07-23-18 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING July 23, 2018 PUBLIC HEARINGS BILL NO. 14-18 PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE AND SEEKING A SPECIAL EXCEPTION FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1619 S MICHIGAN STREET, COUNCILMANIC DISTRICT NO. 3 IN THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA Councilmember John Voorde,Vice Chair of the Zoning and Annexation Committee,reported that they met this afternoon and send this bill forward with an unfavorable recommendation. Jordan Wyatt, Zoning Planner for the Area Plan Commission with offices on the 1 lth floor of the County-City Building, South Bend, IN, served as the presenter of the bill. Mr. Wyatt stated, The petitioner is requesting a zone change in the area outlined in red(referencing a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office) from LB, Local Business to CB, Community Business as well as seeking a special exception use for automobile sales. To the , across an alley is a vacant business zoned LB, Local Business. To the East across Michigan Street are Single-Family homes zoned MU, Mixed-Use. To the South is a Family Dollar zoned LB, Local Business. To the West across an alley are properties zoned LI,Light Industrial.On site,currently,is a carry-out restaurant. The site plan shows the parking remaining to service the restaurant as well as the used cars. The Department of Community Investment offered an unfavorable recommendation. They commented it was out of character for this neighborhood. They proposed five (5) written commitments that, after the Area Plan Commission meeting, the petitioner agreed to. Those five (5) include limiting the number of vehicles to twenty-seven (27), in lieu of foundation landscaping adding one (1) or two (2) replacement trees in the public tree lawn, in lieu of providing full parking lot screening provide landscape areas with three (3) sight hedges in the northeast corner of the lot, install landscape islands to separate the restaurant parking spaces from the display space and bring the fence into compliance without barbed wire. This comes to you with an unfavorable recommendation from the Area Plan Commission. Bernie Feeney, Lang, Feeney & Associates with offices located at 715 South Michigan Street, South Bend, IN, served as the petitioner for this bill. Mr. Feeney stated, I am here on behalf of the owners of JJ Fish. Currently, as Area Plan had mentioned, this particular piece of property is operating under its current zoning as a restaurant. It is one (1) of three franchises operated by the owners locally. Another is on Lincoln Way and the other is on Edison Road. We are asking for a rezoning on this property to allow fuller use of the property including used auto sales. The owners have offered commitments to accompany this rezoning in compliance with those recommendations by the Department of Community Investment. There will be a maximum of twenty-seven(27) cars on the property at any given time. There will be islands to separate the restaurant patrons and the auto sales patrons.They will provide landscaping in front of the building and the tree lawn between the sidewalk and curb and they will remove the fence to move it back to make it even with the front of the building. The cars that will be offered for sale will be purchased at the Kalamazoo and Mishawaka Auto Auctions and will be offered for sale on this site. The car lot will not, under any circumstances, be operated as a `Buy Here, Pay Here' used car lot. The cars will be financed through a finance company. The owners are, in this particular instance, looking for an opportunity to use their property more fully with the addition of the used car sales at this location. The change in zoning would still serve as a buffer between the Light Industrial Zoning on the West and the Mixed-Use on the East. Councilmember Oliver Davis stated, I'm sorry I was not here this afternoon. Mr. Feeney, what is your understanding of why there is objection to this? Mr. Feeney replied, My understanding of the objection to this attempted rezoning of this property is that there are already enough used car lots in the South Michigan Street area.At the meeting this afternoon, the neighborhood group that was represented by an individual indicated that there are five(5)used car lots in this area,my count has it as high as ten(10)but it depends on the boundaries you use. We are dealing with a perception that another used car lot in this area will downgrade the area. It won't downgrade the area any more than the recent leaving of Sherwin Williams paint to 2