ANN ARBOR CHARTER TOWNSHIP
BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
MONDAY, APRIL 18,
2005
The regular monthly meeting of the Ann Arbor Charter
Township Board of Trustees was called to order by Supervisor Moran at 7:35 p.m. at the Township Hall, 3792 Pontiac
Trail, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
48105.
Present: Supervisor
Michael Moran, Treasurer Virginia Forshee, Clerk Rena Basch, Trustees Della
DiPietro, Gene Ragland, Richard Dieterle and John Allison.
Also present:
Township Attorney Sandra Sorini Elser, Township Engineer Michael Bickel,
and Fire Chief Rick Ericson.
Citizen Participation
No citizen signed up for participation.
Approval of Minutes: On page 3, under the 2nd
paragraph, “Maple Road,”
should be changed to “Newport Road.” The motion to release the parcel to AAPS
passed on a 6-1 vote; therefore the minutes should include how the trustees
voted on this role call vote. On the
bottom of page 3, it should be corrected to “chair” Raymond Grew. And lastly, on page 4, the first sentence
under “Information,” should be deleted.
With those said changes, Mr. Allison made the motion to approve the
minutes from the March 21, 2005
Board Meeting. Ms. DiPietro seconded the
motion which the board adopted unanimously.
A motion to amend the
agenda to include a presentation by township engineer, Michael Bickel, on the Huron River Drive Water Main Crossing was made by Ms.
DiPietro and seconded by Dr. Ragland.
The board approved the amendment unanimously.
ANNEXATIONS,
ORDINANCES, CONDITIONAL USES, ZONING
Huron
River Drive
Water Main Crossing
Township Engineer, Michael Bickel, presented information regarding
the need for a Water Main Crossing at Huron River
Drive. The
recently negotiated contracts, with the city of Ann Arbor’s
Utilities Department, requires that the Washtenaw
Community College be connected to Ann
Arbor Township’s
water. Currently, there is a dead end
line from the city to the college. It
has been the intention of the Utilities Department to have a dual feed at the
college. This project needs to be
considered in a timely matter due to the Dixboro
Bridge project. Also, Huron River
Drive is under reconstruction at this point and to
wait on this project would take more time and money to complete at a later
date. The connection would be from the
current dead end to the south side of Huron River
Drive. The
cost of this project is not to exceed $16, 200 and the work could be completed
as soon as this week. Mr. Allison moved
approval of the project not to exceed the amount of $16, 200 and Ms. DiPietro
seconded the motion. The Board adopted
unanimously.
Article II, Section
130.202
This is an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to replace the
definitions of Child Care
Center and Day Care Home. The Planning Commission recommended approval
at its January 2005 meeting however, the Board tabled this matter at its March
meeting because of time constraints. Ms.
DiPietro moved to adopt this amendment and Ms. Basch seconded the motion. The Board adopted unanimously.
Article X, Section
130.1003A
This is an amendment of the Zoning Ordinance and conditional
uses in Rural Districts. The Planning
Commission recommended approval at its January 2005 meeting however, the Board
tabled this matter at its March meeting because of time constraints. Ms. Basch made the suggestion in the
future to change the wording from “church and synagogue” to “house
of worship.” Mr. Allison made the motion
to adopt this amendment and Dr. Ragland seconded the motion. The Board adopted the motion unanimously.
CU-164-04
This is a request by Miassar Dari to operate a day care home
at 4289 Shetland Drive. The Planning Commission recommended approval
with conditions at its February 7, 2005
meeting. Attorney Sorini Elser reviewed
the Resolution approving the conditional use permit. A neighbor asked to see a planting plan and
the Board provided him with such plan.
He said that he likes the location of the trees that are to be
planted. The day care home is currently
licensed in their existing home and the owners indicated that all that would
need to be done is to reapply for the license at the address on Shetland
Drive and the state will transfer the license over
to this location after the state has inspected the new home. Mr. Allison made a motion to adopt this
request and Ms. DiPietro seconded the motion which the Board adopted
unanimously.
AZ-3-05 Parcel
I-09-30-290-005
This is a request by owner Sarah Chamberlain for annexation
release of one parcel totaling approximately 0.275 acres located on 402 S.
Glendale Drive for the purpose of hooking up to city utilities. Ms. DiPietro made the motion to adopt the
request and Dr. Ragland seconded the motion.
The Board adopted the motion unanimously.
AZ-4-05 Parcel
I-09-15-150-009
This is a request by owner Christine Schesky for annexation
release of one parcel totaling approximately 1.04 acres located on 2760 Nixon
Road for the purpose of hooking up to utilities. Mr. Allison made the motion to adopt the
request for annexation and Dr. Dieterle seconded the motion. The Board adopted the motion unanimously.
AZ-5-05 Parcel
I-09-22-240-008
This is a request by purchaser Plymouth Road Ventures LLC
for annexation release of one parcel totaling 2.64 acres, currently Diehl’s
Automotive at 1171 Plymouth Road,
for the purpose of redevelopment to restaurant, retail and office uses. Mr. Allison made the motion to adopt the
request and Dr. Ragland seconded the motion.
The Board adopted this motion unanimously.
AZ-6-05 Parcel
I-09-34-170-010
This is a request by owners Arthur Tai and Joan Keiser for
annexation release of one parcel of vacant land totaling 1.26 acres located on Arlington
Blvd. for the purpose of building a single family
residence with city utilities. Dr.
Ragland made a motion to adopt the request and Dr. Dieterle seconded the motion
which the Board adopted unanimously.
AZ-07-05 Parcel
I-09-32-490-001
This is a request by owner Thomas Schulz for annexation
release of one parcel totaling 0.13 acres located at 1680
S. State Street to connect to city sanitary sewer
and eliminate a Township island. Mr.
Allison made the motion to adopt this request and Ms. Forshee seconded the
motion. The Board adopted the motion
unanimously.
AZ-8-05 Parcel
I-09-30-250-001
This is a request by owners Herbert and Muriel Frederick for
annexation release of one parcel totaling 0.33 acres for the purpose of hooking
up to city utilities. The motion was
made by Dr. Ragland to adopt this request.
Ms. Forshee seconded the motion which the Board adopted unanimously.
APPOINTMENTS,
RESOULTIONS, REPORTS, DISCUSSIONS
Resolution-Washtenaw
Development Council
In the past, Ann Arbor
Township has supported the
Washtenaw Development Council with a donation of $4,000. The contract is up for renewal and the Board
needs to decide at what level Ann Arbor
Township should contribute. Mr. Allison would like the Development
Council to consider marketing the agriculture industry products. Dr. Ragland is concerned that the WDC asks
for jurisdictional support but the approach used is a very regional. Ms. DiPietro made the motion to renew Ann
Arbor Township’s
contract with the WDC and reduce the contribution $2,000 and Mr. Allison
seconded the motion. The Board adopted
unanimously. Mr. Allison then requested
to amend the above motion to include that the Township Supervisor request that
the WDC explore joining with the MSU extension to develop ways of creating
value added agriculture business in the county.
Dr. Dieterle seconded the motion.
The motion to amend the previous motion passed on a 4-3 voice vote with
Mr. Allison, Dr. Ragland, Dr. Dieterle, and Ms. Basch supporting the motion and
Ms. DiPietro, Ms. Forshee and Supervisor Moran opposing. Supervisor Moran then makes the final motion
to renew the contract with the Washtenaw Development Council for 2005 with a
contribution of $2,000 and to request that the WDC explore joining with the MSU
extension to develop ways of creating value added agriculture business in the
county. Mr. Allison seconded the motion
which the Board adopted unanimously.
WCRC
The Board discussed potential projects for
the Washtenaw County Road Commission to complete. Supervisor Moran stated that he is still
looking into having Northfield Township
contribute to the cost of fixing Joy Road. Mr. Allison suggested speaking with Scio
Township regarding Maple
Road. Also,
Mr. Allison suggests the area at Elwood and Woodland
off of Huron River Drive. Mr. Allison proposes the intersection at Newport
and Maple for the Capital Improvement Plan for 2006-2011. He also suggests turning the bridge on New
Earhart over US 23 into a 4 lane bridge.
The Board needs to decide on the projects by next month. Supervisor Moran asked that the Trustees fill
out the Community Profile Survey that the WCRC distributed and return to him by
the end of the week.
Request for Fireworks
Permit: Barton Hills request a
permit to conduct their annual fireworks display on June 24, 2005.
Zoning inspector recommends approval.
Dr. Ragland made the motion to adopt this request and Dr. Dieterle
seconded the motion. The Board adopted
this motion unanimously.
Supervisor’s Report
·
Supervisor Moran reports that the
court has adjourned this week regarding the Pall/Gelman problem. A brief was filed including certain
additional matters in the order. The
changes relate to having Pall/Gelman incur any costs that residents may have in
the future.
·
The Water and Sewer contracts have
been approved by the city of Ann Arbor
and the city City Council. Some residents have been connected to both utilities
systems and have paid continuous fees to the city to be connected. Supervisor Moran has had many meetings with
the township citizens regarding the annexation problems and the citizens
support the actions of the tTownship.
·
It is projected that next year the
Township will have a flat revenue sharing situation.
·
On Tuesday, April 19, 2005, Supervisor Moran will attend a
meeting with the surrounding townships Supervisors regarding the sheriff’s
patrol. Supervisor Moran reports that at
the last Board of Commissioners meeting it was discovered that the County Township
pays more per inmate than almost everyone in the state. The county stated that they did not know the
reason for this. The County proposes to
add 96 beds to the jail. The county also proposes to make a smaller
incarceration programs and build 2 court rooms in existing buildings. The County is suggesting eliminating
subsidized patrol. The Ttownship
is in need of creating a Public Safety Committee.
·
Proposed Federal legislation in cCongress
is
towill reduce the tax deduction of
conservation easements to 1/3 of the actual value.
·
Supervisor Moran concludes his
report with information regarding his meeting with Congressman Dingell. Congressman Dingell stated that he is trying
to get Congress to put money in farmland preservation.
Planning Commission
Report: Mr. Allison reported to the
Board on the last meeting of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is reviewing the NSF
expansion site plan. The Planning
Commission is still working on the Master Plan and it is their hopes
to have something in place this year.
Also, the Planning Commission is trying to work out a way to help better
organize materials presented to the Commission at their meetings. It has been suggested that a person be delegated
assigned to oversee the consultants
and arrange a monthly meeting to better evaluate the materials being
presented.
Public Safety-Fire
Department: Fire Chief, Rick
Ericson, reports that beginning at the end of May and through
out June, on Mondays and Tuesdays, one full-time fire fighter and one on call
fire fighter will be attending the State Fire Marshall Inspection Course. The Course is all paid for through a grant
that Lt. Marc Volger applied for and received.
A 500 gallon fuel tank is needed to help aid in future emergency situations
like the Black Out of 2003. This fuel
tank will be run by a generator and be located at Fire Station 2. Chief Ericson has spoken with Rick
Judkins and they have both agreed to split the cost of such
fuel tank between the Fire Fund and the Utilities Fund. Three bids for the job have been submitted
and based on the guarantee that the Fire DepartmentTownship
will never run out of fuel, Corrigan’s seem to be the best choice for the
job. Mr. Allison moves to approve $4,500
for a fuel tank, half to be paid for from the Fire Fund and the other half to
be paid for through the Utilities Fund.
Ms. DiPietro seconded the motion, which the Board adopted unanimously.
Public Safety-Sheriff
Department: A report from the
Sheriff’s Department was provided in the briefing packet.
Building
Department: The report from the
building department was reviewed.
Farmland and Open
Space Preservation Board: Mr.
Allison reports that Dale Kapp signed his letter of intent to apply for PDR. The City has approved the Farmland application
and the application made it to Lansing
by the deadline. The Federal approval
of the application will not be made until mid May. Mr. Kapp stated that he wanted to retain 3.9
acres of land for residential rights.
The Farmland and Open Space Preservation Board is struggling with how to
figure out the value of the land with retained residential rights. A State Program will be accepting
applications in the fall for additional funding.
Approval of Claims
Listings: Dr. Ragland moved approval of the claims listings for April 1, 2005 in the amount of
$32,910.12 which Ms. DiPietro seconded.
The motion was adopted by the Board unanimously. Ms. DiPietro moved approval of the claims
listings for April 13, 2005
in the amount of $53,906.20. Supervisor
Moran seconded the motion which the Board adopted unanimously.
INFORMATION
A planning summit regarding Flemming Creek will be held on April 26, 2005. The Washtenaw Metro Alliance Visioning
Workshop will be held on April 25,
2005. Clerk Rena Basch
reports that the 2 new voting machines arrived.
Included with these machines are memory cards that can be used for
backup. On Thursday of this week at 8:30 a.m. the Public Accuracy Test will be held
to check the accuracy of the machines.
The School Board election will be held on Tuesday, May 3, 2005.
A lawsuit is being brought against Ann Arbor
Township pertaining to Colt
Farms. The matter was
submitted to the insurance company and the insurance company has agreed to
defend the Township.
NON-AGENDA ITEMS
There were no non-agenda items brought forth for discussion.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Michael Marrotta, who has
recently moved into Ann Arbor Township,
residing at 2486 Whitmore Lake Road,
introduced himself to the Board and offered his assistance to the Township.
ADJOURNMENT
At approximately 9:50 p.m.,
Ms. Forshee moved that the meeting be adjourned. Dr. Ragland seconded the motion, the motion
was adopted unanimously and the meeting was adjourned.
________________________ _________________________
Michael Moran, Supervisor Rena
Basch, Clerk
Minutes prepared by Mary Volger