Bloomfield Township Design Review Board Meeting on April 15, 2026

Topics

Transcript

Click any timestamp to jump the video to that moment. Auto-transcribed; expect occasional errors on proper nouns.

1. 0:00

   Good afternoon and welcome to the Design Review Board for Wednesday, April the 15th. We'll take attendance. Everybody's here. If you're here for a public comment, you can come up to the microphone and ask you to introduce yourself. And basically for public comment, it's based on what our agenda is today. I will close public comment and move to item number three, approval of the minutes from April the 1st. So moved. Support? Support. All in favor say aye. Aye. New item signed, 6608 Telegraph Road, Tamara Kitchen and Bar. Corey, hi. Thank you. All right, our first signed case today is for Tamara Kitchen and Bar. You should all be familiar with this property. It came through the process recently for special land use because it is a new restaurant with a liquor license. That's why I went through all the way through the Township Board as a site plan. They're coming back to you today just for the signage portion. This is where it sits in our zoning map. It's part of the Tell Maple Plaza that you are all very familiar with. And here's the aerial. One thing I do want to note on the aerial before we move on is that there is adequate parking in the rear. By adequate, I mean used. A lot of people park back here in order to access the facilities here. Yep. And so that ties into our request today because the applicant is requesting two wall signs, one for the front facade facing telegraph and one for the rear. So they will need a variance for that additional sign because they're only permitted one sign. So they will need a variance for the additional sign. In terms of area requirements, for the front facade, they are under the... limitation they're capped at 58 square feet this sign is 52 in the rear they are capped at 56.76 square feet and they're proposing a much smaller sign at 23 square feet in terms of illustrations there are none and this projection is under 12 inches at only 9 inches lastly it is internally lit and covered with an acrylic face both signs here they are with their dimensions for you to review and this is what it looks like in the rear and they will need approval for the red canopy as well approval from okay my apologies okay my apologies so we're approving this sign and then it goes to ZBA for the secondary sign that's correct

2. 1:15

   And so that ties into our request today because the applicant is requesting two wall signs, one for the front facade facing telegraph and one for the rear. So they will need a variance for that additional sign because they're only permitted one sign. So they will need a variance for the additional sign. In terms of area requirements, for the front facade, they are under the... limitation they're capped at 58 square feet this sign is 52 in the rear they are capped at 56.76 square feet and they're proposing a much smaller sign at 23 square feet in terms of illustrations there are none and this projection is under 12 inches at only 9 inches lastly it is internally lit and covered with an acrylic face both signs here they are with their dimensions for you to review and this is what it looks like in the rear and they will need approval for the red canopy as well approval from okay my apologies okay my apologies so we're approving this sign and then it goes to ZBA for the secondary sign that's correct okay and does the sign this fits the ordinance both signs fit ordinance what does not fit on this is the number okay then I'll make a motion that we approve the science is submitted and for and forward it to and then forwarding it on to the ZBA for the variance that they need we're approving the one sign well we approve the designer book We're proving the design of both sides. They need a variance to put up the second one. Right. Support. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes three to nothing. Thank you, gentlemen. Good to see you again. Thank you. Looking forward to visiting you. Thank you. Okay, item number two, 2150 Telegraph Road, Calabat Building. Similar story. This is a facility you should be familiar with. It is the new Calabat Building. It's been under construction now for a little while, and I went through the process recently. Here's where it sits within our zoning map. It is this portion of B1 light pink zoning here. And then here it is within our aerial. So it's along our busy commercial corridor. Here, I just wanted to emphasize that while this does show placeholder signage here,

3. 2:30

   okay and does the sign this fits the ordinance both signs fit ordinance what does not fit on this is the number okay then I'll make a motion that we approve the science is submitted and for and forward it to and then forwarding it on to the ZBA for the variance that they need we're approving the one sign well we approve the designer book We're proving the design of both sides. They need a variance to put up the second one. Right. Support. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes three to nothing. Thank you, gentlemen. Good to see you again. Thank you. Looking forward to visiting you. Thank you. Okay, item number two, 2150 Telegraph Road, Calabat Building. Similar story. This is a facility you should be familiar with. It is the new Calabat Building. It's been under construction now for a little while, and I went through the process recently. Here's where it sits within our zoning map. It is this portion of B1 light pink zoning here. And then here it is within our aerial. So it's along our busy commercial corridor. Here, I just wanted to emphasize that while this does show placeholder signage here, here, here, and over here, that is not what is before you today. The only thing you are deciding on is the Calabat, the center at the top. This is just to show you where in the future they may request signs in the future as they get tenants. But since they do not have tenants, they could not come forward with a sign package. So just the Calabat sign. In terms of compliance, it is fully compliant with all the standards of our ordinance. The projection is only four inches. The area is only 30 square feet. They are permitted up to 207. It will not be illuminated, and so there's no concern about exposed neon. The site plan, pretty straightforward. They are proposing a brushed gold for it. And then here's the site plan, which we have already reviewed and approved. and current images it's coming along no questions straightforward I move that we approve the Calabat sign as presented support all in favor say aye aye opposed pass three nothing thank you item number three four one nine zero Telegraph Road M Victor's care all right so this building you should be very familiar with because it is right across the street so here's us right now here's Exeter Drive here's where they are requesting the sign you're familiar

4. 3:45

   Here, I just wanted to emphasize that while this does show placeholder signage here, here, here, and over here, that is not what is before you today. The only thing you are deciding on is the Calabat, the center at the top. This is just to show you where in the future they may request signs in the future as they get tenants. But since they do not have tenants, they could not come forward with a sign package. So just the Calabat sign. In terms of compliance, it is fully compliant with all the standards of our ordinance. The projection is only four inches. The area is only 30 square feet. They are permitted up to 207. It will not be illuminated, and so there's no concern about exposed neon. The site plan, pretty straightforward. They are proposing a brushed gold for it. And then here's the site plan, which we have already reviewed and approved. and current images it's coming along no questions straightforward I move that we approve the Calabat sign as presented support all in favor say aye aye opposed pass three nothing thank you item number three four one nine zero Telegraph Road M Victor's care all right so this building you should be very familiar with because it is right across the street so here's us right now here's Exeter Drive here's where they are requesting the sign you're familiar probably just driving into work seeing the M Victor's care sign on the front they are coming to you today requesting a much smaller sign in the rear the reason is to provide this directional so that when people park in the rear they know which door to go into and so they are proposing a sign that it has a 9.4 inch projection it is less than 10 square feet it'll have internal lighting under an acrylic face and the only variance they will need is for the number of signs because they are limited currently they're at their maximum and they're adding an additional sign any questions for me this is the current situation the sign as proposed will be up on the building are they gonna keep the one on the glass I don't I don't know I'm the landlord I'm not sure what they're just worried patients being able to find it so if it solves for that but I think they'll remove it Okay. Can we make that in a condition? Because then that's three signs. I would agree. Okay. So I'll make a motion that we approve the sign as to form under the condition

5. 5:00

   Exeter Drive here's where they are requesting the sign you're familiar probably just driving into work seeing the M Victor's care sign on the front they are coming to you today requesting a much smaller sign in the rear the reason is to provide this directional so that when people park in the rear they know which door to go into and so they are proposing a sign that it has a 9.4 inch projection it is less than 10 square feet it'll have internal lighting under an acrylic face and the only variance they will need is for the number of signs because they are limited currently they're at their maximum and they're adding an additional sign any questions for me this is the current situation the sign as proposed will be up on the building are they gonna keep the one on the glass I don't I don't know I'm the landlord I'm not sure what they're just worried patients being able to find it so if it solves for that but I think they'll remove it Okay. Can we make that in a condition? Because then that's three signs. I would agree. Okay. So I'll make a motion that we approve the sign as to form under the condition that they remove the vinyl sign and forward this along to the ZBA for variance. Support. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Pass 3-0. Good luck. Thank you. Item number four, Franklin Road Makeup Lab 2398 Franklin Road. All right. This is our final sign for the day. This is a strip mall that you see pretty frequently. It's right here at Franklin and Square Lake. It's quite a busy center. It's the one with all these gray overhangs. So they have this in place, a temporary banner sign. I believe this actually went to enforcement which is what the origin of this request is. So they are going to be removing the banner sign as it currently is and they're proposing to a more permanent sign in a very similar design. In terms of compliance, it is fully compliant with all our ordinance requirements. This will be the only sign for the tenant space. It is under the, it is only 5.90, sorry, 5.93% of the facade area. So it's under six. There are no illustrations proposed. It is only a 10-inch projection and it will be internally illuminated. And so that's pretty much it. Here are some examples of other signage that you've approved in the same center. And are those other signs have back illumination as well? Yes. Excuse me, Connie. Some of those other business

6. 6:15

   I'll make a motion that we approve the sign as to form under the condition that they remove the vinyl sign and forward this along to the ZBA for variance. Support. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Pass 3-0. Good luck. Thank you. Item number four, Franklin Road Makeup Lab 2398 Franklin Road. All right. This is our final sign for the day. This is a strip mall that you see pretty frequently. It's right here at Franklin and Square Lake. It's quite a busy center. It's the one with all these gray overhangs. So they have this in place, a temporary banner sign. I believe this actually went to enforcement which is what the origin of this request is. So they are going to be removing the banner sign as it currently is and they're proposing to a more permanent sign in a very similar design. In terms of compliance, it is fully compliant with all our ordinance requirements. This will be the only sign for the tenant space. It is under the, it is only 5.90, sorry, 5.93% of the facade area. So it's under six. There are no illustrations proposed. It is only a 10-inch projection and it will be internally illuminated. And so that's pretty much it. Here are some examples of other signage that you've approved in the same center. And are those other signs have back illumination as well? Yes. Excuse me, Connie. Some of those other business have backlit? Yeah. Because that's what our client was hoping to have also. Not halo lighting, sorry, internally lit. Oh, internally, because the client was maybe hoping to have like a real light halo light. Could you, could you pull up to the end? Thank you so much. Hmm. My name is Mark from iSigns and Designs. Our client there was hoping to maybe have a white halo lighting behind the black panel, just really light. And Corey was saying that the township does not approve that on its prior ordinances or to be considered here. So for clarity, the reason that we informed the applicant it was not permitted is because our ordinance prohibits lighting that goes up directly. We only allowed down. We're shielded lighting. For that reason, in the past, this body has not approved any halo lights. Right. So the board has said no to halo lights in the past. I believe that's still their position. Well, I guess you could apply for a variance, couldn't you apply? You could. Oh. I'm happy to approve it as it is, but if you need. Right. Oh, no, that's what, well, I, you know what, that's fair enough. I'll talk to the client, but I don't know if they want to bother with the variance or not. Okay. Well, that's an option for them to consider. I was here maybe about a year ago with backlighting and the board had a lot of trouble with it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, we, I wouldn't be happy with backlighting. But the CBA would decide on the variance, which they may or may not grant, but this is ready to go as it is because it's compliant. That's what I thought, which is, which is good. And I could tell the client, they can go to, well, what's the odds that the variance would approve that? Coin toss?

7. 7:30

   have backlit? Yeah. Because that's what our client was hoping to have also. Not halo lighting, sorry, internally lit. Oh, internally, because the client was maybe hoping to have like a real light halo light. Could you, could you pull up to the end? Thank you so much. Hmm. My name is Mark from iSigns and Designs. Our client there was hoping to maybe have a white halo lighting behind the black panel, just really light. And Corey was saying that the township does not approve that on its prior ordinances or to be considered here. So for clarity, the reason that we informed the applicant it was not permitted is because our ordinance prohibits lighting that goes up directly. We only allowed down. We're shielded lighting. For that reason, in the past, this body has not approved any halo lights. Right. So the board has said no to halo lights in the past. I believe that's still their position. Well, I guess you could apply for a variance, couldn't you apply? You could. Oh. I'm happy to approve it as it is, but if you need. Right. Oh, no, that's what, well, I, you know what, that's fair enough. I'll talk to the client, but I don't know if they want to bother with the variance or not. Okay. Well, that's an option for them to consider. I was here maybe about a year ago with backlighting and the board had a lot of trouble with it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, we, I wouldn't be happy with backlighting. But the CBA would decide on the variance, which they may or may not grant, but this is ready to go as it is because it's compliant. That's what I thought, which is, which is good. And I could tell the client, they can go to, well, what's the odds that the variance would approve that? Coin toss? Well, I'm just saying. We don't have halo lighting on any of our signs currently in the township. The halo that extends like kind of shadows behind the sign, no. Backlit is one thing, but when it peripherates outward and upward from the sign, we actually consider halo. We don't have that. Well, actually, I think it is sort of like backlit, though. Backlit's okay, as long as it's not the halo where it's kind of extending out and highlighting like a halo effect around the sign. That's the difference. Yeah, because I'm not sure between the differences how that's reflected with the lighting. Okay, well, Corey can work with you on show you some examples maybe going forward. Okay. But would you like us to proceed with the application as is? Yes. Okay, we'll do. At this point, yes, and I'll go back to the client about a variance, but no. Okay. Well, thank you there. Okay, thank you. Okay. I move we approve the sign as presented. Support. All in favor say aye. Aye. And opposed. All right, good luck. Thank you. Item number B, site improvements, 2343 South Telegraph Road, Costco Wholesale. All right, so our final case for the day is the Costco.

8. 8:45

   But the CBA would decide on the variance, which they may or may not grant, but this is ready to go as it is because it's compliant. That's what I thought, which is, which is good. And I could tell the client, they can go to, well, what's the odds that the variance would approve that? Coin toss? Well, I'm just saying. We don't have halo lighting on any of our signs currently in the township. The halo that extends like kind of shadows behind the sign, no. Backlit is one thing, but when it peripherates outward and upward from the sign, we actually consider halo. We don't have that. Well, actually, I think it is sort of like backlit, though. Backlit's okay, as long as it's not the halo where it's kind of extending out and highlighting like a halo effect around the sign. That's the difference. Yeah, because I'm not sure between the differences how that's reflected with the lighting. Okay, well, Corey can work with you on show you some examples maybe going forward. Okay. But would you like us to proceed with the application as is? Yes. Okay, we'll do. At this point, yes, and I'll go back to the client about a variance, but no. Okay. Well, thank you there. Okay, thank you. Okay. I move we approve the sign as presented. Support. All in favor say aye. Aye. And opposed. All right, good luck. Thank you. Item number B, site improvements, 2343 South Telegraph Road, Costco Wholesale. All right, so our final case for the day is the Costco. I think you're all pretty familiar with where it's located. Commercial Corridor adjacent to Telegraph Road. It's set back pretty far from the roadway, and it backs up to our kind of industrial zoning and research park. Here's where it sits within the aerial. The addition that we'll be discussing today is going to be located right here, where there's already dumpsters and other storage enclosures. So it's very simple what the applicant is requesting. I'm trying to find a good pace to zoom in on. Okay. They're requesting a ten foot by ten foot bathroom is going to be on the exterior of the building, but it's going to be built into the building, sharing a wall with an exterior entrance. The reason for this is because it's something that's happening at a lot of Costco's around the country. It's because of deliveries at off hours or various people coming to the facility. That way they don't have to open it up for every truck driver that stops by. They have an exterior bathroom that they can use and then go on their way. In terms of security, the bathroom will be locked and only accessible to those with the proper access. So for that reason there was some concern about transients or individuals utilizing this structure.

9. 10:00

   All right, so our final case for the day is the Costco. I think you're all pretty familiar with where it's located. Commercial Corridor adjacent to Telegraph Road. It's set back pretty far from the roadway, and it backs up to our kind of industrial zoning and research park. Here's where it sits within the aerial. The addition that we'll be discussing today is going to be located right here, where there's already dumpsters and other storage enclosures. So it's very simple what the applicant is requesting. I'm trying to find a good pace to zoom in on. Okay. They're requesting a ten foot by ten foot bathroom is going to be on the exterior of the building, but it's going to be built into the building, sharing a wall with an exterior entrance. The reason for this is because it's something that's happening at a lot of Costco's around the country. It's because of deliveries at off hours or various people coming to the facility. That way they don't have to open it up for every truck driver that stops by. They have an exterior bathroom that they can use and then go on their way. In terms of security, the bathroom will be locked and only accessible to those with the proper access. So for that reason there was some concern about transients or individuals utilizing this structure. So that's how that will be taken care of. In terms of size, again I said it's ten foot by ten foot. It's a very minor addition. That's why we're not routing it through as a site plan. It's coming forward as a site improvement. In terms of facade materials, they're proposing to blend it into the existing wall with split phase blocks. So you can see the existing kind of enclosure walls here are based around the building. They're going to be matching that. Where will the dumpsters go? Good question and I think maybe the applicant, we did have that conversation when they came in. I do want to thank you for working with the township and providing a higher level of material to match the exterior. So we're going to make sure that we're going to be able to match the exterior. We're going to make sure that we're going to be able to match the exterior. We're going to be able to match the exterior. of the existing building so thank you um but we did have the same comments regarding the dumpster enclosures and if you would like to speak to that i know you did have a conversation at costco um so we will be working directly with costo costco as in regards to this issue but if you'd like to speak to that yeah sure hi um good afternoon everybody my name is nick edwards i'm the studio manager of architecture at where malcolm i sit in our oak brook illinois office and i'm actually overseeing this entire program across the country for um costco um in regards to relocating the dumpsters that you're seeing in these photos has costco i know

10. 11:15

    So for that reason there was some concern about transients or individuals utilizing this structure. So that's how that will be taken care of. In terms of size, again I said it's ten foot by ten foot. It's a very minor addition. That's why we're not routing it through as a site plan. It's coming forward as a site improvement. In terms of facade materials, they're proposing to blend it into the existing wall with split phase blocks. So you can see the existing kind of enclosure walls here are based around the building. They're going to be matching that. Where will the dumpsters go? Good question and I think maybe the applicant, we did have that conversation when they came in. I do want to thank you for working with the township and providing a higher level of material to match the exterior. So we're going to make sure that we're going to be able to match the exterior. We're going to make sure that we're going to be able to match the exterior. We're going to be able to match the exterior. of the existing building so thank you um but we did have the same comments regarding the dumpster enclosures and if you would like to speak to that i know you did have a conversation at costco um so we will be working directly with costo costco as in regards to this issue but if you'd like to speak to that yeah sure hi um good afternoon everybody my name is nick edwards i'm the studio manager of architecture at where malcolm i sit in our oak brook illinois office and i'm actually overseeing this entire program across the country for um costco um in regards to relocating the dumpsters that you're seeing in these photos has costco i know i linked you up directly to them or gave them your contact have they reached out not at this point but we certainly will be following up or ask you to i will i will follow up by end of day today and make sure that they're reaching out to you so unfortunately i don't have their game plan for that but they are i mean shortly after our first meeting i you know got to them right away and say we have to upgrade our facade and you guys need them you know the village wants to know what you're doing or the township excuse me wants to know what you're doing with these dumpsters because they're not supposed to be out there and also the pallet storage so sorry i don't have an answer for you today so pbo will follow up with that okay and then just one last thing as part of my presentation um we did route these plans out to the fire department to guarantee truck access around the entire building so the addition of this structure won't impede the fire so they'll have a card to access the bathroom with so it will be it's it is a manual lock we'll have a four or five digit code whichever costco prefers but yes it's it's um i mean We've all seen it before. Really? I'm surprised they don't have to get in with a card. That is something that they're installing. I think it's really because they don't want the electronics. Because we require each driver to have a separate card with their picture on it. I think, you know, ultimately it's just so they don't have to deal with the electronics at every location.

11. 12:30

    um in regards to relocating the dumpsters that you're seeing in these photos has costco i know i linked you up directly to them or gave them your contact have they reached out not at this point but we certainly will be following up or ask you to i will i will follow up by end of day today and make sure that they're reaching out to you so unfortunately i don't have their game plan for that but they are i mean shortly after our first meeting i you know got to them right away and say we have to upgrade our facade and you guys need them you know the village wants to know what you're doing or the township excuse me wants to know what you're doing with these dumpsters because they're not supposed to be out there and also the pallet storage so sorry i don't have an answer for you today so pbo will follow up with that okay and then just one last thing as part of my presentation um we did route these plans out to the fire department to guarantee truck access around the entire building so the addition of this structure won't impede the fire so they'll have a card to access the bathroom with so it will be it's it is a manual lock we'll have a four or five digit code whichever costco prefers but yes it's it's um i mean We've all seen it before. Really? I'm surprised they don't have to get in with a card. That is something that they're installing. I think it's really because they don't want the electronics. Because we require each driver to have a separate card with their picture on it. I think, you know, ultimately it's just so they don't have to deal with the electronics at every location. It's more of a manual punch-in. But, yes, it'll be a door with a four- or five-digit code that only certain Costco employees will have, obviously store managers as well. And then would that code be changed every once in a while, updated? I do not know the logistics of that on Costco's side, but I would imagine however they normally do their security changing over, that probably would be in their program, yes. Does this need to go to planning or anything? No, this is the final style. I'm happy to make a motion. I move we approve the site improvement as presented and ask Costco to work with administration to deal with the, and PBO to deal with the dumpsters. Do we want to condition it? Do you want to condition it or just say what kind of condition it is? Like, say, in order for our approval to stand, they have to deal with the dumpsters and the pallets. But we can separately enforce the dumpster issue, I'm assuming, no? It's a call from the board, whatever direction you'd like us to take, by putting it as a condition. So,

12. 13:45

    I think, you know, ultimately it's just so they don't have to deal with the electronics at every location. It's more of a manual punch-in. But, yes, it'll be a door with a four- or five-digit code that only certain Costco employees will have, obviously store managers as well. And then would that code be changed every once in a while, updated? I do not know the logistics of that on Costco's side, but I would imagine however they normally do their security changing over, that probably would be in their program, yes. Does this need to go to planning or anything? No, this is the final style. I'm happy to make a motion. I move we approve the site improvement as presented and ask Costco to work with administration to deal with the, and PBO to deal with the dumpsters. Do we want to condition it? Do you want to condition it or just say what kind of condition it is? Like, say, in order for our approval to stand, they have to deal with the dumpsters and the pallets. But we can separately enforce the dumpster issue, I'm assuming, no? It's a call from the board, whatever direction you'd like us to take, by putting it as a condition. So, we won't be releasing a permit for this request before you until those other issues are addressed that would be the option with the condition and then you'll need a local contact to work with correct so if that would be a condition we would hold up their forward movement on this so it would probably be an incentivize them to take action I think maybe that's what Michael's with conditioning at okay with the condition I support all in favor say aye aye any opposed pass three nothing thank you good luck thank you very much all right next meeting is Wednesday May the 6th at 2 p.m. and I'll move for adjournment all in favor aye aye mayor adjourn thank you you

13. 15:00

    we won't be releasing a permit for this request before you until those other issues are addressed that would be the option with the condition and then you'll need a local contact to work with correct so if that would be a condition we would hold up their forward movement on this so it would probably be an incentivize them to take action I think maybe that's what Michael's with conditioning at okay with the condition I support all in favor say aye aye any opposed pass three nothing thank you good luck thank you very much all right next meeting is Wednesday May the 6th at 2 p.m. and I'll move for adjournment all in favor aye aye mayor adjourn thank you you you