City Council Minutes

Mayor Johnson called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. in the Northville Municipal Building Council Chambers, 215 West Main Street, Northville, Michigan.

Present: Mayor Christopher Johnson, Mayor Pro Tem Carolann Ayers, Councilmembers Kevin Hartshorne, Jerome Mittman, and Thomas Swigart

Absent: None

CITIZEN COMMENTS None

At a special meeting on February 7, 2005, the City Council met to review staff goals and objectives and set priorities for the coming fiscal year. Discussion was not completed and was deferred to February 22, 2005. Due to the absence of two councilmembers, this meeting was deferred again to March 7, 2005 to review the Downtown Development Authority goals and objectives and set the City Council’s fiscal year 2005-2006 goals, objectives, and priorities.

• Continue the Steering Committee efforts to build community consensus on future downtown development. Develop an effective implementation strategy for the Steering Committee’s recommendations.
• Review the Downtown Planning Subcommittee’s recommendations to expand the DDA’s physical boundaries.
• Develop design guidelines to ensure consistent quality development in downtown Northville.
• Initiate the Streetscape Improvement Plan for DDA district as recommended by the Downtown Retail Market Study.
• Continue to work with the Steering Committee and the Downtown Parking Subcommittee to determine parking needs for the downtown and identify locations and funding mechanisms for potential parking lots/deck construction within the DDA district.
• Develop an on-going maintenance and repair schedule for City parking decks, continue maintenance program through DPW and DDA joint efforts, and continue Landscape Master Plan implementation.
• Work with the Chamber of Commerce and downtown building owners to develop additional tools to aid in the downtown recruitment and retention efforts.
• Promote and market the downtown website, and adopt a mission statement and written by-laws.
• Participate in the newly created Special Events Advisory Board, which oversees all special events planned for downtown Northville.
• Work with other departments to complete the Special Events Policy, which would regulate the use of city-owned property, including the band shell, city-owned parks, and public plazas.

Questions and Comments: Discussion ensued relative to the following:

• Development of a quarterly report that would focus on providing updates on the health of the businesses (including turnover), overall development (total square footage/broken into categories), and the gross downtown picture relative to parking spaces (utilizing a formula of square footage and building use to determine the number of parking spaces required by the zoning ordinance and the number of actual spaces available).
• Opposition to further DDA boundary expansion and the need for the revenue for any proposed expansion area to remain in the City’s general fund.
• The five proposed geographic expansion areas, the financial implications for each area and the possibility of expanding the DDA district without adding to the TIFA, in order to use DDA funds to assist with projects in the key areas.
• The need to bring the proposed DDA boundary expansion plans to the City Council for further review and discussion.
• Parking violations and the orange dot program, which included concern that the increased number of parking tickets issued might deter people from visiting the downtown. It was responded that the DDA funds a program to refund the parking ticket cost from those that complain of receiving a parking ticket while visiting the downtown.
• Using the proposed electronic ticket system to assist in tracking whether a majority of parking tickets issued are to downtown employees or downtown patrons.

The following items were given a priority designation (High, Medium, Low – and are not ranked in any order):

1. Water and Sewer System Improvements: including continuing efforts to improve infrastructure, control water loss, control inflow and infiltration to preserve sewer capacity, build working capital, control debt, monitor regional water distribution and sewer capacity initiatives, and minimize the wholesale water rate charged to City by the Detroit Water and Sewer Department.
2. Long-Term Fiscal and Financial Stability: continuing efforts to enhance the City’s financial condition to achieve a fund balance minimum of 25%-35% of the City’s annual budget; continued investigation of alternate revenue sources or revenue enhancements which would include, but are not limited to, Headlee millage override, special or dedicated millages for parks and recreation or public safety.
3. Parking Management and Coordination Plan: continuing the Parking Management Plan initiated in 2002 and incorporate certain recommendations of the 2004-05 Gibbs report and Downtown Steering Committee.
4. Review and Revision of the City Zoning Ordinance by the Planning Commission; areas include but are not limited to site plan requirements/special use permits, special use criteria, parking requirement clarifications, parking space layout and stall overlap, photometric study requirements, traffic study requirements, site plan compliance with all ordinance regulations, and HVAC screening and sound level conformance.

1. Retaining the Retail Operation of the Northville Post Office within the Central Business District: by continuing to work with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on its intention to seek a carrier annex facility within the Northville USPS service area and retain and remodel the retail operation at its current location on Wing Street.
2. City, Township, and Schools Facilities and Infrastructure Development Plans for Future Needs in the Northville Community: through the development of a partnership plan with Northville Township and Northville Public Schools to protect and control the development impact on the City’s central business district and resolve traffic issues related to development in the Northville community.
3. Street and Sidewalk Improvement: through continuation of the annual crack sealing program and the annual street and sidewalk program approved in 1997.
4. Cemetery Build-Out: through timely development of the remaining portion of Rural Hill Cemetery within available resources, with emphasis on making the cemetery operation self-supporting with minimal impact to the general fund.
5. Development and Redevelopment Issues: pertaining to quality development and redevelopment of the Cady Corridor and the McDonald Ford property.

1. Mill Pond Improvements: consideration toward improvements and possible construction of a silt retention basin on the upstream portion of the Pond.

Projects On Hold None Identified.

1. Collective Bargaining Agreements: agreements expired on June 30, 2004 and the City has successfully negotiated agreements with three of the four represented groups.

The proposed 2005-2006 City Council goals, objectives, and priorities will be placed on the next meeting agenda for City Council review.

There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Dianne Massa
City Clerk