CITY/ TOWNSHIP Downsized senior housing approved A revised, downsized senior care housing development project, The Woodward of Bloomfield Hills, was approved by the Bloomfield Hills City Commission on Tuesday, Jan. 12, pending revisions to be made at the planning commission's February meeting. Michael Damone, president of The Damone Group, presented the downsized project for his continuum of care housing development. Damone had previously received approval for a planned unit development (PUD) in April, 2010, for the project, which will offer independent living apartments, assisted living, memory care for Alzheimer's patients and others suffering from dementia, and skilled nursing beds. The proposed project, at 41150 Woodward, is north of Long Lake Road, just north of Roeper School, and backs up to St. Hugo's of the Hills Catholic Church. The original PUD had up to 200 units, five floors with a sloping elevation, a grand elevation and drive, and met with great resistance from the community. Subsequently, Damone has had difficulty getting financing for the project. He does not currently own the property. He returned to the commission to request an amendment to the previous PUD agreement, and presented a sharply revised elevation, with Tudor-styling in red brick, a lower elevation and less units. “I believe the exterior elevation is now more compatible to what people in the community expect,” he told the commissioners. “We downscaled and significantly altered the elevations. It's now all two and three-story buildings, with traditional Bloomfield Hills architecture.” His site plan now proposes 146 units, of which 40 units would be for independent living apartments. There would be 20 skilled nursing beds, and a larger memory care unit, at 36 units. There would be 50 assisted living units at The Woodward. City Manager Jay Cravens said the planning commission, which had met just prior to the city commission meeting, had made five requirements to The Woodward's PUD amendment language, including to replace trees, financial assurances to demolish the building if it is not 75 percent or more complete, and if it reaches that point
and Damone could not financially finish, the city could get access to a letter of credit to finish the exterior. The commission requested Damone put up $1 million surety to cover the cost of finishing the exterior of the project. The commissioners said their concern is an unfinished large-scale project, like Bloomfield Park on Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Township. Damone said he has every intention of creating a finished project, and told the commissioners that his research points to a greater-than-ever need for senior housing. “The key thing is the financial initiative at this point,” he said. “While the markets are healing, there are some lenders entering. We're hoping for financing in the third quarter, end of third quarter of 2011, to begin construction summer of 2012, with an 18-month construction cycle, and one to two months for licensing, so we're two years out.” Mayor Mike McCready asked city attorney Bill Hampton when revisions requested by the planning commission would be available. “We'd be able to have it in February,” Hampton responded, at which point the commissioners approved the PUD amendment, subject to planning commission revisions. Commissioner Bob Toohey then made a motion, which was unanimously approved, to extend a moratorium against further PUDS in the city for another six months.
Filing date nears for May city election Three Bloomfield Hills city commission seats will be available at the May 3 election and the filing deadline is Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 4 p.m. Mayor Michael McCready and Commissioners Pat Hardy and Michael Zambricki all have seats that are coming due in May. According to City Clerk Amy Burton, each of the commissioners have pulled election filing packets, but none have filed yet for re-election. Requirements to file to be a city commissioner is an individual must be a resident of Bloomfield Hills for at least one year prior to the May election, must be a U.S. citizen, and must be a registered voter. Anyone interested in filing to be a commissioner can do so at Bloomfield Hills City Hall.
Baldwin, Bloomfield Hills considering partnership for library services aldwin Library in Birmingham has sent a letter to city officials in Bloomfield Hills, inviting them to consider a partnership arrangement with the library. “We would like to serve Bloomfield Hills on a contractual basis, the same as we do with Beverly Hills and Bingham Farms, not providing library cards for individuals,” said Baldwin Library Director Doug Koschik. “The specific details would have to be worked out, if they are even interested in meeting with us. I have not heard back yet from Bloomfield Hills.” Bloomfield Hills City Manager Jay Cravens said they had received the letter from Baldwin Library, which he said expressed the parameters the library would set for a partnership, such as fee schedules. Cravens initiated the conversation when he sent the library a letter in November expressing interest. Bloomfield Hills' residents have been without a library for seven years, when access to Bloomfield Township Library was severed over financial disagreements. Residents have been utilizing Troy's library for the last several years, but that library is scheduled to close due to the city's financial problems. In November, city residents voted down a proposal, 60-40 percent, to redevelop a contract with the Bloomfield Township Library and create an independent library board. “We have a potential interest in working on something with them,” Cravens said. He said he has directed Mayor Mike McCready and commissioner Pat Hardy, who have library responsibilities as part of their commission duties, to work with a committee Baldwin has set up to determine if an arrangement can be worked out for Bloomfield Hills' residents. Koschik said that Baldwin Library board members Andrew Harris and Ann Conigliaro will represent the library in those discussions. He said he is eager to hear back from Cravens as to the city's interest in furthering a dialogue between the two municipalities. “A contract with the city of Bloomfield Hills would assist Baldwin by offsetting the loss in tax and contract revenues from Birmingham, Beverly Hills and Bingham Farms due to declining property values, and by providing the library with the resources to continue quality services to all citizens in our service area,” Koschik said. “We currently serve 30,000 people in three communities. There are 4,000 people in Bloomfield Hills, which would be about a 12.8 percent increase in our service area. We can definitely handle that.” Cravens said he knows many residents would like access to a library, and they will have to determine the contractual arrangement the library has with the other communities “to see if we're in line with these other communities so we're not getting, or asking, for a sweetheart deal from the library.” Koschik said he would like to see a deal consummated as soon as possible, for the financial sake of the library, and the benefit of Bloomfield Hills' residents, but certainly before the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2011. “A contract with Bloomfield Hills would also solve the current problem of our having to turn away residents of the city, who are now denied services at Baldwin because they live in a community with neither a home library, nor a contract with a neighboring library,” he said. “Some of these people are, of course, school children. It should be noted that a portion of Bloomfield Hills is in the Birmingham School District, but Baldwin provides services based on the community where people live, not on the school they attend.” Any agreement would need to be approved by Bloomfield Hills' city commission and the library board.
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Commissioners serve for two years, and are paid $5 a month, with a minimum of one commission meeting a month. Hardy, finishing her third term after first being elected in 2003, said, “At this point, I am planning on filing (for re-election). Right now, that is my
intention. There's more I want to accomplish. I don't want to leave until there's a library for our youth and our seniors.” McCready, who is finishing his second term, and Zambricki, who has been a commissioner since 1989, were unavailable for comment.