07/16/07 Council Special Meeting Minutes

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SPECIAL MEETING JULY 16, 2007 highest average rates offered in the City today. The target market for the apartment residence is young professionals, graduate students and new professors at the University of Notre Dame. Their target market is not students; however, students may live in the apartments because they cannot forbid students because of the fair housing act. However they will follow the South Bend City Code regarding the number of unrelated parties within a given unit. Regarding the woods, unfortunately for this development to go forward, 13 acres of the Notre Dame Woods will need to be taken down. Mr. Compton stated that in commitment #8, Kite is commitment to the two weeks prior to commencement of construction to doing live trapping within the woods and relocating those animals that can be trapped in advance of construction. For a period of sixty days after the completion of any tree removal they would also at the request of any resident who has an unwelcome visitor in their house at Kite's sole expense will remove the new residents. The cost of such animal capture, relocation, and release shall be covered by Kite Realty Group. In commitment #6, in conjunction with the live, work, play and the New Urbanism theme, Kite has included a commitment that has to do with the incorporation of bike lanes along Napoleon between Eddy and SR 23, a bike path connecting Napoleon and Edison, along the east edge of the project and bike racks along Eddy Street, and bike cage actually in the garage so that people who ride their bike to work will have a safe secure place to park their bike while they are at work or shopping. Community open space with regard to the Eddy Street Commons also takes in the Town Commons which will be located directly diagonal from the retail and the apartment homes. The triangle redevelopment occurs due to the fact that there is tax increment financing and the increment provided by the Eddy Street Commons paying property taxes in a TIF area will allow for the triangle to be redeveloped to the south of the main development. In Commitment #7 the wooded ravine area west of the development adjacent to Eddy Street Commons will remain in a natural state subject to approval by the University of Notre Dame Board of Trustee's and the Department of Public Works for the City of South Bend. They have been working with the University of Notre Dame and the Department of Public Works to create a natural filtration area, which will aid the storm water actually seeping down into the ground through green development. Their goal is to maintain the area in its natural state as set forth in commitment #7. With regard to the open space within the origina125 acres, Kite committed to adding an additional open space or pocket park area within the development of at least 5,000 square feet in size. They have engaged LRK to look at two alternatives in the City home area. This is Commitment #4. Some of the changes in the architecture and massing made in the last development on Napoleon/Eddy. In the original plan there were two five story buildings, these have been deleted and will not be included. The height of the buildings along Eddy will not exceed 4 stories or 65' in height except at the corner of Angela/Edison where the proposed welcoming to the University of Notre Dame Campus will be. Some questions have been raised on the project's impact on Downtown South Bend. This location is a central location approximately a mile and a half from Downtown South Bend. Mr. Compton stated that they believe that this project will bring people back to Downtown South Bend to shop, dine and enjoy the amenities. They firmly believe that the Downtown Marriot Hotel will benefit from this development. With more rooms available, they will be able to expand and accommodate conventions and tourism that wasn't an option before. The traffic input was not in the original PUD process; Kite worked with the City of South Bend's Department of Public Works and engaged the Troyer Group with over 20 years of experience to conduct a traffic impact study. They not only looked at the Eddy Street Commons Development, they also looked at the impact on traffic in the surrounding neighborhoods of the triangle redevelopment as well as the innovation (tech) park at Notre Dame. The study analyzed current conditions including Notre Dame traffic while school is in session as well as traffic generated by Perley School. The traffic study did not look at the seven days a year when there is a Notre Dame home football game. The reason for that is because the traffic signals are switched off and law enforcement officials aid in the process of the direction of traffic. Mr. Compton referred to commitment #5 that states "all recommendation in the Troyer Group's Traffic Impact Study dated July 12, 2007 have been incorporated into the site plan and will be constructed. The study showed minimal additional trips to neighborhood streets. Notre Dame Avenue between Angela and Napoleon went up approximately 60 cars at peak times. However, this was done with the assumption of S.R. 23 being built. The have also engaged Walker Parking for their design expertise in the construction of