VBT LDFA insists member who doesn’t attend meetings, should

Danylo Dobriansky, who was named to the Van Buren Township Local Development Finance Authority last August to represent Sovereign Partners, has never attended a meeting.
Sovereign is the new owner of Grace Lake, having bought it from Visteon. Dobriansky, who is Sovereign’s asset manager, has an office in New York City.
At its May 10 meeting, the LDFA discussed his absences and what to do about it.
The LDFA approved changes to its bylaws earlier in the meeting to allow Dobriansky and other members to attend meetings by telephone or video conference equipment when they cannot attend in person.
Dobriansky did fly in to attend a meeting last fall, shortly after his appointment by Supervisor Linda Combs and the township board, but the LDFA meeting was cancelled at the last minute due to a lack of quorum.
After many suggestions on how to approach the absent member, Ron Akers, director of planning and economic development, said he would set up a meeting with Supervisor Combs on the matter. He said it’s up to the township board to make up the LDFA membership, besides the county and school district representatives which are required.
“They are not required members at the table,” Akers said of Sovereign.
LDFA chairman Michael Dotson said he will work with Akers and try to have it done before the next meeting on July 12.
The LDFA is anxious to develop more property at Grace Lake in order to bring in more tax money to capture. Having a representative of Sovereign at the table would be very helpful, they have said.
In other business at the 1 hour, 14-minute meeting, the LDFA:
• Directed Akers to set up a closed-door session with attorney Kaveh Kashef for what he sees downstream on the township’s bond shortfall. LDFA member Doug Peters requested the meeting, “So we’re not in 2017 or 2018 and ask, ‘Where’s the money?’” Peters said he wants the township to be able to pursue as many options as possible. “I have ideas for strategy questions,” said Peters, who is an attorney;
• Accepted an update memorandum on the 1.04 acres of property the LDFA owns on Ecorse Road west of Hannan, that was to be put up for sale. The LDFA had voted to rezone it before putting it up for sale and that rezoning request will be before the planning commission on May 25. With all the steps involved the rezoning could be in effect by July 20;
• Discussed marketing and community outreach, an ongoing item on the agenda. Akers said Vantage Pointe has been again renamed. Detroit Regional Aerotropolis is offering tours of Willow Run and other areas to developers and is reaching out to property owners. Dotson said there is an opportunity for the out-lots to be developed at Grace Lake. They discussed signs and billboards and set up a sub-committee of Dotson, John Delaney and Chuck Covington to work on signs and traditional marketing;
• Discussed Sovereign’s lack of motivation to develop Grace Lake further. “If Sovereign wanted to be a good neighbor, they’d show us the lease with Visteon,” Peters said. Later in the meeting, when discussing Dobriansky’s absences, he said, “Throw him off the committee. I still suspect collusion between them and Visteon on the property since they refused to furnish us with the lease”; and
• Briefly discussed a letter from Wayne County Executive Warren Evans saying the county is reviewing all the LDFAs, Downtown Development Authorities, and other Tax Increment Financing (TIF) groups in the county that capture county tax funds. He is asking for the groups’ last six audited financial statements, the currently approved development plan for which the taxes are collected, a summary sheet of bonds that are outstanding, and the currently approved budget balance sheet, plus records that detail each of the expenditures. These documents are public records. The county said it will make sure taxes are not captured for ineligible purposes under law. “Tell them the deal’s going bad and we’ll be looking for money in 2018,” Peters said to Akers, who will be dealing with the county on this.