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Council advances Livernois 2020/2021 development and NEZ requests after neighborhood support
Summary
The committee moved to forward Neighborhood Enterprise Zone and related development items for properties on Livernois to formal session with recommendations to approve after neighborhood representatives voiced support.
The Committee of the Whole on March 13 voted to forward two Livernois development items and a related docket item to the formal council session with recommendations to approve after community representatives said the projects have local backing.
Residents and neighborhood leaders urged council to move the projects forward. An early caller told the committee they had attended a Garden Homes Community Organization meeting where the 2020/2021 Livernois project and a proposed Higginbotham expansion were discussed; the caller urged the council to “move forward on the 2021 project on Livernois” and to expedite related proposals. Hazel Flood, president of the Garden Homes Community Organization, told the committee, “We are in agreement here. They have been meeting with our community, and this is a meet a needed project that's needed in that section of Livernois. So we're all for it. So I was asking for y'all to approve it and move it forward.”
Staff and legal workflow: Chris Gulak, City Planning Commission staff, noted the NEZ request appeared on the committee docket under the City Planning Commission but should be listed under HRD. Justice Cook of HRD explained the procedural step: once council approves the resolution at the table, HRD will send the resolution to the clerk for certification for the formal session. The committee directed staff to correct the docket lead from CPC to HRD for those items.
Actions taken: Line items 5.9 and 5.10 (the NEZ request and related development approvals on Livernois) were forwarded to formal session with recommendations to approve. A related memo (6.3) was received and filed. Council also noted a statutory 60-day waiting period for the NEZ process had elapsed, allowing the items to proceed.
Context: Several neighbors and the Garden Homes leadership said developers had met with the community, and members of the committee asked staff to confirm parcel ownership and whether adjacent Detroit Land Bank Authority parcels were part of the request. Dolores Perales of CPC said two DLBA-owned parcels were not reported to be part of the purchase by the project proponent. The committee removed CPC as the listed lead and designated HRD to handle the resolution prior to formal session.
The items were forwarded to formal session with no objections from committee members.
