Belleville City Council sets public hearings on ordinance changes

Public hearings have been set by the Belleville City Council for 7:30 p.m., July 15, to hear public input on two proposed ordinance changes that could encourage businesses to locate downtown.
At the July 1 meeting of the city council, some members of the planning commission that worked out the changes were present to explain.
The planning commission had held public hearings on the two changes at its June meeting and then voted to recommend approval to the city council.
The first proposal was an update to the current outdoor café ordinances with the addition of rooftop dining provisions.
Planning Commissioner Mike Renaud, who had served on the subcommittee with Commissioners Kelly Bates and Becky Hasen, said the city currently has two ordinances established in 1999 – one for outdoor cafes on private property and one for outdoor cafes in the public right-of-way.
The subcommittee reviewed resource material from nine Southeast Michigan communities and one outstate community.
They developed a new, consolidated, 10-page ordinance for consideration by the city council. They included rooftop as an outdoor café option, with the requirement that all local zoning and Michigan building codes be met.
“We also noted that most communities have guidelines for cafes in the public right-of-way, but not for outdoor cafes on private premises – so in this respect our requirements may be viewed as more burdensome than those of other communities,” Renaud said.
“As for outdoor cafes on public property, our requirements and procedures are similar, but generally are fewer in number and less complex than those in other communities.”
Renaud said it has been 20 years since the café ordinances were originally written.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said they originated with a request from JB’s bar and one was for liquor and one for non-liquor.
Building Official Rick Rutherford said the subcommittee did a good job and it was time for an update.
“They were pretty thorough going through state law,” he said. “This could bring new development in the downtown.”
Councilman Jesse Marcotte asked if they had run the ordinances past the planning consultants and they hadn’t.
Rutherford said in the original ordinances the planning consultant used basic language. He said a lot of planners don’t have a feel for a local community. They always start off with an over-restrictive ordinance and expect the planning commission to make it fit its community, he said.
The second proposed ordinance change was for the Central Business District and would remove wording that requires uses downtown be 50% retail. The wording for medical offices and clinics, as well as professional and administrative offices would be changed from “permitted with special approval” to just “permitted.”
The subcommittee for this ordinance change was made up of Planning Commissioners Michael Hawkins and Randy Priest, neither of whom was present at the city council meeting.
City Manager Kollmeyer said the purpose of the changes is to attract development to the downtown.
Councilman Marcotte asked if they sought input from the Downtown Development Authority who might have input on such ordinance changes. They said they hadn’t.
Commissioner Bates said the DDA was welcome to attend the public hearings.
Renaud said last year the planning commission was working on a sign ordinance and they struggled to get the DDA involved and finally got one on the sign committee.
“I can’t imagine them not agreeing with what we do,” Renaud said.
“Without throwing the zoning out, it was time to look at that ordinance,” Rutherford said. He said with the Amazon deliveries now, you have to look at businesses differently. “You struggled with 50% retail a while back.”
Kollmeyer said the city looked at supporting businesses.
“We didn’t want downtown full of offices,” she said. “People wanted to set up businesses downtown, but they weren’t retail… There was a lot of recent discussion on that.” She referred to the talks surrounding construction of the Davenport office building on Main.
Marcotte said the DDA should provide a base of information.
Kollmeyer said the DDA members are all very busy and, “We have to get them pumped up to volunteer.”
In other business at the 22-minute July 1 meeting, the council:
• Unanimously approved a resolution establishing the 2019 tax rate of 16.5067 mills, which includes the Headlee rollback as provided by Wayne County;
• Heard Building Official Rutherford report that the steel for the seawall repair at Doane’s Landing was due the first of July so, “Hopefully before the next meeting, we’ll hear rattling”;
• Removed from the agenda the “Public Safety Special Assessment” discussion. Mayor Kerreen Conley and Councilman Tom Fielder were absent from the meeting and the council members present thought everyone should be present for this important discussion; and
• Approved accounts payable of $140,216.12 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Jack Doheny Co., $3,337.67 for street sweeper repair; and to R&R Fire Truck, $2,481.71 for emergency repairs and $1,862.23 for annual MDOT maintenance.