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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, December 14, 2010. BOARD MEMBERS ALSO PRESENT: REPORTED BY: 1 Novi, Michigan 2 Tuesday, December 14, 2010 3 - - - 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I'm going 5 to call the December 14th, 2010 Zoning 6 Board of Appeals meeting to order. 7 First in order, we will say 8 the Pledge of Allegiance. Our Secretary 9 will start us off. 10 (The Pledge of Allegiance was 11 recited.) 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you. 13 First we will have our roll call. So, 14 Ms. Martin, can you please call roll. 15 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 16 MEMBER SANGHVI: Here. 17 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 18 MEMBER CASSIS: Here. 19 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 20 MEMBER KRIEGER: Here. 21 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 22 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 23 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 24 Ghannam?
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Here. 2 MS. MARTIN: Member Skelcy 3 and Member Gedeon are absent. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: And since 5 we don't have our current chairman, by 6 rule, I will be -- vice chairman, I 7 will be acting as chairman today. I 8 think probably one of the first things 9 we need to do is have a motion to have 10 a temporary vice chair for both this 11 meeting and our next meeting, because 12 of -- because our chairman has been 13 nominated for city council, which we 14 will get to in a second. 15 First, I'd like to have a 16 motion for vice chair. Should I 17 continue or just wait? 18 MS. KUDLA: I think we can 19 continue. 20 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Continue. 21 So I will take a motion for someone to 22 act as vice chair, please. 23 MEMBER SANGHVI: I suggest 24 Linda act as vice chair.
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 2 seconds? 3 MEMBER IBE: Second. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other 5 nominations? Seeing none, I will take 6 a -- all in favor, just say aye. 7 THE BOARD: Aye. 8 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: All 9 opposed? Seeing none, Ms. Krieger, 10 you are our vice chair for both this 11 meeting and next meeting in January. 12 In terms of the public 13 hearing format rules, I will go over a 14 few rules, but we have the rules in the 15 back if you would like to take a look 16 at them. 17 Please turn off your pagers 18 and cell phones during these meetings. 19 All applicants or 20 representatives will be asked to come 21 forth, state their names and addresses, 22 to be sworn by our secretary if they 23 are not attorneys. 24 They will be allowed five
1 minutes to address the board and 2 present their case. Extensions of time 3 may be granted by the chair. Anyone in 4 the audience who wishes to address the 5 board regarding any of the current 6 cases will be asked to raise their 7 hands to be recognized. 8 Next we will look at the 9 current agenda. Are there any 10 additions or corrections to the agenda 11 at the present time? 12 MS. MARTIN: There has been a 13 change of Member Wrobel. 14 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 15 MS. MARTIN: And, also, Case 16 10-051 for Fox Run has been added on to 17 your agenda for public hearing tonight. 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: What 19 number is that on our -- 20 MS. MARTIN: 10-051. 21 MR. BOULARD: Number five. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Number 23 five. 24 MS. MARTIN: Number five.
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other 2 corrections? 3 MS. MARTIN: No. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. All 5 in favor to approve the agenda, say 6 aye. 7 THE BOARD: Aye. 8 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 9 opposed? Seeing none, the agenda has 10 been approved. 11 Approval of the November 9, 12 2010 minutes, any additions, 13 corrections, modifications to the 14 November 9, 2010? Mr. Boulard. 15 MR. BOULARD: On page 16, 16 line 18, I believe the record should 17 show the tenant was looking to have a 18 facade improvement in the near future 19 as opposed to sod. Facade is the front 20 of the building. 21 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 22 other additions or corrections to the 23 November 9, 2010? Ms. Kudla. 24 MS. KUDLA: Page 41, line 16,
1 where it says "inaudible," it should be 2 variance. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 4 Anything else? All in favor of the 5 minutes from the November 9, 2010 6 meeting as amended, all in favor, say 7 aye, please. 8 THE BOARD: Aye. 9 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: All 10 opposed? Seeing none, the approval -- 11 or the November 9, 2010 minutes have 12 been approved. 13 At this time there is going 14 to be a public remarks section for 15 issues that are not on the agenda. At 16 the present time, is there anyone from 17 the public that would like to make a 18 remark at this time? Mr. Wrobel. 19 MR. WROBEL: Thank you, 20 Mr. Chair. Wayne Wrobel, 24578 Ackert, 21 Novi. 22 It feels strange standing on 23 this side of the podium for once, but I 24 just wanted to thank each of you for
1 the past three years I have spent on 2 ZBA, especially the last year as 3 chairman. You are a good group of 4 people; we got a lot done. We worked 5 well as a team, and I just wanted to 6 thank you. And I enjoyed my time. 7 If there is anything I can do 8 to help you next year as a member of 9 city council, I would be glad to do so. 10 Staff, thank you very much. 11 You are always on it and keep us 12 straight and kept me going in the right 13 direction in the past year. So, thank 14 you, and good luck in the future, 15 everybody. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you. 17 And we do appreciate your time here on 18 the ZBA and certainly for your 19 leadership and hope you do our city 20 well. 21 MEMBER CASSIS: Mr. Chair. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Certainly, 23 Member Cassis. 24 MEMBER CASSIS: I would like
1 to congratulate Wayne, our former 2 chairman. It has been a very well 3 deserved appointment, if I may say. 4 Your leadership has been proven over 5 time and time again in many of your 6 capacities. You have served this 7 community well for a long time. And 8 your loyalty and devotion will have -- 9 will be a hallmark of your tenure on 10 the city council. And we are looking 11 for that leadership to be exhibited 12 wholeheartedly on that city council. 13 Congratulations again. 14 MEMBER SANGHVI: Amen. 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Anybody 16 else would like to make a public remark 17 at this point in time? Seeing none, 18 we'll move to our first case being 19 10-041, for 1254 East Lake Drive. 20 Would the applicant please 21 come forward. Sir, please state your 22 name. 23 MR. CUMMINGS: Robert 24 Cummings.
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Are you 2 an attorney? 3 MR. CUMMINGS: No, sir. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Please be 5 sworn in by our secretary at this 6 point. 7 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in Case No. 8 10-041, 1254 East Lake Drive, do you 9 swear or affirm to tell the truth? 10 MR. CUMMINGS: Yes, sir. 11 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Please 13 proceed. 14 MR. CUMMINGS: Good evening, 15 everyone. Thank you for your time 16 tonight. 17 I mentioned at the November 18 meeting that I would deliver a plan 19 tonight that would complement both the 20 city of Novi and East Lake Drive, 21 working with various individuals, 22 including my adjoining and 23 non-adjoining neighbors. 24 Tonight, in review of my plan
1 from the September meeting, I purchased 2 the home at 1254 East Lake Drive in 3 2006, with the intent of building 4 immediately. Because of economic 5 reasons, I did not, and I am ready at 6 this time. The home that stood there 7 for 70 years was in shambles, and it 8 was torn down in 2006. 9 Tonight I'm going to present 10 my plan for requests of variances and 11 show characteristics of the lake on 12 East Lake Drive, and I'm going to show 13 how I have worked by the recommendation 14 of this group with both my adjoining 15 and non-adjoining neighbors. 16 I have some visuals to show 17 us. It was mentioned that Dave could 18 drop the lights a little bit. Is that 19 possible? He did, okay. 20 The rear yard request. My 21 particular rear yard request, I am 22 planning in this to move the home 23 forward. This is the home as it stood 24 for many decades. I am going to move
1 the house back from the water and 2 position the home exactly where it 3 stood at 1254 East Lake Drive for over 4 70 years. The change from the 2006 5 approval is going to be from 12 to 17 6 feet. 7 This is an aerial view of the 8 lake. As you can see, the aerial view 9 is what I want to call a half-moon 10 shape. And the rear yard has an odd 11 shape, because of that, and the homes 12 at the lower end, which is the north 13 end, have a burden that the building 14 envelope is minimized. 15 As we can see here, in the 16 three graphs, I have on the north 17 side -- actually, that's on the south 18 side, I have a 48-foot setback. In the 19 middle, I have 32.5, and I have my 20 request tonight at 17.04. That's a 21 median of 32-and-a-half feet. 22 So you can see in the 23 survey -- and I'm going to circle this 24 here. On my south side, I have a
1 113-foot building envelope, and on the 2 north side I have 87 feet. 3 The odd shape of the rear 4 yard burdens the front yard. In moving 5 the house back, we can see here, we are 6 now 15 feet from the property line. 7 As you can see, looking 8 north, there is an immeasurable amount 9 of trees and bushes that block the 10 view. It was suggested to me by the 11 city to talk to the police for safety 12 reasons. I had officer Jim Brandon out 13 on October 22nd. So we took a 14 full-sized SUV vehicle, and what we did 15 was at 20 feet, we backed it out. And 16 when backing it out, we were having a 17 hard time visually seeing oncoming 18 traffic, also what could be bikers, 19 children, runners. What was 20 recommended was is that we make this 21 not a 15-foot, but a 20-foot setback; 22 that is my request. 23 We took that same vehicle, 24 and we were able to 100 percent back
1 out of the driveway, and with any extra 2 room in the easement, we were able to 3 see 100 percent. In doing so, my 4 20-foot front yard setback, this is 5 going to create appeal and curb appeal. 6 The old setback was five feet 7 of the old garage, eliminating the 8 detached garage. And I'm seeing the 9 consistency of the city of more 10 attached garages. 11 I have a request for two side 12 yard setbacks. The lot is 40 feet. I 13 have difficulty meeting the ten and 14 15-foot requirements and the 25 15 aggregate. 16 The house has been placed as 17 symmetrical as possible, with five feet 18 on the north side and 5.05 on the south 19 side. The old house was 28 feet, so we 20 are only talking a difference of 28 21 feet. I'm sorry, we are only talking a 22 difference of two feet in the 23 difference. 24 If we go back to the area, I
1 have pointed out the difficulty of the 2 building envelope on the north side, 3 and total lot coverage of 37.9, is a 4 request that to be consistent with the 5 other homes is required. 6 Decks are characteristic of 7 the neighborhood. This is the first 8 seven houses from the north to the 9 seven. Every house on this has a deck 10 with the exception of one. Now, 11 tonight, I'm not here requesting a deck 12 variance. But I wanted to point out 13 that in my survey, we have this listed. 14 And under Section 29.07 of the Novi 15 city ordinances, a deck does not need a 16 variance if the variance sets within 17 the rear yard setback of 18 feet. I am 18 well under that. And I have modified, 19 and I have proposed that within. My 20 deck here, as we can see, is six feet, 21 half of it, and 12 feet to the maximum. 22 Which would make me the smallest, or 23 one of the smallest in the 24 neighborhood.
1 I would like to point out a 2 number of characteristics of the lake. 3 My lot is right here that we can see by 4 the arrow of 40 feet. That is the 5 standard of the lake on this side at 40 6 feet. And because of the narrowness at 7 the north side, we can see back in the 8 picture, every house going south is in 9 front of its neighbor. We have five 10 houses that we see in this picture, and 11 every one is in front. 12 I want to point out that we 13 see red lines here. The houses are 15 14 feet in lot one. And you can see at 15 the top, they go 15 feet, 28 feet, two 16 feet, 17. It's a common characteristic 17 and bond of houses on the lake that are 18 in front of each other. 19 Continuing characteristics of 20 the bond that these houses share is the 21 distance they are from the lake. If we 22 look at lot one over here, this is 11 23 feet from the lake. As we go to lot 24 two, which is my lot, we are at 17.
1 Lot three is 21 feet. And if we look 2 at the skyline here, you can see that 3 from lot one at 11 feet, to 32 feet, a 4 maximum going to lot six. Pointing out 5 characteristics and bonds of the lakes. 6 I have put the house as 7 symmetric as possible as I can. I got 8 five feet on each side to the property 9 line. And as we point out here, I'm 10 going to give the best opportunity in 11 the neighborhood as the common bond 12 here. 13 My neighbor to the north has 14 two feet. My neighbor to the south, as 15 we look in here, we have an orange 16 flag; the garage is six inches from the 17 property line. Their house is 18 two-and-a-half. Again, I'm just 19 pointing out a characteristic that I am 20 as symmetric as possible as I can. 21 The last characteristic, 22 there are 24 homes on this lot on 23 Walled Lake in Novi. And as we know, 24 many of the houses on the lake have the
1 house, the street and the property. So 2 this common bond, I want to point out, 3 is about square footage. 4 The yellow markers are 12 of 5 24 that have between 2,000 and 3,300 6 square feet. That's 50 percent. There 7 was ten houses that were built from 8 1969 to 2010, and the red markers on 9 the yellow mark that all ten of those 10 houses that are built in the last 41 11 years have between 2,000 and 3,300 12 square feet. I am at 2,400. 13 I have a modest house. I'm 14 showing the layout. On one floor I 15 have three bedrooms and an office. I 16 have went with a French design. The 17 French design, my architect convinced 18 me of because it's been popular for 19 decades and it's going to be popular in 20 the future for decades, fitting in. 21 Main level, I've got a 22 kitchen, a dining room, a living room 23 and a den. 24 The board asked me, and I
1 made a conscientious effort to work 2 with my neighbors, both adjoining and 3 non-adjoining. I had over 25 meetings 4 with persons in doing so. And I'm 5 happy that you asked me to do that, 6 because I learned a lot. 7 I put a petition together for 8 my plan. This is the petition. I have 9 ten signatures of people on East Lake 10 Drive that have supported the plan. 11 I'd like to point out the 12 second one on the list is Mr. Robert 13 Andrews. He's at 1262 East Lake Drive. 14 Mr. Andrews was against my program, and 15 he put a letter at the September 16 meeting. I went up to Mr. Andrews. I 17 said, "Could I speak with you?" We 18 walked the lot, and I showed him 19 exactly what we were doing, and 20 Mr. Andrews is now supporting my 21 program. 22 The other individuals that I 23 have are -- I would say my last comment 24 is my non-adjoining neighbors, my
1 adjoining neighbors. 2 Joy Harris, my neighbor to 3 the south, stood here on September 14 4 and asked for three things. She asked 5 that I have a five-foot setback on her 6 side between the property line and my 7 house; I have that. 8 She asked me to take an 9 overhang that was two feet by five feet 10 for a fireplace; I have done that. 11 Completely gone. 12 She has asked me to move my 13 house back; I have done that. 14 Mr. A.J. Harris, the other 15 owner of that lot, made a statement 16 that his family moved in in 1946. And 17 there was a conscientious effort and 18 objective to enhancing the view to the 19 maximum extent and covenant that's been 20 measured for 70 years. I don't think 21 he could produce anything on that. 22 I have talked to the city, 23 lawyers. I spoke with LAHA; that's the 24 Lake Area Housing Association. No one
1 has any of that. 2 But let's take ten seconds to 3 take Mr. Harris' comments. How can we 4 measure this? There is one way we can 5 do this; that is the traverse line. 6 Over the course of many 7 winters, the ice, the snow, the rain; 8 it detours (ph) the lake. But one 9 element that doesn't change is the 10 traverse line. 11 The traverse line, by 12 definition, is a meets and bounds that 13 measures the plat. And this plat was 14 done in 1934; it hasn't changed. I've 15 got a line that's been drawn here on 16 the traverse line, and we see that the 17 house at 1256 was three-and-a-half feet 18 off the line. Mine is five-and-a-half 19 feet off the line. And the house at 20 1250 is four feet over the line. I'm 21 not the lowest; I'm not the highest. 22 I'm in the middle. 23 Mr. Harris also made a 24 comment of the plan that I had in
1 September was a visual injustice. 2 There has been a conscientious 3 objective to enhancing the view to the 4 maximum extent over the last 70 years. 5 And he was obviously referring to the 6 south side of my house, because that's 7 where we intersect. 8 And I'd like to point out a 9 picture of a fence that's seven feet 10 high, and it's on top of a three-foot 11 brick; it's ten feet. This is 12 Mr. Harris' south side that runs from 13 his house to the lake. 14 I have put 28 feet as a 15 distance between my house and my 16 neighbor at 1256. Twenty-eight feet. 17 That's between their home and my home. 18 These are two professional 19 basketball players. And this picture 20 has not been augmented in any way. The 21 shorter individual is approximately my 22 height; the taller individual is seven 23 feet tall. That person, adding another 24 seven feet and another and another is
1 28 feet. That's a lot of individual. 2 This is a full-size -- I'd 3 say economy size to full size. It's a 4 14-foot car, any way we want to look 5 at. It's 2010. It's 14 feet by four. 6 I've got two car lengths between myself 7 and my neighbor to the south. 8 My neighbor to the north, Mr. 9 Brian Gable, stood, and he asked for a 10 better south side view. And I have 11 delivered that; I've moved my house 12 back. 13 Mr. Harris sent me an e-mail 14 in the beginning of October that he 15 would only consider a 30-foot setback. 16 Keep in mind, I have 86 feet, 87 feet, 17 on the north side. We take out 30 18 feet, we take out 20 feet for a garage, 19 I have no room. I have given his 20 request; I moved the house back. 21 This is the view of Mr. Gable 22 from his deck to my house that existed 23 for 70 years. That is the view. 24 I talked to you in November,
1 and I mentioned that I would deliver a 2 plan tonight that would enhance the 3 City of Novi and the street of East 4 Lake Drive. And I feel I have done 5 that. I've communicated to all the 6 people I mentioned. 7 I want to thank you for your 8 time tonight. 9 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you, 10 sir. At this point, I will take any 11 comments from the public on this 12 particular case. If you have a 13 comment, please step forward. And just 14 form a line behind the podium. 15 Sir, please state your name 16 and raise -- and then raise your hand 17 to be sworn by our secretary. 18 MR. GABLE: Brian Gable, 1250 19 East Lake Drive. 20 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in this 21 particular case, do you swear or affirm 22 to tell the truth? 23 MR. GABLE: I do. 24 MEMBER IBE: Thank you.
1 MR. GABLE: The property 2 directly north of Mr. Cummings' 3 property at 1254 East Lake Drive is my 4 wife Nicky and I bought in July. We 5 value the property heavily for its 6 outstanding view, including the south 7 part of the lake. At that time there 8 was no house at 1254 East Lake Drive; 9 it was an empty lot. 10 Regarding the variance 11 request, we are here to support five of 12 the six requests, and to object to just 13 one. The variance to the rear yard 14 setback, primarily due to the loss of 15 view to the south part of the lake. 16 Due to the curvature of the 17 shoreline in that area, Mr. Cummings' 18 property sits substantially out further 19 into the lake than ours. Where his 20 property is narrow to the north and 21 south, which is the side-to-side 22 property, it is long in the direction 23 from the lake to the road. Ours is 24 exactly the opposite. The hardship or
1 practical difficulty of his property is 2 only in the width, not the depth from 3 the lake to the road. 4 After the ZBA meeting, we had 5 a number of conversations with 6 Mr. Cummings and the Harrises, at which 7 point we all agreed on all but this 8 last issue, the rear yard setback 9 variance. At that point, we discussed 10 continuing the conversation, but since 11 early October, neither of us has heard 12 from Mr. Cummings. Rather than 13 continue to work toward a mutually 14 beneficial agreement with us, the key 15 stakeholders, his the adjoining 16 neighbors, we were disappointed to find 17 out very recently he chose to try to 18 get as many other local residents as 19 possible to sign a petition, even 20 though they were unaffected by this 21 particular variance request either way. 22 I see this as playing the 23 numbers game rather than dealing with 24 the issue with the affected parties,
1 his adjoining neighbors. 2 One of Mr. Cummings' chief 3 points of contention is that he's 4 simply placing his house where the 5 previous house was in the rear and 6 should be grandfathered to the old 7 house location. To that, I bring up 8 these four points: 9 This new house is three full 10 stories in the rear plus a gabled peak, 11 putting the height at approximately I 12 would guess 45 feet from the ground; 13 whereas, the old house was two stories 14 with a peak in the other direction. 15 This new house is far larger 16 than the old by square footage, volume 17 and lot coverage. The old house had 18 twice as much side yard setback nearest 19 our house to the north. 20 And my fourth point, 21 grandfathering would not apply, since 22 he demolished the old house and must 23 follow the required setbacks, which is 24 the reason for the variance request and
1 the reason we are all here. 2 And if you pick one aspect of 3 the house -- of the old house to 4 justify the new house variances, then 5 you must look at all the differences 6 between new and old. You would find 7 that the old house would not require 8 most of the variances of the new house. 9 In the three months since the 10 last meeting, Mr. Cummings' house plans 11 did not change. Instead, he simply 12 moved it back 4.06 feet. Since our 13 starting point was over 80 percent of 14 the way toward full agreement with 15 Mr. Cummings' variance request, again, 16 we agree with five of the six requests, 17 four feet does not seem to be a fair 18 compromise. 19 The planned garage is 30 feet 20 deep; whereas, a standard two-car 21 garage is about 20 feet deep. There is 22 ten feet right there. 23 His driveway is long enough 24 for two cars deep; whereas, many of the
1 driveways in front of garages in that 2 area can only fit one car, including 3 both our home and the Harrises. 4 Fifteen feet can easily be 5 found to move the rear wall out even 6 touching the living portion of the 7 house. Which, by the way, is 50 8 percent larger than my home. 9 It is Mr. Cummings' burden to 10 prove hardship or practical 11 difficulties to support the variance 12 request. And in this aspect of the 13 rear yard setback, he has not done 14 that. 15 My request tonight would be 16 for the board to approve five of the 17 six variance requests by Mr. Cummings, 18 with the one exception being the rear 19 yard setback variance to the lake, as 20 it is written. 21 We would be happy with a 22 35-foot rear yard setback. However, in 23 the spirit of further compromise, we 24 would support a variance that would
1 allow a setback of 26 feet from the 2 house to the lake, which is a variance 3 of nine feet, half of the variance 4 request. 5 Thank you for your time. 6 I also have a letter from 7 another local resident, and his concern 8 is with the environmental impact, if 9 you guys have enough copies for 10 everybody to look at. 11 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you, 12 sir. Anybody else from the public that 13 would like to make a comment at this 14 time? Please step forward. 15 MS. HARRIS: Joy Harris. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Please 17 raise your hand to be sworn, ma'am. 18 MEMBER IBE: In Case No. 19 10-041, 1254 East Lake Drive, do you 20 swear or affirm to tell the truth? 21 MS. HARRIS: Absolutely. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Ma'am, 23 please keep your comments limited to 24 three minutes.
1 MS. HARRIS: Okay. First of 2 all, I will apologize my husband 3 couldn't be here. He's in the hospital 4 in Washington, D.C. I am here to 5 represent him as best I can. 6 The purpose of a variance 7 request is to seek special and 8 different treatment from otherwise 9 applicable to neighboring communities. 10 Mr. Cummings is asking to change all 11 variances or all the guidelines to put 12 his house on his lot. 13 His purpose from the 14 beginning is to put as much house on 15 the property as he can with little 16 regard to his neighbors, both to the 17 south and to the north. He wants to 18 get as close to the water's edge as 19 possible. Don't we all? 20 Mr. Cummings is here tonight 21 with the ask, not his neighbors. He's 22 here asking for variances; we are here 23 trying to keep status quo. We ask 24 nothing except to protect the integrity
1 of our property and the integrity of 2 the historical shoreline, the central 3 part of the lake on East Lake Drive. 4 Our last meeting, October 11, 5 in my home, we closed with the 6 understanding that he was going to have 7 some new drawings made and we would 8 meet again. Ladies and gentlemen, we 9 have not seen nor heard from 10 Mr. Cummings since that time, two 11 months ago. 12 Several neighbors have 13 brought to my attention that 14 Mr. Cummings has knocked on their doors 15 asking for the signatures on a 16 petition, and that he was personally 17 measuring the distances from the water 18 to the lake of the homes. I would ask 19 Mr. Cummings did he have permission 20 from the homeowners who were not at 21 home to go on their property? I see 22 the picture you have of my property. 23 Did you ask permission to go on my 24 property? But that's okay.
1 As to the signatures, I would 2 say to this board that a number of the 3 homes on East Lake Drive on the lake 4 are rental properties. And I would 5 choose to -- that you disregard 6 signatures unless you know they are the 7 homeowners. Because they are the only 8 ones that would count. 9 We respect our neighbors and 10 our community. We ask no more than the 11 same guidelines that which are of the 12 neighbors on our street with new homes, 13 they are already living and complying 14 with. 15 Mr. Cummings demolished the 16 existing house and now asks to change 17 all the guidelines to accommodate him 18 for his new house. He insists that the 19 house will be pretty, and that it will 20 be an asset to our properties. 21 Mr. Cummings doesn't understand that it 22 is not the prettiness of his home; it's 23 the beauty of the lake view that we 24 cherish. And I hope this panel will
1 consider that. He should not take it 2 away from us. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you, 4 ma'am. Anybody else would like to make 5 a comment on this particular case at 6 this time? Seeing none, I will close 7 the public remarks section and ask the 8 secretary to read anything in the file 9 for this. Did we read these last time 10 we were here, the comments? 11 MS. MARTIN: These are new 12 comments. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: These are 14 new comments. So we don't have to read 15 the old ones? 16 MR. BOULARD: There were 17 comments that were read previously. 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: These are 19 new. If we can read the new ones. 20 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, Mr. 21 Chair. In Case 10-041, there 22 are three new -- take that back, there 23 are four objections, new objections, 24 and I will start with the first one.
1 This was dated November 17, 2 2010. And I need to apologize, because 3 this is a handwritten objection, so 4 please bear with me. 5 It reads, "Mr. Cummings has 6 asked for six, all six, variances. The 7 schedule of regulations requires a 8 35-feet rear yard lakeside setback. 9 This original 35-foot setback should be 10 upheld. Regarding anything here should 11 be denied. Regarding anything less 12 should be denied. It would affect all 13 waterfront properties that now comply 14 with the existing variance requirements 15 and were denied previous requests for 16 variance. 17 "This schedule of regulations 18 requires" not clear word, "front yard 19 side, 30 setback, ten feet. Back yard, 20 lake side, 35 setback." Left blank, 21 nothing written. "North side, 15 feet 22 setback, five. South side, ten 23 setback, five. 24 "I feel it would dominate and
1 block the lake view from surrounding 2 homes. Not sure how high it will be 3 either. 4 "Sincerely, signed Patricia 5 Harris -- I'm sorry, Patricia Hughes. 6 Address, 1241 East Lake Drive, Novi, 7 Michigan, 48377." 8 The next objection is by A.J. 9 Harris. The objection, of course, was 10 not dated, but it reads: 11 "I truly regret that my 12 health condition precludes me from 13 making these comments in person 14 tonight. 15 "When we all met here on 16 September 14, 2010, the board decided 17 to table the applicant's request until 18 November 9, 2010, presumably in the 19 hope that your decision would afford 20 the parties of interest more time to 21 reach some mutually acceptable 22 accommodation. 23 "Prior to the November 24 meeting, the applicant asked for and
1 was granted a postponement until this 2 month. 3 "Between mid-September and 4 mid-October, a number of face-to-face 5 meetings as well as phone conversations 6 occurred. Then the applicant's 7 communications ceased. While some 8 progress primarily on the margins was 9 achieved, we seem to be back at 10 loggerheads particularly over the 11 lakefront setback. It seems the 12 applicant wants to use the variance 13 process to create a private right of 14 eminent domain for his sole benefit at 15 the sacrifice to his neighbors to the 16 north and south, as well as to disrupt 17 the well-established lakeline view 18 which has been honored for over six 19 decades. 20 "I am saddened to say that 21 under these circumstances, we have 22 little choice but to respectfully 23 request the variance application be 24 denied.
1 "Sincerely, A.J. Harris, II." 2 The third objection, also not 3 dated, reads: "Regarding the requested 4 variances for the property at 1254 5 East Lake Drive in Novi, we are asking 6 that the board deny the variance 7 request for the rear yard setback. We 8 are asking that the required setback of 9 35 feet be upheld, which will provide 10 cohesiveness to other properties in 11 this area of the shoreline. 12 "Signed, James Groves, 1245 13 East Lake Drive." 14 And the last objection, also 15 not dated, reads: "Regarding the 16 requested variances for the property at 17 1254 East Lake Drive in Novi, we are 18 asking that the board deny the variance 19 request for the rear yard setback. We 20 are asking that the required setback of 21 35 feet be upheld, which will provide 22 cohesiveness to other properties in 23 this area of the shoreline. 24 "Signed, James," last name
1 not quite clear. "Address, 1286 East 2 Lake Drive, Novi, 48377." 3 Those are the four objections 4 on the record. I do have one that was 5 submitted I believe by the gentleman 6 who was here. Is that okay? Can that 7 be read into the record as well? 8 MS. KUDLA: Sure. It's going 9 to be in the record. 10 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. This 11 was dated December 13, 2010. And it 12 reads: "Board members: This letter is 13 in reference to Case No. 10-041, 1254 14 East Lake Drive, Novi. 15 "I am in support of the 16 abutting property owners' wishes 17 foremost. The requested rear and north 18 side yard setbacks are an environmental 19 concern. It will be hard to control 20 construction contamination and run-off 21 building a structure this close to the 22 lake. On an ongoing basis, rain and 23 other run-offs. I am in support of 24 maintaining the required setbacks to
1 the water. 2 "Sincerely, Mark Carpenter, 3 1229 East Lake Drive, Novi, Michigan 4 48377." 5 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you, 6 Mr. Secretary. Any comment from the 7 city or counsel? 8 MS. KUDLA: No. 9 MR. BOULARD: Just a couple 10 comments on the information that was 11 provided in your packet. 12 The requested variances have 13 been reviewed for this revised plan, 14 and those numbers in parentheses on the 15 right are those. 16 Also, I wanted to indicate 17 that there was one thing I believe in - 18 Mr. Cummings, if you would confirm this 19 - the drawings that you showed of the 20 elevations included the fireplace, 21 which has been removed; is that true? 22 MR. CUMMINGS: Yes. It has 23 been removed 100 percent. 24 MR. BOULARD: The other thing
1 that I wanted to mention, I think it's 2 important, is that at the previous 3 hearing, the deck -- a deck was not 4 shown. There was discussion about a 5 deck. The deck is now -- the deck is 6 now shown, the proposed deck, on this 7 plan, so that it's out there for 8 everybody to see. 9 And while the building itself 10 extends into the required rear setback, 11 decks under the ordinance are allowed 12 to extend into a portion of that 13 setback. And so the deck as shown does 14 not extend beyond what's allowable in 15 terms of setback. The house still 16 encroaches, but the deck does not. 17 So, I just wanted to make 18 sure it's clear that has been added so 19 it's there for everybody to see. Thank 20 you. 21 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you. 22 MR. CUMMINGS: Mr. Chairman, 23 there was a number -- 24 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I'm sorry.
1 At this point the members may have 2 questions for you, sir. 3 MR. CUMMINGS: Yes, sir. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I will 5 have to open it to the board for any 6 questions of the applicant. 7 Anybody have any questions? 8 MEMBER SANGHVI: Can I ask a 9 point of clarification for me? We 10 don't have a whole board now, full 11 board now, and do we need to give an 12 option to him if he wants to continue? 13 MS. KUDLA: We should give 14 him that option, yes, under the rules. 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: At the 16 present time, since we have five, you 17 would need four out of five to pass or 18 fail, to basically pass a motion? 19 MS. KUDLA: Yeah. 20 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. You 21 understand that, sir, because we don't 22 have a full board, we have five members 23 here, you would need four out of the 24 five votes for a positive resolution to
1 your matter? Or same thing for a 2 denial. You do have the option of 3 tabling this for a full board or go 4 with your current board. 5 MR. CUMMINGS: I would like 6 to hear the comments from the board. 7 And I would like to ask you, 8 Mr. Chairman, a question of -- there is 9 a number of inaccurate statements. If 10 you would like an accurate on two or 11 three quick items. 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Let's do 13 this: Let's open up to the board for 14 questions, and if they want you to 15 comment, you can. And Member Cassis, 16 please. 17 MEMBER CASSIS: As usual. 18 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, we 19 were pretty tough on Mr. Cummings last 20 time. And I was one of those that 21 really made very tough remarks for him. 22 However, tonight I am leaning to 23 approve his plan. And I have a few 24 reasons why.
1 East Lake Drive is a very 2 unique area. It was developed umpteen 3 years ago. How many, 100 years, 150. 4 At that time, there weren't these 5 restrictions and so on that we have 6 today. 7 Why don't you have a seat, 8 just relax. Relax, Mr. Cummings. You 9 are too anxious. 10 Yes, we have demanded quite a 11 few things from him in the past. And I 12 understand he has removed this 13 overhang, plus he did many other things 14 that have really responded to some of 15 the objections. In fact, 16 Mr. Brian Gable said five of those 17 things are okay by him. 18 Let me talk about the view. 19 Everybody's going to see the lake. 20 There is no obstruction from seeing the 21 lake. It's how much of that lake you 22 want to see. Now, we all want 23 everything that we can get in life. 24 However, at times we have to concede a
1 little bit and compromise. 2 He has shown us here that the 3 way the half moon kind of shore that 4 there is on that lake, does not really 5 lend itself to precise measurements of 6 anything. 7 Now, this man is trying to 8 build, yes, a big house. Somebody 9 comes and builds a big expensive house 10 next to mine, I would appreciate it. 11 You know why? Because my house will 12 cost more now. Economic value would be 13 better on my house. 14 We have seen many homes come 15 into that area, and we have approved 16 quite a few of them, Mr. Chairman. We 17 have approved them in spite of many 18 variances. I have heard from remarks 19 here, that oh, he wants all variances. 20 Well, sometimes in that location there 21 comes a lot of different things to be 22 accomplished, and we need some 23 variances. 24 But this gentleman I think
1 has come in with quite a bit of 2 reasonable compromises to minimize the 3 effect on his neighbors. So, I would 4 say, look, he showed us one of his 5 neighbors has that high fence. Is that 6 something that should be there at that 7 lake? No. It's there. 8 So, really, in my opinion to 9 start taking exact, precise up to 10 measurement of everything on that lake, 11 I think it's not really being just or 12 fair. 13 I see that the uniqueness of 14 that area, and the development of the 15 area in the past few years has really 16 elevated the values of all of that 17 neighborhood. More taxes to the city, 18 better looking homes and improving of 19 all the area around the lake. 20 I have lived long enough here 21 to know that that lake at one time was 22 polluted, was not really fit to be even 23 lived around, and some of you would 24 know that. Today, that lake is to be
1 proud of. And someone that invests -- 2 I don't know how much he's going to be 3 investing there, to demolish a house, 4 and build this big house. This man, I 5 believe, is going to be a good 6 neighbor. 7 Now, I like the design of 8 this house. Maybe it has that high 9 gable on it. I happen to have a house 10 that is French designed, too. 11 So these are some of my 12 comments. I hope that the neighbors 13 will accept Mr. Cummings. He has tried 14 to do as much as he can. And I respect 15 the neighbors' wishes and so on. In 16 fact, having no -- having an empty lot 17 is really good for some neighbor, but 18 you can't have an empty lot all the 19 time. You know, somebody's going to 20 develop that lot. 21 So my sincere, you know, 22 remarks here to the neighbors that this 23 man is trying to improve the whole 24 neighborhood.
1 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 2 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you, 3 Member Cassis. Any comments from the 4 board or questions? 5 MEMBER KRIEGER: Question. 6 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Go ahead. 7 MEMBER KRIEGER: Regarding 8 the concern in one of the letters 9 regarding construction going into the 10 water, how would that be protected? 11 MR. BOULARD: This 12 construction would fall -- if it goes 13 forward, would fall under all the city 14 requirements, city and state 15 requirements for soil erosion and 16 protection. There are requirements 17 that are specific to projects that take 18 place and disturb earth that are near a 19 body of water. And so a soil erosion 20 and sedimentation control permit would 21 be required by the city and inspections 22 would be done. There would be measures 23 that would be required as part of the 24 construction process. So I'm confident
1 that can be addressed. 2 And if you notice on the 3 plan, there are already some temporary 4 silt fence locations that limits the 5 degrading. I don't know that there 6 would not be additional measures 7 required, but certainly there would be 8 all due diligence on the part of the 9 city to protect those resources. 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Anything 11 else? Member Krieger. 12 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yeah, in 13 regards to the petitioner did come back 14 before -- it looks like he made an 15 effort in doing his homework and making 16 accommodations to the neighbors. And 17 that no one can be -- there is a saying 18 about being able to please everybody 19 all the time, and some of the people 20 some of the time, and nobody some of 21 the time, as well. So that percentage 22 is in it to be considered as well. 23 And then the moon shape of 24 the property there that the petitioner
1 has to accommodate or take into 2 consideration the neighbors. There 3 is -- it's not self-created. He's 4 dealt with -- this is his lot. If you 5 look over the south, there is curvature 6 of the land, and the same as to the 7 north. So he's trying to accommodate 8 that. So, that he did take into 9 consideration; I appreciate that of the 10 petitioner. 11 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other 12 comments? 13 MEMBER SANGHVI: I have a 14 couple of questions. 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Sure, 16 Member Sanghvi. 17 MEMBER SANGVHI: Mr. Boulard, 18 what exactly are we working on here as 19 far as the rear yard setback? 20 MR. BOULARD: With regard to 21 the rear yard setback, the required 22 rear yard setback would be 35 feet 23 basically from the edge of the water. 24 That would be a diagonal line -- close
1 to diagonal line across the property, 2 parallel to the waterfront. 3 The original request was for 4 12.94 feet of rear setback, which would 5 have required a variance of 22.06 6 feet. The current plan would -- as 7 opposed to 35 feet, would have a 8 17-foot rear setback, which would 9 require an 18-foot variance to make up 10 the balance of the 35 feet. 11 MEMBER SANGHVI: We are 12 working on 18 feet of variance? 13 MR. BOULARD: As near as I 14 can tell with the slope lines and so 15 on, absolutely. 16 MEMBER SANGHVI: Out of 35? 17 MR. BOULARD: Yes, sir. 18 MEMBER SANGHVI: And the same 19 applies to the rest of them, as well, 20 all the setbacks? 21 MR. BOULARD: I'm sorry? 22 MEMBER SANGHVI: You 23 mentioned here in the list of 24 variances, front yard setback, ten
1 feet; and north, ten feet. They are 2 all ten feet; there is no division in 3 those? 4 MR. BOULARD: No. The side 5 setbacks, there was some little 6 adjustment to get at least five feet 7 there for the side setback. Those are 8 I think point -- the differences are a 9 tenth of a point. 10 There is a reduced lot 11 coverage based on the fact that the 12 house slid back, and also the garage 13 was shortened. The garage on the 14 original plan was 31 feet; it's been 15 modified to 26.5. One of my 16 recommendations was that it's important 17 to have room to pull a car onto the 18 property. Certainly, while the 19 driveway is longer than just the 20 20 feet, that's public right-of-way, and 21 there is no guarantee that at some 22 point in the future there might not be 23 pathways, walkways and so on. So I 24 felt it was important to have room to
1 pull a vehicle off the street without 2 blocking that. 3 MEMBER SANGVHI: Thank you. 4 I just wanted to highlight the changes 5 that have been made since they were 6 here last. And significant changes 7 have been made in the plan, it would 8 appear, so you can look into -- how 9 long ago since there was a house there? 10 MR. CUMMINGS: Please say 11 that again. 12 MEMBER SANGHVI: When was the 13 house demolished from that property? 14 MR. CUMMINGS: 2006. 15 MEMBER SANGHVI: There has 16 been a clear view all along, and 17 suddenly something is going to go up. 18 And that is obviously going to affect 19 the current view by the presence of a 20 new house coming in. 21 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other 22 comments by any members? 23 MEMBER SANGHVI: Pardon? 24 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any
1 other -- 2 MEMBER CASSIS: He hasn't 3 finished. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Go ahead. 5 I apologize. 6 MEMBER SANGHVI: So, 7 considering all these things, there is 8 going to be a change in the view, if 9 there is no house and the house is 10 coming up. Whatever the size of the 11 house may be, the view is going change. 12 And that is inevitable. I don't think 13 anybody can do anything about it. 14 And the two concerns, number 15 one, about the run-off during the 16 construction of the building and the 17 pollution of the lake, which can be 18 taken care of by the requirements of 19 the building department and all that. 20 We are left with a big bone 21 of contention in the rear yard setback. 22 And am I rightly understanding you are 23 going back to the old footprint of the 24 house for the rear yard setback?
1 MR. CUMMINGS: Yes, sir. 2 MEMBER SANGHVI: That was the 3 footprint of the previous house? 4 MR. CUMMINGS: Yes. 5 MEMBER SANGVHI: I have no 6 further questions. Thank you. 7 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you, 8 Member Sanghvi. 9 I have a couple comments 10 before we conclude. I also agree with 11 my colleagues. I think, based on the 12 revisions, certainly they are a lot 13 better. Of course, nothing is going to 14 be perfect. We have had a lot of these 15 lake lots in the past, whether they be 16 a garage or other issues with the lake 17 lots. They were drawn up years ago. 18 You can't change your lot size. The 19 size of the house is reasonable. 20 Certainly, you need the variances. The 21 question is the degrees of the 22 variances. And your job when you come 23 to the board is to try to minimize the 24 variances you are requesting.
1 Certainly, you made 2 significant changes, so I think based 3 on your changes it does seem 4 reasonable. I think you do meet our 5 standards for practical difficulty. I 6 would be in favor of it. 7 Anybody else? Comments? I 8 think at the present time, if there is 9 no other comments, I will give you a 10 couple seconds. I know you wanted to 11 make a couple comments about other 12 public comments. Take a few seconds. 13 MR. CUMMINGS: The lake 14 environment issues. I have hired one 15 of the best builders in this area to do 16 my building. Matt Thurber, he is in 17 attendance tonight, and he has built 18 dozens of homes in the city. He lives 19 on a lake, and he's built dozens of 20 homes on lakes. And I feel confident 21 he will bring expertise and value and 22 will overcome any items that lake 23 environment issues may create. And we 24 would work with Mr. Boulard in that
1 area. 2 It was mentioned earlier, 3 there is a lot of renters on the lake. 4 My petition I got was 100 percent from 5 homeowners that live on the lake of 6 East Lake Drive. 7 My garage was not 30 feet. 8 My garage, as Mr. Boulard said, 9 was decreased five feet. You have 10 steps coming out of the garage, because 11 you have to get out somehow; they are 12 approximately five feet. We end up 13 with about 20 feet. By the time I park 14 a car, there is no room left in the 15 garage. But, again, the safety aspect 16 was more important than requesting 17 anything different. 18 I met with my neighbors in 19 early October, and they had given me an 20 ultimatum of 30 feet. They asked me to 21 come to their house, and we spent 90 22 minutes, and they still gave me that 23 ultimatum of 30 feet. So, there wasn't 24 really anything else to talk about,
1 because I was given that two occasions, 2 one over that 90-minute discussion. 3 The view that I showed from 4 the deck of 1250, which my neighbor to 5 the north, that view is not going to 6 change on any height on my house, okay. 7 Not going to change. It was said the 8 house was going to be 45 feet. The 9 house is going to be 31 feet in the 10 front and 38 feet in the rear, far from 11 that particular comment. 12 And thank you again. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. No 14 other comments? The public remarks 15 section is closed at this point. 16 If there is no other comments 17 from the board, I will entertain in a 18 motion. Member Ibe. 19 MEMBER IBE: Thank you, 20 Mr. Chair. In Case No. 10-041, 1254 21 East Lake Drive, I move that we grant 22 the petitioner's request as requested, 23 meaning all six variances, for the 24 following reasons:
1 One, that the variance -- the 2 property in question here presents 3 unique circumstances due to its 4 physical condition, as well as the 5 narrowness of this particular lot, that 6 requires for this variance in order to 7 have the property to be constructed on 8 the property. 9 The need is not self-created. 10 Again, this goes back to the lot size 11 as well as the physical conditions of 12 this particular waterfront that makes 13 it very difficult for anything to 14 happen, as such, for variances that are 15 requested by the petitioner. 16 Strict compliance of the 17 regulations governing the areas, the 18 heights, the setback, frontage, bulk, 19 density will unreasonably prevent this 20 particular applicant to accomplish 21 construction of the property that he 22 wants to build unless the variances are 23 granted. Therefore, not conforming to 24 the strict requirement of the
1 regulations will not -- will allow the 2 petitioner to meet the obligation that 3 he has set for himself. 4 The requested variance is 5 perhaps the minimum requirement that 6 will do substantial justice to this 7 applicant. For example, the applicant 8 has moved the setback I think back to 9 the original line of the old property 10 that was there before it was 11 demolished. So, obviously, he can't go 12 any farther. And requiring that he 13 move it any further than what was 14 originally on the property will be 15 asking too much of this petitioner. 16 And, finally, the requested 17 variance, with all due respect to the 18 objections that have been given by the 19 concerned homeowners, will not 20 necessarily cause an adverse impact on 21 the surrounding properties. I think it 22 will actually create a reverse. It may 23 actually -- 24 MEMBER CASSIS: Enhance.
1 MEMBER IBE: -- enhance the 2 property values and the enjoyment of 3 the other properties in the area. 4 Considering the fact that the 5 petitioner has taken substantial amount 6 of time to investigate all the 7 particulars that are required to 8 accomplish this construction, I move 9 that based on the reasons previously 10 stated and the reasons stated by this 11 petitioner, in consideration with the 12 objections that have been made, that 13 the board grant the petitioner's 14 request. Thank you. 15 MEMBER CASSIS: Second. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: We have a 17 motion and a second. Any further 18 discussion by the board? 19 Seeing none, Ms. Martin, 20 please call the roll. 21 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 22 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 23 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 24 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes.
1 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 2 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 3 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 4 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 5 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 6 Ghannam? 7 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 8 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 9 five to zero. 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: 11 Congratulations, sir. 12 MR. CUMMINGS: Thank you very 13 much. 14 MEMBER CASSIS: Good luck. 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Next case 16 on the agenda, Case No. 10-053, for 17 24800 Novi Road, for Michigan Tractor & 18 Machine. 19 Is the petitioner here on 20 that one? Seeing nobody here, there 21 has been apparently a request to extend 22 this until the January 11, 2011, Zoning 23 Board of Appeals meeting. 24 MR. BOULARD: You have the
1 correspondences in the file. 2 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 3 Well, has this been advertised for a 4 public hearing? 5 MS. MARTIN: Yes. 6 MR. BOULARD: If I may, the 7 public hearing -- we held this 8 last time for this. We have already 9 had the public hearing. 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: There has 11 been correspondence to adjourn it, you 12 are saying? 13 MR. BOULARD: Yes. They 14 previously asked for it to be delayed; 15 there is some other judicial concerns. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: No 17 problem. So if there is -- given there 18 is a request to extend this until the 19 January 11, 2011, can I hear a motion 20 to adjourn this particular case? 21 MEMBER SANGHVI: So move. 22 MEMBER IBE: Second. 23 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 24 discussion by the board? Seeing none,
1 Ms. Martin, can you please call the 2 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 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 14 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 15 seven (sic) to zero, to be tabled to 16 the January 11th meeting. 17 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Next case 18 on the agenda is Case No. 10-054, 41325 19 Ten Mile Road, PNC Bank. 20 I doubt -- I don't think the 21 petitioner is here. But there also has 22 been a request to table this until the 23 December -- I'm sorry, from this 24 meeting -- I take that back. There has
1 been a request to withdraw this? 2 MS. MARTIN: Correct. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Do 4 we need to take a vote on that to 5 dismiss this or something? 6 MS. KUDLA: Generally, no, 7 but since they are on here, you might 8 as well. 9 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: So I will 10 entertain a motion to accept the 11 withdrawal of this case from the 12 agenda. 13 MEMBER SANGHVI: So move. 14 MEMBER KRIEGER: Second. 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 16 further discussion by the board? 17 Seeing none, Ms. Martin, can you please 18 call the roll. 19 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 20 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 21 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 22 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 23 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 24 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes.
1 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 2 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 3 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 4 Ghannam? 5 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 6 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes. 7 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you. 8 MS. MARTIN: Five to zero. 9 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Next case 10 on the agenda is for 10-055, 39465 11 Fourteen Mile Road, PNC Bank. There 12 has also been a request to withdraw 13 this case from this particular meeting; 14 same applicant. So, given that 15 request, I will take a -- I will 16 entertain a motion to accept the 17 withdrawal. 18 MEMBER SANGHVI: So move. 19 MEMBER KRIEGER: Second. 20 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 21 further discussion from the board? 22 Seeing none, Ms. Martin, can you please 23 call the roll? 24 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi?
1 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 2 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 3 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 4 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 5 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 6 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 7 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 8 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 9 Ghannam? 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 11 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 12 five to zero. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Next item 14 on the agenda, Case No. 10-056, 41000 15 Thirteen Mile Road, Fox Run. 16 Is the petitioner here for 17 that one? Petitioner is not here. It 18 has been scheduled for public hearing. 19 And has there been a request 20 to extend this to the next meeting, 21 tabled to the next meeting? 22 MR. BOULARD: There is 23 correspondence in the file. The 24 petitioner had difficulty getting the
1 mock sign in in a timely fashion, so 2 they asked to have that moved to 3 January to give them more time. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Do we need 5 to go through all the correspondence or 6 anything in this meeting? 7 MS. KUDLA: We are opening it 8 to public hearing and tabling it. 9 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. So, 10 at this point, since the applicant is 11 not here -- first of all, is there 12 anybody in the public that might want 13 to make a comment on this particular 14 case? Seeing none, I will close the 15 public remarks section. 16 And, Mr. Secretary, can you 17 please read any correspondence into the 18 record on this particular case? 19 MEMBER IBE: Yes, Mr. Chair, 20 in Case ZBA 10-056, there were 725 21 notices mailed, two approval, two 22 objections, 45 mail returned. 23 One of the two objections, 24 the first one was written by Jan Martin
1 of 29769 Rousseau, dated 12/6/2010. 2 And it reads, "As far as I 3 know, Fox run is a private enterprise. 4 I live on Thirteen Mile Road and pass 5 this property often. I highly doubt 6 many people are actually becoming lost 7 because they could not see the current 8 signage. I do believe a variance of 27 9 square feet is not necessary nor would 10 it be attractive. It is not as if this 11 is a major public gathering place in a 12 difficult-to-find area. The 13 directions: Thirteen Mile Road between 14 Meadowbrook and M-5; how difficult is 15 that?" 16 The next objection, signed by 17 Kirk and Judy Jacobson, address 44715 18 Oak Forest Drive, dated 12/5/2010. 19 And it reads, "We are 20 strongly against granting a variance 21 for Fox Run's sign. The ordinance is 22 put in place to preserve the aesthetics 23 of the neighborhood, and we see no 24 reason to change the ordinance for one
1 individual." 2 The first approval, signed by 3 T.J. Truske, of 30243 Viewcrest Drive, 4 dated 12/3/2010. 5 And it reads, "The residents 6 at Fox Run are not getting any younger, 7 and they are up in years (sic), they 8 will need a bigger sign." 9 MEMBER CASSIS: I'm sorry. 10 MEMBER IBE: The other 11 approval is from Vincent and Anne Marie 12 Kolpacke, address 40497 Lenox Park 13 Drive, Novi, 48377, dated 12/3/2010. 14 And it reads, "We have no 15 objections to the requested sign." 16 Those are the four 17 correspondence, Mr. Chair. 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 19 Any comments by the city on this 20 particular case? 21 MS. KUDLA: No. 22 MR. BOULARD: No. 23 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 24 comments by the board? I will
1 entertain a motion to table this. 2 MEMBER SANGHVI: I make a 3 motion we approve the tabling of this 4 case to the January meeting. 5 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay, 6 second? 7 MEMBER KRIEGER: Second. 8 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Anybody 9 second that? 10 MEMBER KRIEGER: I did. 11 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: If there 12 is no further discussion from the 13 board, Ms. Martin, can you please call 14 the roll. 15 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 16 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 17 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 18 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 19 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 20 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 21 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 22 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 23 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 24 Ghannam?
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 2 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 3 five to zero. 4 MEMBER CASSIS: Should we 5 keep the material? 6 MS. MARTIN: Yes, I would 7 like them. Just keep it in your 8 folder, and I will take it back. 9 MEMBER CASSIS: Put it in the 10 folder? 11 MS. MARTIN: Yes. 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Next item 13 on the agenda is Case No. 10-057, for 14 25300 Constitution, Main Street 15 Village. The petitioner is requesting 16 an extension to variance ZBA 09-038, to 17 allow the continued placement of an 18 existing real estate sign located south 19 of Potomac Drive in Main Street 20 Village. The property is zoned TC-1 21 and is located south of Grand River 22 Avenue and east of Novi Road. 23 Will the applicant please 24 come forward? And there is no
1 applicant here. 2 Is there any request to table 3 this? 4 MS. MARTIN: No. 5 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 6 communication why they are not here? 7 MS. MARTIN: No. 8 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I guess we 9 can do one of two things, either move 10 to deny or move to table this, correct? 11 MS. KUDLA: You can open up 12 to a public hearing and then talk about 13 any comments, you know, that the public 14 might have. 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Is 16 there anybody from the public who would 17 like to make a comment on this 18 particular case? Seeing no one in the 19 audience, I will close the public 20 remarks section and ask the secretary 21 to read any correspondence into the 22 record. 23 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, in 24 ZBA 10-057, there were 47 notices
1 mailed, zero responses, two mail 2 returned. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 4 comments from the city on this one? 5 MS. KUDLA: No. 6 MR. BOULARD: The only 7 comment that I would have is that there 8 have been put out -- there have been 9 numerous variances for. This is a 10 temporary retail -- real estate leasing 11 sign. 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: How many 13 variances has there been in the past 14 for this particular sign? 15 MR. BOULARD: The records 16 show that there was a variance in '05 17 for a six-month extension; ZBA variance 18 06-016 for 12 months; ZBA 07-023 for 12 19 months; ZBA Case 08-034 was approved 20 for 12 months, and ZBA Case 09-038 for 21 a 12-month extension. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 23 MS. KUDLA: You could -- 24 basically, you could base your decision
1 on what's in the records, so that would 2 be any correspondence, any public 3 comments, anything that's in the 4 application and the materials presented 5 by the petitioner and anything 6 presented by the city staff. If you 7 can make a determination based on that, 8 you can make a motion to approve or 9 deny. 10 Or, alternatively, if you 11 don't feel you have enough information, 12 you can move to table it. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 14 comments or suggestions from the board 15 members? 16 MEMBER KRIEGER: Are there 17 comments or letters that were sent in? 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: No, there 19 is none in the record. So we can make 20 our decision. We can table it, we can 21 deny it, we can do whatever we want. 22 MEMBER SANGVHI: I think as a 23 courtesy, we table it for one month, 24 and if they don't show up after that,
1 we throw it out. 2 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other 3 comments or suggestions? Would you 4 like to make a motion? 5 MEMBER CASSIS: Let's do it, 6 yeah. 7 MEMBER SANGHVI: I make a 8 motion that we table this Case No. 9 10-057, 25300 Constitution, for one 10 month for lack of appearance of the 11 applicants. 12 MEMBER CASSIS: Second. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 14 further discussion? Seeing none, 15 Ms. Martin, can you please call the 16 roll. 17 MS. KUDLA: Can we say a date 18 so we don't have to re-notice it? 19 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: It would 20 be the January 11, 2011; is that 21 acceptable to you? 22 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yeah. 23 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: With that 24 amendment, 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 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 13 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 14 seven to -- or five to zero, sorry. 15 CHAIRMAN WROBEL: Next on the 16 agenda, 10-058, for 42970 Grand River 17 Avenue, Tony Sacco's Pizza. The 18 petitioner is requesting a variance to 19 install an additional 50-square-foot 20 wall sign on the building located at 21 42970 Grand River Avenue for Tony 22 Sacco's Coal Oven Pizza. The property 23 is zoned TC and is located north of 24 Grand River and east of Novi Road.
1 Will the petitioner please 2 come forward. Sir, are you an 3 attorney? 4 MR. CRANNIE: No. 5 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 6 State your name, and you can be sworn 7 by our secretary. 8 MR. CRANNIE: Dan Crannie. 9 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Please 10 raise your hand, please. 11 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in Case 12 10-058, 42970 Grand River Avenue, do 13 you swear or affirm to tell the truth? 14 MR. CRANNIE: I do. 15 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Go ahead 17 and state your case, please. 18 MR. CRANNIE: I'm from Signs 19 by Crannie; we are the sign 20 manufacturer for Tony Sacco's Pizza. 21 We manufacture their signs all over the 22 Midwest United States, and we are a 23 Michigan-based company. So, kudos to 24 them for picking a Michigan
1 manufacturer for a change. 2 Their entrance to Tony 3 Sacco's is on the side of the building, 4 and we have already installed the sign. 5 I'm sure the board has probably viewed 6 because you look at the banner. The 7 main ID sign they wanted to face Grand 8 River, because that's the most obvious 9 place for traffic and such. But they 10 also wanted to identify the side of the 11 building, being they are on two roads, 12 which is over their main entrance as 13 well. 14 There is a number of local 15 businesses. We've worked with The 16 Simon Group, their local 17 representative, also suggested that we 18 remind the board there is a number of 19 businesses in this general area that 20 have been granted variances for similar 21 locations, whether viewed from two 22 roads or maybe two directions of the 23 development there. 24 And, you know, we are not
1 looking for anything unreasonable. As 2 I stated, you have probably seen the 3 signs, the banner that was put up to 4 represent what the other sign looked 5 like is pretty much identical to this 6 sign that's already up on the other 7 wall. 8 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 9 Anybody from the public would like to 10 make a comment on this particular case? 11 Seeing none, I will close the public 12 remark section and ask the secretary to 13 read any correspondence into the 14 record. 15 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, there 16 were 43 notices mailed, zero responses, 17 eight mail returned. 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 19 comments from the city on this 20 particular case? 21 MS. KUDLA: No. 22 MR. BOULARD: The only 23 question I have, if I could, of the 24 petitioner. The sign that you are
1 intending -- the second sign you are 2 intending to install under the variance 3 would be on the north side or the east 4 side of the building? It would be the 5 side -- 6 MR. CRANNIE: East. 7 MR. BOULARD: -- away from 8 Grand River or facing the adjacent 9 drive? 10 MR. CRANNIE: Yeah, it's on 11 the east side of the building. 12 MR. BOULARD: Okay. That's 13 all I have. There are some -- based on 14 previous questions, we've got some 15 nearby signs for reference sizes. Any 16 questions, I will be happy to answer. 17 Thank you. 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 19 comments from the board? 20 Member Sanghvi. 21 MEMBER SANGHVI: I have no 22 objection to granting this request. 23 Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Member
1 Cassis. 2 MEMBER CASSIS: Yeah, with 3 all due respect to my colleague here, 4 you know, what is really at issue here 5 with me, is the establishment is only 6 going to occupy part of that building. 7 And if another outfit comes to occupy 8 the other third or other half of that 9 building, and they come before us and 10 say, "Well, look, we want to put a 11 sign, two signs there." I mean, that's 12 what -- I mean, I can see where they 13 might need two signs, or it would be 14 good for them. But they are only 15 occupying part of this building. And 16 what do we do with the other person 17 that comes in and occupies the other 18 part of the building? 19 MR. CRANNIE: They are 20 occupying 80 percent. 21 MEMBER CASSIS: But that 22 doesn't matter. 23 MR. CRANNIE: I understand. 24 MEMBER CASSIS: There is
1 still 20 percent. That is what is at 2 issue with me. And I'm willing to hear 3 from others. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other 5 comments? 6 MEMBER KRIEGER: Question. 7 Excuse me, the Tony Sacco's sign, is 8 that a mock-up or is that a sign that 9 would be installed and left there, 10 that's up there already? There are two 11 signs up, one on the south side and one 12 on the east side. 13 MR. CRANNIE: One is the real 14 sign and one is a mock-up. 15 MEMBER KRIEGER: Oh, cause 16 they look so similar, I wasn't sure. 17 MR. CRANNIE: We tried to 18 give as best representation as we 19 could. 20 MEMBER KRIEGER: That was 21 very good. Instead of half of the 22 building, they are just going to have 23 that corner where the two signs are? 24 MR. CRANNIE: No, they occupy
1 I believe it's 80 percent of the 2 building. And it wouldn't benefit 3 another tenant on the other end to have 4 two signs, because it's -- with the 5 trees and the growth that's there, it 6 wouldn't benefit them. They are not 7 facing another road as this end of the 8 building is facing, you know, two 9 roads. 10 MEMBER KRIEGER: Would they 11 get a ground sign as well, or are they 12 just looking for these two wall signs? 13 MR. CRANNIE: Just looking 14 for the two wall signs. 15 MEMBER KRIEGER: Down the 16 street it's Pei Wei, and they have also 17 two signs, and they are similar. So, 18 because of the having two streets or 19 two views, and their entrance being on 20 the east side, I can understand you 21 drive around the mall area, somebody 22 coming southbound toward Grand River 23 wouldn't know where Tony Sacco's was 24 until they were on Grand River. So I
1 can understand and agree with the 2 request. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 4 Just -- I've got a few comments. The 5 other ones that you have listed, Biggby 6 Coffee, Pot Belly, AT & T, they also 7 have two signs because of the unique 8 corner they are on, is that correct? 9 MR. CRANNIE: Yes. 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I think 11 all three of them do, if I recall. 12 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 13 MR. BOULARD: I don't know 14 that those are necessarily the first 15 sign or the second sign for those. In 16 the Town Center district, we -- the 17 provision that would allow two signs 18 because of the corner does not apply. 19 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: That I 20 understand. But what I'm saying, I do 21 recall -- I know AT & T and I remember 22 the coffee place, they have come in for 23 variances to put a second sign in 24 because of the corner they are on.
1 MR. BOULARD: Yes. 2 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: That's 3 what I'm saying. Even though there is 4 precedent, we do take your case 5 separately as to the uniqueness of 6 your particular circumstances. But I 7 do see the need because of that unique 8 corner because of how it's situated and 9 so forth, and the size of your space 10 within that building, so I would no 11 have no problem with that. 12 But that being said, you also 13 understand, sir, we do have five 14 members, and we would have to have four 15 of the five to get an approval. And 16 you have the choice of maintaining or 17 keeping your case here tonight or 18 adjourning it or tabling it until a 19 full board. You understand that? 20 MR. CRANNIE: I do. I'd just 21 like to hear all the comments. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I 23 understand. Any other comments by the 24 board? Seeing none, I will ask for a
1 motion, but before I do that, would you 2 like to keep this here for tonight and 3 request a vote? 4 MR. CRANNIE: Being my 5 customer was hoping to open within 6 days, I kind of actually have to. 7 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 8 Given that, anybody like to state a 9 motion? Member Krieger. 10 MEMBER KRIEGER: In regards 11 to Case 10-058, 42970 Grand River 12 Avenue, for Tony Sacco's Coal Oven 13 Pizza, I move to approve their request 14 for the installation of an additional 15 50-square-foot wall sign on the east or 16 south so they have their two wall signs 17 as requested on this address. 18 And that petitioner's 19 request, their practical difficulty is 20 that if they are driving southbound on 21 Grand River and looking for the pizza 22 place, they wouldn't encounter it 23 unless they are coming on Grand River, 24 so they have more difficulty locating
1 the area. And because they face two 2 streets, they have two frontages, one 3 on the east side and one on Grand 4 River. 5 And that the requests are 6 exceptional and unique to this 7 particular property, and that it would 8 unreasonably prevent the use of their 9 property. It would be an inability to 10 them acquire a higher economic return. 11 And it would not result in use of the 12 structure that is incompatible or 13 unreasonably interfere with surrounding 14 properties. 15 MEMBER SANGHVI: Second. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 17 further comments by the board? Seeing 18 none, Ms. Martin, can you please call 19 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?
1 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 2 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 3 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 4 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 5 Ghannam? 6 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 7 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 8 five to zero. 9 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: 10 Congratulations. 11 MR. CRANNIE: Wonderful. 12 Thank you. 13 One last thing, I was told to 14 ask here by Janice at the city if we 15 could waive from the ten days required 16 to wait after -- 17 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: You would 18 have to work with the city on that. We 19 just simply granted your request. You 20 would have to work with the city and 21 call someone from there to help you out 22 in that. 23 MR. BOULARD: The ordinance 24 requires the -- is it ordinance or the
1 rules? 2 MS. KUDLA: No, the 3 ordinance. 4 MR. BOULARD: The ordinance 5 requires typically a ten-day waiting 6 period before we could issue the 7 permit. They are looking to open right 8 away, and so the correct -- as I 9 understand it, the correct request 10 would be to the board as opposed to -- 11 it's not something that -- 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Is that 13 considered a variance? 14 MS. KUDLA: It would be a 15 variance from -- it's the sign 16 ordinance that requires it. 17 MR. BOULARD: Right. 18 MS. KUDLA: I would say you 19 can go ahead and consider that as a 20 request at this point and you can make 21 it part of the request. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: To waive 23 the ten-day requirement to put the 24 sign?
1 MS. KUDLA: Right. 2 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. I 3 have no problem with that. We granted 4 the request, so it doesn't matter to me 5 the timing. I understand you want to 6 open, so do we do an amendment to the 7 original motion? 8 MS. KUDLA: I would do it as 9 a separate motion. 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I will 11 look for a motion to waive the ten-day 12 requirement to placing the sign as 13 requested by the petitioner. 14 MEMBER CASSIS: Go for it. 15 MEMBER SANGHVI: I make a 16 motion to waive the ten-day requirement 17 in the former case. Thank you. 18 MEMBER KRIEGER: Second. 19 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. And 20 no further discussion by the board, 21 Ms. Martin, can you call the roll on 22 that motion? 23 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 24 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes.
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: Yes. 7 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 8 Ghannam? 9 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 10 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 11 five to zero. 12 MR. CRANNIE: Thanks again. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: You're 14 welcome. 15 Next case on the agenda is 16 for Case No. 10-059, 43235 Twelve Mile 17 Road, for American Mattress. The 18 petitioner is requesting a variance to 19 install the tenant name in both 20 three-square-foot tenant locations on 21 the existing ground sign adjacent to 22 the mall ring road, and an additional 23 90-square-foot wall sign on the 24 building located at 43235 Twelve Mile
1 Road. The property is zoned RC and is 2 located south of Twelve Mile and east 3 of Novi Road. 4 Is the applicant here? Sir, 5 could you step forward? If you could 6 state your name and address, please. 7 MR. FIELDS: William Fields. 8 And you want my home address or 9 business? 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Either 11 one. 12 MR. FIELDS: 43235 Twelve 13 Mile Road, Novi, Michigan. 14 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Are you an 15 attorney? 16 MR. FIELDS: No, sir. 17 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Please 18 raise your hand and be sworn. 19 MEMBER IBE: In Case No. 20 10-059, 04325 Twelve Mile Road, do you 21 swear or affirm to tell the truth? 22 MR. FIELDS: I do. 23 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Go ahead
1 and please state your case. 2 MR. FIELDS: Well, thank you 3 for taking the time to look at this for 4 us. We have petitioned to add a sign 5 over the -- what is actually the front 6 door of our store there. 7 We are allowed one sign on 8 the building, which we opted to place 9 on the Twelve Mile Road side of the 10 building. And since putting it there, 11 what's happened is through the summer 12 months as the traffic drives by, 13 particularly that traffic that's 14 eastbound on Twelve Mile, with the 15 foliage that sets along the side of the 16 road, they are already past our 17 driveway before they can see the sign 18 on the Twelve Mile side of the 19 building. 20 They then go down, and 21 either -- we don't know where they go. 22 They will turn and try to come back on 23 the ring road to come back in to find 24 the property. That's the reason why
1 the second request for the ring road 2 sign variance is asked there. 3 But we have no sign over the 4 front door of our store now. We needed 5 the sign on Twelve Mile so that the 6 building, the location, would be 7 visible so people would be able to find 8 us. 9 The way the building is 10 turned, our front door faces the rear 11 of the Gorman Furniture Company. So, 12 the sign that we are looking to place 13 will be as much of a directional sign 14 for people once they come into the 15 property, more than it will be an 16 advertising sign. It really won't face 17 out into the community anywhere; it 18 will face the Gorman Furniture 19 building. 20 What we have had happen since 21 we have been there, we have had daily, 22 an average of three people coming and 23 carrying rugs to us because Hagopian 24 had been in that store for so many
1 years, and that was their drop-off 2 center for their facility. They had up 3 until the last couple years used that 4 as a clearance center, so people were 5 still coming there. And they would 6 accept them coming through to use the 7 elevator to go down stairs to bring the 8 rugs in. 9 Since we have occupied the 10 space, that carrying the rugs through 11 the store is no longer being done, and 12 that's at their request, also. They 13 would like their customers to come into 14 their entrance of the building. 15 Since we put the sign, the 16 banner sign over the front door, we are 17 down to one person a day that comes up 18 to the building. We try to catch them, 19 because people aren't happy, they will 20 unload an arm load of rugs, and then 21 they fight their way in the door and 22 you say, "You are in the wrong place." 23 So, we have noticed that that has 24 greatly reduced the amount of confusion
1 that people are receiving. 2 The ring road portion of the 3 sign and variance on that, Mr. Hagopian 4 has offered to allow us to have both 5 panels of that ring road sign. The 6 reason behind that is that if we put 7 our sign, which would read, you know, 8 "Mattress," it's so hard to put 9 American Mattress Gallery in that 10 little panel that's there. If we just 11 put it there, the sign would read like, 12 "Mattress Hagopian." What we didn't 13 want to do and he didn't want to do, 14 draw traffic in his store the same way 15 we don't want to bring people in 16 looking to drop off rugs. He didn't 17 want to bring people in his store 18 looking to come in and shop for 19 mattresses and create that other level 20 of confusion. So he offered to 21 relinquish that portion of the sign to 22 us so that we could use both panels for 23 American Mattress and then put an arrow 24 or Gallery on there to direct people
1 from the ring road up to that curved 2 driveway and around the building. 3 It's awkward to find us in 4 that location once you miss our 5 driveway. And if you have driven east 6 on Twelve Mile Road, you would see. 7 When I speak -- moving westbound on 8 Twelve Mile, it's no problem. You can 9 see us coming from Farmington or 10 Farmington Hills and coming that way, 11 because you will see the sign on the 12 Twelve Mile side of the building. But 13 if you are eastbound going back across, 14 the traffic is too close. And, 15 particularly, in the summer months, 16 there is just no visibility of that 17 Twelve Mile Road sign until you are 18 past it. 19 So we are hoping for -- the 20 sign over the doorway, which is where 21 you really need a sign, also, the store 22 actually looks almost vacant now 23 without a sign over the doorway. So 24 the banner that we put up there has
1 helped. That's made a difference. 2 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 3 Anybody from the public would like to 4 make a comment on this case at this 5 time? Seeing none, I will close the 6 public remarks section and ask our 7 secretary to review correspondence in 8 the record. 9 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, there 10 were Fourteen notices mailed, one 11 approval, zero mail returned. The sole 12 approval that we have is dated December 13 6, 2010. 14 And it reads: "Dear Zoning 15 Board. I would like to submit in 16 writing my support for American 17 Mattress Gallery in their effort to 18 request a variance to erect a sign at 19 their new location at 43235 Twelve Mile 20 Road. I am the owner and occupant of 21 the building where the sign will be 22 located. Please consider the history 23 of signage on this building below when 24 reviewing their request.
1 "When Hagopian occupied the 2 entire building beginning in 1998, we 3 had the following signage that was 4 allowed through ordinance and/or 5 variance: 6 "One Hagopian sign facing 7 west over our upper level front door. 8 One Hagopian sign facing north on 9 Twelve Mile Road. One Hagopian sign 10 facing the mall over our lower level 11 front door southeast. One rug cleaning 12 over our service door facing the mall, 13 and one small monument sign on ring 14 road. Five total signs. 15 "Around 2003, the building 16 was occupied by two tenants, Hagopian 17 upper level and Roche Bobois lower 18 level, and we had the following 19 approved signage: 20 "One Hagopian sign facing 21 west over our front door. Two signs 22 facing north on Twelve Mile Road, 23 Hagopian and Roche Bobois. The rug 24 cleaning sign was moved to the upper
1 level facing west. One Roche Bobois 2 sign over the front door facing the 3 mall. One Hagopian sign was added 4 facing due south. One small monument 5 sign on ring road indicating Hagopian 6 and Roche Bobois, for a total of seven 7 total signs. 8 "Today the building again has 9 two tenants, American Mattress upper 10 level and Hagopian lower level. And 11 our current signage consists of: 12 "Two signs facing north on 13 Twelve Mile Road, Hagopian and American 14 Mattress Gallery. One Hagopian sign 15 facing the mall over our entrance. One 16 Hagopian sign facing south. One small 17 monument sign now indicating just 18 Hagopian. No signs facing west. This 19 is where American Mattress Gallery is 20 requesting by variance their sign. The 21 Hagopian and rug cleaning signs have 22 been removed from this area. Five total 23 signs currently. 24 "The sign variance American
1 Mattress is requesting is strictly 2 important to properly identify their 3 space, and based on that need and the 4 precedent that has been set by earlier 5 boards. I hope you will approve the 6 variance they are requesting. Thank 7 you for your consideration. 8 "Signed, Hagopian World of 9 Rugs, Edmond Hagopian, president." 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 11 comments by the city? 12 MS. KUDLA: No. 13 MR. BOULARD: Just that there 14 are, as mentioned by Mr. Hagopian in 15 his letter, there are a lot of 16 variances previously, and some of those 17 have been amended. 18 If there is any questions, I 19 will be happy to try to work through 20 those. 21 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 22 questions, comments or discussion by 23 the board? Member Sanghvi. 24 MEMBER SANGHVI: Thank you,
1 Mr. Chair. 2 This is a separate business 3 from Hagopian, right? 4 MR. FIELDS: Correct. 5 MEMBER SANGHVI: You have a 6 separate entrance as well? 7 MR. FIELDS: Yes, sir. 8 MEMBER SANGHVI: You are 9 entitled to a business identification 10 sign and you need a sign to find where 11 you are from the ring road, so you need 12 a directional sign. I have no problem 13 with either of them. Thank you. 14 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you. 15 Any other discussion by the board? 16 Member Krieger. 17 MEMBER KRIEGER: I agree that 18 this site is complicated to -- you have 19 to know the area in order to get up to 20 the mattress area and the little drive 21 that goes around to -- looks like half 22 and half a store, half Hagopian, half 23 now mattress company. That if you are 24 on Twelve Mile, you see the sign, but
1 you are not sure -- I guess it would be 2 more for directional. You want to know 3 what's in this building. 4 And then if you are on the 5 ring road, you see Hagopian, but then 6 you don't know the mattress company is 7 where they are at. So I can understand 8 their request for their ground sign, 9 more for directional, so that somebody 10 sees American Mattress, okay, "Where is 11 American Mattress?" But if they know 12 that's where part of Hagopian is at, 13 that should assist them. 14 So, I also don't have any 15 difficulty with their request. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Member 17 Cassis. 18 MEMBER CASSIS: I don't mean 19 to be difficult tonight, but I am 20 having some problems. You know, this 21 is Twelve Oaks Mall. And question in 22 my mind is this: One locates in the 23 mall to be in the mall and to get the 24 advantage of the mall, not to get that
1 advantage of a thoroughfare such as 2 Twelve Mile, which is a divided 3 highway, and in that area, six lanes. 4 Question in my mind is do 5 people come to you because they see you 6 are on Twelve Mile Road or do they come 7 to you because you are part of Twelve 8 Oaks Mall? And, therefore, they come 9 to that location. 10 The other thing that I have 11 difficulty with, same thing about the 12 Tony Sacco thing, is someone gets a 13 building. Apparently, Hagopian wanted 14 to get more income. So he takes part 15 of his building and gives it to this 16 gentleman. What if he wants to give 17 another part of it? And this is where 18 I get some difficulties. 19 Like I said, I don't mean to 20 be difficult. But if we keep 21 proliferating signs all over -- I have 22 seen signs come up in this city that 23 ten years ago even, not 20 years ago, 24 would have been impossible to get.
1 Now, I know the city is 2 getting larger; it's bigger, and more 3 enterprises are coming up. And you 4 have every right to be identified; I 5 have no problem with that. And this is 6 up to the board here. 7 All I'm saying is two, four, 8 six, eight, nine different variances 9 and signs for one building. I mean, 10 how many -- how many signs can we get 11 in one building? 12 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other 14 comments by the board? Member Krieger. 15 MEMBER KRIEGER: 16 Philosophically, I totally agree with 17 you. 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Actually, 19 I've got a couple comments, too, sir. 20 I got a question for you. 21 On the ground sign, on the 22 ring road, Hagopian is willing to give 23 up its current one box and give you, 24 basically the Mattress Gallery, the
1 two? 2 MR. FIELDS: Correct. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: They don't 4 want any identification on that ground 5 sign? 6 MR. FIELDS: No, because they 7 have a very large sign that faces the 8 Twelve Oaks Mall; we have no 9 identification toward the mall. 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. As 11 long as that's their position, I have 12 no problem with that; the ground sign 13 is there. What you fill the boxes 14 with, I guess it's up to the land 15 owner. I don't really have any problem 16 with that. 17 If you move to the other sign 18 on the building, I mean, where you 19 propose the sign is a logical place, 20 but the Mattress Gallery has a sign on 21 the other side. You have two building 22 signs. And, in a sense, according to 23 our rules, two ground signs. I mean, 24 is it possible that they can take
1 down -- if they are granted one 2 variance to put on the front, can they 3 take down that other side sign? 4 MR. FIELDS: The other side 5 sign? 6 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: On the 7 other view of the building. 8 MR. FIELDS: On the Twelve 9 Mile side? 10 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Correct. 11 MR. FIELDS: Well, contrary 12 to what you were saying about where our 13 traffic comes from there, it does not 14 come from Twelve Oaks Mall. None of it 15 does. You can't find us from Twelve 16 Oaks Mall. 17 As a matter of fact, I had a 18 semi truck pull up into the hotel 19 parking lot the other day because he 20 came in with his GPS, and the GPS 21 direction, certain ones do, to Twelve 22 Oaks Mall. Once you get into the 23 Twelve Oaks Mall, you can't find us. 24 We don't draw our traffic from that.
1 We do draw our traffic from Twelve 2 Mile. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. My 4 question is why do you need that 5 additional sign? If you want one on 6 the front, where you propose today to 7 get a variance, why is the other one 8 necessary? 9 MR. FIELDS: As I stated 10 earlier, if you look at the way the 11 building is designed, when you pull in 12 off of Twelve Mile Road, you will see 13 the sign on the front of the building. 14 If you have not been there before -- 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I have 16 been there. But my question -- 17 MR. FIELDS: I'm saying if a 18 customer hasn't been there. If they 19 come in through the driveway, they see 20 the sign on the front of the building 21 from Twelve Mile. They start down that 22 little roadway going down; they see no 23 doorway into the building. They 24 continue on down, they go to the
1 Hagopian, they pull up there thinking 2 they can get to our store from that 3 side. Because we don't have a strong 4 indication; we have limited, and I 5 think very tastefully done, letter 6 signs that say Serta and Tempur-Pedic 7 in the window. But they really don't 8 direct people to where the store is. 9 People are driving in and 10 they are just making a quick decision. 11 They go down the road because there is 12 no indication there is a doorway 13 there. 14 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: That I 15 understand, but that's the space that 16 you chose. 17 MR. FIELDS: Correct. 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: So, the 19 ordinance limits signs. Clearly, you 20 are asking for a lot of variances. I 21 guess I'm trying to find a compromise 22 to see if you want -- let's put it this 23 way: If you had to choose, if you were 24 only given one building sign, where
1 would it be best for you? Would it be 2 in the front where you propose today or 3 the other side? Which one would be 4 best for it? 5 MR. FIELDS: Twelve Mile. 6 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Where it 7 currently sits? 8 MR. FIELDS: It was a 9 choice -- we didn't know -- originally 10 when we discussed the property, we were 11 misinformed that there was -- what our 12 understanding was, there was a variance 13 for the sign, from the sign for the 14 door and sign for Twelve Mile. We 15 accepted that. When we went to apply 16 for the permits, we found out the 17 variance meant you could only have the 18 sign in one place or the other. 19 If we put the sign over the 20 doorway, over the parking lot, we would 21 draw no traffic whatsoever to the 22 location. It would have not made sense 23 to be there. So we opted to do that. 24 And then we were under the impression
1 that we may be able to get a variance 2 to put a sign back over the entranceway 3 to the door to direct people in. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Where you 5 currently propose it is not what really 6 draws your traffic, it's just from your 7 position to determine where you enter, 8 that's all? 9 MR. FIELDS: Yeah. It would 10 be more to that than it would be to 11 draw traffic. 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: To me, my 13 problem with that is, you are 14 requesting a 90-foot wall sign, which 15 is very large. I understand you are 16 not physically taking up 90 square 17 feet, but the way our ordinance 18 requires it to be measured, it's 90 19 square feet. And to me that does seem 20 to be very large, considering the other 21 signs you already have on the building. 22 So, are there any other 23 comments by the board? Member Ibe. 24 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, I
1 would just like to recall what was said 2 by Mr. Chairman as well as my 3 colleague, Member Cassis. 4 Sir, unfortunately, you took 5 this property as is, and the building 6 was there, and the door was there when 7 you took it. So, you obviously knew 8 that it was facing the way of Gorman's. 9 And I have driven down the street so 10 many times, and believe me, I see your 11 sign right there on Twelve Mile. I 12 have been to that building so many 13 times. In fact, Hagopian, they did 14 work for me for years. I pretty much 15 know where this is. 16 And with no offense to anyone 17 else who comes to your place, frankly, 18 I think you have to be either blind not 19 to see the door once you pull into the 20 place. It seemed very obvious when you 21 pull in there, it's right in front of 22 you; you can't miss it. The windows 23 are so -- I mean, you can look in from 24 Twelve Mile and see what's inside. The
1 fact that people are missing the door, 2 to me, is a bit stretching the truth. 3 You are only entitled to one 4 sign now, as far as, you know, for the 5 purpose of advertising your business. 6 What you are proposing here is a 7 directional sign. But what you are 8 asking for doesn't fit with a 9 directional sign. It is too large; it 10 defeats the purpose. 11 I'm inclined to vote for what 12 you are asking for; however, I will not 13 grant you your request unless you can 14 find a way to either have a little 15 directional sign pointing where the 16 door is, or you can elect to choose the 17 sign over the door or the current sign 18 that you have on Twelve Mile Road. 19 As far as the ring road is 20 concerned, I have no problem with that 21 because that is between you and the 22 landlord, and they have given you space 23 for you to put in your sign, so I have 24 no problem with that.
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Given the 2 comments, sir, you understand, as I 3 mentioned to other applicants, we have 4 five members here. There is a total of 5 seven that are members. You have the 6 right to table this for a full board or 7 you can receive some type of vote 8 today. And you have to get at least 9 four out of the five members to vote 10 for your particular request. You have 11 the option of tabling this or 12 proceeding today. What is your choice? 13 MR. FIELDS: I will go with 14 the board's decision today. 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 16 Given that, any further discussion by 17 the board? Member Krieger. 18 MEMBER KRIEGER: I did -- 19 when I drove by that, it does seem 20 large, 90 square feet. But when you 21 drive by, it's aesthetically correct 22 with the building, so in that regard, 23 that's why I would agree with that 24 particular part of that sign. That's
1 it. 2 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I will 3 entertain any motions by the board. 4 Member Krieger. 5 MEMBER KRIEGER: In regards 6 to Case 10-059, 43235 Twelve Mile 7 Road, American Mattress Gallery, and 8 the petitioner's request, I move to 9 approve the variance request to install 10 the tenant name on the 11 three-square-foot existing ground sign 12 on the mall ring road and the 13 90-square-foot wall sign on their -- 14 over their door location as the mock-up 15 is displayed on their address. 16 And that this variance, the 17 practical difficulty is as you drive by 18 on eastbound during the summer on 19 Twelve Mile Road at 45 miles an hour 20 with the grown trees in the way, you 21 would not be able to see the north side 22 sign. But if you are coming westbound, 23 you would be able to see it. And as 24 you are coming eastbound with the
1 proposed sign, that they would be able 2 to as you drive by that, they would 3 see -- be able to enter into that site. 4 And that the ground sign, if they 5 happen to miss it and get into 6 McDonald's and Twelve Oaks, they are 7 coming back to look for the building, 8 that the ground sign would cue them 9 which drive to go to to find where they 10 are supposed to go. 11 And that it is unique to this 12 particular property, that even though 13 it's part of Twelve Oaks Mall, that its 14 location behind Gorman's and right just 15 east of Novi Road on Twelve Mile. And 16 where the ring road is, it makes it 17 difficult for consumers to come into 18 this location. 19 And that it is unique to this 20 particular property. And that granting 21 relief will unreasonably prevent them 22 from using this property, and they 23 won't be able to attain a higher 24 economic return, and it won't result in
1 interfering with adjacent and 2 surrounding properties, and would do 3 substantial justice to the properties. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 5 second? 6 MEMBER SANGHVI: Second. 7 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 8 further comments by the board members? 9 Actually, I just -- go ahead. 10 Member Cassis. 11 MEMBER CASSIS: In all 12 sincerity, I cannot approve this. And 13 I'm going to vote against it, because 14 it's too many signs. Just too many 15 signs in one -- on one building. I 16 just can't approve that. 17 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Member 18 Ibe. 19 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, there 20 is two requests here, one is for the 21 ring road and one is for over the door. 22 To the city attorney, can we 23 split this vote? I mean, because he's 24 asking for two things, and my vote
1 personally is split. 2 MS. KUDLA: Yes, you can 3 grant lesser than his request. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: And that 5 was going to be a comment that I made, 6 in the event the board denied the 7 motion as proposed, which I wouldn't 8 vote for, I wouldn't mind taking them 9 separately and approving the ring road 10 sign as opposed to both the wall sign, 11 also. 12 But, given the motion and the 13 second, we would need to vote on that, 14 correct? 15 MS. KUDLA: You would need a 16 vote, unless it was withdrawn. So you 17 can vote to approve a lesser variance. 18 You could make a motion to approve a 19 lesser variance. 20 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I 21 understand. Assuming this is denied, 22 we can still make another motion to 23 split these and deny separately, 24 correct?
1 MS. KUDLA: Denying the 2 full -- 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: If we 4 denied the motion as is, can we still 5 make a motion to approve or deny them 6 separately, or no? 7 MS. KUDLA: I would 8 withdraw. 9 MEMBER SANGHVI: May I 10 suggest that we withdraw this motion 11 and make two split motions? 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: That 13 sounds better. 14 MEMBER KRIEGER: I move to 15 withdraw my motion. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: You second 17 that, also? 18 MEMBER SANGHVI: I second. 19 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Do we need 20 to vote on the withdrawal? 21 MS. KUDLA: No. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: So the 23 motion is withdrawn. 24 MEMBER SANGHVI: Let us go
1 with the directional sign on the ring 2 road first. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Correct. 4 I will allow you to do that. 5 MEMBER KRIEGER: In regards 6 to Case 10-059, 43235 Twelve Mile Road, 7 American Mattress Gallery, I move to 8 approve the three foot square foot 9 location existing ground sign on the 10 mall ring road as requested, with all 11 the previous things I stated from the 12 practical difficulty for directional. 13 As petitioner in this unique 14 property, that the customer driving 15 would -- if they miss the first 16 entrance, that they would be on the 17 ring road and be able to have 18 directional ease into where the 19 building is at for the mattress 20 company. And that the -- it is not a 21 result -- it's not self-created. That 22 it will not unreasonably prevent or 23 limit the use of their property, and it 24 will not be an inconvenience or -- it
1 would allow them to attain a higher 2 economic return. And that it will not 3 interfere with adjacent or surrounding 4 properties, and will do substantial 5 justice to this applicant. 6 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I just 7 have one comment on that. You said 8 three foot square foot; it's actually 9 two, three-square-foot locations, is 10 that correct? 11 MS. KUDLA: That's correct. 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: That is 13 correct. Just so we are clear, there 14 is two, three-square-foot locations. 15 Any second to that motion? 16 MEMBER SANGHVI: Second. 17 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 18 further discussion? 19 MEMBER CASSIS: Is that what 20 he would be more comfortable with? 21 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: No, that's 22 one of his requests. 23 MEMBER SANGHVI: We split it 24 into two.
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Just for 2 the ring road sign made by the motion. 3 Any further discussion on that 4 particular motion? 5 Seeing none, if you can call 6 the roll, Ms. Martin, on that motion. 7 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 8 MEMBER SANGHVI: Yes. 9 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 10 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 11 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 12 MEMBER KRIEGER: Yes. 13 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 14 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 15 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 16 Ghannam? 17 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 18 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 19 five to zero, for the ring road. 20 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Now, as 21 for the other 90-square-foot, I 22 need a motion on that. 23 MEMBER IBE: I will move -- 24 I'm sorry.
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Member 2 Ibe. 3 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, in 4 Case No. 10-059, 43235 Twelve Mile 5 Road, American Mattress Gallery, I 6 would move to deny the request for the 7 additional sign requested by the 8 petitioner for the reasons that the 9 problem is self-created, in the sense 10 that the petitioner is allowed under 11 the ordinance one signage, and the 12 petitioner already has one. And the 13 sign is presently located facing 14 Twelve Mile. And the petitioner now 15 seeks an additional sign of 90 square 16 feet over the door as a directional 17 sign. The door was located at this 18 particular place when the petitioner 19 obviously opted to put this sign on 20 Twelve Mile Road. 21 Failure to grant will not 22 prevent the use of this property and 23 will not inconvenience the petitioner 24 from attaining a higher economic
1 financial return on his investments. 2 The failure to grant relief 3 is not unreasonable, and the petitioner 4 will not be harmed in any way or any 5 manner or shape. And substantial 6 justice will be done as to the 7 surrounding businesses in the area. 8 And this is consistent with the spirit 9 of the ordinance, which calls for one 10 signage only. Therefore, I move that 11 we deny the request by the 12 petitioner. 13 MS. KUDLA: Can I seek a 14 clarification on the specific nature of 15 the sign you are denying? 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Just for 17 clarity, you are referring to the 18 90-square foot? 19 MEMBER IBE: Ninety-square 20 foot sign only. 21 MS. KUDLA: Thank you. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any second 23 to that motion? 24 MEMBER CASSIS: Second.
1 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 2 further discussion by the board on this 3 motion? Seeing none, Ms. Martin, can 4 you please call the roll? 5 MS. MARTIN: Member Sanghvi? 6 MEMBER SANGHVI: No. 7 MS. MARTIN: Member Cassis? 8 MEMBER CASSIS: Yes. 9 MS. MARTIN: Member Krieger? 10 MEMBER KRIEGER: No. 11 MS. MARTIN: Member Ibe? 12 MEMBER IBE: Yes. 13 MS. MARTIN: Chairman 14 Ghannam? 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 16 MS. MARTIN: Motion to deny 17 passes, three to zero. Three to two, 18 sorry. 19 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. 20 Thank you, sir. 21 MR. FIELDS: Thank you. 22 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Next 23 matter on the agenda is for Case No. 24 10-060, 46470 Desoto Court, TREK.
1 Space Project Construction is 2 requesting a variance to locate an 3 accessory structure in the interior 4 side yard of the property located at 5 46470 Desoto Court. Property is zoned 6 I-1, and is located north of West Road 7 and east of Beck. 8 Will the petitioner please 9 come forward? Sir, will you state your 10 name and address, please. 11 MR. HUR: My name is Chung 12 Hur, 46470 Desoto Court. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Can you 14 spell your name for the court reporter, 15 please? Spell your name. 16 MR. HUR: C-h-u-n-g, first 17 name. H-u-r, last name. 18 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Please 19 raise your right hand to be sworn by 20 our secretary. 21 MEMBER IBE: Sir, in 22 Case No. 10-060, for 46470 Desoto 23 Court, TREK, do you swear or affirm to 24 tell the truth?
1 MR. HUR: I do. 2 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Please 4 proceed, sir. 5 MR. HUR: First time, so 6 sorry. Someone was going to come give 7 me for you and for me, because I can't 8 speak English well. 9 I think now the generator is 10 not an option because my house, I mean, 11 residence or house, as building meet 12 the requirement. So tonight it is 13 possible your (inaudible) board member 14 and Novi city give answer, please. 15 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you, 16 sir. Any comments from the public at 17 this time on this particular case? 18 Seeing no comments from the public, I 19 will close the public remarks section 20 and ask the secretary to read any 21 particular correspondence into the 22 record. 23 MEMBER IBE: Mr. Chair, in 24 this particular case, 17 notices were
1 mailed, zero responses, zero mail 2 returned. 3 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you. 4 Any comments by the city on this 5 request? 6 MR. BOULARD: Yes. This, 7 just for the sake of some background, 8 there is currently two building shells 9 on the sites. The company TREK has 10 purchased one of those buildings; the 11 shell is already there. The parking 12 lot is in, utilities are in there. 13 They are building it out with their 14 tenant improvements. But one of the 15 requirements is to have a generator for 16 their computer systems and so on, 17 back-up systems. 18 The fact that the parking is 19 already there makes it difficult, if 20 not extremely expensive, to put the 21 generator ordinarily required in the 22 rear setback in the rear setback. 23 There is adjacent industrial buildings 24 that backs up to the residential, and
1 hence, the request. 2 Also, the generator location 3 is near the gas -- availability of the 4 natural gas service and the existing 5 electrical service, so there is not a 6 lot of good options here. It's not 7 something that they did; they bought 8 the building as is. And I think based 9 on their working with the planning 10 staff, it seems like the best 11 (inaudible). 12 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: With that 13 in mind, sir, I will open it up to the 14 public. I'm sorry, to the board. 15 As I do that, I will make a 16 few comments. I have no problem with 17 the request. It seems logical what you 18 are requesting, where you are 19 requesting it. It seems the best 20 alternative, especially for your 21 business, so I will have no problem 22 supporting your request. 23 MR. HUR: Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other
1 comments by the board? 2 MEMBER SANGVHI: I agree with 3 you, Mr. Chair. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you. 5 Any other comments? 6 MEMBER IBE: I also agree 7 with you, Mr. Chair. 8 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any other 9 comments by the board? If not, I will 10 entertain a motion. 11 MEMBER IBE: I will take it, 12 Mr. Chair. 13 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: All right. 14 MEMBER IBE: Thank you. In 15 Case No. 10-060, 46470 Desoto Court, I 16 move that we grant the request as 17 stated by the applicant for the fact 18 that the applicant has demonstrated a 19 practical difficulty, substantial 20 practical difficulty warranting a grant 21 of this request. 22 And we can grant this for the 23 following reasons: One, that there are 24 unique circumstances of the physical
1 conditions of the property. Such as 2 the fact that the rear of the property 3 has a parking lot. There are adjacent 4 industrial buildings in the area, the 5 gas line, and that makes it extremely 6 difficult for the applicant to have any 7 other options other than where they 8 have chosen to locate the generator. 9 The need is not self-created. 10 Strict compliance with 11 regulations governing setbacks or where 12 to locate this particular generator 13 will render conformity with those 14 regulations unnecessary and burdensome 15 for the applicant. 16 The requested variance is the 17 minimum variance necessary to do 18 substantial justice to the applicant, 19 as well as to other property owners. 20 And, finally, the requested 21 variance will not cause an adverse 22 impact on surrounding property, and 23 that this is also -- this will also 24 allow for the use and enjoyment of the
1 property in accordance with the zoning 2 district. 3 MEMBER SANGHVI: Second. 4 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Any 5 further discussion by the board? 6 Member Krieger. 7 MEMBER KRIEGER: Do we have 8 to say about landscaping screening for 9 the generator, or would that be part of 10 what's in the document? 11 MEMBER IBE: Should I make 12 that a condition of the motion? 13 MR. BOULARD: Certainly 14 wouldn't hurt. 15 MEMBER IBE: Okay. Also, I 16 would like -- also, let's add that the 17 applicant shall provide landscape 18 screening for the generator to make it 19 more aesthetically pleasing. 20 MR. HUR: Yes, sir. 21 MEMBER SANGHVI: That's 22 acceptable. 23 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Okay. Any 24 further discussion? Seeing none,
1 Ms. Martin, can you please call the 2 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 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Yes. 14 MS. MARTIN: Motion passes, 15 five to zero. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: It's been 17 approved, sir. 18 MR. HUR: Thank you, sir. 19 Have a good night. 20 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: Thank you, 21 sir. 22 Any other matters to be 23 brought up by the board members at this 24 time? Anything else by the city?
1 MR. BOULARD: Just if you 2 would be so kind as to put in the 3 folders, pop the Main Street Village 4 and Fox Run packets back in, we'll save 5 some trees. Thank you. 6 MEMBER CASSIS: How about 7 Michigan Tractor? 8 MR. BOULARD: Yes, that also. 9 MEMBER CASSIS: That one, 10 too. 11 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: I will 12 entertain a motion to adjourn. 13 MEMBER SANGHVI: Make a 14 motion to adjourn, Mr. Chair. 15 MEMBER IBE: Second. 16 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: All in 17 favor, say aye. 18 THE BOARD: Aye. 19 CHAIRMAN GHANNAM: All 20 opposed? Motion to adjourn is granted. 21 We are adjourned. 22 (The Hearing was 23 adjourned 24 at 9:10 p.m.)
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1 2 3 C E R T I F I C A T E 4 5 I, Sherri L. Ruff, do hereby 6 certify that I have recorded 7 stenographically the proceedings had 8 and testimony taken in the 9 above-entitled matter at the time and 10 place hereinbefore set forth, and I do 11 further certify that the foregoing 12 transcript, consisting of (93) 13 typewritten pages, is a true and 14 correct transcript of my said 15 stenographic notes. 16 17 18 ______________ ____________________________ 19 Date Sherri L. Ruff, CSR-3568 20 Certified Shorthand Reporter 21 22 23 24
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