Sterling Heights council tonight: a hearing on the Sterling Oak apartments, a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal for them and $906,000 in police vehicles

STERLING HEIGHTS — The Chaldean Community Foundation’s scaled-back apartment plan beside the Sterling Oak goes before the City Council tonight, along with a proposed tax deal for the same building and about $906,000 in police vehicles.

The council meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the council chambers at City Hall, 40555 Utica Road. The 841-page meeting packet lays out the details. Here is what is on the agenda and what the city’s own staff reports say.

The Sterling Oak apartments

The foundation wants to amend a planned unit development the council approved 5-2 in August 2024. That plan called for a four-story, 80-unit building with a ground-floor shop on the east side of Van Dyke Avenue north of Riverland Drive. The new version is one three-story building with 29 apartments and no commercial space, on a 0.85-acre footprint within a 10.34-acre site, according to the planning staff report. We reported last week on how the smaller plan was drawn around the Sterling Oak, the chinquapin oak southeast of the building that would stay. More than 9 acres would remain open space.

The plan has 22 one-bedroom units of about 710 square feet and seven two-bedroom units, the largest about 940 square feet. The site is in the floodplain, and the building would be lifted out of it with cut-and-fill work regulated by EGLE and FEMA, staff wrote. The city owns the land, which is under a purchase agreement with the foundation; an updated agreement would be needed if the change is approved. The foundation also proposes a temporary gathering space to the north for food trucks, music and other events.

What the builder would pay instead of taxes

Also on the agenda is the introduction of an ordinance that would replace regular property taxes on the building with a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT. The foundation’s housing association would pay 2.5% of the rents it actually collects each year, split among the taxing bodies, plus a city services fee of 2.25% of rents or $10,000, whichever is greater, for police, fire and EMS. The deal would start July 1, 2029, and last as long as the state housing grant is outstanding, the project’s financing runs or 40 years, whichever comes first.

Using this year’s taxes, staff estimate the PILOT at $12,679 a year, with $3,296 of it going to the city, and the services fee at $11,411, for $14,707 in city revenue. The staff report lists a $12,854 “variance from ad valorem tax.” Staff put the project cost at about $12.5 million and say margins are tight on small affordable projects. Units must go to households at or below 120% of the area median income, which the city says is $88,080 for one person or $100,680 for two; rents are proposed at the 80% level. If the ordinance is introduced, the council would take up the services agreement Nov. 16.

Police vehicles and street trees

The consent agenda includes 12 police vehicles for $600,062 from the capital budget: four Dodge Durango pursuit vehicles from Sterling Heights Dodge, four Chevrolet Tahoes at $55,787 each, two Silverado pickups and two Chevrolet Blazer EV pursuit vehicles at $49,651 each, the Chevrolets from Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids through a state contract. Because the local Dodge quote came in below the state’s MiDeal price, the city would waive bidding for the Durangos, which takes five of seven council votes. Staff say the old vehicles will be auctioned or reused and the fleet will not grow. Seven more vehicles for detectives and the fugitive team, $305,950, are paid with federal forfeiture money; the city is not naming the models for officer safety.

The council is also asked to split a $347,360 contract to prune 4,488 street trees by April 30, 2027: Wonsey Tree Service of Alma would trim 1,328 trees at $95 each and Chop Tree of Milford 3,160 at $70 each. Staff wrote that Chop has made changes to fix performance problems from an earlier contract.

A 15-year tax-capture plan

A separate public hearing covers a new plan for the city’s Local Development Finance Authority. It would extend the capture of half of the local and school millage on the BAE Systems, Stellantis and Sterling Enterprise Park properties for up to 15 years, with projected captures of about $17.5 million in local taxes and $20.9 million in school taxes over that time. The authority’s SmartZone capture expired at the end of 2025.

Sources:
City of Sterling Heights, City Council regular meeting agenda, Nov. 4, 2026 (time, place, agenda items), https://publicdocs.sterling-heights.net/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Documents/DownloadFile/City_Council_Regular_Meeting_494_Agenda_11_4_2026_7_00_00_PM.pdf?documentType=1&meetingId=494
City of Sterling Heights, City Council agenda packet, Nov. 4, 2026 (planning staff report on the Chaldean Community Foundation PUD amendment; PILOT agenda statement and staff report; police vehicle, investigative vehicle and street tree pruning agenda statements; LDFA plan agenda statement), https://publicdocs.sterling-heights.net/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Documents/DownloadFile/City_Council_Regular_Meeting_494_Agenda_Packet_11_4_2026_7_00_00_PM.pdf?documentType=5&meetingId=494&isAttachment=True
Photo: ajay_suresh, “Sterling Heights - City Hall (50826112198).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sterling_Heights_-_City_Hall_(50826112198).jpg

Sterling Heights

Tags: Sterling Heights City Council · Chaldean Community Foundation · Sterling Oak · PILOT · Police vehicles · Tax increment financing