Fiduciary Report/ 2013 Preliminary Budget to discuss and more

Hi All,
Happy Thanksgiving.
Please mark your calendar if you wish to attend this meeting.

Monday, November 26, 2012 @ 7 pm is the next Board of Trustees meeting.  The agenda is copied at the end of this blog.

There was a STUDY SESSION held on Nov. 13 according to the 11/26 agenda notice.  For the record, I found no notice under Agendas, Legal Notices, Public Meetings, Home page, giving NOTICE to the public about this meeting.  Therefore, with no noticing on the township website, was this meeting legal?  Does anyone at the township CARE if it was legal?  If you read the BOARD PACKET pages 11-13  for Nov. 26, the printed minutes of the mysteriously held study session is all about  FIDUCIARY REVIEW.

Agenda item # 2 for a Class C liquor license for Eddie Merlot's Restaurant at the SE corner of Big Beaver and Woodward most likely will be approved because it is in a MX (mixed use) overlay zone.
Too bad the township ZBA  granted a variance for that three story building that required 50% of the third floor to be residential....down to  ZERO  residential.  So you have a mixed use zoning with a three story building that is non-conforming.... and if it was still B-1...and not the overlay MX.... this restaurant would not be permitted.  I have no issue with the restaurant, I have issues with the way the township uses the rules/ordinances/ zoning to get what they want for commercial development projects.

Agenda Item #3  pages 23-28 of the Board Packet will discuss updating infrastructure for the Detroit Water and Sewer connections that deal with drinking water.  This work may occur during the months of Jan.- March 2013.  Shut downs MAY ?  occur.  I'm hopeful the township will notify residents before that happens.

I have an issue with this Nov. 26 agenda Board Packet for agenda item # 4... Introduction of 2013 - 2014 Preliminary Budget  because it has no material for the public to review.  So, is Supervisor Savoie just going to say he is working on the budget for the next fiscal year, or will there be handouts to review at the meeting ....  but no time to read it and formulate any possible questions in your three minutes of public comment?

Agenda #5 : consider reading in the Board Packet on pages 29-42 the information about the 48th District Court proposed 2013 budget. 

Also included, but not an agenda item is found in the Board Packet pages 43-51 : results for the Nov. 6 general election. 

What's NOT on the AGENDA or the WEBSITE that's coming up?
1.   November 29 Property Assessment Seminar – Check back later for details!  Well, I've been checking and as of this writing, no details.  The township is closed.
2.  The Supervisor and the Trustees have some responsibilities to  APPOINT  interested citizens wishing to be on the various citizen boards:  ie: ZBA, Planning, Board of Review, etc.  This will need to be accomplished at a Dec. Board of Trustees meeting.  WHY hasn't the township ASKED for applications from interested taxpayers?  If you are interested, get to the township and fill out an application.
3.  The township DEPARTMENTS should and some do.... provide an ANNUAL REPORT.  Why are some annual reports missing for 2011?  2012 is almost over.   Missing from the WEBSITE:  Clerk's Department; Planning Department/Division;  never seen one from the Senior Services Department; What about annual reports  from the Supervisor or the Treasurer? 

Site Plan review and a PUBLIC HEARING to rezone - Monday, Nov. 19 @ 7 PM

Hi All,
Monday, Nov. 19 @ 7 PM is finally another Planning Commission meeting.  (last one 10/1/12)
Two items will be discussed: a site plan  and  a PUBLIC HEARING for rezoning the property from O-1  to OR-1.

Once again, the Township has FAILED to post the public hearing 15 days in advance on the township website under "legal notices" for this meeting. There was a previous Public Hearing on this issue on May 9, 2012 before the Planning Commission where many people spoke.  Have they been renotified of this meeting?   On Nov. 7, the Design Review Board (three elected officials that are also Board members) heard this rezoning proposal.  Two people attended that meeting to ask questions.  This is a paragraph from those minutes:




  
NOTE TO THE PUBLIC.... 
PLEASE:  Take your questions to the Planning Commission ... get those concerns ON THE RECORD in the Public Hearing.   Bring your friends and neighbors....not everything you say makes the minutes. You do not need to be an "official" representative of your neighborhood.  All voices can be heard at this public hearing.   The Township REFUSES to video tape the meetings and archive them for open and transparent government.  Why?  Worried what might be said....on the record?  


1. 6675 Telegraph Rd.  (the old Big Boy restaurant south of Maple on the east side of Telegraph Rd.) 

This is the site plan that will be reviewed:  from the PC Packet found on township website.  There are about 45 pages to review on the website.  The following is just a snapshot of what is there to review.


The Township must approve the hours of operation AFTER 9 PM  and the request for seasonal outdoor seating and the issuance of a Class C liquor license:  therefore it is VERY IMPORTANT that the adjacent properties and others interested make their opinion known before the Planning Commission AT THIS MEETING.  What the building will look like, landscaping, parking, dumpster location, etc. is discussed at the planning  meeting and a recommendation will go to the Board of Trustees for a vote.

I think this sounds like a great restaurant for our area. I personally will not be objecting to this project in the Township. However, because the township does have rules/ordinances/zoning in place,  it is up to the public to voice their opinion to help the planning commission form their recommendation to the Board. 


and:



2.  2510 - 2520 Telegraph Rd. ( south of Square Lake Rd. and West of Telegraph Rd.)

The PUBLIC HEARING found as listed on the agenda posted on Nov. 15.
Page 49 to page 152 of the PC Packet on the township website  has details.   Here is a snapshot of those details.


From the website:










  
and: