HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/09/07 Council Meeting MinutesREGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
Be it remembered that the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana met in
the Council Chambers of the County-City Building on Monday, July 9, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.
The meeting was called to order by Council President Rouse and the Invocation and
Pledge to the Flag were given.
ROLL CALL
COUNCILMEMBERS:
Present Derek D. Dieter
Charlotte Pfeifer
Roland "Randy" Kell
Ann Puzzello
David Varner
Ervin Kuspa
Al "Buddy" Kirsits
Timothy Rouse
Karen L. White
1st District
2nd District
y 3rd District
4th District Vice-President
5th District
6th District
At-Large
At-Large President
At-Large Chairperson Committee of the Whole
OTHERS PRESENT:
John Voorde City Clerk
Mary Beth Wisniewski Chief Deputy
Janice L Talboom Deputy City Clerk
Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand Council Attorney
REPORT FROM THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON MINUTES
To the Common Council of the City of South Bend: The sub-committee has inspected
the minutes of the June 25, 2007 meeting of the Council and found them to be correct.
Therefore, we recommend the same be approved.
s/Timothy A. Rouse
s/David Varner
Councilmember White made a motion that the minutes of the June 25, 2007 meeting of
the Council be accepted and placed on file. Councilmember Dieter seconded the motion
which carried by a voice vote of nine (9) ayes.
SPECIAL BUSINESS
UPDATE FROM THE CITY ADMINISTRATION ON THE PROPOSED CLOSING
OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIP CENTERS
Mayor Stephen Luecke, 14a` Floor County-City Building, South Bend, Indiana, advised
that he has begun to look at issue coming before him in terms of tightening budgets, they
have tried to prioritize what is the best way to spend city dollars to get the most impact
from the money that they have. Mayor Luecke stated that when he hired Jeff Gibney to
come on as interim director of Community and Economic Development Department, one
of the things that he asked him to do was to begin a review of programs and projects that
are being run through the department and to make recommendations on again, the best
way to spend city dollars. Mayor Luecke advised that is not to indicate that dollars have
not been spent well, but as the city tries to prioritize those dollars to get the best impact
throughout the community to make those recommendations. Mayor Luecke introduced
Mr. Jeff Gibney to talk about those recommendations. Mayor Luecke offered an apology
REGULAR MEETING
JULY 9, 2007
to the Council regarding not having better communication with them before this
announcement of the closing of the neighborhood partnership centers. Mayor Luecke
stated that he will make every effort to communicate better in the future.
Mr. Jeff Gibney, Interim Director, Community and Economic Development, resides at
726 W. Washington, South Bend, Indiana.
Mr. Gibney advised that he joined the City of South Department of Community &
Economic Development in January 2007 and the task that he was asked to do was to
continue to work on the ongoing administration of the Community and Economic
Development, the recruitment of new economic development opportunities, the
development of new neighborhood revitalizations strategies that are particularly in line
with the City Plan and lastly evaluate the existing programs within the three divisions
within the department. The Neighborhood Partnership Center Program was jointly
managed by the Neighborhood Resources Corporation (NRC) Board of Directors and the
department which he represents the Department of Community & Economic
Development and it is a fourteen year old entity. Although originally created as an
internal program that the City manage exclusively by itself. The NRC has really been a
partner in this management of the program for the last thirteen years. The goals for
partnership centers were designed to spawn neighborhood organizations, community base
planning and small scale neighborhood revitalization through the occasional sale of a
center building and the rehabilitation of a subsequent center. Neighborhood Partnership
Centers were designed to occasionally move from one location in a particular to the next,
sell to an owner occupant and then rehab another property. Today, NRC owns five (5)
centers and has five (5) part-time staff. There are scheduled visit from the various City
Departments and planning support from the Community Development Division. The
NRC Board also administers a small re-granting program that provides training and
planning for neighborhood organizations initiatives on a City wide basis. The City of
South Bend provides in its annual budget approximately $350,000.00 to the NRC to
administer these programs in administrative costs, overhead, and pro-rated salaries for
various department staff personnel. He stated that the department planning for the future
for the neighborhood revitalization initiatives begins with the sale of scattered sight real
estate holdings due primarily to the expenses of property management. In addition to the
disposal of real estate for the five (5) centers, they will be disposing of approximately
sixty (60) units from the Housing Development Corporation. This is also an initiative
that is approximately fourteen (14) years old. The HDC which is then an outgrowth of
the Bureau of Housing, slowly added to a portfolio of its real estate approximately
sixteen (16) rentals, and unfortunately, with a reasonable high vacancy rate with the fairly
substandard condition for a variety of those properties and again as the City looks at the
most effective and efficient management of several of these not for profits, the sale to
owner occupied, single family owners is going to be the high priority. The department is
assessing the performance and the cost benefit of each of its closely related not-for-
profits. Resources says from program reorganization or program termination will be
targeted to new initiatives, all new initiatives will be evaluated on an annual basis for
their impact. Mr. Gibney stated that as he looked through records and looked at the
history of programs, in some cases there had not been critical evaluation of many of these
programs for more than a decade. Mr. Gibney stated that he believes that it is appropriate
that the current programs and the new programs that they institute are evaluated on an
annual basis for the effectiveness of reaching the goals that they have created for them.
Mr. Gibney stated that his department fully intends to support the Neighborhood
Resource Corporation in the future with financial resources and technical assistance. The
NRC will be encouraged to expend the depth oftheir re-granting program for training and
planning again city wide for other neighborhood organizations. Currently the Executive
Committee of the NRC is in the process of negotiating with the Board of Directors to
increase program funding, funding for their own full time administrator, not a City Staff
Person, but an administrator for themselves and the creation of an endowment for NRC
that will be funding through proceeds from the sale of the five (5) partnership centers.
The savings to the City of South Bend for this activity will be about 2/3 of the
$350,000.00 budget or in excess of $225,000.00. Mr. Gibney reviewed the new
programs that have been created or are in place or also are in the planning and
implementation stage. They have expanded the demolition activity City wide and in
REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
targeted areas by a substantial amount of money, they have created the new dollar house
program that will be available in three neighborhoods in South Bend for the initial year.
They have created financial incentives for home builders for new single family home
construction. They are pondering and looking at financial incentives to the real estate
community to compensate for lower than average sales commissions in target areas.
They will be looking at demonstration blocks for substantial rehabilitation in new
construction. And lastly, they are taking a look this year particularly a critical look at
future Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funds and home funding
allocations. They will be looking at the formula for those allocations very carefully
before they recommend them to the Council for full funding. Mr. Gibney stated that on a
personal note program evaluation and reorganization is a very difficult and sensitive task.
It often involves peoples jobs and personnel matters. He stated that he would be pleased
to meet with any of the Council on an individual basis or in the past have met on a
Saturday, to talk about tax abatement, TIF programs and topics of that nature. He would
be pleased to review with the Council the findings that they have on several of the City's
very closely held not-for-profits, recommendations that they are making for future of
those programs and again evaluate the new programs that they are putting into place.
Councilmember Pfeifer stated that one of things that should to be done while the
restructuring of the department is going on is to be conscious of and pay attention to
constructive ways that City Department Heads will interact with neighbors. It is critical
that continued dialogue between residents and various city departments continues. A lot
of good neighborhood resolutions on issues that were going on in their various
neighborhoods came out of having the partnership centers in the various districts of the
City. Relationships were formed during those years that the partnership centers were
active. She encouraged Mr. Gibney to make the Council an integral part of the
restructuring because they are the ones who receive the phone calls. She commended the
Department Heads for making every effort to attend the Partnership Center meetings, day
or night, they were very respectful and they really worked with the neighbors to come up
with constructive solutions. She stated that she would hate to see those relationships go
by the wayside.
Councilmember Dieter asked about the portfolio for the HDC and the Corporation for
Entrepreneurial Development.
Mr. Gibney stated that the portfolio for the HDC and the Corporation for Entrepreneurial
Development has been very lightly funded, has very limited resources, the amount of
lending that has been taking place in that particular not-for-profit organization is
extremely modest. He stated that he is very sorry to say that the default rate is extremely
high and there is a new audit on file that states from an objective outside auditing firm
that it was time to close the organization down. Mr. Gibney advised that it was not a
terrible hard decision to make, but he said that those programs were put together some of
them twelve to fourteen years ago, when they did not have as much active participation
from the lending community towards small businesses and neighborhoods as they have
today.
Councilmember Kirsits stated that atone time there was some push by the NRC to get
some of the smaller independent neighborhood groups up and going. He stated that is a
tough issue, like running a little league, ninety percent of the work done by ten percent.
There has been a problem with some of the smaller neighborhood groups coming and
going and they were working on getting those relationships and boundaries established.
Mr. Gibney stated that getting those smaller neighborhood groups up and running will
continue to be a central goal. Mr. Gibney stated that in their history they help to establish
more than a half a dozen new neighborhood associations, and will continue to provide
them with some technical support and there will be more financial resources available to
send people to training and to look at special projects.
Councilmember White advised that it is very important that as Community & Economic
Development begins to continue with their department's evaluation of various programs,
REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
that they keep the Council abreast. The Council needs to have the opportunity to respond
to some of the recommendations that the department is making. She noted that the
Council's makes commitments based on what is presented to them, from the
administration and when that information changes, it is critical that the Council is given a
heads up. Councilmember White appreciates the Mayor's opening statement indicating
that this lack of communication will not be the case in future discussions. She felt very
uncomfortable opening up the South Bend Tribune learning that the neighborhood
partnership centers will be closing.
Mr. Gibney stated that he was just as surprised to read it in the South Bend Tribune. He
stated that he sent the Council a quarterly report for the first three months on the progress
that Community and Economic Development are making. The Council will receive the
second quarter report that will detail all the findings that they have on the not-for-profits
that they have reviewed and the budgets and recommendations that they will be making.
RESOLVE INTO THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
At 7:20 p.m. Councilmember Dieter made a motion to resolve into the Committee of the
Whole. Councilmember Varner seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of
nine (9) ayes. Councilmember White, Chairperson, Committee of the Whole, presiding.
Councilmember White explained the procedures to be followed for tonight's meeting in
accordance with Article 1, Section 2-11 of the South Bend Municipal Code.
Councilmember White stated that a brochure may be found on the railing in the Council
Chambers explaining those procedures.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
BILL NO. 29-07 PUBLIC HEARING ON A BILL AMENDING
THE ZONING ORDINANCE FOR PROPERTY
LOCATED AT 1201 S. MICHIGAN ST.,
COUNCILMANIC DISTRICT SIX (6) IN THE
CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
Councilmember Puzzello made a motion to accept the substitute version of this bill.
Councilmember Dieter seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9)
ayes.
Councilmember Al "Buddy" Kirsits, Chairperson, Zoning & Annexation Committee,
reported that this committee held a meeting this afternoon to hear the pros and cons and it
was the consensus of the committee to send this substitute bill to the full Council with a
favorable recommendation.
Mr. Robert Nemeth, Staff Planner, Area Plan Commission, l la` Floor County-City
Building, South Bend, Indiana, presented the report from the Commission.
Mr. Nemeth advised that the petitioner is requesting a zone change from MU Mixed Use
District to LB Local Business District to allow for a paint store. On site is a vacant
building zoned MU Mixed Use District. To the north across Stull Street is an office
zoned MU Mixed Use District. To the east across Michigan Street is a church and fue
station zoned MU Mixed Use District. To the south is a vacant property zoned MU
Mixed Use District. To the west are two businesses zoned GB General Business District.
The LB Local Business District is established to provide for small business groupings
located outside of the village style mixed use concept and which provide for the full
range of convenience uses necessary to meet the daily needs of nearby residential
districts served and are limited in size and scale to promote pedestrian access. The site is
approximately 0.56 acres. There is a proposed 5,825 square foot building covering 25%
of the site. Parking and drives will cover 28% of the site. The remaining 48% will
REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
consist of open space. Fifteen (15) parking spaces are provided. The site has two access
points; one off of Stull Street and one off of Michigan Street. A variance will be required
to allow the placement of the trash enclosure in a front yard. The property was
previously used as a bridal shop zoned Mixed Use District. Michigan Street has four
lanes. Stull Street has two lanes. The site will be served by municipal sewer and water.
The rezoning is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan land use policy and future land
use map. The site is currently a vacant building. The area is a mixture of commercial
uses and public service activities. The most desirable use for this site is mixed use or
commercial. The surrounding property values will be unaffected by the rezoning. It is
responsible development and growth to allow the reuse of a vacant property for
commercial development in an area dominated by commercial uses. Based on
information available prior to the hearing, the staff recommends that the petition be sent
to the Common Council with a favorable recommendation subject to written
commitments that the building be developed 0' to 5' from the Michigan Street property
line. The uses found in the LB Local Business District are appropriate along a major
traffic corridor, such as Michigan Street. The reuse of this site is compatible with the
surrounding land use which is a mix of business, commercial and institutional uses. The
South Gateway Urban Design Study and Improvement Plan, adopted December 1992, put
forth development guide lines for new development along the Michigan Street corridor.
These guide lines suggest zero foot setbacks be provided in this area. The zero foot
setbacks will help to create and enhance the enclosure of the street. In addition, the City
of South Bend -South Gateway Streetscape Concept Plan, June 1998 and City of South
Bend -South Gateway Commercial Corridor Action Plan, July 1998, address the issue of
providing similar style streetscapes along the entire corridor. This area was zoned MU
Mixed Use, in part, because the development standards within this district would help to
bring about the goals of these plans. In this case, other adjacent properties such as Real
Services to the north, as well as, several businesses to the south have been developed
with a minimal front yard building setback. Allowing the petitioner's new building to be
built more than 5' from the Michigan Street property line would in affect compromise the
current Streetscape conditions designed by the city and its partner for the immediate area.
The City of South Bend has expressed to the developer a willingness to facilitate the
process to obtain the necessary variances from the development standards to achieve the
desired Streetscape. They have also shown a willingness to offer other financial benefits
for relocating the building closer to Michigan Street.
Mr. Joseph Nagy, 2226 Ribourde Drive, South Bend, Indiana, made the presentation for
this bill.
Mr. Nagy advised that he is a Board Member of Sobieski Bancorp. This property is one
of the remaining assets that Sobieski Bankcorp needs to dispose of The contingent Mr.
Kevin Vernick is here. We have a sales agreement with Mr. Vernick to demolish the
property and they will build a new building on this site. This bill would allow for the
approval of a rezoning from Mixed Use to Local Business for a paint store.
This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents
and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard.
Councilmember Puzzello stated that a question came up that this is not going to be a
retail paint store?
Mr. Vernick, Thompson, Vernick South Bend LLC, 2000 N. Racine, Chicago, IL
advised that this will be a retail paint store.
Councilmember Kuspa welcomed Mr. Vernick to the 6~` District and commented that
they will be an asset to the South Gateway Corridor.
Ms. Shirley Kuhn, P. O. Box 1235, South Bend, 46624, advised that she owns the
property south of the land that they are talking about. How is a paint store going to fit
into the City Plan? Ms. Kuhn asked for a clarification on the difference between Mixed
Use and Local Business.
REGULAR MEETING
JULY 9, 2007
Mr. Nemeth, Area Plan Commission, advised that the Mixed Use allows a mix of land
uses not limited to retail but also residential, professional office as where LB Local
Business is restricted to Local Business, so it is strictly a commercial zone without
residential.
Mr. Chris Dressel, Community & Economic Development, 12~` Floor County-City
Building South Bend, Indiana, spoke in favor of this bill.
Mr. Dressel advised that the Community & Economic Development Department is in
favor of this project. It will enhance the area and be an asset to the South Michigan
Street Corridor.
There being no one else present wishing to speak to the Council either in favor of or in
opposition to this bill, Councilmember Rouse made a motion favorable recommendation
to full Council concerning this bill as substituted. Councilmember Dieter seconded the
motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9) ayes.
BILL NO. 26-07 PUBLIC HEARING ON A BILL AMENDING
THE ZONING ORDINANCE FOR 24.345 ACRES
GENERALLY LOCATED BETWEEN ANGELA
BOULEVARD/EDISON ROAD AND
NAPOLEON STREET, AND APPROXIMATELY
200 FEET WEST OF EDDY STREET, AND 700
FEET EAST OF DUEY STREET, EXTENDED,
COUNCILMANIC DISTRICT NO. 4 IN THE
CITY OF SOUTH BEND INDIANA
Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand, Council Attorney read into the record the following rules
and procedures for governing the public hearing on Bill No. 26-07:
Proposed Rules to Govern Public Hearings on Substitute Bill No. 26-07
July 9, 2007
In light of a Special South Bend Common Council meeting being called for Monday, July
16, 2007 at 7:00 p.m., with the sole purpose of being to have further public hearing and
3~d reading on Substitute Bill No. 26-07, so that there will be ample opportunity to have
information provided and questions asked and answered, the following proposed rules are
recommended to govern the Common Council Public Hearings on Substitute Bill No. 26-
07.
Tonight City Clerk Jolm Voorde will read the title of Substitute Bill No. 26-07
Council Members Kirsits, Chairperson, of the Zoning and Annexation Committee will
give a report on the Bill.
Report from Area Plan respresentative.
The presenter(s) will give their formal presentation (Not subject to a time limit)
Initial questions from the Common Council Members will be addressed by the
presenter(s).
Public Hearing -Those speaking in favor shall provide their name and address for the
record. Each speaker is limited to a maximum of five (5) minutes. Total time of those
speaking in favor shall be noted by the Chair.
Public Hearing -Those speaking in opposition shall provide their name and address for
the record. Each speaker is limited to a maximum of five (5) minutes. Total time of
those speaking in opposition shall be equal to the time spent in favor of or 30 minutes,
whichever is greater.
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JULY 9, 2007
Presenter(s) shall address preliminary questions raised during the public hearing
Council shall continue the public hearing to Monday, July 16, 2007.
Rules Governing July 16"'
Presenters shall provide additional information to questions raised during the 07-09-07
public hearing and any questions raised at the Zoning and Annexation Committee
hearings.
Continuation of Public Hearing -Those persons who did NOT speak in favor at the July
9, 2007, Council meeting shall provide their name and address for the record. Each
speaker is limited to a maximum of five (5) minutes. Total time of those speaking in
favor shall be noted by the Chair.
Continuation of Public Hearing -Those persons who did NOT speak in opposition at the
July 9, 2007, Council meeting shall provide their name and address for the record. Each
speaker is limited to a maximum of five (5) minutes. Total time of those speaking in
favor shall be noted by the Chair.
Presenter(s) shall address any additional concerns in a five (5) minutes rebuttal
Public Hearing is closed.
Council portion.
3~d Reading and Vote by the Council
Councilmember Rouse made a motion to accept the rules as read by Council Attorney
Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand. Councilmember Varner seconded the motion which carried
by a voice vote of nine (9) ayes.
Councilmember Puzzello made a motion to hear the substitute version of this bill.
Councilmember Varner seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9)
ayes.
Councilmember Kirsits, Chairperson, Zoning & Annexation Committee, reported that
this committee held a meeting this afternoon to hear the pros and cons and the committee
did not vote at this time because of the Special Meeting that is going to be held on July
16, 2007 on this issue.
Mr. Robert Nemeth, Staff Planner, Area Plan Commission, l la` Floor County-City
Building, South Bend, Indiana, presented the report from the Commission.
Mr. Nemeth advised that the petitioner is requesting a zone change from U University
District and SF 2 Single Family and Two Family District to PUD Planned United
Development District to allow mixed uses including but not limited to: retail, office and
restaurant uses; hotels/conference center; shared parking facilities; and multifamily
(apartments, condominiums, townhomes, cityhomes, courtyard townhomes, flats). On
site are woods and vacant property zoned U University District, and three single family
houses zoned SF2 Single Family and Two Family District. To the north across Angela
Boulevard/Edison Road is the campus of the University of Notre Dame zoned U
University District. To the east are woods zoned U University District. Further to the
east is the site of the proposed Tech Park. To the south along Eddy Street are single
family houses zoned MF1 Urban Corridor Multifamily District; along Georgiana, Burns,
and Duey Avenues are a mix of vacant property and single family houses zoned SF2
Single Family and Two Family District; and the South Bend Avenue Apartments zoned
MF2 High-Density Multifamily District. To the west is the University of Indiana School
of Medicine building zoned U University District. The PUD District is intended to
encourage creativity and innovations in the design of developments, provide for more
REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
efficient use of land, and to provide for any individual land use not otherwise specified
elsewhere in the Ordinance. The preliminary plan is for the rezoning of just over 24
acres of land for a mixed use development called Eddy Street Commons. The
development is divided into the following seven major areas: Area 1:
RetaiUOffice/Multifamily. Area 1 is generally located on both sides of Eddy Street south
of Angela Boulevard/Edison Road and north of Napoleon Boulevard as extended. It will
serve as the main activity hub of the development with land uses oriented towards Eddy
Street, which will function as the "gateway drive" between the City of South Bend and
the University of Notre Dame. The architecture will reflect a small downtown street
setting promoting pedestrian oriented activities such as a mix of outdoor street vendors
and outdoor dining. The first floor will contain retail, restaurants, and offices while the
second and third floors may contain a combination of retail, office, and dwelling units.
Other uses as permitted in the MU Mixed Use District will be allowed. Development
standards as proposed, such as zero setbacks, are in keeping with the high density nature
of the project. The general building height is 65 feet or four stories with certain
architectural features being as high as 75 feet or five stories. Area 2: is generally located
on the south side ofAngela Boulevard/Edison Road, approximately 400 feet east of Eddy
Street. Two hotels are planned for the area. One hotel will be a full service hotel with a
conference center and possibly condominium units in the upper floors. The other hotel
will be a limited service hotel with approximately 125 rooms. The maximum building
height will be 150 feet or 12 stories. Area 3: is centrally located in the middle of the
development. It will contain a shared common parking garage with a minimum 1,000
parking spaces, and surface parking with a minimum 150 parking spaces. These will
serve as parking for the adjacent Areas 1, 2, and 4. The parking garage maximum height
will be 65 feet with the intent not to exceed the height of the surrounding buildings.
Interior and off-street parking area landscaping will be provided. Area 4:
Office/Residential Flats. Area 4 is generally located on the north side of Napoleon
Boulevard and between Duey and Burns Avenues extended. Offices and residential flats
are the primary uses in this area. Approximately 50-60 units are anticipated with sizes
ranging between 1,000-1,700 square feet with one car attached garages. Office uses will
be limited along Duey Avenue. Building heights will be a maximum of 70 feet or 4
stories. Area 5: City Homes. Area 5 is generally located between the north side of
Napoleon Boulevard extended and Angela Boulevard/Edison Road and east of Duey
Avenue extended. CityHomes are traditional attached side by side townhouses.
Approximately 60-70 unites are anticipated, ranging in size from 1,600-2,400 square feet.
Area 6: Courtyard Townhomes. Area 6 is generally located on the south side of
Napoleon Boulevard extended between Georgiana and Dues Avenues. Courtyard
townhomes are attached side by side townhomes ranging in size from 1,600-2,400 square
feet with rear access and a two car attached garage. There will be individual private
courtyards between the units and garages. There will be approximately 20-26 units.
Area 7: Open space/SF-2. Area 7 is generally located along the east and southeast
corner of the project site. The area may include a combination of storm management
structures, woods, constructed wetlands, and pedestrian connections to the east. The area
on the south side of Napoleon Boulevard extended may contain the same uses plus any
additional uses allowed in the SF 2 Single Family and Two Family District. Landscaping
and Open Space. The nature of this high density development, such as zero setbacks,
precludes the typical perimeter landscape buffering between uses. The overall
development will be lined with street trees, and the surface parking area will be
landscaped per the landscape ordinance. Plazas and elevated courtyards provide
additional open space and landscaping opportunities. Signs. Traditional free-standing,
ground mounted signs are not being contemplated due to the nature of the urban setting.
Wall and roof signs will be the norm, with each area having established requirements.
Additional Notes of Interest: An Architectural Review Board (ARB) will be established
by the developer. The Board of Public Works will retain approval of all structures and
projections within the City of South Bend rights-of--way and also review any temporary
uses, such as fairs and other temporary activities, that will take place in the rights-of--way.
The property located at the southeast corner of Angela Boulevard/Edison Road and Eddy
Street was annexed into the City of South Bend on December 24, 2006 and zoned U
University District. A number of partnerships between the City, the neighborhood, and
the university have proposed a wide variety of redevelopment activities in the immediate
vicinity including the State Road 23 widening, the Tech Park, the redevelopment of the
REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
"triangle area", and the construction of new housing along Notre Dame Avenue. Angela
Boulevard/Edison Road will provide the primary east-west access into Eddy Street
Commons. Eddy Street will provide the primary north-south movement through Eddy
Street commons. The following street improvement are proposed: the extension of
Napoleon Boulevard as a public street to State Road 23 (also known as South Bend
Avenue). The extension of Duey Avenue as a public street north Angela
Boulevard/Edison Road. The extension of Burns Avenue north as a private interior
access drive into Area 3, Shared Parking. Additionally, the primary access into Area 3
Shared Parking will be from Eddy Street. Secondary access points shall be from Angela
Boulevard/Edison Road, Napoleon Boulevard, and the interior access drive extension of
Burns Avenue. The main route for delivery and service vehicles via interior access drive
will be between Areas 1 RetaiUOffice/Multifamily, and Area 2 Hotels/Conference
Center. Pedestrian access to all portions of Eddy Street Commons is high priority for the
overall development pattern. Sidewalks and pedestrian connectivity will be provided
along all streets and to all residential or commercial uses within Eddy Street Commons.
Eddy Street Commons shall be developed with attention to bicycle access and parking
facilities that will tie the overall development into the proposed bikeways along Edison
Road to the north and Howard Street to the south. The development will be served by
City of South Bend water sewer. The preliminary plan notes that all new utility lines
shall be installed underground except for required pedestals and service connections.
City of South Bend -City Plan, November 2006. Land Use Policy 2.1: Encourage
developers to use planned unit and traditional neighborhood development models to
promote land use compatibility in future developments. The rezoning is consistent with
the City Plan land use policy. City of South Bend -City Plan, November 2006. The
Future Land Use Map recommends this area for mixed use, institutional and medium
density residential, which is between 6-12 units per acre. The rezoning is consistent with
the Future Land Use Map. The site consists of woods, vacant property, and three single
family houses. The site is bordered to the north, east, and west by university zoning and
land uses. The southern area is residential in character predominantly single family
houses, vacant lots, and the South Bend Avenue apartments. The most desirable use for
this property is mixed use, university, or multifamily residential. The surrounding
property values should be conserved or increased with the PUD Planned Unit
Development rezoning. It is responsible development and growth to promote mixed use
development as recommended by the City Plan. It is also responsible growth to promote
infill development where infrastructure and services exist. Based on information
available prior to the public hearing, the staff recommends that the petition be sent to the
Common Council with a favorable recommendation. The rezoning is consistent with the
City Plan land use policy, which encourages planned unit development and the Future
Land Use map, which recommends mixed land use. It promotes the infill development
and growth adjacent to two main transportation corridors and near another major
thoroughfare (State Road 23) where city utilities and services are available. The
proposed zoning district is appropriate for the mixed use development and it will allow a
transition between university and single family residential land use. The residential
development to the south is in a planned redevelopment area, where residential uses will
be designed to blend into, and be compatible with Eddy Street Commons. The
architecture will reflect a small, downtown street setting with centralized shared parking
to promote pedestrian walking with streets lined with street festivals, outdoor dining,
vendors, banners, and benches. Sidewalks and pedestrian connectivity will be provided
along all streets and to all residential or commercial uses within the development and
between adjacent areas. Efforts will also be made to accommodate bicycle traffic. Mr.
Nemeth advised that the Area Plan Commission Office had received letters of support
from the University of Notre Dame, the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization
Organization as well as a letter that was favorable from a developer. They also received
13 letters requesting bicycle lanes, bicycle stations, and recreational trails.
Councilmember Dieter asked if the Area Plan Commission received any letters in
opposition.
Mr. Nemeth advised that there were a large number of people in attendance at their
meeting. The majority were in favor of the development. There were those that were
opposed as well. Mr. Nemeth stated that there were approximately 3/4 in favor.
REGULAR MEETING
JULY 9, 2007
Councilmember Rouse asked if the Commission voted unanimously on this issue.
Mr. Nemeth stated that one Commission Member abstained from voting and thought the
vote was 10-1.
Mr. David M Compton, Vice President, Kite Realty, 30 S. Meridian Street, Indianapolis,
Indiana, made the presentation for this bill.
Mr. Compton advised that they are pleased to be here tonight to present a detail overview
of the Eddy Street Commons Development. The development is approximately 25 acres
located near the intersection of Angela & Edison. Approximately 13. 5 acres of the site
that is proposed to be developed in Phase I is currently wooded. Mr. Compton stated that
it is important to talk about the neighborhood history. It dates back to 1968 with the
founding of the NENC. After decades of disinvestment in the Northeast Neighborhood.
There was a group of concerned residents who got together and said that they can do
better, by brining the neighborhood up, redevelop the area into something special. This
led to formation of the NNRO in the 2000, where the City of South Bend, University of
Notre, Madison Center and several other organizations got together to really jump start
the process and provide the financial capital for this redevelopment to begin. The NNRO
solicited input from the neighborhoods adjacent to the area. They had meetings over an
extended period of time and as a result developed a plan with seven different
redevelopment themes. The underlying theme of the neighborhood that Redevelopment
proposed was New Urbanism. Live, Work, Play, with a walkable neighborhood, bike
paths, pedestrian friendly in its setting. Connectivity was also an important part to
existing neighborhoods. Density was going to be there along with open space. The plan
sets out the seven different distinct neighborhoods. There are two commercial nodes as
well as two areas specifically targeted for affordable housing. One of those that will be
part of this development indirectly is the triangle. Part of the TIF proceeds that are
proposed to be generated by the Eddy Street Common Development will be utilized to
build the infrastructure so that the Triangle north of SR 23 can be redeveloped. Talking
about the time line in 1968 the NNRO was formed. From 2003 to 2006 a number of
meetings were held, some of the things discussed during the course of these public
meetings were the reconstruction of SR 23, Five Points modifications along with the
proposed plans for Eddy Street. Commons. In 2003, NENC started to begin to provide
updates on the Eddy Street Commons in their newsletter that was mailed to all residents.
There are about 2,500 residents on the NENC mailing list, giving them an update and
also encouraging them to come to meetings. In 2004 to 2006 the South Bend
Administration and Council began working on City Plan for its final adoption. From this
came the Kite proposal. Kite originally became involved in the development in August
2005 responding to a RFP by the University of Notre Dame. By May of 2006 the plan
that is proposed tonight was developed by Kite Realty Group. Some of the key
components of this plan include 82,000 square feet of retail located along Eddy Street,
121 apartments, just under 25,000 square feet of office, 150 room limited service hotel,
and 374 for sale residences. Some of the preliminary renderings that were widely
distributed and came out of the May 2006 included along Angela & Edison, five story
buildings. In addition the proposed hotel was seven stories in height, but the
condominium flats next were five stories in height. So as far back as May 2006 there was
some height and mass involved in the proposed plan that was part Eddy Street Commons.
These plans were updated by Kite and the current plan that was developed which
maintained retail along the Eddy Street Corridor. The total number of units both
residential and apartment in total came to 500, office space at 75,000 square feet, 139
limited service hotel, and a 246 room full service hotel was added to the mix. With
respect to the commercial, there is retail on the first floor and residential on the three
floors above. With respect to the hotel, it is a nine story hotel that does include the
condominiums are including in that nine story and Kite is willing to provide a written
commitment to the Council and satisfactory to legal counsel in regards to that limitation.
There was some question at the committee meeting this afternoon. With a six story
limited service hotel fronting Edison. The buildings along Eddy Street will be four
stories with the exception of the corners on Angela and Eddy will have a five story.
Think of it as book ending the community welcoming people into the development. But
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
on the predominant feature along Eddy Street are four stories. There has been some
confusion on that and Mr. Compton stated that he wanted to be crystal clear in their intent
in regard to the height of those buildings. He stated that it is important to talk about the
plan evolution and talk about what has changed from the May 2006 and the July 2007
plan. There has been some input from interested neighbors in regard to this project.
Retail square footage went up by approximately 2,700 square feet or 3.3% from about
82,800 to 85,000 square feet. The total number of residential units both for rent and for
sale went up by nine units, from 491 to 500. One of the significant changes in increases
in density was that of the office. The office went from approximately 25,000 square feet
to 75,000 square feet. They believe that this occurred for two predominate reasons. One
if you are going to do a new urbanism project one of the important things is live, work
and play. Office is an important component to that and they were encouraged to do so by
Notre Dame's commitment to be the anchor tenant in the office area. It is not the
intention for this office space to compete against downtown South Bend. With Notre
Dame taking the significant portion of the office, they feel that it will be more
complimentary to the live, work, play theme, especially with the Tech Park next door.
They think that some of the people that may utilize the office space may support people
who are going into the proposed 240,000 square foot Tech Park. One of the other
changes was the addition of a full service hotel. During the time period between the May
2006 and Apri12007 time period, the University of Notre Dame decided to postpone its
plans for a full service hotel on campus. That allowed that this other location open up to
put a full service hotel. Some of the other questions that have come up have been
regarding building height. In the May 2006 proposal they were looking at four story
buildings with five on the corners. In July of 2007 we are not looking at four story
buildings with five on the corners, in the mixed use. Originally, the limited service hotel
was proposed at seven stories, today the limited service hotel is proposed at six stories.
There was not a full service hotel in the original plan; however they have agreed to limit
the height of the hotel as well as the condominiums to nine stories, so that is an addition.
The City homes stayed relatively the same size. They took into account and trying to be
more accurate talking about the roof that would come off of a three story building, to
count 3.5. In addition the flats have been reduced from five stories to four stories and the
Courtyard town homes again; they have tried again to be more accurate saying that they
are two story residences with a sloping roof on them. The significant change was only
the addition of the hotel. Area 1 is the mixed use buildings, are between Napoleon and
Edison/Angela, four story buildings, with a lot of street cafes. They believe this area will
be the hub of activity, there is extra seating room in this area, and it is also one of the
entry points into the garage. There is 86,500 square feet of retail planned in this area,
75,000 square of office, 268 apartments. The 268 apartments are on floors 2, 3, and 4
above the ground floor retail space. Same with the office, the office will occupy floors 2,
3, and 4 above the retail space also. Condominiums have been added wrapping the
garage to kind of hide the garage from public view and make it attractive when you drive
along Napoleon Street. This is a concept that is popular today, so that you don't have to
look at a parking garage. There are 49 proposed units. Area 2 is proposed to be the
hotels. The 246 room full service Marriott with 3 floors of Condominiums, the condos
allow more of a residential look and they used different color pallets to make it blend
better into its surroundings. The full service hotel is anchoring in the center of the
project, away from everything else. They felt that it was very important for it to be in
that location from a higharchal and massing standpoint. The parking garage is in Area 3,
is the parking area. The parking area is located in the center of the project and allows for
shared parking, easy in and easy out through the four major entrances in to the parking
structure itself. Uses that are actually left west of Burns in this area share this common
parking area as well as the west surface lot behind the retail. In summary, this leaves and
extra 210 parking spots available on the surface of Eddy Street Commons so there is
more than an ample supply of parking as defined by the City of South Bend parking
standards. The Spring Hill Suites, the City Homes, the Courtyard Town homes and the
Stack Flats are actually self parking. They have provided guest spots out on the street, so
that when company comes over, they will be able to park conveniently and close to where
they are visiting. Area 4 is proposed to be the stacked flats. There will be 50-60 units in
size; they are four story buildings, with one parking space underneath and a surface lot
for guest parking. Area 5 will be the City Homes they are located on the eastern side of
the development. They are three and half stories in height, approximately 1,600 to 2,400
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
square feet in size, these would be rear load, kind of like row homes in either
Philadelphia or Chicago, and people are familiar with that concept. Each unit does
include an attached two car garage and in addition to that there is guest parking along
Duey Street as well as to a private street that will go through the development. Area 6 is
the Courtyard Townhomes. The Courtyard Townhomes are located to South of the
proposed Napoleon extension. There will be approximately 20-26 units, 1600 - 2400
square feet, 2'/z stories. So there is a theme going on here, where the largest building is
away from the residential, close to Angela/Edison where there is a lot of traffic, a lot of
intensity next to the University, then when you go down in all directions, the
development steps down in mass. Area 7 is designed to be open space and buffer. There
is a bike trail going through it, which will connect between Napoleon and Edison, and
provide connectivity and open space. This is a transitional area between the development
and the proposed tech park as to the south there is opportunity to work with the South
Bend Heritage Corporation to provide for a couple of additional lots for the Triangle
redevelopment. That is why the SF2 would be right here south of the proposed Napoleon
Street extension. In regard to community open space like with any new urbanism
development it is very important theme. There has been a lot of input from the public in
regard to this issue. The University of Notre Dame is proposing a town commons. It is
twelve acres in proposed size and they plan an investment of 2.5 million dollars in that
area. It will be open to the public and the public will be encouraged to come. It is
adjacent from the Eddy Street Commons Development. Other parks and open space in
the area include Kelly Park, Coquillard Park, Frederickson Park, and they are proposing
as part of this development to save approximately 6.5 acres of trees located in the
drainage retention area. They are working with the University of Notre and the City of
South Bend to meet the drainage needs for the development and preserve the trees. Other
open space is including in the proposed triangle development. The triangle is proposed to
be 61 homes and has three individual pocket parks located within it. As a follow up to
public comment, they have also identified three areas for possibly another park in
addition to the open space that has been previously mentioned. There has been a lot of
public feedback as to where is the open space within the actual development. They are
looking at three possible locations and prior to the July 16, 2007 Special Meeting of the
Council, will come back with written commitments to some type of park in one of these
three areas. Mr. Compton stated that they are looking at doing some buffering behind the
building on the west side of Eddy Street, in addition to the 6.5 acres that they are working
with the University of Notre Dame to save as woods. In regard to the 13 letters that were
written to the Area Plan Commission referencing bike paths, they have met with the
various biking associations to discuss bike lanes within the development. There will be
dual bike lanes along Napoleon, that will be marked and on both sides of the street.
Additionally, there will be a bike connection that will provide a natural connection up to
Angela and Edison from Napoleon. It is there very firm intention that this project be a
very walkable, connected community and encourage people to use bikes and walk, not
only within the community, but to the surrounding communities. They have areas
designated for bike racks; if the demand for more racks is determined they will add the
additional needed racks. Architecture and massing is an important question that has
come up with regard to the zoning. The full service hotel is the tallest structure on the
site. The whole hotel is not actually nine stories, the ballroom and the meeting room is
only one story. The only nine story part of the hotel is actually and "L" shaped structure.
The limited service hotel is six stories in height and steps down massing wise from the
nine stories. The corners of the Eddy/Angela area is proposed to have five stories. As
you come south on Eddy, you get into a four story height restriction in that area. The
parking garage and the stack flats are at four stories. As you transition to the east, they
go down to three and half stories on the townhomes and then two and half stories on the
area south that is Napoleon. They have spent some time with regard to traffic within the
development. They have engaged the Troyer Group Engineers, Mishawaka, Indiana.
They have been involved in doing traffic studies for over 20 years. They asked Troyer to
look at how the traffic would flow after this development is built out. They have also
taken into consideration the build out of the triangle as well as the build out of the Tech
Park, so is just wasn't the proposed Eddy Street Commons. Specifically, they looked at
peak service periods, when did they think that most stress would be put on traffic.
Generally, that is the morning commute and the evening commute. They looked at the
service levels, and those levels go from A to F. A being the best and F being the worst,
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
Eddy and Edison, with a signalized intersection today and a signalized intersection after
the proposed Eddy Street Commons and the Tech Park is complete the level is a proposed
at "C". Napoleon/Eddy is proposed to be four way stop will still function at a Level "C"
during peak rush hour times. Napoleon/SR 23 a signalized intersection proposed to be a
level of service `B". What is important to realize in regard to this is that they just didn't
look at the Eddy Street Commons, they asked Troyer to look at the Tech Park because of
the traffic that it intends to generate. They also have engaged Walker Parking
Consultants with regard to the parking garage. It is important to remember that after this
community is developed Kite will retain ownership of the retail. So, having adequate
parking for people coming to the retail, hotels and the other mixed use elements is very
important, in the long term of this development. A little information on Walker Parking
Consultants, they have worked for the City of South Bend with regard to downtown
parking. They were actually hired by the Urban Land Institute and the International
Council of Shopping Centers ICSC to be the lead team in developing their manual on
shared parking. What is important in shared parking is that this garage would have
multiple users. It won't just be the hotel, the retail, the office, the apartments, or the
garage wrapped condos, each one of these users peaks at a different time. Think about
the office, that is going to peak about 8:00 a.m. and be full space wise until about 5 or 6
p.m. On the weekend the ratio goes down to about 10% of the total demand. They
expected 270 spaces to be utilized for the office. On the weekend that drops to 27 spaces.
The apartment homes in this area were targeted to young professionals. They worked
hard with the University of Notre Dame to help put restrictions actually in the
development agreement which would actually restrict the number of unrelated people that
can live within the apartments. Additionally, the apartment offering will be a premium
offering which may not be attractive to students. Also, they have been working with
Buckingham Companies is actual apartment builder, who has experience in dealing with
apartment settings that are close to campuses. The bottom line is that people within this
area will be gone during the day, getting back to the parking issue. Walker took this into
consideration and they wrote the book on this issue and came up with the following
results: That a garage is needed that has 1,288 spaces. The City of South Bend Parking
Code, requires 1,287 spaces. The code takes into account a mixed use development and
those different peak and off-peak times that are utilized. The development provides a
parking garage that has 1,281 parking spaces, and an additiona144 surface spaces behind
the garage on the west side of Edison. The proposed project has enough parking, and
does not count the 210 spaces that are along Eddy as you drive north and south, Napoleon
as you drive east and west and other spaces within the development. The firmly believe
that there is enough parking and will provide a copy of the parking study to the Council
and City Engineer's Office for review. In regard to green buildings, they are in the
zoning process, they are not that far along in the design of the actual buildings. There are
some things that they are taking into consideration in regard to green buildings. In site
development, structured parking reduces the amount and they are able to compact things
in. There have been numerous questions on the loss of trees. New Urbanism encourages
less reliance on the car. By making a walkable community, you are encouraging walking
and biking. Porous pavement has been considered and they are looking at the climate
issues to see if that kind of material can be used. They are looking at planting using deep
much beds and using drip irrigation instead of spray, so there are different ways to
develop the site in order to be green. In the building design, by seeking to use local
contractors and materials they can conserve fuel on transportation to the site. They are
implementing plant grade material on some of the roofs in select locations. The building
operation is also important because once it is built, how much energy will this building
use. It is as simple as using energy efficient features, fixtures to conserve energy, motion
sensors and certain light fixtures in the public areas and public facilities, battery powered
transportation equipment. In addition, the bikes paths and will be connected to
TRANSPO, pubic transportation. The mixed use setting reduces the reliance on the use
of cars. The will provide the opportunity for the residents and people visiting using the
site to recycle. Before Apri120, 2007 and since then, they have had multiple meetings
with concerned residents in the area, and what has resulted from that is some of response
to public comments. They have formalized the commitment to bike paths and bike racks
within the project. They have enhanced the four sided architecture on the west side of the
buildings along the west side of Eddy Street. They have met with Dr. Harmon on two
different occasions which as a result of those meetings they added architectural features
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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
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REGULAR MEETING
JULY 9, 2007
with the 70 spaces for the flats/professional complex. Howe did you calculate parking
needs? What do you suggest as measures to keep customers or employees from parking
in the bordering neighborhoods?
A: Kite has hired Walker Parking to assist us in the design and sizing of the
parking garage to serve the retail, office, apartments, full service hotel, and garage wrap
condos. City of South Bend code requires 1287 spaces, and the Walker study showed a
peak need for 1,288 spaces. The current design for the parking garage contains 1,281
spaces. In addition to the garage spaces, 44 spaces are in the surface lot at the west edge
of the project for total of 1,325 spaces to service these needs. The garage has been
designed with convenient access for retail shoppers. The retail space (including
restaurants) demands 430 customer parking spaces at peak. There are over 580 spaces
located along Eddy Street (between Edison and Napoleon), in the west surface lot, and
the ground and level one of the parking garage. These spaces exceed the peak demand.
The 162 spaces are in the surface lot south of the limited service hotel service the needs
of the limited service hotel and stacked flats. The Cityhomes and Courtyard Townhomes
each contain two car garages within each unit. We will further expand on this response
during the July 16, 2007 presentation.
Mr. Chris Wegner, Troyer Group Civil Engineers, 515 Union Street, Mishawaka,
Indiana, addressed questions #2 & #3.
2. Q: We heard that the work on SR 23 will not be done for another five years and
that none of the planned road extensions will connect to 23 until that work is done.
Given that you plan the completion of phase 1 over the next 2 to 3 years, where will all
the cars go during the 2 or 3 years that Phase 1 will be complete without connected
roads? It appears that all cars will have to exit the development via the triangle area
neighborhood or Napoleon to Eddy and from there may be pushed into the University
Height/Harter Height neighborhoods due to restrictions on Eddy Street. What redesign
can be added to relieve this situation? Can a direct exit from the garage to Edison be
included?
A: We have been advised that the improvements for State Road 23 are scheduled
to be completed in 2012. The first buildings in Eddy Street Commons are scheduled to
be completed 2012. The first buildings in Eddy Street Commons are schedules to be
completed in Spring 2009. The extension of Napoleon, including the connection to SF 23
will be complete by spring 2009. Until SR 23 improvements are complete, traffic hearing
East will stop at SR 23, and be allowed to make a right hand turn onto SR 23. We will
further expand on this response during the July 16 2007 presentation.
3. Q: You spoke of a traffic study that rate several intersections in the neighborhood
at a "C" performance level Is this on a standard A-F grading scale? For comparison,
can you provide grades for other intersections? Does the current "five points"
intersection score an "F" for example, or is it also a "C"? What assumptions were used in
the study? Did you assume all roads were complete, including SR 23? What happens if
you put in game-day traffic?
A: The standard grades used to evaluate level of service at an intersection are A
through F. The Five Points intersection rates at a level of service F today. Most
intersections are designed to a level of service C at peak times. To design an intersection
for a higher level of service at peak time would be over design for a majority of the time,
and is not cost effective. Level of service C is widely considered acceptable. The study
assumed the extension of Napoleon, Eddy Street improvements as designed, and the
planned improvements to SR 23. We will work with the city of South Bend on the best
options to handle game day traffic; however, it is not practical to design the project
around 7 days of the year.
Mr. Compton addressed the following questions:
4. Q: The current Cityhomes along Napoleon extension are in long rows without
any break. This can make it difficult to bring any fire that might break out under control.
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
Do you plan to include sprinkler systems in the row houses so that fires will be controlled
more quickly? If not, would it be appropriate to break up these Cityhomes into smaller
groupings? This would not only improve fire safety, but would also allow more light and
ventilation in some units and break up the appearance of a wall of houses.
A: The units will be designed to meet the current South Bend code requirements
for fire safety fora 2 hour fire wall separation between the individual units. There are
many statistics that indicate that the newer homes due to construction techniques, due to
the fire walls have less of a chance of having a fire than homes built prior to 1970. The
appearance of a long building will be compensated for by adjusting the set back of the
units by pulling them back and forth a little bit and varying the offsets so that it doesn't
look like one contiguous long block of residential units and varying the exterior material
or material color.
5. Q: The parking garage is supposed to be screened from view to the south by a
single building that appears to be either apartments or retail with apartments above. In
either case, it the plan to have windows or doors in the back (to the north) facing the
garage? How feasible is this? What air handling provisions are to be included in the
garage design to direct exhaust fumes away from the surrounding homes and apartments?
What guarantee can you make that you will not later decide that there will be no building
there and the garage will be visible from the street? Why not leave a strip of mature trees
from the woods there as a parking garage screen instead?
A: The buildings located to the south and east of the parking garage contain
condominiums. The garage and the condominiums will be constructed as two separate
but connected buildings. The design will meet City of South Bend code requirements.
We anticipate that the condo units will be accessed off of a corridor that runs parallel to
the parking garage. This corridor would be similar to what may be seen in an apartment
complex. The doors will be located off of the corridor, but we do no anticipate windows
in this corridor. If trees were to be left, they would most likely not survive due to the
surrounding conditions. The construction of Napoleon and the parking garage would
disrupt their root system. The width between the garage and Napoleon is approximately
30'.
6. Q: One of the major tenants of New Urbanism is the inclusion of civic and
recreational space along with housing and retail development. What plans do you have
for provision of either type of space? Would any planned recreational amenities be open
for use by the larger neighborhood as well.
A: We will provide a location for a pocket park within the Eddy Street Commons
development during the July 16, 2007 presentation. In addition, there are several pocket
parks included within the Triangle, as well as City parks in close proximity to the project.
The close proximity of the Town Commons and DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on
the Notre Dame campus are great benefit so the project and neighborhood.
7. Q: If Marriott and its parent corporation are going to operate both new hotels,
what is the expected extend of Marriott's continued commitment to its current downtown
location? Is the use of the 8,000 sq. ft. and 4,000 sq. ft. meeting space projected to come
from new uses or is it likely to take existing business away from others such as Century
Center downtown?
A: Many cities have two of the same hotel, for example Indianapolis has three
Marriott's. The hotels can benefit from one another. The Marriott at Eddy Street
Commons is not anticipated to take business away from existing locations in South Bend.
We anticipate that it will bring additional tourism and events to the City of South Bend.
8. Q: How do you plan to humanely manage the removal of wildlife from the
woods? During the road construction there were numerous instances in the surrounding
neighborhoods of skunks and raccoons pushed into the neighborhood, causing concern
and expense fro the neighbors. What are your plans for preventing a larger recurrence of
this?
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JULY 9, 2007
A: With approval from the Common Council, we hope to remove the necessary
area of the woods this fall. By having the removal occur in the fall instead of the spring,
the effect will be lessened as spring tends to be the breeding season for many animals.
We are researching options to trap and relocate animals and will further discuss this
option during our presentation on July 16, 2007.
9. Q: We have been told that some woods near "the ravine" are not going to be
developed. Will they be left untouched? Will they be made accessible as a park? Will
they be fenced off again? What is the plan for that land? Is there any willingness to
guarantee that they will be preserved, with the existing flora, as part of a water
management, park &/or wildlife area?
A: This land is owned, and will remain by Notre Dame. The Eddy Street
Commons project will not impact approximately 6.5 acres of woods located near the
ravine. There are currently no plans to fence this area off, however the terrain in the
ravine is very steep and is not a safe area to be used as a park If necessary for safety and
liability reasons, Notre Dame may have to fence off this area. As part of the Eddy Street
commons project, a walking tail will be installed between the Cityhomes and the
remaining woods.
10. Q: A few years ago Kite Realty promised that the new Erskine Plaza
development would be pedestrian friendly with many trees. Yet no one who has been
there seems to be able to detect either apedestrian-friendly character or any trees. We
are hearing similar promises about atree-line Eddy Street. What assurances can you
provide that we won't end up with something that looks like a parking lot? For example,
have you specified a number and minimal size of trees?
A. The Scottsdale Mall redevelopment turned a shopping mall with a very high
vacancy into a vibrant, occupied open air shopping center. Kite is proud of the economic
impact this project has had for the City of South Bend. The project was awarded the
Economic Impact Award at the Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County's annual
Salute to Business luncheon in 2006.
Councilmember Pfeifer stated the concern about students living in the apartments. Are
you going to limit the number of unrelated people? Do you know what that number is?
Are you going to follow the City of South Bend Zoning laws?
Mr. Greg Hackanen, Director, Asset Management and Real Estate Development,
University of Notre Dame. Part of their development agreement with Kite does put
limitation on the number of unrelated parties. Working from memory and not remember
the exact number, but regardless of how many bedrooms there are in the unit, there is a
maximum number of three unrelated parties and beyond that it is no more than one per
bedroom kind of thing. This project does not allow for the usual student dormitories.
Councilmember Pfeifer stated again are you going to be following the City of South Bend
Zoning Ordinances?
Mr. Hackanen stated that he believed that there development agreement is more
restrictive.
Councilmember Pfeifer stated that the City of South Bend Zoning Law only allows for
two unrelated people living in a unit.
Mr. Hackanen stated they are not doing anything more lenient. Mr. Hackanen stated that
he will look into this issue.
Councilmember Pfeifer asked Mr. Hackanen when the University plans to build the
Town Commons.
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
Mr. Hackanen stated that construction will begin this Summer 2007 and completed in the
Summer of 2008.
Councilmember Pfeifer questioned why the University chose not build a hotel on
campus.
Mr. Hackanen believes that it was a decision by the Board of Trustees and that there were
two central issues. One had to do with land use, there were some at the University that
felt that this idea was not an appropriate land use in the particular part of Campus that
was proposed. The second was the cost of having to provide infrastructure. Cost of
getting utilities and services to the hotel was too high.
Councilmember Pfeifer stated that the University is going to be a major tenant in this
development. What kinds of services or offices are going to be located in the proposed
project?
Mr. Hackanen stated that they are not prepared which functions from the University will
be going into the office portion of the development. But it fair to say the function that
has been definitely identified is an obvious users of the hotel facility and the restaurant
facility, they have a lot of out of town visitors and so forth, it makes sense for them to be
in that kind environment. The University is considering additional, or at least one
additional user, again he cannot identify who it is, but, it would by no means, would it
take all of the office space, but they would serve as an anchor tenant which allows Kite as
the developer to go ahead a provide an office component which they felt was very
important to the project.
Councilmember Pfeifer stated that there was going to be a family oriented restaurant not
just bars. Are you going to have any bars only?
Mr. Compton stated that he believes that is a restriction on the development agreement.
No Bars Only.
Councilmember Kelly stated that he is curious as to whether Kite has any experience with
exactly this kind of development such as mixed use development with new urbanism as
its principals?
Mr. Compton stated that they are currently involved with two other projects across the
country. He stated that he does not have any completed as of to date. That is why they
brought in LRK as the architects, out of Memphis, Tennessee; they have the expertise in
design new urbanism. The Buckingham Company who is the developer of the apartment
homes has also been involved in new urbanism development. They have tried to bring in
developers who have the expertise in the process in the three developments across the
United States.
Councilmember Kelly stated that there were some very attractive photographs presented
tonight and it was mentioned that final renderings and drawings have not been done.
Councilmember Kelly stated that he is personally uncomfortable with regard to concerns
that residents have made with respect to the Scottsdale MalUErskine Plaza area looked on
paper and how it turned out. Councilmember Kelly stated that he is relatively in favor of
this project, however without having final plans he is somewhat skeptical of the outcome.
Councilmember Kelly asked how much of the design is actually completed. He would
like to see true renderings as opposed to projections.
Mr. Compton stated that they are 50% done on architectural drawings. They have put the
pencil to the paper because they have had to work with loading and unloading zones;
location of utilities; truck docks; have required them to get to the 50% percent point.
Normally you would not design the product until the development is done. Mr. Compton
stated that they have provided the St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission with a
pattern book that they have to follow. Mr. Compton stated that they will provide the
Council with a copy of that pattern book this week. This is a template of what the project
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
is going to look like. This may address such questions as what is the fagade going to look
like? This is the check and balance process, to make sure what you see tonight is what
you are going to get with the final product.
Councilmember Kelly stated that his concerns are those of the neighbors, in that this
project keeps changing in size. Councilmember Kelly stated that his concerns are two-
fold, the viability of the neighborhood as it exists and the viability of the downtown.
There has to be a tipping point at some point, where either the development won't work
because it is too big or it is going to start drawing business from the downtown area.
Mr. Compton stated that there goal for the downtown is to draw people back. It seems
like there is great deal of people going to the Grape Road area, there is a million square
feet of retail in the mall. There is also 3 million square feet around the mall. So they
honestly believe that they are bringing people back to downtown South Bend. This
project is the midway point between the two.
Councilmember Kirsits asked if they are going to charge to use the parking garage. He
stated that people don't like to have to pay to park. This is true downtown, if people are
going to spend money, they want to be able to zip in and zip out. That is why strip malls
are so popular.
Mr. Compton stated that what he envisions, but they have not firmed it up yet, but they
will try to have a decision for the July 16, 2007 Special Meeting, but what they like is an
hour of free time, just because you want people to come to have a bite to eat, but they
don't want them parking there all day. Additionally, there may be two hours of free
parking within the garage itself Right now they have allocated retail space parking on
the first floor, they want to make it convenient for those people. They are working with
Walker Parking Consultants on this issue and will have more detail on July 16, 2007.
Councilmember Kirsits stated that as a South Bend Firefighter that he would be remiss
that a two hour fire wall is easily hold up in his personal opinion for about fifteen minutes
in a burning structure. He would like to see the entire project sprinkled. He believes that
this issue is critical and he if fully aware that this would add to the project cost, but in the
long term it would be a very good idea. With regard to written commitments on the hotel
size, a written commitment on the height of the comer buildings, a written commitment
on the buffers and also a written commitment on a park, is there a way to make all these
commitments without having to go back to the Area Plan Commission.
Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand stated that she has had a discussion with Mr. Byorni, Director
of the Area Plan Commission, this morning and they both agree that the term written
commitments that the Council is used to and what they would be using under the PUD
state law would be conditions of the PITD. It would be where the developer would be
committing to those conditions. So they would be studying everything that comes out of
the Zoning and Annexation Committee that would be made as far as a recommendation
as well as commitments that are being made verbally today, the verbal commitments that
were made at the Area Plan Commission Meeting. They would then get all those in
writing by the developer and the Council and would all have to be worked out prior to the
final action by the Council next Monday, July 16, 2007. Again, they would be conditions
of the PUD that would have legal effect.
Councilmember Varner stated that he had one comment for the sake of clarification, once
the Planned United Development, (PUD) is established, if minor changes need to be
made for this variance or that variance who is the oversight authority that exists, it is not
the Council, who exactly is it and what is their authority with regard to the conditions and
commitments.
Mr. Robert Nemeth, Staff Planner, Area Plan Commission, stated that the PUD
Development District is unique because what it does is the development standards that
they set when it is rezoned to PUD it sets a maximum amount, such as density or height
for example. So if the developer wants to go less than than, than they can go less, but as
soon as they want to increase it beyond the maximum that they set, then they have to
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JULY 9, 2007
rezoning process. Mr. Byorni would make that call, but it is pretty clear in the
development standards. The oversight body becomes the Area Plan Commission.
Councilmember Dieter asked if Mr. Fozo could clarify for everyone that there is no
wiggle room on the number of unrelated people living in a residence.
Mr. Don Fozo, CBO, Building Commission, 125 S. Lafayette Blvd., South Bend,
Indiana, stated that the Ordinance is quite clear, that two unrelated people per unit. They
could go into a group residence. The definition if that was spelled out in the PUD, and he
believes at this time it has not been spelled out.
Councilmember Dieter asked Mr. Hakanen if group residence was going to be used.
Mr. Hakanen stated that it was never the University's intent to stretch or go beyond local
ordinance. This doesn't serve the University; they are committed to an on campus
residential experience for undergraduates. It is not their desire to see them move in mass
into this neighborhood.
Mr. Compton stated that in regard to the residential portion of this development. They
did three different market studies. Two on the apartments alone and the market study on
the apartments supported a niche in the South Bend market exclusive of students for an
upper end apartment community demand wise.
Councilmember Dieter questioned where the bike path on the far east side will connect?
Mr. Compton stated that the goal is to have discussions with the Tech Park and provide a
connection with a sidewalk with bike lanes.
Councilmember Rouse questioned whether or not this project is a good land use?
Mr. Compton stated an important part of the analysis is the redevelopment of the triangle
area. This is an excellent start, the plan that was developed and evolved from good land
planning.
Councilmember Kuspa questioned the difference between full service and limited service
hotels?
Mr. Compton stated that a full service hotel will include a restaurant and have a higher
level of services. Think of a limited service hotel as a residence inn, a little kitchen area,
you would stay approximately 3-5 days. At a full service hotel you would only stay one
or two nights.
Councilmember Rouse made a motion for a five minute recess. Councilmember Kirsits
seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9) ayes.
The meeting resumed at 9:25 p.m.
This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents
and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard.
Ms. Marguerite Taylor, 714 Corby Blvd., South Bend, Indiana spoke in favor of this bill.
Ms. Taylor stated that she is secretary for the Northeast Neighborhood Council and she is
a member of the NNRO. She stated that she was born on North Frances Street right off
of South Bend Avenue. She stated that she attended Perley School, Jefferson and onto
Adams. She has watched her neighborhood go from middleclass where all of the dads
worked at Studebaker to drug dealing, rental properties, and a scary place to live.
Growing up there were 17 grocery stores, drug stores, soda fountains, drycleaners, shoe
repair, restaurants, bars, liquor stores, neighborhood schools. Eventually all these places
have either closed or moved out. You can't even go to buy a greeting card or anything
for that matter. She was offended by the comments that were made at this afternoon's
Zoning & Annexation Committee, that someone said that the educated residents of the
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neighborhood are concerned as if those who support this project are not educated; she
begs to differ with those people. She doesn't want insult anyone's intelligence by telling
the Council that they have already made up their minds on this project. She would like to
the Council to look at all the material and evaluate it and she encourage the Council to
vote in favor of this project.
Mr. Wayne Curry, 1050 Burns Avenue, stated that he has lived there for approximately
fourteen years. The Notre Dame Woods is about one and one-half blocks from his house.
He is involved in many civic groups, one of which is the Northeast Neighborhood
Council, that he is currently the Vice President of that group. He is also a member of the
Civic alliance which is part of the City Plan and he was Chairman of the Economic
Development Panel for that group. As they had interviewed people this is exactly the
kind of development that South Bend needs to bring into the community. It is something
that was said over and over again as far as whether we need to bring new people, new
money back into the City. This is a $200 million dollar project. It creates a live, work,
play environment that is pedestrian and bike friendly. Tying this project in with the
future tech park and the $14 million worth of housing that is trying to be developed in the
triangle neighborhood gives the City a big tax boom as far as your City services, your
police departments, your fire departments, you City schools which is greatly need right
now to put more money into these programs and to help the community as a whole.
Many jobs are going to be created through this project through building it and
maintaining it as well as the shops and the stores and the restaurants that will be created
here. You will have permanent and temporary jobs created. People are moving back in
to the City. A little of this stuff is that people have moved out of the City into Granger
and places like this. Even a lot of wealthier people, it gives them a place to come back
into the City, bring their money and spend their money in the City which also helps out
local economy.
Ms. Luella Webster, 701 E. Howard, South Bend, Indiana, she lived at 701 E. Howard
Street and was approached by South end Heritage to move out of the triangle and build
on the property of which I was born and raised on. She lived at 1133 N. Burns Avenue
for 23 years which is right there at Napoleon and Burns at the woods. At the time I move
I, I felt this was an ideal place to go because as a kid we went into the woods. When she
moved in after several years it became infested with skunks, rats, stray dogs and cats.
The trees that were beautiful once have now become rotten and hollow. When she would
come home from work sometimes there were tree branches that had fallen either in the
alley or in her yard. She believes that it is time for development and time for the woods
to do.
Mr. Jim Roemer, stated that he has an office on Notre Dame Avenue, he is retired and he
does not represent anyone. He is just representing his own opinion tonight. He stated
that he was born in Harter Heights; six generations of his family lived in that
neighborhood starting from the 1950's. He was born in Harter Heights and got married
when he was in law school at Norte Dame, eventually became the City Attorney for
South Bend, and the attorney for Redevelopment Commission. The way we used to do
this king of urban renewal in the 70's was basically by Ordinance. They would condemn
as urban blight the downtown area or certain areas and then purchased those properties
and had to file eminent domain. He filed suit for 55 of them downtown. The wound up
having the clerk appoint an appraiser so they had high, low, medium kind of appraisals
and bout all of those properties downtown but they had government funding that paid
them to purchase those properties and had the incentive to actually raise tax revenue
because of the fact that these properties would eventually be built up. This project that is
before the Council tonight is unique. He would like to say with all his heart and all of his
intelligence that he thinks the Council out to approve it because it is a win, win situation
for the neighborhood. This is a 200 million dollar development, why would anyone want
to turn this down. He stated that his nice bought one of those beautiful homes on Notre
Dame Avenue that the University is giving incentives on. What a wonderful
improvement that those homes have been on Notre Dame Avenue. He stated that his
friend, Luella, who lives in the neighborhood and spoke just prior, are the real success
stories and are the kinds of things that really help a neighborhood like this one. People
coming in there and doing those kinds of things, just drive on Notre Dame Avenue, you
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JULY 9, 2007
will see the transformation that has made in the neighborhood. It was the NNRO, some
marvelous organizations representing giants in this community, the City of South Bend,
Madison Center, St. Joseph Hospital Memorial, Notre Dame, all of them came together
with resources and dug in their pockets and spent a lot of money to do the kind of
research and ultimately wound up partnering with Kite Realty in Indianapolis who has
come up with a magnificent plan. Mr. Roemer urged the Council to approve this
marvelous project, which is the design and effort of so many wonderful organizations in
this community.
Mr. Kevin Ranaghan, 1003 St. Vincent Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he lived
there for 32 years, before that he lived at 720 Peashway and back during his wilder
student days for a while he lived at 925 N. Notre Dame but not in the beautiful house that
exists there today. If phase II of this project is built, that is the extension of townhomes
and condominiums down Eddy Street would be visible from the back of their home. He
has though about this long and hard because it is going to affect the view from his home
forever. He has watched the neighborhood go up and down over the years that he has
lived there. When the first plans came forward for a little pod up at the corner of Eddy
and Edison and a little pod over in five corners with some townhomes in between, he was
worried because he thought it was going to be too small. That this wasn't going to work
because there just wasn't enough there. He states that the plans that the Council has
before them tonight are really exciting. He is really excited about them, and they offer a
benefit not only to the neighborhood but to the whole city. Bringing in an increase to the
population, business, retail, life with a huge tax pay off for the city. He thinks that this is
just a terrific idea. Personally he looks forward to being able to walk to a bakery, a
restaurant, a bookstore and to enjoy the personal benefits that this urbanism offers. He
has been very impressed with all of the questions and answers that he has heard tonight
and with things that he never thought of, but was very encourage by the statement that a
lot of conditions that can be put into the PUD agreement, which can then define clearly
what it is that the neighborhood is going to get and he encourage the Council to really
settle the good concerns of all the neighbors and put them into the conditions of the PUD
and give them something that they can move forward with. Because he agrees that if
they do not move forward now, he is afraid that they won't move forward at all.
Ms. Dorothy Ranaghan, 1003 E. St. Vincent, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she lives
just one and half block from the proposed development and have lived in the
neighborhood for more than forty years in various locations. She has studied enough
about new urbanism to realize that if this project does not have enough density it will not
work. Because you can't put in a few stores or a few offices and expect that the traffic
for them will come unless there is a density of population as well. So she was not
surprise to learn that the project took off into a bigger project, she thinks that it makes
sense and thinks that yes that where they live that there will be more traffic, animals to
join the woodchuck she has already living under her shed and other problems like that,
but progress really demands that they move forward with this project. She stated that she
has lived in the neighborhood long enough to see how the neighborhood has deteriorated
into crack house and bars disaster after disaster and too see what has happened to the
neighborhood in the last few years is most heartening and this project can only make a
greater improvement. Her only hope is that the battle over it doesn't destroy the
wonderful neighbors that they have as they sort of wind up on opposite side of the
project, because it truly is a wonderful neighborhood.
Mr. Timothy Matovina 1115 N. Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he has a
two points. He runs approximately three conferences a year at the University of Notre
Dame, six months ago he was planning one for the Spring 2009, a large conference and
there was only one weekend available in which there was a sufficient amount of hotel
rooms available at the Morris Inn to have that conference. He doesn't know what all the
uses of the new hotels that are proposed will be. But one use that would certainly be used
is for the overflow of the numerous conferences that cannot be held at the University
because they are competing with 40 other research institutes to get space. So there is
going to be a substantial population of people who are going to use those hotels who
wouldn't have come here otherwise because they want to have a conference near campus.
It seems that a lot of the conversation tonight has been about the future. Some of the
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
questions that the Council has been asking are the very same questions that the neighbors
have been asking about the future in terms of this project. Traffic flow, tax influences,
and the influence that it will have on the economy of the businesses, the environment,
how it is going to look. He stated that some of these things are hard to predict, the
burden is on Kite Realty to predict the future for us, they have done a fine job, but you
cannot totally predict the entire future. So it is a good thing to ask the probing questions,
but as you ask those questions, please ask one more question, what the future of the
neighborhood would be like if we don't do this development.
Mr. Gary King, 730 Hill, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he has been there for 20
something years. He is very happy to see the neighborhood improving and encourages
the Council to support this project. He hopes that the developer does core samples and
makes sure that they have proper drainage. Notre Dame homes games need to be
included in the traffic studies. He stated that he heard the representative from the
University say that the reason that the University chose not to build the hotel on campus
was because of the cost of the infrastructure. Who is going to pay for the infrastructure
now? Who's going to pay the money the city, the developer or the taxpayers? This
project needs to be residentially friendly not only to Notre Dame students, but to
everyone. Mr. King encourages the Council to vote in favor of this good project.
Ms. Molly Whelan, 925 N. Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana stated that her first
experience of living in the neighborhood was in 1994. She was the wife of a grad student
at the University of Notre Dame. It was her fast introduction to living in a City. In the
three years that she lived across the street from Kelly Park, which is just a few blocks
from the proposed development, her car windows were shot out three times, her
apartment was broken into twice. If you would have asked her then, if she were to raise
her three kids in that part of the northeast neighborhood, she would have told you, that
you were crazy. She found herself moving back to South Bend after having been away
for 10 years. She stated that she was surprised that this was one of the places that they
were considering to live. They chose to build a new home on Notre Dame Avenue,
significant financial investment personally because of development like this. They
wanted to be in an urban center, they wanted to be somewhere where their kids could
walk to have ice cream, or go as a family to a bookstore, a restaurant. She did not want
to have to pile the kids into a car and drive out to Grape Road to these activities. A
significant amount of personal investment from home owners has been made to see a
development like this go in. As a mother of five, some of the safety concerns she has
living just blocks away from this development, it is going to help the safety of this
neighborhood. You are going to have more eyes and ears on the street, people that
belong, live and are invested in the neighborhood who is watching out. Parking on the
street is great, it slows down traffic, and it makes people at intersections slow down. She
stated that she lives now at the corner of Notre Dame and Howard and the only answer
seems to be a traffic light, which nobody wants. People go through that four stop
intersection without stopping at all time of the day and night. It is dangerous to have
residential homes with that amount of traffic. She stated that when they moved in they
became neighbors with a family that had seven children that lived in a very small
rundown rental house behind us. The parents both had jobs on and off. They had no
washer and dryer. The kids ranged from three up to a sophomore in high school. The
mother would walk to Ryan's Steakhouse on Grape Road. She had so much trouble
keeping a job that she tried places downtown and tried places close to the neighborhood
and ended up out there. She had trouble getting childcare. She couldn't afford the best
because it meant taking the bus or taking a taxi when the busses didn't run and that took
everything so she was denying her kids so she would walk on the off times out to Grape
Road and back I think creating jobs in this walkable area is great. She would have been
better off being able to walk two, three or even four blocks from her home. Perhaps they
would have been able to stay and maybe even buy their own house in the neighborhood.
She stated that there has been talk of gentrification and this project would help keep that
neighborhood together. She is really excited to see this project go through and they know
that there is going to be some troubles with change, but they are willing to work with the
City and the Northeast Neighborhood Council to address those concerns. She asked the
Council to vote in favor of this bill.
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
Mr. Dick Nussbaum, 210 S. Michigan, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he was asked
seven years ago, by then Councilmember Karl King, 4~` District Council and Lou Nanni
from Notre Dame to form the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization. He
stated that this is one of thing that he is most proud of during his career in South Bend.
Not so much because of this proposed project, but the things that the NNRO has
accomplished by brining the neighbors into the process, the organization's board of
directors consists of neighbors like Molly Whelan and Marguerite Taylor and they
believe that citizen input is important. They do things in the NNRO that maybe aren't as
big as the project that is before the Council tonight, but they supplement those big things.
If you look up and down Notre Dame Avenue and you see the large homes that are they
now, the NNRO really didn't have a lot to do with that but if you go off a block or two,
and you see some of the small homes that have been rehab and see folks are staying in the
neighborhood because they have good affordable housing the NNRO has had a lot to do
with that. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity here and behalf of the NNRO who has
voted in support of this project and support for the TIF district that is going to help pay
for some of the infrastructure that was just talked about, they think that this is an
opportunity to be ceased and move forward. He thanked the Council for being
responsible for some of the conditions that they are putting forth and talking about, and
working hard to do the job that needs to be done. He urged the Council to vote in favor
of this project.
Ms. Linda Jirreh, 1325 Cedar Street, South Bend, Indiana, spoke in favor of this bill. She
stated that she is the president of the Northeast Neighborhood Council and that she is
here on behalf of the Council in support of the Eddy Street Corridor project. The Board
of Directors consists of 25 members. Twenty of those members are voting. Eight-five
percent of the voters support this project 100%. As a board they have attended countless
meetings and planning sessions from the design guidelines, and presentations. The NENC
Board is pleased with the progress made. They also pledge their continued support and
willingness to address concerns as need and as always they welcome neighbors to
participate in the Northeast Neighborhood Council to get involved and be informed. She
stated that she grew up in the triangle on Georgiana and later moved to Campeau and
then to Cedar. She can say that at times she has seen great progress and would like for
her kids and grandkid to live in this neighborhood and love it as much as she does.
Mr. Scott Jessup, 902 N. Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he has lived in the
neighborhood for about one year. Mr. Jessup stated that his daughter is planning on
attended college much to his chagrin at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison
Wisconsin. The whole process of deciding where to go was based on two reasons. The
first reason was the City of Madison itself Wisconsin is a great school, but Madison is a
very vibrant community, it is the epitome new urbanism that we would like to see in this
neighborhood. The second reason was to go was to get away from him. But, the fact that
she chose her University based upon the vibrancy, the opportunities, and everything that
the community in Madison had to offer. We as a community need to embrace that and
listen to the youth of today and think about what they want in their community.
Development is a risky process, it is uncertain. There is absolutely no way that anybody
can guarantee how this project is going to turn out, but if you look at Grape Road at one
time somebody took a risk, somebody took a look at those corn fields and said you know
what we can develop this into a retail and office park. Somebody took the risk and
somebody had the courage to say yes we will back that risk. Mishawaka has benefited
from that greatly. We are on the cusp of taking a look at what is a risky decision. If we
strive for perfection, that is going to be the greatest threat to progress. There will be
problems and issues that need to be considered and listened to. Kite has demonstrated a
willingness to listen, to be flexible and try to accommodate where they can. At the end of
the day, they need to get a decent return on this 200 million dollar investment that they
are making and that is in our community. When he sees residents like Marguerite Taylor
stand up and say that this is good development for the neighborhood and the residents of
South Bend, he just stands in awe of it, because he has only lived there for one year and
she has been a rock in the neighborhood for years, the Council ought to listen and listen
very carefully.
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Mr. Ed Conlin, 1107 Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, thanked the Council for the
opportunity to speak tonight. Mr. Conlin stated that he had purchased his home from the
University of Notre Dame, about a year ago; it was used as a rental for faculty. Mr.
Conlin stated that they moved from the County, Clay Township, to the City. He stated
that they moved for two reasons, one to downsize, and the other to be able to walk in a
neighborhood and see things and do something, not just be able to walk back to your
house. The project that is before the Council tonight was another reason for moving back
into the City. This development will have an impact on reuniting the community and be
a very positive addition. Mr. Conlin stated that he does a lot of conferences for the
School of Business at the University and having a full service hotel to accommodate the
guests would really be a great advantage. As with most plan the devils into details, most
plans look good on paper and a lot of time they fall apart in their execution. So the real
key is the risk management aspects. Questions like can we find the right tenants, it the
project the right size, will it be attractive, will it create a ghost town for people who will
only live in the apartments on the weekends? These risks have to be managed creatively.
Conditions, commitments are good things, ask the right questions, and in the end made
the right decision and move this plan ahead.
Ms. Ann Costello, 120 N. Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she has been a
resident of the northeast neighborhood since 1970, living at the following addresses:
1004 St. Vincent; 707 Corby Blvd.; 517 Sunnyside; and 120 N. Notre Dame. She stated
that she attended St. Joseph Grade School, John Adams School, student teaching at
Perley Primary Center; her husband worked as a social worker at Logan Center for
sixteen (16) before taking a leave of absence to care for their children. She stated that
both she and her husband take an active role in the affairs of the neighborhood and have
appeared before the Council on a number of occasions to speak on a range of issues. She
stated that she is a board member of the NENC and regularly write history and human
interest articles for the quarterly newsletter. She stated that she recounts her history
because it reflects the level and range of her experience in the neighborhood and well as
her commitment to the changes fazes of her professional and personal life. She is here
today in support of the Eddy Street Commons Project for a number of important reasons.
There are many poor people in her neighborhood that will benefit from the jobs generated
by these new businesses. Transportation to and from work won't require a lengthy bus
trip or a transfer at the bus station downtown. People can walk or ride a bike in good
weather or share a car ride. Those of us in the upper and middle classes often forget what
a blessing it can be to secure a job close to home, close to school where our children
spend their days and close to extended family members who help out with after school
child care. She stated that she has listened to the request of some of those issues in
opposition to this project, she realizes that they are out of touch with their community, if
they truly believe that as a neighborhood need a lending library, another park, or another
non-profit project that will be exempt from paying taxes, people need employment.
Cities like South Bend need a tax base to provide services for those who are not or
underemployed. Most folks are not in need of more ways on how to spend their leisure
time. Between holding down several part time jobs and caring for aging parents,
children, and grandchildren. Another park or an exclusive library is the last items on
their list of priorities. She stated that they are very fortunate to turn private fenced land
into something that could substantially benefit the people who have been working and
living near it for generations. She also supports this project because of its low impact on
the environment, by developing a project of this scope in an urban area, they are making
use of the infrastructure that is already in place, rather than starting from scratch with
massive road expansion etc., as is inevitably needed in suburban areas. By building up
instead of out they are making best use of this available land without adding to sprawl
and land use waste. A recent Time Magazine articles stated that the best thing that
people can do for the environment is move to "Manhattan." In other words, develop the
land already given over to human habitation rather than create new areas outside of the
cities. She stated that she has been pleasantly amused by sightings of wildflowers and
deer that have somehow survived in this small circumscribed wooded area. If these
species do in fact live in these woods, they certainly are hardy enough to exist elsewhere.
She is sure that the boy scouts will be welcoming people to their nature preserve just
down the street, a project heartedly supported by the NENC, to witness the thriving flora
and fauna nearby. Finally, she stated that she has learned many lessons as an active
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
member of the NENC, she used to watch her parents composing minutes and writing
articles, helping out at the food pantry, attending meetings and talking to the press,
following through with their commitment to the neighborhood by committing to the
Council, they have been excellent role models for her as she has come to her own
understanding of what it means to strive for the betterment of all the people within a large
neighborhood. It means addressing the needs of a diverse population. Old and young,
black and white, educated and uneducated, religious and secular, public and private we
chose to live in this urban area with all of its problems and all of its potential, the best
work we do is in trying to mesh together substantial solutions and projects that serve the
neighborhood well, the Eddy Street Commons is such a project.
Mr. Russell Faegus, 1101 N. St. Joseph, South Bend, Indiana, advised that there are
obviously many wonderful features about the development. He doesn't know whether he
is here to speak for or against. South Bend has as its model; it is a 21st Century City. 21st
Century development does need to be green development. He thinks that in the last
couple of years we have all become very much aware of the threat to our planet from
uncontrolled development. He is certainly not here to speak against the development,
what has been said in terms of green development aspects of the program has been very
vague. He would urge the Council to consider more green development.
Mr. James Harris, 1125 South Bend Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he owns
and operates Harris Liquor Store and has lived in the triangle for over fifty years. Mr.
Harris stated that there are few people in the audience tonight that have lived their before
him and are still living in the triangle today. He stated that he is in favor of this project.
Mr. Harris advised that it is time for a change. Something needs to be developed and
now is that time. He indicated that there are concerns for the neighbors and in the
neighborhood, but he believes that the Council will ask the right questions and make sure
that the commitments from the developer are followed through. He urged their favorable
consideration.
Mr. Greg Hakanen, Director of Asset Management and Real Estate Development,
University of Notre Dame, 910 Flanner Hall, Notre Dame, Indiana, stated that he is
speaking on behalf of Mr. James J. Lyphout, Vice President for Business Operations.
Mr. Lyphout sent a letter to the Council dated July 6, 2007 and is on file in the Office of
the City Clerk. He stated that Mr. Lyphout is on a retreat and is speaking on his behalf.
It is important to refocus on the idea there have been and there will be people that will
talk about preserving the woods, just as a reminder this land on the southeast corner of
Edison and Eddy is absolutely essential to the viability and success of this project. It is
where the roads and the campus and the community come together. The development
can't go forward with out the use of this land. It isn't that high quality of woods for
reasons that he has mentioned before. Just to remind the Council that the University is
dedicating twelve acres at the northwest corner of Edison and Eddy for a Town Common
which constructions begins on this summer, 2.5 million dollars open to the public and
should be completed by the summer of 2008. In his mind, if you talk about the
Manhattan Model certainly this is closer than if you lived on the streets of Manhattan and
have to walk over to Central Park. He believes that meets the public space test. There
are other who have spoken before him on the public participation in this process, he can't
say at a personal level that he is thrilled to come in midstream into a process that was as
collaborative and open as this one has been. He is thrilled that the University has worked
through NNRO, NENC, and invited the participation of residents that's real and you have
heard about this from other people speaking tonight, and this is an important part of the
process. A couple of items to focus on, it was eluded to before that Notre Dame will
continue to have a long term vested interest in this property. They are selling some of the
land, and leasing the land along Eddy and Edison, it's the land closest and most
influential to the campus, so the University is leasing that land to Kite on a long-term
basis. This may give some people comfort to know that Notre Dame will stay involved
over the long-term meaning hundreds of years. This is an incredibly important project
for the City of South Bend, the Northeast Neighborhood and certainly for Notre Dame. It
strikes him as a win, win, win situation, certainly Notre Dame benefits from the
redevelopment of this neighborhood. He hopes that it is clear that the neighborhood, the
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JULY 9, 2007
residents, and the City benefit as well. He asked the Council favorable approval of the
PUD.
Mr. S. J. Szabo, with offices on Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, Indiana stated that he
favors the development of the University Village and broad spectrum housing on the site.
However, he favors this project like he favors Portage Prairie and the Middle Class White
Flight to Granger. This project is no River Park!
Chairperson White asked Mr. Szabo if he was speaking in favor of this bill?
Mr. Szabo stated yes.
Mr. Szabo continued that one cannot deny the importance of the University as to post
industrial South Bend, the proposed Eddy Street development indicates that Notre Dame
is forsaken the role of symbiotic community partner. The proverbial 900 lbs. gorilla in
our midst. Proving that the dollar is more important than responsible community
relations Norte Dame has brought in an out of town developer with no other stake than
profit in this Community and who is once again engaged in bait and switch tactics to up
their take to stratospheric levels, to build a small city that is entirely out of scale with the
both the University and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Again, Chairperson White ask Mr. Szabo if he is in favor of this project
Mr. Szabo stated yes, he was in favor of this bill.
Mr. Szabo stated that it is all about the money for Notre Dame and Kite Development.
What began in the public consciousness as quant University Village in the Woods
concept has mushroomed into the City of Notre Dame. Complete with its own mid-rise
downtown, hotels, parking garage and expensive alumni-condo's for game days, all
executed with what is build as the "new urbanism." A term appropriate for this budding
metropolis. Rising like a whopping OZ above the surrounding neighborhoods, make no
mistake this is true city with a four story main street which is taller than most sections of
downtown South Bend, two mid-rise hotels, a parking garage of undisclosed height and
three plus story ritzy condo's, with the future addition of the triangle, suburban housing
development and the proposed tech incubator space, Notre Dame City will be a complete
and self contained entity rivaling Portage Prairie on the west side. Those who live and
work there will have no need to venture out of their new city and upscale suburbs into the
surrounding community. The money will flow alright, right into Notre Dame's
considerable coffers and into Indianapolis. What will South Bend gain by fostering the
establishment of this new town within our borders? Well some tax money, once the
incentive's run out. Plus a couple of hundred low paying service sector jobs. What will
is cost us? For starters it will cost this community the tens of millions that will flow to
Indy developers. This is most disturbing as surely responsible community partners would
have found a way to involve local investment to keep the profits in the community. Not
to mention the planning, design and construction fees that could have benefited local
companies. The only jobs for us will be whatever the out of town development
construction companies need locally and on a temporary basis. Then there is the cost of
providing and maintaining the intensive infrastructure of sewer and water. Along with
police and fire protection, that is already stretched far beyond present capacities. The
lack of a Fire Station in this urban development is appalling. The future tech park will
zap business from Blackthorn and nullify any future plans to develop the Studebaker
Corridor. The most insidious effect will be upon the community that has always
supported Notre Dame's growth and prosperity. This development that is shown will be
a body blow to South Bend's bleak downtown. It zaps the vital office space utilization
from the CBD and the Hotels will probably result in the closer of the South Bend
Marriott Downtown by taking business away from outlying hotels who survive mainly on
the football season. South Bend is driving a stake into its own heart by supporting this
development instead of working with the University to accommodate its need by
investing within the existing community structure. As tragic once again that short-
sightedness and a few crumbs now will prevent the current administration not to mention
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
the opposing candidate who is rush to jump on this bandwagon ofself-mortification from
accurately assessing and calculating the cost of this proposal in the long term.
Mr. Tony Fitz, 5724 Town Center, Granger, Indiana, stated that he is in favor of this
project. He stated that he and his wife recently moved back to the area. They could not
find the various housing types that he and his wife were wanting to live in South Bend.
A development like this for the South Bend Area would generate more people moving
back to the area.
The following individuals spoke in opposition to this bill.
Ms. Elizabeth Van Jacob, 1114 Stanfield, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she wanted to
make a correction in the Kite packet that was handed out. On page 28, the average
annual salary is $28,000.00, the word average is missing. Ms. Van Jacob stated that
tonight she is speaking for Julie and Joe Harmon, who live at 1136 N. Notre Dame
Avenue, who were unable to attend tonight's meeting. Joe Harmon walked 120 foot
steps from his home to the parking lot of the proposed project. Ms. Van Jacob stated that
Mr. Harmon supports this project but they ask the Council to consider some conditions.
In the plan it shows five stories at the corner ofAngela/Eddy, is there not also five stories
at the corner ofNapoleon/Eddy?
Mr. Compton stated on both ends
Ms. Van Jacob stated then there is a possibility of five stories being on Napoleon right
insight of Joe Harmon's house. She noted that Mr. Harmon requested for the installation
of quality screening which would include mature vegetation and a security wall
exceeding minimum requirements and constructed of masonry and a design that is
attractive and desirable to soften the immediate transition into a residential neighborhood
and provide a barrier to foot traffic noise and unsightly trash recycling receptacles
delivery equipment and parking lots. He also requests the incorporation of a fire house
and walking beat patrol officer during all hours of operation to improve safety, security
and emergency medical services. This could be at the expense of Notre Dame and or the
developer. The building could add to the character and ambience of the development and
also serve as a civic meeting room location center for the community. NFPA response
time requirements may be challenged due to newly annexed areas in northeast South
Bend and by significant increase in volume of these new residential mixed use and high
rise occupancies. She stressed the restricted parking on neighborhood streets, with more
needed parking added to the development. Now, she is speaking on behalf of herself.
Ms. Van Jacob stated that one of the ten major principals of new urbanism that have not
been incorporated in this development is sustainability. Sustainability calls for minimal
environmental impact of the development and its operations. Go to newurbanism.org and
see these ten principals. Raising the last densely wooded area in the City and replacing it
with too much, too high, and too small an area runs contrary to new urbanism principles
of sustainability. She urged the Council to scale down Eddy Street Commons Project, its
looks more like Pottersville than Bedford Falls. What a sad and decadent way to replace
the majestic beauty of the Notre Dame Woods, this is the largest piece of wooded land in
the area that despite decades of abuse remains a thriving habitat for a surprising array of
flora and fauna. She stated that she has been in those woods and seen sassafras growing,
birds, deer track, fox dens in there. Ms. Van Jacob reiterated the word "average" in
annual "average" salary of $28,000.00, how many people are going to be making well
below this dollar amount, could the Council support their family on $28,000.00 and does
it include benefits?
Ms. Judith Robert, 1739 Riverside Drive, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she is the
Chair of the Paint the Town with Bike Lanes Committee and they appreciate Kite Realty
meeting with members of the committee. She noted that they appreciate that they have
included bike lanes, trail and bike racks. The Committee has reviewed the plans and they
have a few more concerns that they would like to have addressed. The fast concern is for
accessibility for the bike lanes, the pedestrians and the issue of congestion. They would
like to ask the Council before approval of the plan, that they get input from the Board of
Public Works Department on whether the current plans for streets and bike lanes fit in
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
with the City's five year plan. The Mayor has encourage the commitment to a five year
bike plan, and the Public Works Department is in the process of meeting again this week
to develop this five year plan. Right now there is no connectivity to it, but that is up to
the Public Works department. Ms. Robert stated that one thing she has come to realize is
that the Public Works in very innovative and far sighted with round-abouts. This plan is
not very innovative with regard to planning the streets, for example the four-way stop at
Napoleon/Eddy. The space for retail needs to be lowered and making the streets and
sidewalks a little wider and maybe even around-about or two. The three areas: The
congestion roundabouts vs. stop signs; bike racks; connectivity to other areas. The bike
rack plan is proposed to be on the corners. In all reality bike racks need to be in front of
the stores and in the rear of the stores for the employees. They had requested a bike pen
in the garage. Most of the employees will be low income retail and hotel employees and
they will want to come to work on their bikes and want to park their bike in the parking
garage and today most parking garages have secured pen, you lock your bike up and
employees may even have their own special cards and it's under a roof so you can go all
year round. Talking about new urbanism and green, this is how you begin. In terms of
accessibility that intersection at Edison/Eddy, you have all the students on bikes coming
from across campus to this intersection and you have coming along on Edison Rd.
coming along the 10' bike trail, they all come to this intersection because this is the main
crossing point. But what they are all fed into is a little street with a bunch of parking
spaces and there is no bike lane, it would be like all this traffic hitting in front of the
Chocolate Cafe in downtown South Bend. Where most people would go on the sidewalk
because you would be unable to get around those people backing up very easily, there is
really no need for parking there, this is apartments and offices, all the parking should be
in the back, the bike lanes should continue right down Eddy to connect with Napoleon
and the sidewalk should be wide enough for people to go on unless they are willing to put
bike lanes in through the City.
Ms. Kathleen Petitjean, 1115 Blaine Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she is a
member of the St. Joe Valley Greens and wanted to go on record as saying that the
Greens are concerned not only with issues of ecological wisdom, social justice, and grass
roots democracy. With respect to ecological wisdom, she is a little concerned that Kite
has so little experience with green architecture and wonders if they have consulted with
the Schools of Engineering, Architecture and Biology at Notre Dame to look at the most
progressive green architecture that is available. Where is the energy capturing
innovations, where is the roof top gardens to eliminate carbon. Given Kite's reputation at
Erskine Village, they may be proud of the development, but if you have every tried to
walk from the UPS store to the pet store across the way, slap on sunscreen, bring a bottle
of water, because it is an ocean of asphalt to get across from side to the other.
Commitments need to be in place to use porous materials and green architecture and
saving trees. Because what was promised at Erskine Village did not happen. Ms.
Petitjean urged the Council to get that in writing. With respect to social justice, are local
banks involved with the financing of this project. With respect to the 375 construction
workers are these people going to be local and are they are going to be paid a fair wage
for their labors?
Mr. Norman Crowe 315 Peashway, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he is an architect and
a member of the Congress of New Urbanism and has been in support of this project all
along, but urged the Council at this point to hold out the specter of their refusal so long as
they need to insure the quality of the project is as it should be and as the Council sees as
it is. Through the refinement of the PUD and simply by just holding vote on the project
until it is ready. He is concerned about the details and quality of design, the overall
design diagram is a good solid diagram that anyone from the Congress of New Urbanism
would be proud of However, if you look at some of the details for instances the housing
that is in the lower southeast corner of the project that was explained to be row-housing
and similar to what you would see in Chicago. But row-housing usually sits on a 120'
deep lots with at least a 16' alley easement behind it, so that one would have a yard
behind and service takes place behind. If you look at this proposed project the buildings
are squashed together so close that all you have is asphalt and parking behind without any
alley or yard. The same situation exists with respect to the housing that is against the
parking garage. Code would not permit that condition to take place without the presences
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
of fusible link closures or doors with automatic closures on them that the doors
themselves would have to be hollow metal doors with hollow metal frames and if they
have any glass in them or on that side of the home, it would have to be limited in area and
have to be wired glass. All of that is not very good housing. What has happened is that
the plan has been drawn without the knowledge of what the buildings would be like. Mr.
Crowe stated that it is the Council responsibility to follow up on many of these details,
which because of the inexperience of the developer haven't been solved before it got to
this level. What is needed in architectural language in those two sections are transfer
sections that show actually how those buildings would be built and how they would work
and the kinds of materials that would be used to be built. He also is concerned with the
land that border the project and how they would interface with the near by neighborhood,
but perhaps this will be addressed on the 16~` and would be much easier to address then
the problems that he described earlier. He urged the Council to pursue these issues and
hold out on their vote until these problems are solved.
Ms. April Lidinsky, 536 S. Sunnyside, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she is very
concerned about economic impact on Downtown South Bend. She hopes the Council
will ask for more rigorous economic analysis. She find it a little eerie to here the phase
"time will tell." She knows from experience that you can get people for the University
Community to go off campus to go downtown and you can students hooked on the
Chickory Cafe pretty easily. She would like to think of the role of Notre Dame and the
people who visit the City of Notre Dame to be in support of the City of South Bend. She
stated that the City has a potentially vibrant downtown that will be drained by the super
sizing (Kites says updated) it seems like super sizing to her, of a facsimile of a downtown
which looks like Downtown Disney when we already have beautiful buildings, we have
empty retail space all over the place and it is hard to see this project as nothing more than
a drain on the downtown areas. Some of the people who work hard to support those
businesses downtown are very concerned. She urged the Council to ask for more
rigorous economic analysis.
Ms. Mary Beth Dickey, 1105 N. St. Joseph, South Bend, Indiana, stated that we are all
pretty tired and it is getting pretty late and it is hard to make a complete sentence. Ms.
Dickey thanked the Council for asking the difficult questions tonight and to please
consider pushing Kite Realty for these concessions. She apologized for her remarks this
afternoon mentioning an educated group; she never meant to offend anybody. She was in
defensive mode because people have challenged us, how dare you question this
development. She stated that they just want to make this development better for
everybody. Ms. Dickey stated that she feels like she is here to fight a lost cause, and
feels like she is standing in front of a tank with a cross and a dollar sign on it. She stated
that her passion is the woods, there are magnificent trees in this woods, when the fence
came down with the construction of the new road last fall, and she went into the woods
and found that it has a beautiful amount of trees, supports and amazing number of birds,
flowers and wildlife and it is going with this project. Ms. Dickey pleaded to save as
many of these magnificent trees as possible. The woods has been abused in the past,
illegal dumping, coal ash, it could be cleaned up. There can be quality development that
is green development, that is beautiful and that involves saving the trees. A study in
Chicago showed that large mature trees in development actually reduced crime in inner
cities. There are economic reasons for saving trees; research has shown that mature trees
increase the worth of a property up to 12 percent. Notre Dame states that there is nothing
worth saving in these woods. There is a lot worth saving in these woods, they could be
incorporated in the project and saved. She stated that the estimated life span of a mall is
approximately 30 years. These are mall developers, what we are going to have in thirty
years, if we destroy all the trees, we have empty buildings, we don't know. But if we
save these trees and make an inner city park within the development, our children and
grandchildren will thank us. Slow down, where is the fire that everyone keeps running
from? Why is everyone saying do it now or it is not going to happen, do it slowly. She
understands that this plan has been many years in the making and she appreciates
everyone's effort to help the triangle, but we need to slow down and do it right. She is
protesting the Apri12007 plan which increased tremendously without green space. She
appreciates Mr. Compton saying that they are going to work on putting in parks, and
work on sustainability. She wondered how many people in South Bend have even seen
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REGULAR MEETING
JULY 9, 2007
an Eastern Bluebird; they are in the woods along with Cedar Waxwings, Boreal
Mushrooms, Giant beautiful trees, oaks, sycamores, cottonwoods and maples. Let's give
the Touchdown Jesus something beautiful to look back at.
Ms. Jessica Payne, 1119 N. Francis, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she lives there with
her husband and her three children. She wished that after Mr. Compton's presentation
and impressive videos that she would feel better. She stated that she actually feels worse
by seeing those towering buildings and all their massive glory just reinforces exactly
what she is going to be looking at, a seventy-five foot brick fagade in her front yard. She
has the news people over to her home this afternoon and they commented on how
beautiful their area was. They stood in the front and looked at where the development is
going to be, very little traffic, the birds were chirping, the kids were playing. That is
what she bought into, that is the neighborhood she wanted to live in and raise her children
in. A quite neighborhood where her children can play, they can ride their bikes to their
grandparents and their cousins, and walk over to Notre Dame to play basketball if they
want to. She did not move into a neighborhood where she had to watch their every move.
She stated that it didn't even occur to her until tonight that they are going to be charging
to park in the parking garage. You have pretty much just guaranteed that everyone is
going to park in her neighborhood. If she had a choice between paying and parking on
somebody street, which will actually be closer to the shopping, she is probably going to
do the later. She respects the people who spoke about the children making choices to
leave the area to attend college. They made the best decision that they could make, they
investigated what type of environment they wanted to be in for their college careers. This
is exactly what her son did, an she actually had to force him to explore other colleges
such as Purdue, go to IU Bloomington, and Wisconsin and he came back every time
saying that Notre Dame is where he wanted to be. He would say that he didn't like how
busy it was, how many people were walking around, didn't like that there were stores and
shops everywhere. She stated that she didn't chose to live on Grape Road or a
neighborhood with traffic problems and retail. She is fascinated with the expression live,
work, play. She is pretty sure that is must be live, work, shop! Because there is no play
in this development, it is a shopping center, its nothing more. They keep talking about
the parking numbers; she would like very much to see the parking study, because she
comes up with totally different numbers. There are contradictions if people are going to
live there, they are going to work in these offices and retail spots and live close. Maybe
there are not going to be using their cars as often, but it also means that there are cars
there more often, at the peak hours. So this idea of an ebon flow of traffic, she doesn't
buy that concept at all. The peak hours will be when her children are going to the bus
stop, when her other child rides his bike to St. Joseph High School, when the children
come home from school, after track and basketball practice. It is recombinant on the
Council to consider everyone views. It is not us and them; it is not that it is that there are
more of them than there are of us. It is the fact that her value of her life and home is as
important as everyone else's and you have to look at all the possibilities and see if there
isn't some middle ground. She pointed out the fact that the buildings on the corners that
can now are five stories on both corners is 87 '/z percent above what the current building
code is for a mixed use district. For some reason it seems that no one has a problem with
that except her. She would like to see screening, mature trees, and yes a wall. She
doesn't want people walking through the shrubs to cut through. She doesn't want to look
at the trash or look at the cars. She wants to keep her neighborhood as peaceful as
possible. She hopes that she can continue to live there, but unfortunately begins to
seriously doubt it. She thanked the Council for their time and urged them to give this
proposal the due consideration that it needs for everyone concerned.
Mr. Bill Berry, 402 E. Pokagon, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he lives on the corner of
Pokagon and Stanfield, it is a bit far from this development but he has some issues that he
would like addressed tonight. This is a project in progress. He has been to a number of
meetings with Kite and each time the numbers are different, the designs are different and
they have a document that was said to have been finalized on Apri130, 2007, but the date
on it is May 30, 2007. In each of these presentations by Kite there are some things that
don't agree with what is in this document. This is why the neighbors have come to the
Council to have some conditions put on the development, which will perhaps modify
some of things in the document. The parking study that was done was a good study;
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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
however, it does not deal with the sociological aspect of parking. People park where they
want to park and if there is a lot of stress on the areas where they are supposed to park
then they will park some place else. In this case, this means in the surrounding
neighborhood. It will be much easier to park in the neighborhood than having to pull into
a pay parking garage. With regard to traffic, the traffic will be at its highest volume at
8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Mr. Berry offered two recommendations; the first is that the
parking garage should have an Edison/Angela exit. The second, is to obtain a better
sociological study on the traffic.
Ms. Ann Kolaczyk, 111 E. Pokagon, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she was glad to
hear that Kite wanted to put some more green space into the development. Ms. Kolaczyk
advised that one little park is not enough. She stated that when you walk through the
campus of Notre Dame and walk through the neighborhoods, what you see is green, there
are lawns, trees, and lots and lots of green space. There needs to be several of these parks
scattered through the development, not just one off to the east side. Regardless of Kite's
intentions, she can almost guarantee that it is going to be students and football alumni
that live in these houses. She knows that there are an awful lot of students on campus
who have daddies that have really deep pockets. She stated that the only people buying
homes in their neighborhood are the daddy's with deep pockets, so their sons or
daughters don't have to live in dorms and they have alumni, so they can have a place to
stay for the seven or eight home football game weekends. She stated that on her block
alone there are twelve houses and four of them are football alumni, they get broken into
all the time, because there's nobody living there on a daily basis. There maybe some
people who are actually going to live there year round, but the percentage is going to be
very high that students and alumni are going to buy them. She is concerned that the
project is being rushed into and has to be passed right now. She urged the Council to
wait, look at the project, study the commitments that need to be a part of the PUD, scale
back the size of the development, and not rush into a project that does not fit the
neighborhood.
Mr. Alan Seabaugh, 1324 N. St. Joseph, South Bend, Indiana, questioned the continued
changes on the size of the project. He noted that the height of the parking garage has
been represented as being 4-stories by Kite in public meetings. The PUD says that the
"intent' is not to exceed 4-stories. If you count up the number of spaces on their
drawing, there are about 200 spaces per floor. Kite originally stated that they needed
1,000 spaces, now it's 1281 that would make the parking garage over six floor. The
density needs to be scaled back, this project is too large for the neighborhood and the
woods should be incorporated into the plan. The proposed plan is supposed to support
green space, however, there are no plans for a supermarket The developer wants
everyone to believe that this is a walkable community, however, without a supermarket
people will still need to drive their cars to get groceries. The woods need to be a part of
the development. Mr. Seabaugh urged the Council to continue to ask the hard questions,
scale back the project, save the woods, and work together to make this project successful
for everyone in the community.
Mr. Richard Lamanna, 315 W. Angela, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he is no stranger
to the community and has lived here for 40 years. Mr. Lamanna stated that he has a PhD
in sociology and has taught urban sociology for some 40 years at Notre Dame, and
minored in City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina. He is very
much in favor of the development. However, he has some reservations about the
proposal. He was impressed with the very attractive drawing in the South Bend Tribune
until he looked at it again and it occurred to him that it looked like the street he used to
live on the Bronx! This is not the Bronx! He wonders what in heaven's name are they
doing here. Building five story buildings in the City of this size, this kind of density is
unheard of in northern Indiana, St Joseph County. It seems very peculiar to him that
after many years of resisting commercial development on the fringes of campus, Notre
Dame suddenly wants to put the whole commercial world in one little plot of land. He
hasn't heard a coherent explanation of why this concentration and this density was
necessary at this location. Why did the project slowly escalate and increase. Why the
project can't be scaled back or go back to its original design. Mr. Lamanna stated that it
seems that this project has been set with one goal in mind maximizing the economic
32
REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
return for the developer and perhaps for the University. The Council as custodians of the
public interest the Council should not be cooperating with this kind of activity. The
developer has tried to squeeze as much revenue producing development in the area as
possible. He was certain that if he was a member of the Council to make sure that the
developer justifies this scale of the development. He doesn't think that it is necessary or
desirable. It is not compatible with the development on campus, if Notre Dame were
built at that scale the whole campus would take up '/4 of the land that it now occupies.
What is good living for the campus of Notre Dame should apply also to
commerciaUresidential development off campus. South Bend has so many vacant
commercial and residential properties that it would allow a development to built that are
so concentrated. Manhattan, the Bronx, Chicago, land is scarce and you have to build up,
and build concentrated because there is no land there is no space. To do this in the City
of South Bend, Indiana, makes no sense whatsoever! All the talk about New Urbanism is
a lot of nonsense. This is simply the old fashion economic exploitation, the almighty
dollar for both the University and the developer getting as much money out of this
development as possible. There seems to very or little concern for the aesthetics the long
term sustainability of the development or the good of the community as whole. This
development is not going to be economically successful at this scale. This community
cannot sustain that kind of development without sacrificing other areas of the community.
Mr. Scott Van Jacob, 1114 Stanfield, South Bend, Indiana, thanked the Council for the
opportunity to speak tonight. Mr. Van Jacob stated that he lives in the Harter Heights
Neighborhood and stated that many of the people who spoke tonight are colleagues and
neighbors who now live in the new homes that are being built along Notre Dame Avenue
and it is his understanding that when they want to sell they have to first ask Notre Dame
if they want to buy them. Mr. Van Jacob stated that is a great safety net to have, the rest
of the neighborhood does not have that luxury incase this project isn't a success. He
stated that he thinks that the development should be successful as it is set up, but with
that success will come the real issues like traffic and changing the nature of that whole
area and the neighborhood. The 200 million dollar number that has been bounced around
is an incredible number. This project is bigger than the new stadium, the dome and the
new science building all put altogether. There are unanswered questions about, police,
fire and emergency protection. He questioned if there will be future tax breaks given to
this project.
Ms. Joey Wiseman, 306 E. Angela, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she chooses to live in
an urban environment. She lived in inner-city Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, and
when she decided to come back to the South Bend Area she chose the northeast
neighborhood for a lot of reasons. She stated that she has some concerns over the details
of the project. The development is going to change some of the vary aspects that drew
her to it. When she was at school and lived in Milwaukee, she lived by an inner-city
campus with the City all around them. There were some questionable neighborhoods and
the University undertook a program while she was there and shortly after she left to build
up and renew the area surrounding campus. The goal was to be a bridge from the inner-
city itself to the campus to make things more unified. She went back several times
afterwards and all she found was a wall to basically protect the campus from the City.
All of the local businesses that had been there were pushed out further and what was left
was nice new three, four and five story buildings just like what is being developed here
with this project. They employed students; there was no benefit to the community
surrounding it. She really felt that same feeling when she heard the developer speak
tonight. You can't raise a family working part-time at a bakery or a coffee house or an
internet cafe. The jobs will be designed for college students and the apartments that are
going to be built are going to be student apartments just like a lot of the homes in her
neighborhood have become. She reiterated the fact that the City has an ordinance that
only allows two unrelated family members in a home, but everyone knows that in so
many of the homes that is not the case in their neighborhood. Ms. Wiseman urged the
Council not to make a decision rapidly based on fear. The idea of if we don't do it now it
will never happen is a poor reason to make a decision on something that is so important
and make such a great economic and social attribute for the city, but could also be a real
detriment. She encourages the Council to take their time and continue to ask questions
and get all the information to make the best decision possible.
33
REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007
Mr. Stephen Range, 1206 Johnson, South Bend, Indiana, stated that the community that
he lives in around the 1200 block of Johnson Street is a dying community. There is so
much crime, drug dealing, and vacant homes in that area. He stated that they young
people of today are bored. They don't have anything to do, no jobs, no entertainment. If
you build this development on the northeast side it is just going to attract crime, drug
dealing and violence. The City of South Bend cannot find enough individuals to
maintain the establishment of the South Bend Commission onAfrican-American Males.
Mr. Range advised that all the negatives in the Community will find there way to the
northeast neighborhood.
Chairperson White advised that this concludes today public hearing on Bill No. 26-07
and will continue this bill in the Public Hearing portion only at the Special Council
Meeting that has been scheduled for Monday, July 16, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. She thanked
everyone for their patience, comments, concerns and respect for each other. At
Monday's meeting they will have a list of all question and concerns and the petitioners
will an opportunity to respond to those issues. Individuals who were unable to speak
tonight will have the opportunity to speak on July 16, 2007.
RISE AND REPORT
Councilmember Varner made a motion to rise and report to the full Council.
Councilmember Kuspa seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9)
ayes.
ATTEST:
ATTEST:
John Voorde, City Clerk Karen L. White, Chairperson
Committee of the Whole
REGULAR MEETING RECONVENED
Be it remembered that the Common Council of the City of South Bend reconvened in the
Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the County-City Building at 11:20 p.m. Council
President Tim Rouse presided with nine (9) members present.
BILLS -THIRD READING
ORDINANCE NO. 9770-07 AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA,
ANNEXING TO AND BRINGING WITHIN THE
CITY LIMITS OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA,
AND AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE
FOR PROPERTY LOCATED IN CENTRE
TOWNSHIP CONTIGUOUS THEREWITH;
COUNCILMANIC DISTRICT 6, THE GENEVA
HAMILTON TRUST, CLIFFORD HAMILTON,
POA, NORTHEAST CORNER OF PULLING
STREET AND US 31 SOUTH
Councilmember Pfeifer made a motion to amend this bill as it was in the Committee of
the Whole. Councilmember Dieter seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of
nine (9) ayes. Additionally, Councilmember Pfeifer made a motion pass as it was
amended in the Committee of the Whole. Councilmember Varner seconded the motion
which carried. This bill passed by a roll call vote of nine (9) ayes.
34
REGULAR MEETING
ORDINANCE NO. 9771-07
JULY 9, 2007
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING
ORDINANCE FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT
1201 S. MICHIGAN ST., COUNCILMANIC
DISTRICT SIX (6) IN THE CITY OF SOUTH
BEND, INDIANA
Councilmember Puzzello made a motion to amend this bill as it was in the Committee of
the Whole. Councilmember Dieter seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of
nine (9) ayes. Additionally, Councilmember Puzzello made a motion pass as it was
amended in the Committee of the Whole. Councilmember Varner seconded the motion
which carried. This bill passed by a roll call vote of nine (9) ayes.
BILLS -FIRST READING
BILL NO. 41-07 FIRST READING ON A BILL OF THE
COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH
BEND, INDIANA, AMENDING CHAPTER 21
OF THE SOUTH BEND MUNICIPAL CODE:
ARTICLE 14, SUBDIVISIONS, SECTION 21-
14.05 MAJOR SUBDIVISIONS TO REVISE THE
APPROVAL PROCESS FOR MAJOR
SECONDARY SUBDIVISION PLATS
This bill had first reading. Councilmember Pfeifer made a motion to refer this bill to the
Area Plan Commission. C ouncilmember Dieter seconded the motion which carried by a
voice vote of nine (9) ayes.
BILL NO. 42-07 FIRST READING ON A BILL TO VACATE THE
FOLLOWING DESCRIBED PROPERTY: THE
ALLEY TO BE VACATED IS THE FIRST
EAST/WEST ALLEY NORTH OF CORBY
BLVD. FROM FRANCES STREET TO NOTRE
DAME AVENUE FOR A DISTANCE OF 228
FEET AND A WIDTH OF 14 FEET. BEING A
PART OF SORIN' S 2ND ADDITION, PORTAGE
TOWNSHIP, CITY OF SOUTH BEND, ST.
JOSEPH COUNTY, INDIANA
This bill had first reading. Councilmember Varner made a motion to refer this bill to the
Public Works and Property Vacation Committee and set it for Public Hearing and Third
Reading on July 23, 2007. Councilmember Dieter seconded the motion which carried by
a voice vote of nine (9) ayes.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
REPORT FROM THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
BILL NO. 07-87 A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA,
APPROVING A PETITION OF THE SOUTH
BEND BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS FOR
THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1425
CLAYTON DRIVE, SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
35
REGULAR MEETING
JULY 9, 2007
Councilmember Pfeifer made a motion to refer this bill to the Zoning and Annexation
Committee and set it for Public Hearing and Third Reading on July 23, 2007.
Councilmember Dieter seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine ayes.
Councilmember Kirsits, Chairperson, Zoning & Annexation Committee, announced that
there will be a 5:00 p.m. committee meeting on Monday, July 16, 2007, in the Council
Chambers, 4~` Floor, County-City Building, South Bend, Indiana to discuss Bill No. 26-
07. Additionally, Councilmember Kirsits announced that there will be a 7:00 p.m
Special Meeting of the Council for the sole purpose of continued public hearing and
related action in the Council Chambers on the 4~` Floor, County-City Building, South
Bend, Indiana
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business to come before the Council at this time.
PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR
There was no one present wishing to address the Council at this time.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Council, President Rouse adjourned
the meeting at 11:35 p.m.
ATTEST:
ATTEST:
John Voorde, City Clerk Timothy A. Rouse, President
36