02-13-17 Zoning and Annexation - Laserfiche WebLink

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Committee Chair Davis opened the floor to comments from the public whom are in favor of Substitute Bill No. 77-16. Paul Tipps, 1930 Ribourde Dr., stated, Besides the obvious, increasing the tax base going from vacant residential property to a commercial property and bringing in retail jobs, I think there's a broader picture here. I've been to meetings in the last three (3)months where there's been concerns of poverty on the west side of South Bend,particularly between Lincolnway and Western Avenue. A frequent term I hear is `food dessert.' For the few of you that are as old as I am, a quarter mile to the west of this site at one time was an Ernie's Supermarket where there's now a Candlewood Suites Hotel. A half mile to the east was a Wilt's Supermarket which is now an Advanced Auto Parts. A mile southwest was Kroger Department Store which is now a church. A mile further west was a Partman Shop which is now a roundabout. The only food around this area available to residents in the second district and the first district are fast foods like McDonalds, Arbys, Taco Bell and a Seven-Eleven. This Dollar General sells food stuffs, cleaning supplies and housing goods. I think helping to solve to the food dessert, albeit incrementally, is a plus for this project. I heard a couple negatives like kids walking through the property, I'm sure they do it now. There are three (3) schools within a quarter-mile, I don't care if you build a wall, there are going to be kids going through there. I heard about `Well,what if it's vacant?' You have a fortune five hundred (500) company with a fifteen(15) year triple-net lease with renewal options,they can't walk away. They are responsible for rent, taxes, maintenance, and trash pick-up on site. And ok, it becomes a liquor store? There's a liquor store across the street that's been there since I've been in South Bend for sixty(60) years. There's a mechanical contractor on the corner,there's a flower shop across the street, this fits, it helps the community and I greatly applaud the developers for what they've done in moving the building site. They've done everything the City has asked. If there's trash on site, we have Code Enforcement. I fully support this, I think it's good for the community and I hope the developer and the Volcano can work it out. With no other members of the public wishing to speak in favor of this bill, Committee Chair Davis opened the floor to those who wish to speak in opposition of this bill. Thomas Walz, 509 W. Washington St., stated, Mr. Davis was pretty spot on when he talked about the concessions we had hoped to present to the board today. I did reach out to Mr. Wojtila this morning and he indicated to me that they were moving forward per the Area Plan Commission's MU requirement of having at least fifty percent(50%) of the fagade in the twenty (20) foot maximum setback from the right-of-way. That was not an agreement that was discussed with the Volcano. It was something that, after tabling this matter,we had hoped there would have been dialogue between the Area Plan Commission,the developer and the Volcano but that didn't happen. We are simply asking that the mirrored image not reflect a sliding northwest but that it be given a sixty-eight(68) foot variance for a couple of reasons. If this was a, with all due respect to Mr. Corcoran, straight street block where you had equal visibility from a standpoint of driving down the street and every person had a lot perpendicular to the street, it's a different situation, but we have a diagonal street here. The proposal as it is planned cuts against the overall purpose of the Westside Mainstreet Plan. I think if you talk about wanting access from street level or perspective, we have about a thirty (30) foot entry way into a parking lot where everyone will park their cars and this is not the type of area at this point that will facilitate street-level 5