11-23-09 Common Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETINGNOVEMBER 23, 2009 Councilmember Kirsits, Chairperson, Zoning and Annexation Committee, reported that this committee held a Public Hearing on this bill this afternoon and voted to send it to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Mr. Mark Lyons, Assistant Zoning Commissioner, reported that the Area Board of Zoning Appeals held a public hearing on October 7, 2009 and sends this bill to the Common Council with no recommendation. Mr. Michael Danch, President, Danch, Harner Associates, Inc., 1643 Commerce Drive, South Bend, Indiana, made the presentation for this bill on behalf of the petitioner Fulton Land and Holding Company and also the contingent purchaser Ziolkowski Construction Company. Mr. Danch advised that his clients are requesting the approval of a Special Exception for their property located at 4050 Ralph Jones Drive, South Bend, Indiana. This Special Exception will allow the petitioner to increase the amount of area of their property that can be used for outside storage. He stated that they believe that the approval of this Special Exception will fit with the existing industrial uses in this portion of the Toll Road Industrial Park. He stated that Ziolkowski Construction currently has property located at what is now called Ignition Park. The City of South Bend has purchased Ziolkowski’s property and that is why they are here today to relocate their business. He stated that they have been looking for nearly a year to find property and have been working with local realtor Mr. Christian Davey. He stated that the new site would have to fulfill the needs for Ziolkowski Construction for basically corporate offices and to have enough room for outside storage for their construction equipment. They found this piece of property that was owned by Fulton Land and Building Company in the Toll Road Industrial park which met their requirements. Mr. Danch stated that the existing building which has approximately 50,000 square feet to it. The company actually owns two lots in the Industrial Park and both together total about 10 acres of ground. He stated that will work sufficiently for Ziolkowski Construction Company. After going through the process they learned that one, certain variances would have to be applied for because the zoning ordinances have changed for the City of South Bend. Now there are more restrictions on outside storage under “LI” Industrial classifications which is what this property is presently zoned. He stated that this Special Exception is to allow for 186,000 square feet of outside storage as compared to what they would be allowed is around 10,000 square feet. He stated that the Special Exception process is a two-step process, they went to the Area Board of Zoning Appeals and had a public hearing before that board and were given a recommendation. He stated at that meeting in October they made some concessions regarding the outside storage area. He stated that there were some remonstrators at that meeting that had some concerns on how the site was going to be developed. Mr. Danch stated that what they attempted to try to do is come up with a site plan that would hopefully address some of those particular concerns. He stated that they worked with the Board of Zoning Appeals to come up with a plan that was shown to the Council this afternoon. He stated that the original plan that was submitted to the Area Board of Zoning Appeals basically asked for variances for landscaping along the east, south, west sides of the property and along the north side. Ziolkowski Construction along with himself worked with the Building Department Staff for that original site plan and would have allowed for a berm along William Richardson Drive that would have been about 400’ foot long and have eight (8) evergreen trees. He noted that would have met the requirements under today’s ordinances for screening an outside storage area. He stated that what they actually came up with and showed Council was a revised plan, instead of just eight (8) evergreen trees on a 6’ berm, they came up with 30 trees along that 400’ berm that would still be 6’. He stated that they also addressed another concern of the owners across William Richardson Drive, Michiana Mailers, and that was that they would be able to look directly into the proposed site from their building and more in particular it would be looking out of their conference room. He stated that what they did was curved the driveway that came out of the proposed storage area and added eight (8) additional trees on top of the 30 that they came up at the Area Board of Zoning Appeals. He stated that he hopes that the Council recognizes that they did try to work with the neighbors, and had sent the second site plan that they reviewed with the Council this afternoon. He stated that they also did some additional screening along Ralph Jones 10