City sells land to allow business to build storage tower

NOVI — The city of Novi has agreed to sell a portion of land for $68,000 to Novi Industrial LLC so that it can build a sand silo/storage tower.

Temperform, a company that makes heat, corrosion and wear-resistant alloy castings, and a tenant of Novi Industrial, had already installed the base of the tower adjacent to the north end of its building, located at 25425 Trans X Road, when it was discovered by Novi city staff during the initial concept meeting that part of the tower base was being constructed on city-owned land. The city could not approve the initial concept as a result of the error.

It was determined that although the company could look into obtaining zoning variances, there would not be enough space to fit the tower, even with the variances, on its land. The company then asked if it could purchase a portion of the land so that it could continue to build the storage tower it had started.

The land in question is located at the southeast portion of the city’s water tower park at the corner of Novi Road and Trans X.

Councilwoman Priya Gurumurthy asked if there was something the city could do to require that properties adjacent to city property confirm land ownership before starting construction.

“Is there something that we can do so that we can prevent this up front?” Gurumurthy asked.

City attorney Thomas Schultz said that this appears to be an isolated situation.

“Truely, mayor, I think this is just kind of a one-off, because it certainly appeared to them to be on their property and they had the ability do the improvement, but they were just putting it in the wrong location,” Schultz said.

“This is probably not something you can plan for, other than people make mistakes and it’s not necessarily something that we can change a rule for,” Schultz said.

Novi Industrial worked closely with Schultz, who consulted the city’s parks, planning and assessing staff to split the land so that both the city and the company would be able to adequately use the land as desired.

Schultz said they had talked about the possibility of giving the company an easement, but it became clear that the better solution would be to transfer property to them.

The 0.783 acres that Novi Industrial is purchasing does not include the developed portions of the Water Tower Park or the water tower itself.

Novi Industrial also agreed to maintain access from Trans X Road to the water tower for the city at all times. A declaration of ingress and egress and utility easement was part of the completion of the sale.

After the completion of the sale, the company will still have to apply for site plan approval.

On Feb. 10, the Novi City Council unanimously approved the company’s purchase of the land for $68,000, which will be put in the capital improvement program fund.

Mayor Justin Fischer said that the monies from the sale could possibly be used to help fund some improvements for pathways at Villa Barr Art Park that the city has been looking into ways to fund.