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REGULAR MEETINGFEBRUARY 28, 2005 <br />Mr. Gilot stated that this kind of subdivision comes in from the St. Joseph County Area <br />Plan Commission and its goes out to the various City and County agencies for reviews. <br />The City is comfortable that it meets or exceeds our drainage requirements of the City of <br />South Bend to retain storm water on site in these wetlands. There is additional permitting <br />work with the DNR and the Core of Engineers other parties that we are not directly <br />involved with that. <br />Mr. Feeney stated that he spoke with Mrs. Bely late last week and she was surprised by <br />this project. However, the storm water issue is being handled on site, the storm water <br />was originally designed and approved at the County specification levels which are more <br />difficult to conform to than the City standards. Approval was grated at the County <br />Engineers office. Following those approval the tract of land was brought into the City in <br />2001 through the annexation process. The storm water at this particular project is not as <br />Mr. Gilot said being placed into the City sanitary sewer system and will not make it to the <br />sanitary sewer treatment plant. The layout that Mr. Gilot has given is almost identical to <br />the layout that he has in his possession that was performed by J.F. New & Associates, on <br />this particular piece of property. However, there is one additional wetlands area that Mr. <br />Gilot’s map does not reflect, that was shown on the J.F. New map and that area is Lot 6. <br />J.F. New’s map shows lot 6 to be a wetland area and that would be excluded from lot <br />sales for obvious reasons. However, we have been in touch with the Army Core of <br />Engineers and with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management regarding the <br />wetland areas on this particular piece of property, however we do not have permits in <br />hand at this time. There are not wetlands along the Philips ditch, that is as Ms. Bely <br />indicated a legal county drain. The Philips ditch does not constitute as a wetland. The <br />permits are in process, but we do not have them in hand at this time. Permits which we <br />thought in our office were being handled by J.F. New & Associates and the owner had in <br />fact had not be handled by J.F. New & Associates and the owner and had fallen into a <br />state of limbo. Based on reactions from Ms. Bely’s call, the permits are now in process <br />and that is the clear unvarnished truth on the matter. What we are waiting on now is a <br />determination from the Army Core of Engineers as to whether this is an isolated wetlands <br />and whether or not they have jurisdiction in this matter. If they do, they will take the <br />lead, if not, lead will be left to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management <br />and the contact as Ms. Bely said would be Ms. Liz Elverson. <br />Councilmember Dieter asked Ms. Bely for more information. Ms. Bely asked who paid <br />Mr. Feeney’s salary for the work up for these builders. When did Mr. Feeney seeks these <br />permits? Why wasn’t an impact study done on this area? <br />Mr. Feeney stated that the City and the public do not pay, and that is as far as he is <br />willing to go on that question. Permits were sought last week. Drainage is being <br />addressed fully and completely in his opinion, in that respect the drainage has been <br />reviewed by the County Engineers office and those standards are more stringent than the <br />City’s at this particular point in time. A municipal engineer has reviewed and approved <br />these plans. That is one of the stipulations for primary plan approval by the Area Plan <br />Commission. That part of the process has been accomplished, the construction plans are <br />being reviewed by the City Engineers Office, the construction plans are being reviewed <br />by IDEM although they are not the branch that Ms. Elverson is involved with. There are <br />a number of state and local permits that have all been put in motion, however, the <br />communication problem between his office and the owner and J.F. New & Associates has <br />caused some problem and we are not as far along with the permitting process as they <br />would like to be at this point and time. <br />Councilmember Pfeifer asked Mr. Feeney how many permits are they waiting for? <br />Mr. Feeney applied for the IDEM sanitary sewer permit; have applied for the <br />construction plan approval by the City Engineer’s Office; have applied for the IDEM <br />approval on the water main; the water plans have been reviewed by the South Bend <br />Water Department; the storm drainage plans have been reviewed and should be approved <br />within the next two weeks by the City Engineer’s Office; the street plans are a part of that <br />same package that should be approved within the next two weeks by the City Engineer’s <br />Office; the only other thing would be final plat approval, but we have not applied for that <br />because the owner has not posted bond nor have any of the improvements been <br />19 <br /> <br />