A building seemingly purchased by Planned Parenthood on Farmington Road in Livonia has community members and even city council members upset.

But there's little, if anything, the city can do to stop a legally owned and properly zoned establishment from opening in the city.

Residents flooded the city council meeting Nov. 7 to voice displeasure over the apparent purchase of a building at 15707 Farmington by Planned Parenthood of Michigan, whose administrative office address is listed as the taxpayer address for the property bought in April by an LLC called West Michigan Facilities Corp.

Despite outrage from residents, city attorney Paul Bernier said there's nothing legally the city can do to prevent the facility from operating as a Planned Parenthood clinic, which provides services to women such as pregnancy testing, screening for sexually transmitted diseases and abortions, the reason most activists speak out against Planned Parenthood.

The building in question is zoned OS-Office Services, Bernier said, which would comply if a clinic were to open in the building. The setback rules and other compliance issues such as pulling permits all appeared to be in order, Bernier said.

"Zoned OS allows for medical facilities. It is a permitted use of the property," he said. "It requires no council approval, council can't veto it. It's an approved use, a permitted use under the OS facilities.

"Unfortunately, this council can do nothing to prevent permitted use in an OS zoned for a medical facility."

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Any type of challenge, including zoning the facility of the OS zone, would end up as a loss in court once challenged, Bernier said.

There's no word on whether the Livonia facility, if it does become a Planned Parenthood clinic, would offer abortions. A message seeking comment from Planned Parenthood of Michigan was not returned Thursday.

Despite Bernier's remarks, several council members said they would look at anything they could to prevent the clinic from opening, including reviewing of permits to make sure they were in order, as well as including making the clinic feel unwelcome.

"There's literally nothing we can do, outside of making them feel unwelcome, and I'd encourage you to do that," Councilman Brandon Kritzman said. "There's not a whole lot of recourse for us at this moment."

Planned Parenthood long operated a clinic in Livonia until the spring, when it closed its clinic on Ann Arbor Road, west of Newburgh. The organization's website states the Livonia clinic is temporarily closed for relocation.

Several protesters were out at the site Nov. 1 and planned to return to the property again later this month.

Councilman Scott Bahr, who opposes abortion, said he believed the issue was a larger one than just a potential clinic opening in Livonia.

"The issue here is not pro-life vs. pro-choice. The issue here is not women's rights. The issue is this question: is that unborn child a human being?" he said. "If you believe no, than at least you are being logically consistent with your pro-choice position. If you believe that is a human being, then you have no moral basis — I don't know why anybody would want to stand and allow that to happen."

Residents speak out

The podiums in the auditorium saw plenty of anti-abortion residents standing up and speaking out against the development.

Joanne Moening was one of several people speaking out, questioning why none of the paperwork for buying the building and issuing permits had the Planned Parenthood name on them.

"Planned Parenthood applied for their permits under the cloak of darkness," she said. "Have you looked at the plans? Have you looked at the permit applications? Do you see the name Planned Parenthood on there? No.

"Stop the project. Force them to come out of the cloak of darkness. Force it."

Kritzman said the most likely situation is that one name is the owner of the property and the other is the lessee, though it's entirely possible for a property owner to also be the lessee. Such situations, he said, are fairly common business practice and not unusual to see.

"This happens in probably 90 percent of the buildings in the city," he said. "To be honest, this happens all the time because for legal reasons, owning a property under an LLC designation, does exactly what a limited liability corporation is intended to do and shields the actual tenants of the property."

The Rev. Fred Wright, pastor of prayer and discipleship at Bell Creek Community Church in Livonia, said "the vast majority" of his parish is against the clinic reopening in Livonia.

"I realize the legal challenges to this, however, I just want to encourage you, those council members who are of the mind of many in the community like me and others who are opposed to this, I'd encourage you that where there's a will, there's a way," he said.

While most of the speakers were against the building, two stood up in support of the organization, including Angela Ryan, president of the League of Women Voters of Northwest Wayne County and a Livonia resident. She said while the League does not support candidates in political races, it does advocate for causes that its members have taken a position on, including women's health and reproductive rights.

"We support the establishment of a Planned Parenthood health care center on Farmington Road," she said, resulting in boos coming from the audience members in the auditorium. "The building has sat vacant for more than a year and those opposed to it being occupied are opposed because they are opposed to abortion. The fact is, 97 percent ... of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are not abortions."

Contact David Veselenak at dveselenak@hometownlife.com or 734-678-6728. Follow him on Twitter @davidveselenak.