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THE BIRMINGHAM BUZZ
-- "It's the 2016 Plan, stupid."
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Buzz # 17 -- April 24, 2002

Promoting intelligence and reason in city government. Our mission: To inform and involve all Birmingham citizens.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE at http://www.bhambuzz.org for:
-- Up-to-date news items
-- Resources such as the 2016 Plan and the proposed Tree Preservation Ordinance
-- A calendar of important city events
-- A lively and intelligent discussion group

We want to hear from you! Please send questions, suggestions and feedback to info@bhambuzz.org
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In this edition:
1) Detroit News editorial: Don't police trees
2) Editorial: Commission blows an opportunity to make nice-nice with business community
3) Editorial: Let the campaign for reason begin
4) Developers say projects keep downtown viable
5) Court tells Vinewood owner to go back to city
6) Opposition grows, but tree law moves forward
7) Woodward 'emerald necklace' strangling traffic
8) To be removed, send a request to info@bhambuzz.org
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1) Detroit News editorial: Don't police trees

April 23, 2002

A proposed ordinance in Birmingham makes it a crime for homeowners to prune or cut many popular trees without a permit. Residents who do so could be fined thousands of dollars.

The measure lets city hall in the Oakland County community decide how much sunshine a homeowner should have on his or her lot. It is an unwarranted intrusion into property rights, especially since the supposed benefits are fuzzy and minimal.

The 19-page proposal is on its way to city commissioners, who should give it a quick death.

The ordinance lists 47 protected or "landmark" trees, including oak, birch and pine. A tree becomes protected depending on type and size, including some with trunks as small as six inches in diameter. If the city and a homeowner disagree, tough luck. The homeowner can sue in Oakland Circuit Court, the ordinance says.

The basic problem is this: "Desirable" and "undesirable" foliage are in the eye of the beholder. Shade is a matter of personal taste. Some like it. Some don't.

Law and common sense solve the problem this way: The person who owns a lot decides the landscaping. It's an integral part of home ownership.

Those who back the ordinance say they want to create or sustain an arboreal ambiance. The ordinance uses the phrase "urban forest," which is at best an oxymoron. To the extent ambiance is important, it is not enough reason to usurp control of private property. Plus, this fact is obvious: Birmingham's current ambiance grew over many decades without burdening residents with silly tree-trimming permits.

As homeowners know, a tree is at once an asset and a nuisance. Trees drop leaves and, in cities, create an annual autumn mess. Trees block out sunshine, which helps keep mildew and mold around homes in check. Trees attract birds, which bring droppings and disease including West Nile Virus. Trees also hamper collecting and using solar energy, an environmentally friendly pursuit. And some trees are just ugly or ill placed.

In short, trees are a matter of personal taste. Birmingham has a long tradition of letting residents decide for themselves if they have enough sunshine beaming into their homes or not.

It's a good rule. Birmingham commissioners should keep it.


2) Editorial: Commission blows an opportunity to make nice-nice with business community

April 23, 2002

"April 22, 2002
"7-9 p.m.
"Baldwin Public Library
"Rotary Room

"On January 22, 2002, the Birmingham City Commission met with business and retail community members for an open dialogue to discuss concerns and ideas about the retail environment in the city. The commission would like to invite you to participate in a follow-up meeting to address some of the questions and thoughts of the commercial district as well as the neighborhoods which were expressed at that meeting.

"We are sending this invitation to all businesses and merchants as we did for the previous meeting, however, please feel free to pass this along to anyone who may have been unintentionally missed with this mailing.

"Thank you.
"The Birmingham City Commission."

So read the invitation. Unfortunately, the party Monday night failed to live up to its billing, and the Commission blew a perfectly good opportunity to make nice-nice with the business community.

About 50 merchants and other interested citizens showed up in the stinky basement of the library Monday night. The locker-room odor was an omen.

Mayor Dianne McKeon opened with an admonition that the meeting would last precisely two hours, since the library closes at 9 p.m., and no provision was made for staying late. Unfortunately, neither the mayor, nor any of the other Commissioners, had the good sense to act like gratious hosts and keep the party moving.

One hour and 50 minutes later, after droning presentations about parking (what else?), a survey of shoppers by the Principal Shopping District, and permits for outdoor cafes and signs, the floor was finally opened "to address some of the questions and thoughts of the commercial district."

So the business community was allotted 10 minutes. Actually, after pleas to be heard from the dwindled mass, a compromise was reached, and the merchants and other business folks got an extra 20 minutes. The mayor apologized. The merchants were insulted.

Their questions and comments, for the most part, fell on deaf ears. Direct questions of the Commission were met with little or no response.

Kelli Lewton, owner of Aunt Olive's Good Food 2 Go, for example, pleaded with the Commission for help with her request to place three tables on the sidewalk outside her popular take-out joint on N. Old Woodward. She had visited City Hall and was told she'd need to complete a series of forms, supply 15 copies of a site plan drawn to scale, along with photographs of the furniture she planned to place outside her establishment. Then she'd have to wait for site plan approval from the Planning Board, which is notoriously backed up and wouldn't be able to review her request until its July meeting, halfway into the warm-weather season for outdoor cafes. Lewton begged for relief.

The Commission was all but mute.

Longtime downtown clothier Mark Keller repeated a series of suggestions, including that the city appoint an ombudsman to help expedite things for businesses at City Hall. The only response to the suggestion for an ombudsman, later in the evening, was from Commissioner Gordon Thorsby, who contended that John Heiney, executive director of the PSD, should handle that. The snickers were audible.

Clinton Baller, editor of the Buzz, told the Commission it was missing the forest for the trees in discussing the minutia of parking and permits. "The single most important answer of all [to improving the retail climate in town] has already been given. It's the 2016 Plan," he said. He asked the Commission to explain its decisions that have effectively halted private development according to the plan.

The merchants applauded, but not one commissioner responded.

Either the Commission is sincere about working with the business community, and just dumb about how to do it.

Or it is insincere, and not very smart about trying to look like it cares.

Either way isn't much good.


3) Editorial: Let the campaign for reason begin

April 22, 2002

In a little more than 18 months, Birmingham voters will go the polls.

Four City Commissioners will be elected -- a majority of the seven-member board.

More than any other election in recent history, this one will be a referendum on the future of our city.

Many have said that the elections of 1999 and 2001 were similar referendums, and that the results of those elections indicated strong opposition to further development in town.

But those analyses are as simplistic and wrong as the victorious commissioners who have declared a mandate to stop development. Times are changing. The silent and uninformed majority is waking, and taking a lesson.

To understand the current situation, go back 1995.

The last great divisive issue in our city's history -- the fight over the Baldwin House subsidized housing project -- was little more than a memory. The economy was booming, and City Commission races were more about popularity and trust than any particular issue.

Our Commission and boards were populated by good people with relevant experience and vision. They could have coasted through the boom times as mere custodians. But they didn't. They did something special.

Seeing an opportunity to make a good city even better, they hired world-renowned city planner Andres Duany to help guide us into the 21st Century.

In a process that was extraordinarily inclusive, they developed a plan for our downtown that naturally called for change.

Noting an imbalance in the three primary uses of space, they encouraged the development of more retail and residential space to offset the abundance of office space that already existed.

Noting the riches of under-developed open public spaces, they urged improvements to Shain Park, Booth Park and the Rouge River parkway.

Noting numerous opportunities to make our town, which aspires to be "walkable," more pedestrian friendly, they suggested improvements to our streets and thoroughfares.

Noting the relationship between building heights and street widths, they suggested -- in an attempt to create more desirable urban spaces -- that many of our one- to two-story buildings be replaced by three- to five-story buildings.

The 2016 Plan was masterful. Elected, appointed and hired city officials participated in its development, along with a team of professional planners and, most notably, a huge number of residents. Virtually anyone who wanted to participate did so.

The result was a plan that was widely supported and adopted by the city.

Birmingham's best and brightest -- some of the best and brightest business people, developers and architects in the nation -- leapt at the opportunity to implement the plan. Millions of dollars were committed. The Townsend Hotel was expanded. The Palladium Theatre replaced a rundown, vacant department store. The magnificent Willits condominium was planned for the site of a little-used surface parking lot.

The changes wrought by the plan -- the beginnings of a build-out that could take the better part of a decade -- while supported by so many during the planning process, were stark.

They triggered a movement by a small number of political activists who either had not participated in the planning process, or who disagreed with its recommendations. They were organized and focused.

They targeted a population of likely voters. They capitalized on fears of change, on the stark appearance of the new developments, and on widespread ignorance of the details of the plan and the extraordinary pool of local talent involved in its implementation. And they used hyperbole and innuendo as their primary tools to get their candidates elected.

Meanwhile, a citizenry that for almost 20 years has trusted its leaders -- and often didn't bother to vote -- sat complacent and largely uninformed. Those implementing the plan were so focused on the tasks at hand, they made little effort to inform residents about it and the changes to expect.

The rest, as they say, is history. Two elections and 30 months later, our city government has been largely gutted of its experienced, professional, thoughtful and articulate members, and replaced with ideologues.

The 2016 Plan is, for the time being, history.

By the time of the next election, however, things will be different. We have created a Buzz, and with your help now, it will spread.

Residents need to be informed about good urban design, about the 2016 Plan, and about what a great city we'd have if we just followed through on it. Reading the Buzz and participating in our discussion group and community forums isn't enough. You must open the eyes of your friends and neighbors who don't read the Buzz, and don't participate.

The election is 18 months away, but the time is now to begin the campaign. Your friends and neighbors must be informed, and they must commit to voting in the next election. If they do, reason and good judgment will be restored to our town.

4) Developers say projects keep downtown viable

April 21, 2002

From the Oakland Press

It's one of Detroit's oldest suburbs, an upscale community with a quaint downtown first developed a century ago.

But take a stroll through downtown Birmingham and it's apparent the business district is a work in progress. Redevelopment efforts -- many with a residential component -- are under way in nearly every part of the downtown.

"I think it's basically very simple," said builder Paul Robertson, whose $70 million Willits condominum/retail project is part of the city's recent development wave. "There are a number of people who like living in an urban environment. There are no other really good downtowns in southeastern Michigan."

The residential/commercial mix is being encouraged by the city's "2016" master plan. Those developments also are being driven by the "back-to-downtowns" movement that has swept the nation in recent years.

"People like to live in downtown Chicago," said builder John Shekerjian. "In the metropolitan Detroit area, Birmingham is what you've got. It's still a place where people want to be. It has nice bars and nice restaurants. If you want to be able to have all those amenities within walking distance of you, there's not a lot of places."

To help meet the demand, Shekerjian, president and chief executive officer of Birmingham-based John Richards Homes, is putting up 250 Martin on Shain Park at Bates and Martin streets. Being built on site of a now-demolished office building, the six-story structure will offer eight homes ranging from 3,800 square feet to 5,600 square feet selling for $1.7 million to $3 million.

"The elevator actually opens up right into their homes," Shekerjian said. The 40,000-square-foot condo development, with a stone exterior, will offer a two-story penthouse, roof gardens and underground parking.

Three homes have sold so far. The building, which will have retail space on the first floor, is scheduled to be ready for occupancy in first-quarter 2003.

Robertson, president of Bloomfield Hills-based Robertson Bros. Co., has seen substantial interest in the 325,000-square-foot, five-story Willits. Although a sales model is just being completed, 18 of the 58 condominiums at Bates and Willits streets have been sold in a year and a half.

"I expect to be sold out by the end of the year," said Robertson, whose luxury homes range from 1,600 square feet to 4,200 square feet and sell for $600,000 to $3 million.

The condo project is being build on the site of a former parking lot. The Willits will include 25,000 square feet of street-level retail, including a spa and restaurant, being created by Jim Weiner.

Weiner, president of Related Retail Corp. of Birmingham, is the force behind the $40 million Palladium project -- the city's most significant retail redevelopment in recent years. Created on the site of a former Crowley's department store, the retail/entertainment complex at North Old Woodward Avenue and Hamilton Street already includes the 12-screen Uptown Palladium movie theater and the Buca di Beppo Italian restaurant.

A Tower Records store will open in May, and two other restaurants also will be part of the mix.

"It's my feeling the Palladium ... is going to draw a lot more retail to downtown Birmingham," Robertson said. "I think the north side of Birmingham is going to be energized by the traffic in and out of the Palladium."

Birmingham supporters, concerned about vacant storefronts around town, welcome that foot traffic. Predictions that the 1996 opening of Somerset Collection-North in neighboring Troy would devastate downtown Birmingham may have been overblown, but tenant turnover has occurred.

"There's a lot more empty stores than there were before," Robertson said. "What's missing downtown is a really viable department store. "Assuming (Jacobson's comes) out of bankruptcy, I think the Birmingham city fathers ought to do whatever they can to save Jake's and find them a new spot."

Future phases of the Palladium project had proposed relocation of Jacobson's and redevelopment of its current site.

Despite perceptions about vacancies downtown, the occupancy rate for commercial space overall is at 96 percent, said John Heiney, executive director of the Downtown Birmingham Principal Shopping District. The 1 million square feet of space in the district, bounded by Oak, Lincoln, Southfield and Adams, was at 94 percent occupancy when the group was formed a decade ago.

"From walking around, you see vacant storefronts," Heiney said. "That's a common thing in all downtowns. I've never seen (occupancy downtown) above 97 percent."

While 38 or 39 retailers left last year, 40 arrived, Heiney said. The downtown now has 24 vacant spaces.

Cargo Hold, a home accessories store with a Maple Road location for 25 years, was among the recent departures. It was immediately replaced by Habitat Gallery.

"I think it's always good for downtowns to have established, long-term tenants," Heiney said of the turnover. "We also understand the cycle of retail in downtowns."

Rents still are among the highest in Oakland County. Retail rent is in the $20-to-$35-a-square-foot range, while office space is going for $25-to-$30 a square foot.

To make downtown Birmingham more attractive to retailers and pedestrians, the city is looking at ways to slow automobile traffic on downtown streets. Narrowing the city's Ring Road and adding parking spaces downtown are options being considered.

Meanwhile, developers are pursuing their downtown projects. Among them:

* 400 Hamilton Street, a 32,000-square-foot building now being leased at Hamilton and Park streets. The development, by Southfield-based Etkin Equities LLC, will have retail on the first floor, office space on the second and residential space on the third floor;

* Eton Street Station, a 185-home, residential/retail/office project east of Eton Street and south of Maple to be developed by Novi-based Crosswinds Communities. The project, where homes will range from 1,355 square feet to 2,221 square feet and sell for $250,000 to $300,000, is on the former Erb Lumber headquarters site;

* An unnamed, 12,000-square-foot shopping center by Southfield-based First Commercial Realty & Development Co. The $2 million center on Maple east of Woodward is being built on the site of a former Kroger store.

The current wave of development in Birmingham isn't just good for the city's downtown -- it's essential for its survival, said Ted Fuller, owner of Birmingham's Central Park Properties.

Central Park is converting the closed, 18,000-square-foot Alvin's Bridal Salon store on Pierce and Merrill streets into retail, office and apartment space. The company also plans to add 30,000 square feet of retail and office space to the 100,000-square-foot Briggs Building at Woodward and Maple by adding a floor and expanding into an adjacent parking lot.

"An older community like Birmingham has to have new development all the time," Fuller said. "A lot of these buildings have worn out. If you want to continue to keep your property values up, you have to replace them. You just can't allow your city to deteriorate."

5) Court tells Vinewood owner to go back to city

April 21, 2002

From the Birmingham Eccentric

A legal case that could have cost Birmingham taxpayers more than $1 million was tossed out of court Thursday by Oakland County Circuit Judge John McDonald.

"It's not a home run but it's an extra-base hit," said John Staran, the attorney handling the case for the city.

The case, Susan R. Bruley Trust vs. Birmingham, involved the historic designation of a house at 543 Vinewood.

The owners of the house were against the historic designation and had planned to tear it down and replace it. Last year, city officials were advised to pay $500,000 in damages by a panel of Oakland County Circuit Court moderators, but the city decided to take its chances in court, though Staran said a possible judgment against the city could exceed $1 million.

Though the decision proved prudent, Staran said the judge didn't rule on the merits of the case so it could be back in court within a year.

Timothy Stoepker, the trust's attorney, said it would be sooner than that.

"We are disappointed in the decision, but if the city thinks we are going away it has another thing coming," he said. "We are going to push this as hard as possible."

In its legal brief, the city contended that the trust should have applied for building and demolition permits even though the property was designated a historic district. Under city rules, the building department would have denied the applications, but sent the matter to the city's Historic District and Design Review Commission. The HDDRC would then have reviewed the applications and decided whether the house could be torn down. If the historic commission denied the permit, the trust could have then appealed to the State Historic Preservation Review Board. In this case, however, the trust decided to pursue the matter in court.

McDonald's ruling basically told the trust to go back and exhaust all possible remedies before coming back to court. Stoepker said one section of the ruling would allow the trust to build a Bigfoot home on the site, when and if it gets permission to demolish the current home. The section reads as follows:

"The assertion that plaintiff (Bruley) must seek a zoning variance can also be dispatched because no variance is required since plans were submitted before the effective date of the lot coverage ordinance."

Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus has said the city's insurance policy wouldn't cover a legal judgment against the city if the courts ruled the historic designation was an illegal taking of the property. A taking is when a municipality illegally seizes control of private property.

McDonald didn't address that matter in his ruling.

The city recently blocked the trust from removing trees from the site, saying the matter would have to be reviewed by the HDDRC as well.

Stoepker said that move is yet another example of the city trying to regulate everything involving the house at 543 Vinewood.


6) Opposition grows, but tree law moves forward

April 21, 2002

From the Birmingham Eccentric

By Larry Ruehlen

Despite a groundswell of sentiment against it, a controversial tree ordinance was approved by the Birmingham Parks and Recreation Board Tuesday. The unanimous vote sent the issue to the Birmingham City Commission, which is expected to review the language then set a public hearing for a date in May.

"The board wanted the commission to have the opportunity to review the ordinance and hear additional comments from residents," said parks board member Ann McBride.

Some 30 residents showed up Tuesday to see a presentation on the ordinance, and the overwhelming majority indicated they were against it.

When the same presentation was made before the planning board on April 10, only one resident voiced opposition to the city regulating trees on private property. But in less than a week word had spread that residents would have to pay the city as much as $5,000 to cut down a tree in their own backyard if the ordinance is adopted.

It was precisely the prospect of lost liberty that concerned Birmingham resident Indulis Liepins, who attended the meeting Tuesday. Liepins is a Latvian immigrant who left his homeland after years of oppression.

"We were in Communist control under Russia, and Birmingham is leading in that direction," he said, in a telephone interview. "Slowly, they are taking away our freedoms. People in Birmingham want to protect trees, but the city shouldn't infringe on private property."

At 19 pages long, the proposed tree preservation measure would give the city the power to control most trees in the city with a permit and inspection process for tree removal and pruning on public and private land. A resident who illegally chops down a "landmark" tree would have to pay as much as $5,000 to replace it and face a $100 civil fine.

Under the proposed language, protected trees would include those that are greater than six inches in diameter, with the exception of nine undesirable species, including silver maple and willow, that may be chopped down without a permit. Special protections for 46 "landmark" species including ash, elm and birch are also included, and the proposed ordinance goes to great lengths to preserve them. Landmark trees must also meet a diameter requirement to become protected. The requirement ranges from eight inches for a redbud to 24 inches for a spruce.

Anyone who removes a protected or landmark tree would have to pay the replacement costs for the tree. One city expert estimated that one in three residential lots contain at least one landmark tree. Another expert said replacing a landmark tree in good condition would cost $3,300. If the tree were in excellent condition, the cost would be double that, or $6,600, under the city's proposed formula for replacing trees. Residents would be responsible for tree removal costs, tree replacement costs and any amount the city spends on inspections and surveys.

Residents would be able to remove diseased or dangerous trees and would also have a right to cut down up to two trees or 10 percent of the trees on a given lot per year as long as those trees aren't of the landmark variety. The city commission is expected to decide whether residents would have to pay replacement costs for chopping down their annual allotment of trees.

Birmingham resident Robert Lamotte said he has mixed feelings about the ordinance.

"Trees are wonderful, they clean the air and help the environment," he said. "But should it be my right to do what I wish with my trees or it is the city commission's right to dictate what I can do?"


7) Woodward 'emerald necklace' strangling traffic

April 21, 2002

From the Birmingham Eccentric

By Larry Ruehlen

The construction barrels are back on Woodward, snarling traffic at the intersection of Woodward and Maple.

The mess is being caused by the beginning of a project to transform the medians on Woodward into an "emerald necklace" of landscaping that will please pedestrians and motorists.

"This project will highlight Birmingham's unique downtown location on Woodward and make it more safe and accessible for pedestrians and visitors," said Birmingham Mayor Dianne McKeon.

On Wednesday McKeon and officials from Oakland County, the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Woodward Avenue Action Association participated in a ground-breaking ceremony but workers actually began ripping out sections of road Monday.

Paul O'Meara, city engineer, said the turnarounds immediately north and south of Woodward will be relocated 25 feet farther from Maple to provide a larger buffer zone for pedestrians. When that part of the work is done, new landscaping will be installed.

The one-quarter mile project area extends between Brown Street from the south to Oakland Avenue from the north. It will include an extensive, irrigated streetscape of trees, perennials, flower beds and shrubs in addition to sidewalk and pedestrian crossing improvements. The project is expected to cost $525,000 and will be completed by late summer.

Funding included an $80,000 federal grant and contributions from the WA3, the Birmingham Principal Shopping District, National City Bank, Blossoms, The Kroger Co. and other Woodward businesses.

The city has tentative plans to extend the improvements north to Big Beaver Road in 2003 and south to 14 Mile in 2004. Turn-arounds in the last two phases won't be relocated, said O'Meara, so future improvements won't take as long or be as costly.


8) To be removed, send a request to info@bhambuzz.org
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