Minutes of the March 25, 2013 BoD Meeting

Central Park Master Association

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

March 25, 2013

(unapproved)

1. Meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM; a quorum of members was present: Mike Grobbel, Mike Malone and Brian Pesola.  Ted McCoy was absent.  Also in attendance was Ryan Dorner of Kramer-Triad.

2. The Board approved the Minutes of the Oct. 15, 2012 Board Meeting as presented.
   
   
3. Old Business

1. Damaged streetlight replacement at Heyward and Kingsland: underground wires were also damaged and must be repaired after the frost is out of the ground; wire repairs and streetlight replacement will be made as soon as the weather warms up.
2. Status of fountain installations in the three detention ponds: the Board approved and signed a contract providing for (a) the necessary electrical work to be performed by RB & Sons Electrical Contractor ($6,610) and (b) the purchase and installation of three Aquamaster brand, Master series ½ HP fountains with Lakewood spray nozzle by MCI Aquatic Management Co. ($9,300); expectation is that all work is to be completed before the start of Summer.
3. Groundwater contamination update by Mike Grobbel: “Step 1 Summary Report, Oct. 17, 2012” was received on Jan. 15, 2013 from Dragun & Associates. This report contains test results of groundwater samples taken from temporary monitoring wells located just inside the eastern property line of the former Visteon plant.  These monitoring locations were drilled at 13 different locations along the property line extending from the northwest corner of the Manors at Central Park north towards 23 Mile Rd. Testing of the groundwater from these 13 locations indicate only 3 locations where groundwater was found to be contaminated by amounts of TCE in excess of the EPA drinking water standard of 5 parts per billion.  These 3 locations are in an area that is between 850 and 1,100 feet south of the center line of 23 Mile Rd. and the water samples were obtained at a depth of about 25 ft. below ground level.  These TCE levels and the location where the samples were obtained are just west of the area where similar TCE levels were measured in April 2012 on the adjacent property that is owned by Grand/Sakwa.
   

"No Soliciting" ordinance

Recently there have been a number of salespeople going door-to-door within the Central Park community.   Direct Energy and Kirby Vacuum have been the most recent and they are quite aggressive.  While Direct Energy is a legitimate business, their sales tactics can be very deceptive.  Do not sign any kind of paperwork with Direct Energy unless you are fully aware that by doing so, you are agreeing to change your supplier of natural gas.

If you are tired of salespeople knocking on your front door, there is something you can do to reduce their numbers.

Shelby Township has a "No Knock" ordinance which allows you to put your address on a "No Soliciting" list that restricts most solicitors from knocking on your door.

According to the information provided on the Shelby Twp. Clerk's web site, there are three ways to put your name on the list:

1. call the Clerk’s Office (586) 731-5102, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and leave your name, address and telephone number
2. visit the Clerk's Office, which is located in the upper level of the Shelby Twp. Municipal Building on Van Dyke, just south of 24 Mile Road
3. use this form and email the information to clerk@shelbytwp.org

If you choose the second option, you can also pick up a free sticker to place on your door as a reminder to solicitors that you prefer them not to knock.  If they knock anyway, you may call the Shelby Twp. Police Department at (586) 731-2121 to report the incident.  However, please note that the "No Knock" ordinance does not apply to the following types of solicitors:

• out-of-state vendors
• scout troops
• religious groups
• charitable organizations and political groups protected by the U.S. Constitution.

For more information, visit the  "No Soliciting" ordinance information web page.

The Central Park Master Association's Board of Directors does not authorize anyone to solicit residents of the Central Park planned unit development.  Some salespeople might try to make it sound like the Board knows they are soliciting here or even that they approve of them as a solicitor.   If they try that "line" on you, just ask them to show it to you in writing.  If a solicitor attempts to open your storm door and/or step inside without your approval, tell them to leave as you shut your door in their face and then call the Shelby Twp. Police Dept. at (586) 731-2121.

Ciena - Shelby Township

"Ciena -Shelby Twp." property is shown in red.

UPDATE: The Shelby Twp. Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved both variance requests at their March 7, 2013 meeting.

Back in 2010 "Ciena -Shelby Township" obtained rezoning and site plan approvals to build a 120 bed skilled nursing and rehab facility on the north side of 22 Mile Rd., just east of the Central Park entrance [2010 rezoning request details can be viewed here].  Their construction plans were subsequently put on hold while they built and opened an identical facility in Grand Blanc.  Now that their Grand Blanc facility is up and running, Ciena's Shelby Twp. project in back on the front burner.

Using operational and market demand "lessons learned" from their Grand Blanc facility, Ciena has made a number of revisions to their 2010 plans.

Whereas the 2010 plans called for 50/50 percentages of skilled nursing and short-term rehab beds, the new plans have a higher percentage of rehab beds, which has also driven an increase in the total number of parking spaces. The new plans have enclosed the courtyards on each wing and the rooflines will have a steeper pitch.  A sunroom has been added onto the west side of the building (shown in yellow on the 2013 site plan, below) and the exterior cladding includes more brick and stone.  The new landscape plan has been amended to provide greater amounts of landscape buffering along the west property line near the west wing of the building.

2013 site plan (right-click and then open to enlarge)

Detailed view of 2013 site plan (right-click and then open to enlarge)

The addition of the sunroom and the other changes require Ciena to obtain approval of two variance requests from the Shelby Twp. Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). 

Ciena representatives will present their variance requests at the March 7, 2013 meeting of the ZBA, which begins at 6:30 PM in the Shelby Twp. Municipal Building, 52700 Van Dyke Ave. Residents are invited to attend this meeting where during the public hearing, they will be able to receive a direct explanation of the variance requests and have the ability to address the ZBA and comment for the record.

Specifically, Ciena is requesting these two variances from the ZBA:
1) perimeter setback encroachment (50 ft. required, 24.17 ft. requested)
2) increase the maximum allowable building length (180 ft. maximum, 255 ft. (south elevation) and 248 ft. (east elevation) requested).

The sunroom that was added to the west side of the building encroaches 25.83 ft. into the 50. ft. setback distance, and if approved,  would allow the sunroom to be no closer than 24.17 ft. from the west property line (the 10.83 ft. encroachment shown on the 2013 site plan (above) erroneously assumed a 35 ft. setback requirement).  The revised landscaped buffer that will be planted along the west side of their property will serve to shield the west wing of their building and sunroom from view by the Gardens residents to the west.

The variance to the building length requirement was approved back in 2010 and because of the various changes to the site plan, it must be approved again.  The low profile of their building and the multiple projections and architectural details on the building elevations work to minimize concerns about the additional building length.

Based on the entirety of this information which was shared with the president of the Board of Directors on Feb. 28, 2013, the Board feels that these changes will not negatively impact the residents of the Central Park planned unit development and therefore we will not oppose Ciena's variance requests.
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Note that the 2010 web page [click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page] mentions proposed changes to the retention pond maintenance responsibilities.  Those change were ultimately incorporated into a new agreement which was signed by the Board of Directors and Ciena.  While the new agreement has relieved the Central Park Master Association of much of its former responsibilities for maintaining that pond,  the Board and Ciena agreed that until such time as construction started on their site, the Master Association would continue maintaining the pond and Ciena would reimburse the Association for their share of the costs.  The Association has received a $1,378 reimbursement check from Ciena in 2011 and again in 2012.