Birmingham Welcomes Fiat Dealership, Approves Dog Park Fees

It was a busy night for the Birmingham City Commission, as commissioners welcomed a Fiat dealership to the city, approved the Birmingham Bike Festival and OK'd fees for the Birmingham Dog Park.

Fiat approved to move into Birmingham

It was the last step in a long process as the City Commission approved the special land use permit for Fiat of Birmingham, allowing the Italian automaker to move into the former Baker Furniture location at 34500 Woodward Ave. at Bowers.

The dealership will be under the umbrella of Golling Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in Bloomfield Hills, which also sells Fiats. Plans for the Fiat dealership were sent back at the Jan. 26 Planning Board meeting because of  a disorganized presentation, then .

The new dealership will be one of the few locations to sell Fiats in southeastern Michigan. The Italian automobile manufacturer merged with Chrysler in January 2009 and began introducing its Fiat 500 to the U.S. market for the first time in 25 years in February.

The dealership will have a front showroom, facing Woodward Avenue. Cars also will be stored in a back room facing Elm Street. Windows will wrap all four sides of the building, as per the request of the Planning Board, because the building abuts a neighborhood. Architect Bob Ziegelman also has plans for a small café and outdoor seating area along the Woodward sidewalk for customers shopping or waiting for their cars.

A Golling representative said that while the dealership plans to exclusively sell Fiats for the first two years, it would sell Alfa Romeos if plans to bring that car to the United States go through as planned.

Commissioners had nothing but good things to say about the Fiat dealership. "This will be a nice addition to Birmingham," Commissioner Tom McDaniel said.

Dog park fees increased to deter nonresidents' use

The commission also approved the annual dog park pass application, including fees for residents and nonresidents, to use the dog park at the , which opened Nov. 30. Residents need to purchase a $50 dog park pass while nonresident passes will be $200.

Initially, nonresident fees were $100, but Commissioner Tom McDaniel asked that they be increased to keep the number of dogs using the park under control. "We really need to put a higher fee to discourage non-Birmingham residents," McDaniel said.

Director Lauren Wood said there are 1,400 dogs registered in Birmingham alone. Under the new plans, only 10 to 20 dogs would be allowed in the park at a given time (depending on the season). Entrance would be regulated by a key fob system and a mechanized gate access system.

Commission finds problems with wedding rental fees, golf report

On the consent agenda but not approved were a wedding rental agreement and the 2010 Golf Report. After extensive discussion, commissioners agreed both items warranted another look and plan to discuss both issues at their next regular meeting.

The wedding rental agreement, as set out by the Department of Public Services, proposes a $70 rental fee for residents and $140 fee for non-residents for all Birmingham city parks with the exception of . For Shain Park, the rental fee for residents would be $250 and $500 for nonresidents. The current wedding permit doesn't charge any rental fees.

Commissioners questioned the fees, particularly the $500 rental fee for Shain Park. Commissioners Rackeline Hoff and Stuart Sherman spoke of several small weddings they had conducted at city hall during their tenures as mayor — several of which spilled out into Shain Park — pointing out that many couples could barely afford the requested donation in lieu of payment. DPS Director Lauren Wood said the proposed fees came about in response to an overwhelming demand for weddings in city parks, with couples requesting elaborate setups that required city time and energy.

The item will return to the commission with the stipulation that DPS develop additional specifications for the fees.

Also to be revisited is the 2010 Golf Report. DPS laid out plans to remove discounts and adjust youth and senior rates to raise an additional $35,000 in revenue for the  and . Both courses had a decrease in the number of rounds played during 2010 — Springdale experienced a 12.2 percent drop while Lincoln Hills had a 17.8 percent drop. This led to deficits of $122,177 at Lincoln Hills and $22,381 at Springdale.

While commisssioners approved the new rates — so that they can go into effect immediately for the 2011 season, which begins this month — they requested the entire Golf Report come back for further discussion.