10-12-09 Common Council Meeting Agenda & Packet

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,area Board of Zoning Appeals -September 2, 2009 TASTE OF MEDICO The petition of Taste of Mexico seeking a Special Exception for off site parking in a "MU" District and for the following variances: from the required 109 spaces to 80 spaces; from the required 15' maneuvering aisle space to 14' 6"; from the required 20' front and rear yard setback to 0', on property located on the south side of Western Ave. east and adjacent to 2644 W. Western Ave., Portage Township. Zoned "MU" Mixed Use. MR. MIKE LIPSKY: I reside at 2808 Edison Ave. in South Bend, Indiana with my offices at 257 W. Indiana Ave. in Valparaiso, Indiana. I'm here on behalf of the Taste of Mexico which is located at 2637 W. Western Ave. and the owner Manuel Villegas. I do apologize for the amended petition that is in front of you but it was prompted by a recent City inspection that had actually given a recommendation for a reduced number of required parking places. So I ask that we focus on the September lst letter because it is much more favorable for my client and much more in line with the City Code and ordinances. We're here today asking for four things. A Special Use for off site parking, a variance to reduce the required parking spots from 94 to 80 and the two variances eliminating the front and rear setbacks to zero. A little history, in July the City inspected my clients premises and found that they had insufficient amount of parking and they sent a letter saying they were going to revoke his business license. Since that time my client had gone out and bought some vacant lots across the street and was hoping this would be sufficient. He retained me then to prepare the petition for the Area Board. The recent inspection reduces the required number of parking from 109 to 94. My client operates three businesses at this location. A Mexican cuisine, a bar and a dance hall. At the time of the original inspection, when the inspector came out he inspected the dance hall which was a vast open area. It was in the construction phase, floors were being put down and it was being painted. Based on the calculation of square footage, the City determined that they needed a total of 109 parking spots. Recently my client has put in permanent seating. A big screen TV that's reduced the square and a re-calculation was done by the City Fire Department and the Building Department reducing that number. Of the three businesses the restaurant requires 14 parking spaces. The restaurant is open Monday through Friday from 11:00 to 9:00. Majority of the time there is ample parking. My client has a spot right next to the building which contains 40 parking spaces so a majority of the week there's ample parking. But on Friday and Saturday from 11:00 to 3:00 the bar and the dance hall is open thus requiring the additional parking requirement. If the Board were to allow the reduction from 94 to 80 in essence my client would only be short the 14 extra spots. But we ask that the credit be given for those 14 spots because it's not too unlikely, church, who is the parking is being based upon the total amount of space and a rectory. When the people are in the church praying, the rectory is not being used so they should be able to get the benefit of those 14 spots. Another reason for this amended petition is that the original petition anticipated the need to reduce the minimum maneuvering space. Since then a review of the County records has shown that my client actually owns 7 extra feet. In 2005 the City had vacated an alley. Half of this 14' alley went to part of the property owner and the other 7' went to these two lots. When my client purchased the property there was an open vacant lot. He purchased the property in 2007. At the time there was no fence up. According to the quick claim deed he had and the inspection by my contractor, he measured it from brick wall to the fence that is up which measured 80'. But the actual property records show that he has an additional 7' which then he would not need the variance for the minimum maneuvering width. He does have parking directly adjacent to the building, 40 places. The request for Special Use is directly across the street at maximum we anticipated it could contain another 40 places. We believe this would reduce 30