Westland City Council approves MDOT grant, new street sweeper, rezoning and other items

The Westland City Council voted to approve a set of administration recommendations that included a $1,000,000 Michigan Department of Transportation grant for intersection improvements, purchase of a replacement street sweeper, contract approvals for city equipment and services, and two rezoning requests that would allow new housing development.

Council approved acceptance of MDOT contract number 255042, a $1,000,000 grant that will fund pedestrian-friendly enhancements at the intersections of Wayne and Warren and Central City and Wayne. The administration said the total project cost is $1,200,000, with the MDOT portion at $1,000,000 and a local balance of $200,000 to be funded from the city’s METRO Act budget. The administration noted the agenda language mistakenly referred to a federal grant and said that will be corrected to identify the award as an MDOT grant.

City engineering staff told the council that detailed drawings have not yet been prepared and that the project scope will be refined after soliciting quotes and beginning work with the consulting firm OHM. “Drawings are not done yet. They haven't started with drawings yet. We are hoping to get the contract approved today, and begin working with OHM on quotes and things like that,” the administration said.

The council approved a capital purchase recommendation to buy one replacement street sweeper from Emtek, using pricing available through the CoproPlus cooperative, in an amount not to exceed $293,952. Administration described the city’s current approach as a mix of contracted sweeping for routine street sweeping and limited in-house use of a sweeper after water-main breaks and repairs.

The council also approved consent-calendar items that included a three-year sole-provider authorization for Teleflex as an emergency medical supply vendor (the fire department uses six Teleflex product types) and a five-year golf-cart lease with Piper Incorporated to provide 31 carts to the Mac Mayfield Golf Course at a rate of $685 per cart.

On land-use matters, the council approved a rezoning of a 28,000-square-foot parcel at 2730 Palmer Road from OB (office business) to R-2 (single-family residential) to permit division into three buildable single-family lots; the council then approved the associated land-division resolution and directed the city attorney to prepare the necessary documents. The planning director said the proposed lots were roughly 69 feet wide and compliant with the R-2 minimum lot width of 60 feet. The planning director cautioned that engineering and permitting must still address a drainage ditch and driveway access for the new lots.

Separately, the council approved rezoning a parcel north of Warren east of Merriman from CB-3 (general commercial business) to GAR (garden apartment residential) to facilitate a multifamily development. The planning department said the site's future land-use designation already indicates multifamily residential and that the petitioner, who was present, has unsuccessfully marketed the parcel for commercial use in the past.

All motions described on the record were approved by the council. Several council members asked clarifying questions about scope, timing and funding sources; one council member explained the METRO Act as a local fund derived from utility and small-cell fees that can only be used in affected roadway areas. The council also received several public comments on neighborhood conditions, tax-assessment appeals, traffic enforcement and the Westland Mall but took no additional action on those public-comments items.