Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

That's the worst. All right. I call this meeting to order for the planning commission. It's regular meeting Wednesday, July July 16th, 2025 in a city hall community room. Roll call. Demer here. Reed here. Ronberg present. Here. Meridian here. Moss here. Newman here. Robson present. Wilma here. Okay. Approval of minutes for the June 18th, 2025 planning minutes be approved. Second. Charlie made the motion to approve. Matt made the second. All in favor of approving.

I.

Everybody said I and Ra. All right. So, uh, this is an opportunity for public to comment. As there is no public uh present, we will move on to the public hearing. Um so the public hearing is on an amendment to section 1704H off streetet parking requirements for eating and drinking establishments at 6:01 p.m. Currently there's no public here or on the Zoom. So I am going to close the public hearing. and it is 601. Now we move on to old business which is consideration of zoning ordinance amendment 16 section 1704 off streetet parking requirements for eating and drinking establishment.

Yeah. The we talked about this at the last meeting. The only change under eating and drinking establishment is to add a phrase plus one per employee of the largest shift which can which is consistent language with some of the other retail uh parking requirements and that's the amendment to add that please. Okay, any questions, discussion? Motion. U I I move acceptance of the of the recommendation and recommend city council

and recommend to city council uh that we adjust the uh zoning code uh to accommodate for one parking space per employee in addition to the current requirement. Okay, that was second. Okay, Charlie made the motion. Um seconded. Uh all in favor can we do this? I I

All right. Everybody has raised their hand and said I. So motion passes. So then we move on to zoning ordinance updates. Committee update on the status of artists. Just wanted to give the full commission an update. We are still working on article six site development standards. We've had our fifth meeting as of yesterday. We have a meeting coming up in about about 10 days. Hopefully we'll get through it. I think one of the outcomes of our meeting yesterday was that we decided to pull lighting, outdoor lighting out of the zoning code and prepare a separate ordinance which would be a police power ordinance under the regular city code and we were going to model the ordinance under the international dark sky provisions.

So we'll be doing that concurrently with the zoning code but that's currently where we're at. We have after we get done with article six, then we're going to the zoning committee is going to have to start working closely with full PC on articles two and three, which is the zoning districts regulated uses because after that we're pretty much done and that's where we're going to have some community engagement. So, uh I hope that we'll be on article two and three sometime in August. and and community engagement will start probably in September. We are still on track to have a full final draft by December to give the city council a wonderful Christmas present.

It will be a wonderful. Any questions? Rich, I just have a question about the uh the lighting change. Um is that modeled after other communities? It actually is the the ordinance that we're going to use is the model template from the International Dark Sky Association. Are there other communities in Michigan using that? Yes. And nationally, the international cool. Has there been any feedback from the city attorney yet on some of these other sections? No. And I'm thinking thinking we're just going to do it all at one time.

Yeah. Okay. Has there been any additional thinking about presentation to council and whether or not we're going to employ someone to help them understand the differences between the existing ordinance and the uh new ordinance? I'll work that out with the uh attorney on how we're going to handle that. All right, moving on to commissioner comments. Charlie couple. Okay.

Um uh we uh the first thing is that if we look at this report, I don't know if anybody realized this or not. Well, this is the actions taken by the office city. You found it and we get it at every meeting. Notice of ordinance violations. What I didn't understand was this is not, you know, when you have a new codeman officer, Tony, this is not Tony's numbers. These are the numbers from Lisa. We don't have a a row on here for Tony's numbers.

And the reason for that apparently is that Tony works for public safety and uh at this point he hasn't been required to report to us. And I think that uh it's relevant and important that we understand where the code violations are occurring so that we can take that into consideration as we're reviewing the codes. And uh I I didn't realize that this was not being reported to us. And uh if if you guys think it's also important that we add those numbers with and not just numbers either we we need some elaboration on what the code violations are.

I agree. It has to be communicative so that we understand. Um, and if you guys agree, then I would propose to make a motion that uh that staff ask uh direct uh this comment or comment and favor for this uh to the city manager and see if we can't get it by the next meeting. Okay. Let me ask something. Since this wasn't on the uh agenda, do we need to just say we'd like this on the agenda? Oh, yeah. and then make a motion or can we do it right? I think you can do it. Right.

Then um I presume that the inspections or the violation investigations that Tony is doing relate to things other other than zoning as well, right? Let's say he does 20 things a month. Some of them may or may not relate to the zoning ordinance. Correct. Okay. It would just be the ones that relate to the zoning orders that I presume that we're interested in. No, I think it's it's city code. There's things outside of the zoning that are in the city code like blight different or signage home signage. Oh, that's true. Yeah. And and going forward, the dark skies lighting model. Yeah, those would be things we'd be involved.

And while zoning is our number one priority, I think the reason for the planning commission goes beyond just zoning. And if there are specific issues that we can understand better from having this data

that address other issues in the code, then we can bring that to the attention of council, which I think is our responsibility in doing so. Yeah, I would I would think of something out of his purview that if he if we got a call from a maybe Lisa can help with this, but in many communities, if the city got a call from a a tenant complaining that, you know, their water heater's been broken for two weeks and the landlord hasn't fixed it, that would be something that Tony as the code enforcement officer would be investigating and that should be reported. So that you know in addition to just the support perhaps we should understand if in fact his job as currently defined includes that kind of activity. In other words, what's his job description? What's what's what's his what's his uh what's his role and what is he uh going after and what is he not going after? we with with the with the planning commission's desire tonight, uh, Lisa and I can have a conversation with the city manager.

Okay. And get and get the information because I I think you're correct, Commissioner. I think we're only getting half we're only getting a piece of what some of the code issues are. We're not seeing some of the other ones that the PC needs to be aware of.

You know, we've had we've had um side discussion. I think we don't I don't think we've had any formal but it's been brought up at the zoning subcommittee in in side discussions in here about is a time or is there going to be a time when we have a rental or inspection ordinance. this would give us some data that says, you know, we're finding out that he's, you know, he's only seeing three properties a year that he has to do something on then, but but we may be finding out there's 20, you know, 30 properties a year. And it would, um, it would be and where they're occurring, you know, are they occurring mostly in the RM districts? Are they occurring all over the city? Um, which would also be important as we move forward in looking at what kind of housing we would allow in various uh districts, too. So, I think it's an excellent idea. I I'm going to presume, and this is, you know, an assumption, probably inappropriate, but I'm If we're not getting it, is council getting it?

No. So, I mean, I I don't think council would be pleased to understand that personally. Yeah. Well, regardless of council, we certainly should be doing it and and it may benefit council. They may choose to pass it on to them as well. If we see issues, we can pass it in. So, do you need a motion? We should. I think we should.

Okay. So, do you want to make your motion? I I move that we uh ask that staff uh discuss with the city manager um a a monthly report to be presented to the planning commission um articulating the uh infractions that the city the new city code enforcer is uh is processing and that to provide sufficient detail so that we understand the nature of those violations. Second. Okay. Charlie made the motion. Albert seconds it. All in favor? We are all in favor. So motion passes.

I have one other thing. Um and that is that um as you all are probably aware for those that went to the board meetings and to the city convention um there is a hue and cry throughout the town about the downtown vacancies and and building conditions and so forth. And they made it very clear that uh the city needs to take its gloves off and uh start forget the carrot and use the stick. And in order to do that and effectively uh obviously there's a there's a balance between property owner rights and property owner responsibilities. And it's the responsibilities that are falling short at the moment. And we we don't have the tools in the toolbox currently in order to allow the city to do what it needs to do to to create compliance. So, uh, I I'm just bringing that up in case there are members of the commission that aren't aware that this has become a very hot issue and council has already taken up a couple of initiatives. One is, I think, is it they're in the middle of their first reading or second reading of the VA of a vacancy registration. in the middle of the first.

Um, and they're making some small changes perhaps to the to the nuisance uh code. Uh, but there are other things that can be done. So, my the whole reason for me bringing it up is I've been doing some research as yet, not by no means definitive, but in terms of what other municipalities are doing and how they're handling their situation. And uh I think it would be great if the members of the planning commission embraced that and everybody did their own research and bounce ideas off of John uh because you know he's got a a a good field of of vision in terms of what's been used and and how it's used. But I think we all need to come up to speed on that in order to properly support council.

So you're talking about what kind of tools? Uh well the ultimate tool is eminent domain. Uh eminent domain is the process by which a municipality can take control and ownership of a property for which they need to provide fair compensation to the owner and it has to be for a public use. Am I getting it right so far? Public purpose. Yes.

Public purpose. So uh that's the ultimate tool if you've got a landlord who's not behaving themselves. Um there's there's no question that we could come up with a public purpose in the case of the the two landlords that are at issue at the moment. Uh but you also have to be able to back that up with the with the money to be able to take them out. Um and that's when you get into various kinds of municipal financing. The one that John and I were talking about before the meeting started is to use a tax tiff tax incentive finance type of structure uh and have a long-term it's like having a long-term bond which is the question you came in with Max. So, um it's just there are a lot of moving pieces here and there are a lot of smaller things that that possibly we can do to um to up the ante, but I would really encourage everyone to put your best thinking cap on and and research abilities and see what you come up with. I I would just add I mean clarify eminent domain is used for public purpose but it's public purpose such as buying right away park space uh easements for utilities. If you used eminent domain to buy a building downtown, the building would have to be used for a public purpose only, which would be awful difficult. But there's other tools to get derelct property owners to comply with codes and that's the international property maintenance code and and the court. Okay, that's that would be the avenue to approach a person that is technically not keeping their property at the current state.

So, yeah, there are there's a lot of different tools out there, but the one that usually works for downtown is council's working on it, one is the vacant building registration, requiring people that have vacant property, they have to register it annually. they have to maintain it appropriately. Then there's the the inspection process through the international property maintenance code and then the city can also basically site property owners for blight because a building can can become blighted and then that's another avenue. There's multiple tracks absolutely that the city the city can employ

and the vacancy registration really wouldn't have any teeth unless you required that you know the registration know it's it's a $5,000 a year um fee for each vacant building that you're registering

the council has to determine the fee but there's other things that are associated with it like I don't see a lot here in in Paskki per se but in some other communities you'll get a property owner that if next time you go through some older downtowns, take a look. The second and third stories, they don't have glass in the windows. They have plywood. Well, a vacant registration ordinance says that windows have to have glazing. It's it's if you're going to have a building and it's going to be vacant, you've got to maintain it. You just can't put a band-aid on it. Well, what I had heard in addition, and this could be wrong, so you could correct me, is that currently we can't inspect the property unless we get a complaint from the tenant. But if we have a vacancy registration program, we are automatically allowed to and we have a rental inspection program. we this this helps us get in there and see what's going

Well, I think I think the the initial foray into building inspections in downtown is through the uh and I don't know if the city does it here, public safety does it is through a a lot of communities have either an annual or or a every two-year fire safety inspection. And typically when the inspector goes in to do the fire safety inspection, if they start to notice internal beer be building deterioration, then that notice passed on to a different agency that can take a different track in terms of enforcement.

I know our public safety department has done that. I'm not sure what prompts them to choose this location or that building. I'm not sure. But I know they have done those kind of inspections. It it's a comprehensive program, but it can be very effective. But I think you're right, Charlie, in using the analogy. It It's really using the stick, not the carrot. If the carrot comes later, if they want to do rehabilitation, and they may may need to go to MEDC to get money to help with the rehabilitation or use a historic investment of tax credit much. Yeah, the carrot is not really helping a lot right now. So many times communities have to use the stick first to get

they could have for a facade grant. He's never applied for a facade grant, you know. So I certainly don't mean to correct you because I don't know and you know better than I do, but in Kell versus the city of New England, which I think was 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that a city can seize private property for economic development. No, it cannot. The Supreme Court The Supreme Court ruled that the Supreme Well, according to the article that I wrote, the Supreme Court approved and but but they have the development has not since taken place. Coincidentally,

in in Connecticut, they did that, but then it went to the US Supreme Court and the Supreme Court said no. And in fact, in the state of Michigan, the electors after that court case came out, there was a ballot that in our state constitution that says eminent domain can only be used for public purposes, not for economic development. And was that passed? Yes. And you really don't want to get into that? No. That that's a it's unfortunate because it favors development and probably not development. that's in the best interest of that community. So, it's a nasty way.

They only use eminent domain for public purposes, for parks, for right away, utility easements, that kind of stuff. Why not had a conversation with either of these property owners? Many, many times. I mean, the city many many times. It's been a regularity, unresponsive. It's been one of the front friendly conversations with no result with no result. Max, what comes to mind is the Ham Triik Assembly which they I think they GM or the state of Michigan accumulated something like five square miles and bulldozed the entire half the city. Half the city

and then sold it to GM for a dollar only for them to close it 40 years later. Yeah. And then us the taxpayers saddled with this huge expense. So I'd hate to see can't do it anymore. Yeah. All right. Any other commissioner comments? Pretty much. Yeah. Thank you. Very good. All right. Updates your updates to me. things have been rolling along pretty well.

Is there any color commentary on any of the other numbers for the zoning uh that you know would be interesting for us to hear? I mean these are numbers but are there any stories behind them that of significance? Uh specifically zoning permits issued. No, no, they're mostly standard stuff, decks, accessory structures, small additions, but no survival. I see the third story is popping through on pennies. People started starting to set some wood frame panels up there to the third story. Are there two stories going up or is it just one? Where?

One additional additional to the original twotory. Okay. Somehow I thought they they were doing something clever sty. So is there any update on the Leo's building? Read it in the paper that that's being redeveloped.

Yes, they that was extensively discussed at the city council meeting last week. Uh the council went ahead and and approved uh public hearing for uh to uh get public input on creating a uh obsolete property tax abatement for the project. Uh it's going to the project is going to include uh private investment. They're looking for an OPRA for tax abatement. Uh they're going to do a historic investment tax credit. I think Rick's involved

in consulting on that. And then they're also applying they're in the process right now of applying to MEEDC for for additional funding for the apartments I believe on the second and third floor. The the gentleman that made the presentation property owner said believe you said Rick you were there 4.2 million 4.8 4.8 million. It was just a pretty pretty significant investment. Which building was it? Leo's house. The lower level will include coal living space. Half of it. Half of it based on the ordinance that we prepared and sent to council. Well, it's not quite half, but yeah. And then the other half is going to be uh down a speak easy, right? In the basement

on front half. Yeah. The first floor is restaurant and then the second third floors are the second floor there is a third. Well, the second floor is art. Yeah. And then he's putting an elevator in. Right. So, do you know do they does the project hinge on whether or not they get that money from the MEDC? Yes. Yes. I was going to say I think it's it's a very tight financial. Yeah. I know. Try to make pieces. They need all the pieces to fall in place and then 12year the base. I did say a lot of layering going on. Yeah. that building sprinkler. It would have to be.

Hopefully, they can get that money. Yeah. What brought it to question was our conversation about other vacant

lots or buildings and if a similar if that's initiated by the owner or if it's initiated by the city or some combination thereof to help other vacant or abandoned property redevelopments. Uh I I will say this from my observation that when somebody walks in city hall and they talk to the city manager about doing a project, he's very responsive about advising them on the various tools that are available and the city has always assisted on MEDC applications and opas and I there's a lot of the city's been you know they they're very positive in terms of working with the property owners on getting these projects done and you've seen it with the loss at Lumber Square Maple Block uh the Park City Grill where they've got the MATC grant there Bob Berg's project over at Lake Street's been involved in all those the city manager has terms of helping line up the financing

but to answer your question directly they come to the city the city doesn't go to that thank rather Oprah said that's looking really good is Michigan and EMTT. I used to call the Warrior Hotel when I was a kid.

And that I mean that the thing is that was Dr. Paul was two years ago and that's how long it takes to get everything lined up. But that that's looking beautiful. It's a you know an Oprah thing that I wonder when you get 12 taxes when you see how it come through. Okay. Any other updates? All right. I adjourn this meeting at 6:27. I'm sorry. You