Mayor Clark called the meeting to order at 7:35 P.M.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Jr. Girl Scouts Troop #3074

Leaders: Kim Lau & Gail Jones-Kohler

Members: Jennifer Lau, Linsey Teevens, Laurin Kohler,

Kendra Hay, Claire Reyes, Monica Barlage

ROLL CALL: Mayor Clark, Mayor Pro Tem Bononi, Council Members Capello, Csordas, DeRoche-absent/excused, Landry, Lorenzo

*Member DeRoche arrived at 8:25 P.M.

Member Landry removed Item #1 from Mayor and Council Issues and placed it under Matters for Council Action I, Item #4

Member Capello added Item #5 Amendment to Zoning Ordinance to provide for setbacks along major thoroughfares and major intersections and to allow for certain types of development incentives for leaving active open space areas to Matters for Council Action.

Member Lorenzo added Item #1 . Request for the Library Board to consider future meetings in Council Chambers and on cable and #2. Roma Ridge Stop Sign Request under Mayor and Council Issues .

Mr. Helwig thanked Council for their input on the budget at Saturday’s meeting and noted the budget planning would be in full gear from now until March 31^st.

Mayor Clark commented to Mr. Shaw that in the interest of brevity, he hoped he would not repeat the arguments he had already made numerous times. They are well known, his position is well known and this item has been moved to the Planning Commission.

Bob Shaw, 40612 Village Oaks, thought he should allow the Mayor time to answer the questions he asked at the last Council meeting and he asked Mayor Clark if he had any answers?

Mayor Clark said he would not engage in a public debate. There had already been two lengthy public hearings, which were not required.

Mr. Shaw asked why the Planning Commission notification for the Public Hearing was published in the Novi News on December 20^th when the Planning Commission did not meet until the evening of December 19^th and the Novi News typically does not go to press until prior to that meeting? How was it that according to Mr. Helwig and the Council had already decided to remediate the arsenic if it remained a park even if there was no public meeting or vote on this issue and this issue would not be the subject of pending litigation? Why did the Planning Commission receive in their packets only one small table out of the entire Parks and Recreation Master Plan when pages 39-52, are dedicated to the subject at hand? Why is it the Planning Commission received reduced black and white sketches showing only Section 10 when four sections are involved in the Master Plan property for North Novi Park? Could it be those other sections are virtually 100% swamp and marsh? Also, Mr. Shaw offered to provide the City with a copy of Judge McDonald’s ruling so it could be posted on the City web site.

Ted Minasian, 41800 Eleven Mile Rd., was present to address Item #2, Zoning Text Amendment 18.170 regarding the OST height limitations. At the December 17^th Council meeting this item was approved as the First Reading with an amendment eliminating the maximum allowable height of 65 feet for all OST property in the Meadowbrook corridor from Twelve Mile to I-96. Originally, the point of the entire text amendment was to allow Singh Development property, behind Meadowbrook Rd. frontage lots, to be rezoned to multiple residential without affecting the maximum allowable height of 65 feet for the adjacent OST parcels. Currently the OST Ordinance does not allow a maximum height of 65 feet when adjacent to residential. When the ordinance revision was voted on December 17^th and the amendment was added which eliminated the maximum allowable height of 65 feet for all OST property in the Meadowbrook corridor, it totally defeated the entire purpose of the original amendment to the ordinance, which was to allow the properties to continue to have a maximum allowable height of 65 feet in the event the same property was rezoned. He had been informed that affected property owners need to be notified by the City if nearby property is to be rezoned, but not when an ordinance is revised. Theoretically this is because the ordinance affects the entire community. This is a unique situation where all the affected parties are property owners located in a single limited corridor. He thought it would have been appropriate to notify these property owners. If nothing else, comments and opinions of the

affected property owners could have been valuable to Council in formulating their decisions. Property owners and developers should be treated as if they are on the same team as the City; we are partners in the common cause. The OST Ordinance has been tremendously

successful for the City of Novi and he respectfully requested the maximum allowable height in the OST Ordinance remain unchanged.

Mike Kahm, Singh Development Company, reiterated what Mr. Minasian said and offered an historical reference regarding this text amendment. Singh Development owns property abutting Mr. Minasian along the Meadowbrook corridor and had originally suggested the text amendment. They felt a refinement of the language that provided for OST properties between Grand River and Twelve Mile Rd., which allowed up to 65 feet in height because that provision restricts any OST developments that are allowed to go to that height, to be adjacent to residential property because they felt residential was a broad term and that OST of that height could potentially be compatible to some types of residential developments. In the process of discussion at the last Council meeting as well as the OST meeting they discussed the possibility of RM-2 because the heights of the two were compatible. When they originally presented the possibility of adjacent multi family development, it was discussed with Mr. Minasian and they did not want to present any potential developments that might have a negative impact on any potential OST developments. Since changing the language to allow for some level of residential would potentially impact the developability of those parcels, which are currently allowed to go to 65 feet, they suggested the text amendment previously presented to Council. He did not want Council to get the impression that they were proposing that particular portion of the ordinance as they were simply proposing that Council consider a text amendment to allow for RM-2 to be adjacent to OST within that geographic area between Grand River and Twelve Mile which is already provided for in the Ordinance. The other item in the text amendment is the provision for the greenbelt buffer on an adjacent residential property as long as it is a natural buffer meeting the criteria of the ordinance now, as long as there was a preservation easement and maintenance provisions as discussed at the last meeting. They agreed with Mr. Minasian and felt that the height allowance within that corridor could still continue to be provided because there was merit for providing that provision years back when this issue first came to light.

Mr. Papp was present to talk about more taxes. The Sandstone judgment, three years ago, was at $33 million and today with all the accrued interest, it is $70 million. An appeal process could take up to three years and we are accruing $100,000 per week as the interest increases. We, the taxpayers, could end up owing them $150 million. So, if your home is worth $200,000, you can count on paying an additional $600 per year for 15 years or $9,000, etc. Based on this we would end up paying twice. What about the Novi merchants? They are going to pass the cost on to the consumer if we buy in Novi. As taxpaying citizens we are asking the Novi Planning Commission to remove the designation of "Park" from the fraction of land that the City wished to transfer to Sandstone and settle this lawsuit. If our tax base is increased, who in their right mind would want to do business in the City of Novi with this hanging over their head; better yet, who would want to move here and pay additional taxes for this. He asked that this be put to rest, rezone the 95 acres, and let’s get on with business and make Novi a better City.

Pat Holt, 45409 Addington Lane, spoke at the last Council meeting about her concern that there was a silent majority and she was a part that. That silent majority is the majority of people that very much want to go ahead and settle the Sandstone lawsuit but are not quite as vocal as the small group who continues to get all the press and attention. She challenged

some people to that cause and met with about 20 people last Sunday night. Monday, they began circulating petitions throughout the City to not only show support for City Council and their efforts to resolve this issue, but for the Planning Commission in amending the Master

Plan and moving forward. These petitions would be presented Wednesday night to the Planning Commissioners. She said the response of support for City Council and the Planning Commission had been overwhelming. This issue is not about giving away parkland. The press has grabbed a hold of that, but it is not the issue anymore. We have been given a very bad situation and she didn’t think anyone was excited about giving away parkland. It is a much bigger issue than that. The feedback from the community was that this is a crisis situation for the City of Novi and we are looking for the lesser of two evils. It’s a lose-lose situation. Most people in the community did not feel the 50/50 odds given by the appellate attorneys were worth the risk of the appeal. Many seniors responded that if the lawsuit was lost, their homes were going up for sale because they could not afford to stay in Novi. The effects on the community are long reaching. We are going to pay for this, as taxpayers, over and over again. It is not just going to be the ticket on our homes. Every time we frequent a restaurant, bookstore or retailer in the City, that cost would come down to us. The most important thing these people said was that the whole park would not be given up, it would only be 75-95 acres out of 550. Is it the best situation? No, but it is the best that we can do right now. People will have the petitions available at Farmer Jack from 10 AM to 11 AM and 6 PM to 7 PM tomorrow and she encouraged residents to come and show their support. Resoundingly, out of the 30 homes that were canvassed, there might have been one that would not sign the petition.

Member Landry removed item A-1, the Council minutes of December 12, 2001.

A. Approve Minutes of:

2. December 17, 2001 Regular meeting

B. Approval of Final Pay Estimate No. 5 and Final Balancing Change Order No. 3; 1999/2000 Bituminous Paving Improvements in the amount of $96,080.60.

C. Approval of Final Pay Estimate No. 4 to Richmar Construction, Inc. for Rotary Park Restroom Facility in the amount of $13,235.60

D. Adopt Resolution to amend the City of Novi 457 Deferred Compensation Plan.

E. Approval to purchase two four-wheel drive Chevy Tahoe trucks, replacement vehicles for the Police Department, through Oakland County Joint Purchasing, in the amount of $53,028.04.

F. Approval of resolution to authorize Budget Amendment #2002-2 for the Mediation Center Project.

G. Approval of Claims and Accounts – Warrant No. 613.

Mayor Pro Tem Bononi asked why it took nine years for this to get before Council and who had maintained the streets until now.

Director of Public Services Nowicki advised that most of the issues were developer document type issues that were short in coming to the City. There were some small grading issues but nothing of a quality of life issue that affected any of the residents in the area. The City has been maintaining the street up until now. It is on Act 51 and has been for quite some time. The new acceptance resolution Council is being asked to adopt is to have an official record of that street for the file for the resolution but we have been receiving Act 51 funds for that roadway.

Member Bononi asked what the PASER System rating on the road was? Mr. Nowicki said it was listed as 8.

Member Capello commented the only reason to move this back to the Planning Commission was if a majority was going to support Subsection U.3, which stated "the site must be located north of Grand River, south of Twelve Mile Road provided, however, that the site shall not front on Meadowbrook." Member Capello noted when the Planning Commission did the study, the reason they picked Grand River to Twelve Mile was founded in fact. The only reason it needed to go back to the Planning Commission was if we decide we want to pull Meadowbrook Road out of the accepted area where you can have 65 feet in height. There

was a very specific reason why the development community asked them to go to 65 feet in height and it had to do with current and new engineering technology for office research and

high tech type uses. It was a certain amount of additional floor space on each of the floors. They drove down Meadowbrook Road and there’s Haggerty, M-5 and Meadowbrook and Meadowbrook from Grand River to Twelve Mile that should be OST and the 65-foot height limitation is not hurting anything. It either backs up to M-5 or it backs up to the mall and other commercial properties. He thought they would only send it back to the Planning Commission if Council didn’t want to approve it, striking the last section in subsection U.3 and deleting Meadowbrook Road out of it. Otherwise, there are sufficient facts in the record to support the 65 foot height from Grand River north to Twelve Mile Road. He asked Mr. Fisher if that was the reason, because that was how he read his letter; that he needed some facts and supported the fact that Council was going to strike Meadowbrook Road out of that. Mr. Fisher said that was correct. Member Capello said then if left in, it would not have to go back to the Planning Commission, correct? Mr. Fisher said correct. Member Capello said his druthers would be to allow that 65-foot use along Meadowbrook Road because it is a prime area to have your typical OST 65 foot height use.

Member Capello asked Mr. Evancoe if he had any engineering detail of why they need to have a 65-foot height. Mr. Evancoe had not seen the background data but understood that it did exist and that there was a rationale for it. He thought it might have been because of the nature of the highly commercialized area. Higher buildings are typically found near malls, interstates and in situations like that. Member Capello said part of the reason was they weren’t asking for an extra story, it was just that each of the stories had to have so many feet and they ended up with a half a story somewhere. So by going to 65 feet, it allowed for the same amount of stories with different heights in each of the stories and the rooftop apparatuses. He would like to see if it could be approved without the deletion of the Meadowbrook Road area.

Absent: DeRoche

Mayor Clark said appointments would be made for the Beautification Commission, Election Commission, Housing and Community Development, Parks and Recreation Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals. He asked everyone to mark their ballots, sign and pass them to the Clerk. Mayor Clark said there was one other area that was not on the ballot because it was one of the two areas in which the Mayor, by City Charter, has to place a name in nomination. One is the Planning Commission and the other is the Library Board. Presently, there is one vacancy on the Library Board and he nominated Kim Taylor-Papp.

Member Capello asked if that would fill the vacancy that expires March 1, 2002? Mayor Clark said yes. Member Capello said so then it is for less than a two-month period. Mayor Clark

said yes and that person would have to come back again and reapply. He said James Lawrence’s term would expire on March 1^st? Mayor Clark said yes, but there had not been interviews yet. He asked if notice would be given to people who applied for appointments tonight and if they would be able to reapply without having to go through the application and interview process again? Mayor Clark said if they have interviewed, we ask them if they are still interested. They would come in but the interview would probably be very brief and it would be an expression of their continued interest in that position.

Mayor Clark said it was his understanding that they would fill the two month term that was vacated and then start a new term that would run until March 2005.

Member Capello asked if that was published to say it was filling a vacancy or was it published for the term commencing March 1, 2002 expiring in 2005. He understood that people would not want to apply and take all that effort to apply for a position that was less than 60 days.

Mayor Clark asked Mr. Fisher if there was any problem in terms of procedure in their proceeding in this fashion? Mr. Fisher said it was not a legal prohibition.

Member Landry asked if a person is appointed tonight to fill the position currently open would there be an additional position up for the Library Board in March? Mayor Clark said another position would be up in June 2002.

Clerk Cornelius tallied and read the results of the ballots voted by Council for the remaining positions.

Sue Flanagan Beautification Commission 6 votes

Pamela Superfisky Election Commission 6 votes

Sarah Gray Housing & Community Development 6 votes

David Paul Parks, Recreation & Forestry Commission 6 votes

LaVerne Reinke Zoning Board of Appeals 6 votes

Mav Sanghvi Zoning Board of Appeals 6 votes

City Clerk Cornelius would notify candidates.

Member Landry noted that he and Members Lorenzo and Capello were on the Ad Hoc Committee. They met with Deputy Police Chief Rasmussen and Lt. McNamara and discussed the means that would be made available by the Police Department to subdivisions and residents who wished to look into excess speed in their neighborhoods. They tried to come up with a procedure to recommend to Council to deal with this. They prepared a memo and the procedure they recommended is as follows:

1. Residents shall bring forward to the City Council a recommendation from a particular subdivision association for the installation of a stop sign. If the subdivision association is not willing to put forth a formal request, then the particular residents must present a petition signed by a percentage of the residents of the subdivision requesting a stop sign.

2. Upon receipt of either a subdivision association request or a petition, the City Council will have the traffic consultant perform a traffic count and determine whether a stop sign comports with the Michigan Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. If so, then a stop sign will be installed. If not, then the City Council will have a traffic evaluation done by a traffic consultant to determine whether there would be any adverse impact upon the city if a stop sign was installed, notwithstanding the Michigan Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

3. Upon report by the traffic consultant, the City Council would decide whether or not to install such a stop sign.

If not, then we would have discussion, consult with the traffic consultant or the City attorney and ask if there would be possible adverse impacts if such a traffic control sign were installed. If not, then the Council would decide whether or not to install such sign.

That is the procedure they are recommending. The only thing, which needed to be filled in, was what percentage the City Council would like to see sign a petition if the subdivision association did not present a formal request.

Mayor Clark thanked the committee and said this proposal had his support.

Member Csordas suggested a simple majority of 51% be required.

Mayor Pro Tem Bononi agreed. Mayor Clark asked if there was consensus for 51%. Council agreed there was a consensus.

Member Capello thought the section referring to "subdivision" should also include condo association. In step one, line six, "put forth a formal request," add "or if an association doesn’t exist". Also, we might want to consider changing Stop Sign to traffic control sign in the event someone requested a yield sign. The real substantive change he wanted to make came about after receiving some phone calls from residents about the last stop sign approved, was a step #3 which would go between step #2 and a new step #4. The new #3 would state, "If the traffic consultant does not find that there would be any adverse impact from installing the sign then, before it came to City Council, they would publish a notice in the paper so that the other residents had an opportunity to come forward and object." This would protect the City by publishing in the paper that the issue was going to be addressed at a meeting.

Mr. Fisher recommended that a modification be made on the second page as part of Step 2, third line, which read: "then the City Council will have a"…, change the "will" to "may" so the Council could do this in its discretion depending upon the circumstances.

To approve the committee’s recommendation, include 51% of

*Member DeRoche arrived at 8:25 P.M.

Member Capello said he would like to see larger setbacks along major thoroughfares and backyard residential homes. In his opinion, they would need to give the developers some incentives because they would be taking additional land from them. He also wanted to see in the major thoroughfares that are undeveloped, something like what has been done in Westland on Ford Rd. They had taken a triangular section of those intersections and have taken setbacks and put amenities in those sections and created really nice intersections. He thought this could be done in Novi on some of the undeveloped properties.

The next issue would be a little more complicated and he saw it more in the OST Districts than he did in residential districts. He didn’t think the development community would be, if given incentives, totally opposed to either leaving some active green space areas for perhaps

Frisbee, golf or creating additional slabs of asphalt or concrete for some roller hockey or basketball for the community to use.

Member Capello would like these issues sent to the Planning Commission to see if they could come up with any ideas to accomplish this and give the developers some type of incentive to do that at no cost to the City. Also, give the Planning Commission a drop-dead date of return to Council because there is a lot of development coming forth quickly.

To refer this to the Planning Commission for their advice and

incentives for leaving active open space areas and to be returned

Mayor Pro Tem Bononi asked that the wording of the referral to the Planning Commission be to ask for their advice and research as opposed to looking for a conclusion and leave the matter open for any and all.

Member Capello accepted the language and suggested that a time limit of 90 days be given.

Carol Crawford commented when residents think something isn’t going right, they take action. She applauded Mr. Shaw and the group’s research. She also, appreciated Ms. Holt’s

comments regarding those who were in support. This is the way local government should work.

Member Landry asked that the minutes reflect that he was not at the meeting of December 12^th.

Member Lorenzo requested the Library Board consider moving their board meetings into the Council Chambers and cable casting future meetings as they are about to discuss their budget and other vital items involving the community. This would be appropriate and would be beneficial to disseminating information.

Member DeRoche commented that if the purpose was to cablecast the meeting for the community, he supported that. However, if the only thing lacking was cablecasting, he would prefer to have it cablecast from the library so the community could see the facility.

Member Csordas thought both were great ideas and suggested a compromise could be to have someone from SWOCC or our staff film their meetings in their facility and then run them on cable at specific times. They do take pride in their facility and it would be a nice way to showcase it. He was hesitant to set the precedent of offering Council Chambers to just the library board when there are other groups that might want to have their meetings here in public.

Mayor Pro Tem Bononi agreed that all communication is good and any information disseminated to the public is an absolute positive thing. However, she would be concerned

about all the other boards and commissions who don’t have the opportunity to showcase their board. To have it filmed and shown is fine, but to have it cablecast from Council Chambers

wouldn’t give other boards and commissions the same opportunity and she would not support that part of it.

Kathy Mutch spoke about the Library Board meeting schedule being in conflict with Council’s meeting schedule in Council Chambers. She said space was a major consideration and to set up for a mobile camera crew might be difficult. The area in which the meetings are held is often divided in half to accommodate other groups that are meeting, which doesn’t allow a lot of space. Also, the Library is strapped for funds so she doesn’t know if they could afford it. When the meeting is in the library, one of the advantages is that the Library Director and assistant Library Director are present and make reports at the meetings and to have both out of the building at the same time would present a problem.

Linda Krieger, Library Board Member, thought it would be a good idea to have Library meetings on cable so that the residents could view what the meetings were about and possibly offer input. She suggested a future discussion on how to arrange and finance this.

Mayor Clark suggested taking this item back to the full Library Board and noted the SWOCC group gets a lot of money from the City and all the program consists of is rolling agendas. We have this time available, we are paying to support that entity and we are not utilizing it to its full potential. This would afford those who cannot attend the opportunity to see what goes on and it might pique their interest and would be a vehicle to get their message out to the public. He asked that they take it up at their next board meeting and get back to Council with their comments.

Member Lorenzo requested that the administration put the new policy in motion regarding this request. She noted although there was a traffic count done on Roma Ridge Drive where there already is a stop sign, the intersection of Venice had no traffic count and that was where they were looking for the significant count to be done.

Toni Nagy, 22647 Cranbrook, reported that all the residents in Lakewood were very happy with the new sidewalks but there are some outstanding items. Cadillac Asphalt dumped a lot of debris on the property and a clean up was done, but not fully. She asked if there would be some sort of bond so that the grass put down along the asphalt shoulder was guaranteed to come up next spring.

Mayor Clark asked Mr. Nowicki to follow up on this.

There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting was adjourned at 8:46 P.M.

________________________________ ________________________________

Richard J. Clark, Mayor Maryanne Cornelius, City Clerk

Transcribed: _____________________

Charlene McLean

Date approved: January 28, 2002