08-13-18 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING August 13, 2018 RESOLUTIONS BILL NO. 18-34 A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROVING A PETITION OF THE AREA BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 719 AND 721 W. REX STREET Councilmember Oliver Davis, chair of the Zoning and Annexation Committee, reported that they met this afternoon and send this bill forward with a favorable recommendation. Angela Smith, the Area Plan Commission, with offices on the 11th Floor of the County-City Building, South Bend, IN, served as the presenter of this bill. Ms. Smith stated, Before you this evening is a portion of a project that's looking at a housing development along Portage Avenue. The majority of the project is zoned MU, Mixed-Use District.There are two (2) lots on Rex Street, however, zoned Single-Family District. Within that district they would like to seek a special exception use to allow those two(2)lots as a parking lot for the larger project. This will help retain the underlying zoning district for the lots and help support the project's development, moving forward. Kathy Schuth, Near Northwest Neighborhood, 1007 Portage Avenue, South Bend, IN, served as the petitioner of this bill. Ms. Schuth stated,This is a project that has been a long time coming and it's a true partnership between the County,City,and neighborhood investors in the Near Northwest Neighborhood. We have been trying to get this through to receive State-level low-income housing tax credits. This is our sixth(6th)attempt at doing so and we feel like we have really created a great project here. What we are specifically asking for is a special use on two (2) residential properties that would become a parking lot area, and that is kind of right in the middle of that plan that you see on the screen. What we are hoping to do, of course, is move ahead with the project. It would be a combination between two (2) buildings of seventy-six (76) low-income apartment units. The majority of that would be in the building on the left...which has been vacant and abandoned for nine (9) years and, frankly, poorly maintained for a period of years prior to that. Most of the roof structure on that building is gone, however the street fagade remains pretty decent. It's a blighted structure in the neighborhood and we have not discovered other beneficial ways of moving forward with it due to the cost of rehab on that project. We have partnered with the City to enter into an agreement to utilize vacant land to the south and we would be proposing a three (3) story new construction building on that property. The property that we are proposing on the two (2) Rex properties is not required by this project,however we think it would be a true benefit to the project bringing the allowable parking to about one-and-a-half(1 '/2) spaces per apartment unit. We think that is appropriate for this size and in an urban environment. The reason why we did not go for a rezoning is that if this project fails we do not want this to become a commercial type property or mixed-use property. We would like it to revert to a residential use. Councilmember Oliver Davis asked what could be added to this project to entice those State-level low-income tax credits. Ms. Schuth responded,I would say,timing-wise,that we have actually put in the application, so it would be difficult to add anything to the application at this point. Tim Scott has been able to offer support.The Mayor has offered support and,actually,we have received support from both Senator Donnelly's office,Representative Walorski's office... So,we have been able to receive support at all levels,which is really helpful. I will say one (1) thing I think that would really make this shine is if there is the potential for making a transportation hub at this site. There is a bus stop already. It is the sort of place where would like to see a covered bus stop, since we are adding more density to that area that that could, especially with the NNN across the street, become a hub. 9