07/09/07 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007 to the buildings that he would see when he looks out from his house and see. They have softened the fagade on the nine story hotel and have committed that the hotel and the condominiums will not exceed nine stories in height. The building along the main part of Eddy Street will not exceed four stories, with higher elements up to five stories only on the corners. They are working with the City of South Bend and the University of Notre Dame to preserve trees located in the ravine area. There was 13.5 acres of trees in the Main development and another 6.5 acres in this area, so they are probably preserving just over 1/3 of the total trees that are in this area. 13.5 unfortunately are going have to be taken down as part of this development. There is just no other way to do it, but by working with the City and developing creative solutions, the Engineering Department on drainage and the University of Notre Dame there is a very good chance of coming back on July 16, 2007 and say that they will be able to preserve those trees in that 6.5 acre area. They will work to plant mature trees to help screen views of buildings from neighbors located on the west. Mr. Compton stated that he also talked with Dr. Harmon about planting mature trees along the western property line. They will have discussion with the IU Medical Center, to obtain an easement to plant them along there also. They believe that planting mature trees in the 10' height area, most likely conifers will allow for further screening of the buildings that they are proposing. There have been some questions and concerns about tenants. If you look on the Kite Website, the southwest corner of Angela/Edison/Eddy, says Irish Pub Theme Restaurant. It is a restaurant that you can take a family to, a family friend environment. This project is not intended to bring just bars to the area, and is part of the development plan with the University of Notre Dame. One of the important things not to overlook is the overall economic impact of the City of South Bend. Phase I of this development is a 200 million dollar impact. That does not include the triangle which they estimate to be a 15 million dollar investment as a result of the Tax Increment Financing creating a 215 million investment. It provides for the elimination of 25 vacant homes including the triangle neighborhood. There will be 375 construction workers employed during the construction of the retail, office, hotels and parking garage. 500 new jobs created and supported during the apartment and residential sale homes. There was some confusion at the committee meeting this afternoon concerning the 330 permanent jobs with an anticipated average annual salary of $28,500.00. Ongoing spending from the new households in the development will support another 630 jobs in the greater South Bend area. So in looking at the total economic impact of the project will create a total of approximately 960 jobs. The tax base created by this project, part of it is the TIF, is proposed to be used to develop the triangle. As the goals of the NNRO were talked about and the seven redevelopment zones, one of those zones was the triangle. As part of the development of the triangle 30 percent of those homes are guaranteed to go as affordable and medium homes buyers within the City of South Bend. They are working with Phil Byrd and the members of the NNRO Board to reach out to local builders to be the primary builders within that development. The one thing that is very tough to quantify is the positive ripple effect that this project will have by people living in the area will spend money in the neighborhood which creates additional jobs in the area. They tried to quantify that, but they feel like that is something that needs to still be talked about. In summary, they believe that the Eddy Street Commons Development accomplished the goals and land uses objective that started out with the original meetings at the NENC followed up the NNRO and is supported by the stakeholders that are here today of those Board of Directors. In addition, this development is consistent with the City Plan and is supported by the Staff of the City of South Bend. It is a $200 million investment, which creates jobs during its construction and lasting economic benefits for the City of South Bend and its residents after its construction. Councilmember Puzzello stated that she had submitted a list of questions to Kite Development and wondered if those questions had been answered. Mr. Compton stated that some of the questions had been answered in the presentation. He will address the questions that had not been addressed. 1. Q: Using standard zoning requirements for parking allotments we calculate a projected need for upwards of 1700 parking spaces. Currently, the garage is projected to have about 1050 spaces, and the shared 150 hotel spaces will be in strong competition 14