don't have the specific 1 hours they keep, but by no means are they 2 open 24/7. And, again, we view this more 3 as something that's going to be 4 complementary to the patients that are 5 attending this building, not drawing from 6 the surrounding areas. 7 MR. BOULARD: Thank you. 8 MR. HUGHES: There is a CVS 9 right at the corner of Fourteen and 10 Haggerty. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 12 you, sir. I will open it up to the board 13 for discussion. Member Skelcy. 14 MEMBER SKELCY: Will the 15 pharmacy hours mimic those of the Novi 16 Docs then? 17 MR. HUGHES: They could. I 18 don't see them being anything more, 19 that's for sure. And, if anything, they 20 might be less. 21 MEMBER SKELCY: Okay. 22 MR. HUGHES: But they would 23 not be anything more than they have, and 24 the Novi Docs have the longest hours in 25 the building at this time. 1 MEMBER SKELCY: Would the 2 pharmacy be doing any advertising on the 3 side of the building? 4 MR. HUGHES: I can't answer 5 that. I would think they would not do a 6 lot of it, but I can't speak for them. I 7 don't know if they might do something. 8 He might even have a website with their 9 business cards, something like that. 10 Again, because of where this 11 is positioned, it's not a big draw, but 12 like retail business. 13 MEMBER SKELCY: Are they 14 going to eventually put a drive-through 15 in the corner since they are on the first 16 floor in that corner? 17 MR. HUGHES: Definitely not. 18 There would not be space for that. 19 MEMBER SKELCY: All right. 20 Thank you. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: I'm 22 sorry. Go ahead, Member Krieger. 23 MEMBER KRIEGER: So would the 24 pharmacy be -- there is CVS or Binson's, 25 or like a hospital pharmacy, walk into 1 their out-patient, which would it 2 reflect? 3 MR. HUGHES: Something much 4 smaller. Again, it's 1,300 square feet. 5 So if you could pick another medical 6 building that maybe has a pharmacy in it, 7 but CVS is probably 10 to 15,000 square 8 feet. Binson's Medical Supply, they are 9 probably 10,000; this is 1,300. 10 MEMBER KRIEGER: Thank you. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 12 Actually, I have just a few comments. 13 Obviously, it's impractical to add 4,000 14 square feet to this existing building. 15 You actually just suffer just a minor 16 technical defect. If you were over 17 50,000, it wouldn't be a problem. I 18 think this is part of what our ordinance 19 is, given that they require 50,000, this 20 is what are our variances are actually 21 used for. So I have no problem. I think 22 it's consistent with our zoning ordinance 23 spirit. 24 Anybody else have any 25 questions or comments for the applicant? 1 None? Can I see a motion, please? 2 Member Gedeon. 3 MEMBER GEDEON: In Case 4 10-023, Lewis Drive, Suite 110, I motion 5 to grant the variance as proposed. The 6 reasons that the setback, frontage, 7 height, bulk and density requirements 8 unreasonably prevent the use of the 9 property for a permitted purpose. The 10 variance will provide substantial justice 11 to the petitioner and surrounding 12 property owners and other co-tenants. 13 There are unique circumstances to the 14 property. There will be adequate light 15 and air provided to adjacent properties. 16 No increase of fire danger or public 17 safety. And property values will not be 18 diminished within the surrounding areas. 19 And the spirit of the zoning ordinance is 20 still observed. 21 MEMBER KRIEGER: Second. 22 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: We have 23 a motion and second. 24 Ms. Martin, can you call the 25 roll? 1 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 2 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 3 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 4 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 5 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 6 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 7 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 8 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 9 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 10 Ghannam? 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 12 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 13 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 14 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 15 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 16 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 17 seven to zero. 18 MR. HUGHES: Thank you. 19 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 20 you, sir. 21 The next case is item number 22 six, 10-024, for 25610 Clark Street. 23 Petitioner is requesting a variance to 24 allow expansion of existing garage and 25 construction of -- construction of an 1 addition for a residence located at 25610 2 Clark Street. The property is zoned R-4 3 and located south of Grand River and east 4 of Taft. 5 Sir, you are the applicant? 6 MR. CALLAHAN: Yes, sir. 7 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: State 8 your name and address. 9 MR. CALLAHAN: Rod Callahan, 10 25610 Clark Street. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You are 12 not an attorney, I presume? 13 MR. CALLAHAN: No. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 15 raise your right hand and be sworn. 16 MEMBER IBE: In Case 10-024, 17 25610 Clark Street, do you swear or 18 affirm to tell the truth? 19 MR. CALLAHAN: I do. 20 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Go 22 ahead, sir. 23 MR. CALLAHAN: I'm looking to 24 add an addition to our home and 25 (inaudible) one-car garage. I would like 1 to add to the square footage of the 2 garage, and would be over the allowed 3 square footage allowed by the city. So 4 we are asking for a variance in square 5 footage for a garage. 6 And then in addition to the 7 garage, we wanted to add a man door so we 8 could enter in and out of the garage to 9 the rear in the back yard. That man door 10 would add three feet to that encroachment 11 on the side setback of the house. So we 12 would want to put a man door to access 13 the back yard. The -- that would -- that 14 would put the setback at ten feet to the 15 neighbor, so it would encroach by three 16 feet. That's what I'm asking you. 17 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 18 I will open this up. Any comments by 19 members of the audience, public comments? 20 Would anybody like to speak on this 21 particular issue? Seeing none, I will 22 close the public remarks section and ask 23 the secretary to read any notices into 24 the record. 25 MEMBER IBE: Thirty-two 1 notices were mailed, one mail return, 2 three approvals, zero objections. 3 The first approval, signed by 4 T. Dome, address 44145 Marlson, Novi, 5 Michigan. The date, 07/02/2010. It 6 reads, "If he buys beer for the 7 neighborhood." Excuse me, it's unusual 8 to get this kind of stuff. Not my words, 9 his words. "Prefer ice cold Heineken 10 Light." You got the message. 11 The second approval reads -- 12 it's from Robert Loynes, at 44159 Durson, 13 dated 1/6/2010. And it reads, "I know 14 Rodney needs a bigger garage so I hope 15 you approve his request." 16 And third approval is from 17 Kathleen A. Smith from 25595 Clark, dated 18 6/27/2010. And it reads, "The request 19 being made by Mr. Callahan will enhance 20 our neighborhood. I see no reason to 21 deny his petition." 22 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 23 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 24 you. Any comments from the city? 25 MS. KUDLA: No. 1 MR. BOULARD: No. 2 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 3 I will open it up for board discussion. 4 Member Skelcy. 5 MEMBER SKELCY: I was 6 curious, did you talk to -- sounds like 7 you talked to all the neighbors. 8 MR. CALLAHAN: I talked to a 9 few neighbors, yes. 10 MEMBER SKELCY: The ones as 11 you are facing to the left, they have no 12 objection to the fact you are going to be 13 kind of encroaching next to their 14 property? 15 MR. CALLAHAN: No, his 16 driveway is there. Between my house is 17 his driveway and his house is there, and 18 he had no issue. I talked to him 19 personally about it; he has no problem 20 whatsoever. 21 MEMBER SKELCY: Why do you 22 need a back door on the garage? 23 MR. CALLAHAN: Well, it's 24 just when I was going out of the 25 building, I have to open the big garage 1 door going out. I have to go out the 2 garage door to go out to the rear right 3 now. 4 MEMBER SKELCY: So you will 5 go out the smaller door? 6 MR. CALLAHAN: Smaller door, 7 yeah, the man door, for winter time. I 8 don't want to have to open the big garage 9 door to go out in the back yard. 10 MEMBER SKELCY: I see. So 11 you are going to drive out your back 12 yard? 13 MR. CALLAHAN: The problem is 14 that it gives me access to the back yard, 15 because there is a tree line there that I 16 don't want to disturb, okay. I have a 17 pop-up trailer, and so I can access and 18 store my pop-up trailer in the back yard. 19 MEMBER SKELCY: Okay. All 20 right. Thank you. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: We have 22 any other questions? Member Gedeon. 23 MEMBER GEDEON: Just to 24 clarify, are you saying you need the 25 three-foot variance specifically for that 1 door? 2 MR. CALLAHAN: The addition 3 of the door causes me to be over by 4 adding a second garage, yes. 5 MEMBER GEDEON: I guess there 6 is no way you could reduce the width of 7 the garage, is what you are saying? 8 MR. CALLAHAN: To keep it a 9 standard two-car garage, this is what I 10 would like to do. These are my proposed 11 plans. 12 MEMBER GEDEON: Okay. 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 14 other questions? 15 Member Cassis. 16 MEMBER CASSIS: Yeah, thank 17 you, Mr. Chairman. I notice here that 18 these plans were approved by his 19 homeowners association. Which, in 20 essence, really, adds to what I said 21 about that previous one, you know. So 22 this was right way to go. You went 23 before the homeowners association, and 24 they liked it, and neighbors are liking 25 it. You are going to add to the 1 character of the area. You are going to 2 pay more taxes? You got my vote. Thank 3 you, Mr. Chair. 4 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 5 Any other questions or comments for the 6 applicant? Anybody like to entertain a 7 motion? Member Krieger. 8 MEMBER KRIEGER: In 9 Case No. 10-024, 25610 Clark Street, I 10 move to approve the petitioner's request 11 to allow expansion of an existing garage, 12 and to give him the variance requested 13 for the three feet and 107 square feet. 14 And variance can be granted, the setback, 15 frontage, height, bulk and density 16 requirements unreasonably prevent the use 17 of the property for its permitted use. 18 The variance will provide substantial 19 justice to the petitioner and surrounding 20 property owners. It is unique to this 21 property. It is not self-created. Light 22 and air will still be provided to the 23 adjacent properties. And no increase of 24 fire danger or public safety will happen. 25 Property values will be increased, and it 1 follows the spirit of the zoning board -- 2 zoning ordinance. 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 4 second? 5 MEMBER CASSIS: Second. 6 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Got a 7 motion and second. Can you call the 8 roll, please. 9 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 10 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 11 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 12 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 13 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 14 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 15 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 16 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 17 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 18 Ghannam? 19 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 20 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 21 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 22 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 23 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 24 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 25 seven to zero. 1 MR. CALLAHAN: Thank you very 2 much. 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Good 4 luck to you. 5 Next is Case No. 10-025, Old 6 Dutch Farms. The petitioner is 7 requesting a variance to install an 8 oversized and over height real estate 9 leasing of 32 square feet and eight feet 10 in height, at 27000 Old Dutch Farms. The 11 property is zoned MH, and is located west 12 of Wixom Road and north of Ten Mile. 13 MR. QUINN: Good evening, 14 ladies and gentleman, I'm Matt Quinn, 15 appearing on behalf of Old Dutch Farms 16 Two, the owner of this property, and I'm 17 happy to say that -- yes, I am. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You are 19 an attorney; we won't make you raise your 20 right hand. 21 MR. QUINN: Thank you very 22 much, because I never told the truth yet. 23 Just kidding, of course. 24 Old Dutch Farms Two is 25 actually a company from British Columbia 1 that bought the Old Dutch Farm mobile 2 home, manufactured home community in 3 Novi. It's one of the oldest 4 manufactured homes community in Novi. 5 They are trying to reinvigorate. They 6 are trying to bring new manufactured 7 homes into the community, and that's why 8 this temporary sign is needed. 9 If this was a new subdivision 10 or a new industrial development coming in 11 for development, there would be no 12 problem; they would be entitled to a 64 13 square foot sign at the entrance under 14 the temporary sign ordinance. But 15 because this is a manufactured mobile 16 home park, it's a little bit of a 17 stranger animal. The ordinance would 18 only allow a six square foot sign and 19 only five foot tall. 20 But if you traveled down 21 Napier Road lately, now that it's paved, 22 speed limits have gone up. Even though 23 it's 45 miles an hour, it's not unusual 24 to see people doing 55 and more. 25 Also, as you approach the 1 area where the community is, from the 2 north to the south, it's tree-lined, and 3 you really can't see what's off to the 4 side. Also, because of our ordinance, 5 there is a large berm in front of the 6 manufactured home park, so you really 7 have difficulty even seeing that there is 8 manufactured homes there. 9 What this company is trying 10 to do is to make this a viable community. 11 And what they are asking for is a 12 temporary sign for two years, with the 32 13 square feet, which is nothing more than a 14 sheet of plywood, four-by-eight typical 15 sheet of plywood, eight feet tall. 16 You have a sample of it in 17 your packet, and it's a very tastefully 18 done sign, it's not obtrusive, it just 19 says what it is, so people can see it and 20 know it's a mobile home community, and 21 that they are selling manufactured homes 22 and leasing lots. 23 So, this is kind of unique to 24 their property, because it is brand new; 25 it's a reinvestment. So what we are 1 asking for is to allow this for two 2 years. We will be more than happy to 3 come back at that time, or even if you 4 want to review it in the interim, it's 5 fine, to see how they are doing with 6 their economic redevelopment of this. 7 This will give them the shot in the arm 8 that they need to make this development 9 happen. 10 I have Tim Foster from Image 11 Sign here to answer any questions 12 regarding the sign. And if there is any 13 other questions, I'm sure we can find 14 them out in due course. 15 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 16 you, sir. Any members of the audience 17 like to make a public comment about this 18 particular case? Seeing none, we'll 19 close the public remarks section and have 20 the secretary read any correspondence 21 into the record. 22 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, there 23 were 701 notices mailed, 319 mail 24 returned, one objection, zero approvals. 25 And it reads -- the only objection we 1 have is from Mike Goldstein and 2 Paula Goldstein of 50610 Montana Avenue, 3 Novi, 48374, dated 7/12/2010. 4 And it reads, "We would 5 prefer not to have the bigger sign in our 6 residential area. The available signage 7 should be adequate for traffic on Napier 8 Road. Thank you." Signed Paula and 9 Mike. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 11 you. Any comments from the city? 12 MS. KUDLA: No. 13 MR. BOULARD: One question, 14 if I could. 15 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Sure. 16 MR. BOULARD: Mr. Quinn, 17 there is -- currently there is some signs 18 beyond what's allowed. There is some 19 banners and some other signs, temporary 20 signs, that are out there. 21 MR. QUINN: I was under the 22 understanding those were removed. 23 MR. BOULARD: Okay. 24 MR. QUINN: I talked to the 25 gentleman in British Columbia today, and 1 he had talked with what's the sign -- 2 MR. BOULARD: With Gene. 3 MR. QUINN: With Gene, yes. 4 That's under control. 5 MR. BOULARD: Thank you very 6 much. 7 MR. QUINN: And by granting 8 this sign, they won't need all those 9 illegal signs. 10 MR. BOULARD: Thank you. 11 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: At this 12 point I will turn it over to the board 13 for discussion. Anybody have any 14 questions or comments? Member Sanghvi. 15 MEMBER SANGHVI: Thank you. 16 Thank you, Mr. Quinn. Just a question, 17 why aren't attorneys supposed to swear? 18 MR. QUINN: Because we are 19 officers of the court, and we always tell 20 the truth. 21 MEMBER SANGHVI: We won't go 22 into that. I'm just kidding, you know 23 that. 24 MR. QUINN: I appreciate 25 that, yes. 1 MEMBER SANGHVI: But I'm glad 2 you are telling they are going to remove 3 those signs out there. 4 MR. QUINN: Actually, I drove 5 by there. 6 MEMBER SANGHVI: It is quite 7 a sight. I did the same thing yesterday. 8 As far as the sign that you have here, I 9 have no problem recommending it, and I 10 will support it. Thank you. 11 MR. QUINN: Thank you. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Member 13 Skelcy. 14 MEMBER SKELCY: Are you 15 affiliated with the mobile home park 16 right next door? 17 MR. QUINN: No, they are 18 totally -- as I understand it, 19 independent; they always have been, 20 actually. 21 MEMBER SKELCY: All right. 22 Thank you. 23 MEMBER GHANNAM: 24 Member Krieger. 25 MEMBER KRIEGER: The British 1 Columbia, is that Canada, a new business 2 that took over Old Dutch Farms? 3 MR. QUINN: Yes, it's called 4 TSA Group in Kinawa, British Columbia. 5 MEMBER KRIEGER: Okay. Thank 6 you. 7 MEMBER CASSIS: Canada has 8 taken over. 9 MEMBER GHANNAM: Actually, I 10 have one question. Can you give the 11 audience an idea how big this is, acreage 12 wise? 13 MR. QUINN: No, I really 14 don't have that available to me. 15 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: It's a 16 large community? 17 MR. QUINN: It is, yes. They 18 have a lot of units in it, and that's 19 part of the problem. It's hard to keep 20 an older community like this 21 reinvigorated, and that's the purpose of 22 all this. 23 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 24 Personally, I have no problem with this, 25 also. I understand the need for a larger 1 sign at this particular site. I 2 understand you requested two years, and 3 typically -- we haven't granted more than 4 a year or so, but I will just see what my 5 colleagues have to say. 6 MEMBER CASSIS: I just want 7 to comment on how nice the sign is. It's 8 neat, clean. I wonder who made that 9 sign. That's nice looking sign. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anybody 11 else have any comments? Member Ibe. 12 MEMBER IBE: Yes, the 13 attorney. Are we allowed to go beyond 14 the 12 months? 15 MS. KUDLA: The request was 16 originally for two years, or is that 17 being added now? 18 MEMBER IBE: That's what I 19 heard him say. 20 MR. QUINN: I did not see in 21 the original application, I didn't see 22 any time period. And when I talked with 23 the property owner, they requested the 24 two years. 25 MS. KUDLA: Was it two years 1 in the notice? 2 MS. MARTIN: No. 3 MS. KUDLA: It would be the 4 standard time frame then if it wasn't 5 noticed; that would be expanding the 6 scope of the variance. You can come back 7 for renewal at the end of the one-year 8 time period. 9 MR. QUINN: I have to come 10 back? 11 MS. KUDLA: You don't -- 12 MR. QUINN: I could bill some 13 more. 14 MEMBER CASSIS: Make more 15 money. 16 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 17 other comments? I will entertain a 18 motion. Member Ibe. 19 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, 20 Mr. Chair. In Case No. 10-025, 21 27000 Napier Road, I move that we grant 22 the petitioner's request for a period of 23 12 months. And the reason for granting 24 the request as follows: The request is 25 based upon circumstances and features 1 that are exceptional and unique to the 2 property, and do not result from 3 conditions that exist generally in the 4 city or that are self-created. 5 The failure to grant relief 6 will unreasonably prevent or limit the 7 use of the property and will result in 8 substantially more than mere 9 inconvenience or inability to attain a 10 higher economic or financial return. 11 The grant of relief will not 12 result in a use of a structure that is 13 incompatible with or unreasonably 14 interfere with adjacent or surrounding 15 properties, and will result in 16 substantial justice being done to the 17 applicant as well as adjacent properties. 18 And this is consistent with the spirit of 19 the zoning ordinance. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 21 seconds? 22 MEMBER KRIEGER: Second. 23 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: We have 24 a motion and second. 25 Ms. Martin, can you please 1 call the roll. 2 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 3 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 4 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 5 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 6 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 7 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 8 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 9 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 10 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 11 Ghannam? 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 13 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 14 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 15 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 16 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 17 Motion passes, seven to zero. 18 MR. QUINN: Thank you very 19 much. Have a good evening. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Next 21 item on the agenda is case number eight, 22 Case No. 10-026, 46555 Magellan Drive. 23 Alcan Automotive, LLC, is 24 requesting a variance to locate an 25 accessory structure in the front yard of 1 the property located at 46555 Magellan 2 Drive. Property is zoned I-2 and is 3 located north of Twelve Mile and west of 4 the West Park Drive. 5 Can you give your name and 6 address. 7 MS. SHELDON: Sure. Claire 8 Sheldon, 46555 Magellan Drive. 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You are 10 not an attorney? 11 MS. SHELDON: No, I'm not. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 13 raise your right hand and be sworn. 14 MEMBER IBE: In Case No. 15 10-026, 46555 Magellan Drive, do you 16 swear or affirm to tell the truth? 17 MS. SHELDON: I do. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 19 proceed. 20 MS. SHELDON: We are 21 requesting an accessory structure in our 22 front yard. We are going to be doing a 23 primary power upgrade, and in order to 24 complete that upgrade, we need an 25 additional primary switch. That primary 1 switch will be located next to the 2 current transformer. 3 The transformer pad is in the 4 front yard. It was approved on zoning 5 variance with the original building, and 6 we'll be locating the new primary switch 7 right next to that. We'll be replacing 8 the current transformer. We'll also be 9 doing extensive internal upgrades to the 10 power system. 11 We have been awarded a number 12 of new programs from customers, and we 13 require new equipment going forward. And 14 that we require additional power and 15 switching primary power with DTE. 16 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 17 you, ma'am. Any members of the public 18 wish to make any public comments or 19 remarks on this particular case, please 20 step forward. Seeing none, I will close 21 the public remarks section and have the 22 secretary read the notices or 23 correspondence into the record. 24 MEMBER IBE: Twenty-seven 25 notices were mailed, four mail returned, 1 zero responses. 2 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 3 comments from the city? 4 MS. KUDLA: I have nothing. 5 MR. BOULARD: Just wanted to 6 mention that this -- there was equipment, 7 as the petitioner mentioned, there was 8 equipment that was approved as a variance 9 from the original site plan. This is 10 not -- this is not on a main road; it's 11 tucked back in the commercial park. And 12 the planning staff supported the 13 request. 14 MEMBER GHANNAM: Thank you. 15 At this point, I will open it up to the 16 board for discussion. Would anybody like 17 to make any comments or have any 18 questions? 19 Member Sanghvi. 20 MEMBER SANGHVI: Thank you. 21 I came to your place and saw it; you have 22 a beautifully maintained place. 23 MS. SHELDON: Thank you. 24 Thank you. 25 MEMBER SANGHVI: I want to 1 commend you on that. 2 MS. SHELDON: Thank you. 3 MEMBER SANGHVI: It's a shame 4 you have to put it behind the 5 (inaudible). 6 MS. SHELDON: Actually, it's 7 farther back. 8 MEMBER SANGHVI: But I guess 9 you have no other choice. 10 MS. SHELDON: Yes. 11 MEMBER SANGVHI: I have no 12 problem granting your request. 13 MS. SHELDON: Thank you. 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 15 you. Anybody else have any comments, any 16 questions. 17 I also have no problems with 18 this. I understand the need for and the 19 reasons, and I think it's within the 20 spirit of our zoning ordinances. 21 Anybody else? I will 22 entertain a motion. I'm sorry, you have 23 a comment? 24 MEMBER SKELCY: No. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You are 1 going to make a motion? 2 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. In Case 3 10-026, the address of 46555 Magellan 4 Drive, I make a motion that we grant the 5 variance requested, which is to locate an 6 accessory structure in the front yard of 7 the property. The variance would not 8 unreasonably prevent the use of the 9 property through the setback, frontage, 10 height, bulk, and density requirement. 11 It will provide substantial justice to 12 petitioner and surrounding property 13 owners in the district. There are unique 14 circumstances of the property. The 15 problem is not self-created. Adequate 16 light and air is provided to adjacent 17 properties. There is no increase of fire 18 or public safety. Property values will 19 not be diminished, and it is in the 20 spirit of the zoning board ordinance. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 22 second to the motion? 23 MEMBER SANGHVI: Second. 24 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: We have 25 a motion and second by Member Sanghvi. 1 Ms. Martin, can you please 2 call the roll. 3 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 4 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 5 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 6 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 7 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 8 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 9 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 10 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 11 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 12 Ghannam? 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 14 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 15 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 16 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 17 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 18 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 19 seven to zero. 20 MS. SHELDON: Thank you very 21 much. 22 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 23 you. 24 Next is item number nine, 25 10-027, 2255 Crown. The petitioner is 1 requesting a variance to allow 2 construction of an addition to an 3 existing non-conforming residence located 4 at 2255 Crown. Property is zoned R-4, 5 and is located south of Thirteen Mile 6 Road and west of Novi Road. 7 Sir, you are the petitioner? 8 MR. DUNCAN: Yes. 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 10 state your name and address. 11 MR. DUNCAN: Tim Duncan, 2255 12 Crown, Novi, 48377. 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: You are 14 not an attorney? 15 MR. DUNCAN: No. 16 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 17 raise your right hand and be sworn. 18 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in Case No. 19 10-027, 2255 Crown, do you swear or 20 affirm to tell the truth? 21 MR. DUNCAN: Yes. 22 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 23 MR. DUNCAN: What I'm asking 24 for is a variance so I can put an 25 addition on the house. You see right 1 here, the corner will be five feet, ten 2 inches from the property line instead of 3 the ten foot. I have lived here for ten 4 years, my family is expanding, so now my 5 house needs to expand. 6 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 7 Any other comments in support of your 8 petition? Do you have anything else? 9 MR. DUNCAN: No. 10 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: At this 11 time, I will open it up to remarks from 12 the public. Is there anyone in the 13 public who would like to make comment on 14 this particular case? Seeing none, I 15 will close the public remark section and 16 have the secretary read any 17 correspondence into the record. 18 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, 40 19 notices were mailed, zero mail returned, 20 three approvals, zero objections. 21 The first approval is from 22 Thomas Steelman of 2260 Crown Drive, 23 dated 7/12/2010. And it reads, "Best 24 option for the lot, good for the 25 neighborhood, good for the City of Novi 1 and good for the economy." 2 And the second is from the 3 Katrych family at 2245 Crown, dated July 4 7, 2010. And it reads, "We wish to have 5 Tim Duncan and family remain our 6 neighbors. It's nice to see people 7 investing in their property." 8 And the last approval is from 9 Glenn and Carrie Schoening of 150 10 Pleasant Cove Drive, Novi, 48377, dated 11 6/26/2010. 12 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 13 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 14 you. Any comments from the city? 15 MS. KUDLA: No. 16 MR. BOULARD: Comment and a 17 question, if I could. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Sure. 19 MR. BOULARD: One thing I 20 wanted to bring up is the -- based on the 21 lot size, there is a maximum of one 22 detached accessory structure allowed in 23 the zoning ordinance. That doesn't have 24 anything to do with your addition, but 25 just wanted to let you know that. 1 MR. DUNCAN: Okay. 2 MR. BOULARD: The other 3 question was, I believe that the addition 4 could potentially meet the zoning 5 ordinance if it were slid over to the 6 right as you are looking in front of the 7 house and towards the garage. I'm 8 guessing there are some things internally 9 in the house that wouldn't allow that? 10 MR. DUNCAN: That is 11 correct. 12 MR. BOULARD: Would you maybe 13 expound on that so we understand it 14 needs -- 15 MR. DUNCAN: Yes, yes, 16 exactly, yeah. The kitchen is in the -- 17 I would have to re-do the whole layout of 18 the back of the house, and that would be 19 quite expensive. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Meaning 21 the addition would be in front of the 22 kitchen? 23 MR. DUNCAN: If I moved it 24 over? 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 1 Correct. 2 MR. DUNCAN: Yes. 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 4 I will open it up to the board for 5 discussion at this point. Any questions 6 or comments for the petitioner? Member 7 Skelcy. 8 MEMBER SKELCY: The shed, 9 what is the shed used for? 10 MR. DUNCAN: Lawnmower, 11 bikes. 12 MEMBER SKELCY: Could you get 13 rid of the shed? 14 MR. DUNCAN: Not really. I 15 mean, it's really -- it's full. It 16 really is full, and the garage is really 17 full. And the house -- there is no 18 basement, you know, so there is no 19 storage. 20 MEMBER SKELCY: Okay. 21 MR. DUNCAN: And I didn't put 22 the shed there; it was existing when I 23 bought the house. 24 MEMBER SKELCY: All right. 25 And you talked to your neighbors to your 1 left? 2 MR. DUNCAN: Yeah, he's very 3 supportive of it. He added on to the 4 back of his garage, and just by 5 coincidence my addition is going to be 6 right in line with the back of his 7 garage. 8 MEMBER SKELCY: Okay. 9 MR. DUNCAN: Where he added 10 on, it will kind of mirror the image in a 11 way. 12 MEMBER SKELCY: All right. 13 Thank you. 14 MR. DUNCAN: Yep. 15 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 16 you. Any other questions or comments? 17 MEMBER CASSIS: What kind of 18 beer are you going to serve? 19 MR. DUNCAN: You know, I was 20 wondering if any of my neighbors were 21 going to say that. Whatever they want. 22 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 23 other relevant comments or questions? 24 MEMBER SANGHVI: Good 25 comment. 1 MEMBER CASSIS: You can 2 always expect that from me. 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 4 Anything else? Anyone want to entertain 5 a motion at this point? Member Skelcy. 6 MEMBER SKELCY: In the Case 7 of 10-027 at the address of 2255 Crown, I 8 move that we grant the variance 9 requested, which is a 4.17 feet variance. 10 If granted, I believe that the setback, 11 frontage, height, bulk and density 12 requirements unreasonably prevent the use 13 of the property for a permitted purpose. 14 That the variance will provide 15 substantial justice to the petitioner and 16 surrounding property owners. There are 17 unique circumstances to the property. 18 The problem is not self-created. 19 Adequate light and air is provided to 20 adjacent properties. There is no 21 increase of fire danger or public safety. 22 Property values will not be diminished, 23 and the spirit of the zoning ordinance is 24 observed. 25 MEMBER KRIEGER: Second. 1 MEMBER GHANNAM: We have a 2 motion and a second. So, Ms. Martin, can 3 you please call the roll? 4 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 5 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 6 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 7 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 8 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 9 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 10 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 11 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 12 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 13 Ghannam? 14 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 15 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 16 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 17 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 18 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 19 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 20 seven to zero. 21 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 22 you, sir. 23 MR. DUNCAN: Thank you. 24 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Your 25 petition has been approved. 1 Last we have item number ten 2 on our agenda, No. 10-028, 29137 Eastman 3 Trail. The petitioner is requesting a 4 variance to construct a sunroom located 5 at 29137 Eastman Trail. Property is 6 zoned RA, and is located West of 7 Meadowbrook and south of Thirteen Mile 8 Road. 9 Ma'am, can you state your 10 name and address. 11 MS. WILSON: Maryann Wilson, 12 29137 Eastman Trail, and I am the 13 property owner. 14 MEMBER GEDEON: You are not 15 an attorney, correct? 16 MS. WILSON: I am not an 17 attorney. 18 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Please 19 raise your right hand and be sworn. 20 MEMBER IBE: In Case No. 21 10-028, 29137 Eastman Trail, do you swear 22 or affirm to tell the truth? 23 MS. WILSON: Yes. 24 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 1 you, ma'am. You may proceed. 2 MS. WILSON: Due to the angle 3 of my back property line, which you can 4 see here, it's at a very specific angle. 5 And here is the house. In order to be 6 within the setback restrictions, which is 7 the 30 foot, I would be forced to build a 8 very oddly shaped trapezoidal sunroom, 9 which would be virtually unusable, and it 10 would be very oddly shaped and something 11 my neighbors wouldn't approve of, and 12 would potentially negatively impact 13 property values. 14 In 2007 you did grant a 15 variance to one of my neighbors, and I'm 16 looking for a similar consideration for 17 (inaudible) use my property. 18 The homeowners association 19 has, in fact, already approved it, so I 20 have been through all the process, and my 21 neighbors are supportive. 22 And I also brought my builder 23 with me in case you have any questions 24 about the building that I can't answer. 25 MEMBER GEDEON: Thank you, 1 ma'am. I will open it up to the audience 2 or the public for any public remarks at 3 this point in time. Is there anybody who 4 would like to make any comments on this 5 particular case at this time? Seeing 6 none, I will close the public remark 7 section and open it up -- I'm sorry, ask 8 our secretary to read any correspondence. 9 MEMBER IBE: Forty-nine 10 notices mailed, one mail returned, four 11 approvals. 12 The first approval is from 13 David E. Garrett, 29131 Eastman Trail, 14 dated July 1st, 2010. And it reads, "No 15 issue from me, and my home is next door 16 to Ms. Wilson's home." 17 Second approval from 18 Elizabeth Herbert of 29090 Eastman Trail, 19 dated 6/30/2010. 20 Third approval from Daniel 21 Kozlowski, of 41490 Thoreau Ridge, dated 22 7/1/2010. 23 And the last approval is from 24 Barbara Feeny of 29138 Eastman Trail, 25 dated June 29, 2010. And it reads, "I 1 have no objection to Maryann Wilson's 2 request to construct on sunroom." It's a 3 typo, sunroom. 4 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 5 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay, 6 thank you. Any comments from the city? 7 MS. KUDLA: No. 8 MR. BOULARD: Nothing. 9 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Okay. 10 I will open it up to the board for 11 discussion. Member Skelcy. 12 MEMBER SKELCY: Very pretty 13 subdivision, nice home. I was curious, 14 it looks like the back yards are like all 15 crunched together there. The neighbors 16 have no problem with you adding 17 additional footage to the home? 18 MS. WILSON: The homeowners 19 association has approved, and as you 20 heard, there were no objections when you 21 mailed out the notices. 22 MEMBER SKELCY: All right. 23 Thank you. 24 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 25 other questions or comments for the 1 petitioner? 2 MEMBER IBE: Nothing. 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: I also 4 don't have any problem. I see the 5 uniqueness of your property, and I agree 6 with your presentation in terms of how 7 any other odd-shaped structure would be 8 kind of obnoxious, so I'm also 9 supportive. 10 MEMBER CASSIS: She will be 11 serving punch. 12 MS. WILSON: You might be 13 surprised. I don't know about that. My 14 neighbors are already waiting for the 15 party for the grand opening. 16 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Anybody 17 else have any comments? I will entertain 18 a motion, hopefully. 19 Member Skelcy. You are 20 batting clean-up again. 21 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. In the 22 case of 10-028, the address 29137 Eastman 23 Trail, I move that we grant the 6.5 foot 24 variance requested by petitioner. And 25 the variance, if granted, would not 1 unreasonably -- would not unreasonably 2 prevent the use of the property for 3 permitted purpose. 4 The variance will provide 5 substantial justice to the petitioner and 6 surrounding property owners. There are 7 unique, very unique circumstances to the 8 property. The problem is not 9 self-created. Adequate light and air is 10 provided to the adjacent properties. No 11 increase of fire danger or public safety. 12 Property values will not be diminished, 13 and the spirit of the zoning ordinance 14 will be observed. 15 MEMBER IBE: Second it. 16 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Thank 17 you. We have a motion and a second. 18 So, Ms. Martin, can you 19 please call the roll. 20 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 21 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 22 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 23 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 24 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 25 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 1 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 2 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 3 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 4 Ghannam? 5 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Yes. 6 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy? 7 MEMBER SKELCY: Yes. 8 MS. MARTIN: Member Gedeon? 9 MEMBER GEDEON: Yes. 10 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 11 seven-zero. 12 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: 13 Congratulations, ma'am. 14 MEMBER SKELCY: Good luck. 15 MS. SHELDON: Thank you. 16 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Any 17 other business that needs to be discussed 18 at this time? 19 MS. KUDLA: No. 20 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: Nothing 21 else? Then I will entertain a motion to 22 adjourn. 23 MEMBER SANGHVI: So move. 24 MEMBER IBE: Second. 25 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: All in 1 favor, say aye. 2 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye. 3 CHAIRPERSON GHANNAM: All 4 opposed? We are adjourned. 5 (The proceedings 6 were adjourned at 7 8:57 p.m.) 8 - - - 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
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