Joe Gruber (left), Wyandotte Community and Economic Development and Downtown Development Authority director, speaks during the July 22 City Council meeting about the Special Assessment District for the reconstruction of eight downtown public parking lots.
Wyandotte City Engineer Jesus Plasencia speaks during the public hearing for a Special Assessment District for a Downtown Infrastructure Project for the reconstruction of eight downtown public parking lots during the July 22 Wyandotte City Council meeting.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – The City Council created a special assessment district downtown July 22 to levy part of the cost of grading and paving eight city parking lots to the benefiting property owners.
Business owners had the opportunity to express their concerns during a public hearing at the July 22 council meeting. Despite the opposition of some, the council passed the resolution unanimously. Councilmembers Todd Hanna and Robert Alderman were absent.
The Downtown Infrastructure Project projects a $5.65 million cost for the parking lot improvements, with the Downtown Development Authority recommending that $2.25 million be assessed to the benefiting property owners within the footprint of the planned work.
The city’s share of the cost would be funded through DDA accounts, using public bonds.
The eight city-owned parking lots represent 411 spaces.
The special assessment will be divided into not more than 15 annual installments, at an interest rate not to exceed 6 percent. The full assessment may be paid at any time. If the ownership of the property is transferred, the assessment is due in full.
Mona Rummel, owner of the Family Dollar Store building, speaks during the public hearing for a Special Assessment District for a Downtown Infrastructure Project for the reconstruction of eight downtown public parking lots during the July 22 Wyandotte City Council meeting.
The assessment for one spot is $1,178, and the number of spots assessed per business is based on the parking required less onsite parking provided.
The assessments for each business or apartment building are provided online, at Wyandotte.net, in the city council agenda packet, pages 96 to 103, for the July 22 council meeting.
District 142, a dance and assembly hall, was assessed the highest, for 190 spaces, followed by Captain’s Bar and Restaurant, 59; Firehouse Pub, 52; The Vault Bar and Restaurant, 52; Family Dollar, 49; and Biddle Hall, 47.
First United Methodist Church, which needs 57 spots, has 17 of its own spots, so will be assessed for 40 spots.
Dollar General, which needs 56 spots, has 46 of its own, so will be assessed for 10 spots.
Jeremy Sladovnik, who owns Joe’s Hamburgers and other properties downtown, said that while he is not opposed to the parking lot project, he said he is concerned about the number of spaces assessed to different businesses, and wanted an explanation.
“I feel our town needs some updates, but some of the numbers that I have been looking at, I need some clarification,” he said. “I’m not opposed to paying for any of this stuff; I just think the numbers are a little off.”
Leo Stevenson of Merrill Lynch Financial, as well as a current Downtown Development Authority board member, speaks during the public hearing for a Special Assessment District for a Downtown Infrastructure Project for the reconstruction of eight downtown public parking lots during the July 22 Wyandotte City Council meeting.
City Engineer Jesus Plasencia said the required parking spaces in the central business district are based on the type of business, as well as the customer and employee count.
Joe Gruber, Wyandotte Community and Economic Development and Downtown Development Authority director, said if the DDA, in accounting for all of its projected costs and debt service for the Downtown Infrastructure Project, was to continue to spend for downtown programing as it currently is, it would end up with a $150,000 per year deficit, so, 15 years multiplied by $150,000 per year is $2.25 million, and is how the special assessment was determined.
He said with the reduced cost of debt service due to the lower-than-expected interest on the bond service, it may be possible to reduce the special assessment further.
Gruber said the parking lot east of Biddle Avenue between Oak and Elm streets by the riverfront, and the city hall parking lot were not included in the special assessment district.
“We made the decision to not include any properties that weren’t contiguous and adjacent to parking lots being improved in the project,” he said. “It was just a black and white stamp that we put on it. I can’t say that it’s right or wrong.”
Gruber said by doing this, the city is setting a precedent to pay for public parking with a special assessment district.
Leah Stefanski, the owner of Biddle Hall and a DDA board member, said the DIP work so far has been going well, but because parking lots are public, there is no guarantee that Biddle Hall will have access to the number of parking spots it needs.
She said her assessment, based on square footage, is misleading, since only one-quarter to one-third of the floor space is used to seat people.
Chris Rollet, co-owner of Sweet Arrangements, speaks during the public hearing for a Special Assessment District for a Downtown Infrastructure Project for the reconstruction of eight downtown public parking lots during the July 22 Wyandotte City Council meeting.
Stefanski said there are not usually the number of cars at her facility that the assessment said she needs.
She said the assessment will result in a 25 percent increase in her city taxes.
“I look at it as double taxation, and I am totally not OK with that,” Stefanski said. “I’m already paying taxes, and it’s not my fault or any other business owner’s fault that the city is not budgeting things or is going over budget, to come and take more money from me.”
She also said the plan for fewer handicapped parking spaces in the lot adjacent to Biddle Hall is problematic, since many of the patrons who attend events at her hall are elderly and need the parking accommodation.
Stefanski said some tenants are worried that the special assessment will be passed on to them in terms of a rent increase by the building owners, which could precipitate them needing to move out.
“The repercussions of this are going to be pushed down all the way to the end,” she said. “It might force some of the businesses to have to leave the downtown area.”
Plasencia addressed the floor space calculation question, and said that typically, a building permit would indicate how much of the square footage of a business is useable. However, in the absence of that information, city ordinance allows the useable floor area to be calculated as 75 percent of the gross area of the building.
Gruber addressed another concern, and said the parking lots will be well-lit, with pedestrian lighting as well.
“We have no intention of creating any unsafe spaces downtown,” he said. “A lot of this project is about improving the physical infrastructure and improving the connections between and throughout our downtown, improving on lighting and connectivity, to make these spaces more accessible and walkable.”
Chris Rollet, co-owner of Sweet Arrangements, said they were assessed for 12 spots, while a similar retailer of the same size was assessed for three spots.
“We operate a retail business just like they operate a retail business,” he said. “I don’t know how ours was assessed, why we have so many more parking spaces, but there are residents who park in Lot 6.”
Rollet said residents take up spaces for which the businesses are being assessed.
He suggested the city decrease the cost of the project instead of assessing the businesses for the amount that is over its budget.
Mona Rummel, who owns the Family Dollar building, said transforming the downtown into a cleaner, safer and more attractive space is a laudable goal, but when only a few of the property owners bear the cost of the projects through special assessments it is an unfair burden upon a few.
“It seems like it might be more equitable to spread the special assessment across the board to all taxpayers in the city of Wyandotte instead of just 61 property owners that own business property in a very limited area,” she said.
Rummel said metered parking would help pay for infrastructure costs and would create an ongoing revenue stream for maintenance.
Gruber said it was rough planning the downtown infrastructure project and it has been heavily focused on parking lots and utilities, the areas downtown that are in the greatest amount of distress and in the greatest need for replacement, improvement and total reconstruction.
He said part of the bond for the DIP includes a $300,000 line item that provides matching funds for a $500,000 grant the city is getting for sidewalk improvements.
Leah Stefanski, owner of Biddle Hall, speaks during the public hearing for a Special Assessment District for a Downtown Infrastructure Project for the reconstruction of eight downtown public parking lots during the July 22 Wyandotte City Council meeting.
Leo Stevenson of Merrill Lynch Financial, as well as a current DDA board member, said in 2007 the DDA had a 40 percent business vacancy rate, which the DDA used strategic planning and a concerted effort to fill them with “eclectic businesses,” which it used DDA funds to attract.
“Today, we are 97 percent full for commercial,” he said. “Five years ago, though, we made the decision that we had to start focusing on our infrastructure, because we could see how our infrastructure was just lacking.”
Stevenson said the DIP includes $5 million in grants.
“The things that we did are paying off and allowing us to not have a big burden,” he said. “We know we have to fix the alleys and the parking lots.”
Stevenson said Wyandotte is known as the “Downtown of Downriver.”
“I thought it was important to know that this special assessment district is 10 percent of the overall project, and it is a burden,” he said. “We do have to pay it, but we get a benefit from it, too.”
Peter Rose of Chelsea Menswear and Willow Tree women’s clothing and other properties said this project has many aspects, and the council meeting was being held the same day “that the shovels started.”
“It seems like this is pushing really hard, really fast,” he said. “There is a lot of good information, observations here that I think are worth considering.
“It would have been nice to know what these numbers will look like when we get our yearly assessments.”