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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK this small footprint that is already there. It is going to be new development and it will be a very nice restaurant. I think it will be exciting and that people will have a lot of pride in working at this location. Again, it will also eliminate the barrier of transportation of a lot of these folks to get to work. Ms. Patel employs a lot of high school students and it is one (1) of their very first (1St)job opportunities. We are very excited about the location and hopefully it will spur other development. Councilmember White stated, When we look at tax abatements, we did have Martin's but this is somewhat unique since I have been on the Council. Also, I understand and support having a Dairy Queen on that side of the community because what we have now, I know you will probably close that facility down so moving down further and having the space to do so makes good sense but the tax abatement is something different for us for retail. So,what would happen if we would not grant this tax abatement? Ms. Patel replied, Well, it will make it difficult, since it is a bigger investment, to move forward in the timeframe we have. We know the construction costs are high and getting higher going into the critical months of construction. I've gotten one (1) bid and it is already higher than would be expected. So the cost is going to go up more than what we have anticipated so this will help tremendously. It would make it more difficult to move forward without it. Councilmember Scott asked, Besides Martin's, has there been any other new development on Western Avenue? Dan Buckenmeyer, Director of Business Development for the Department of Community Investment with offices located on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, The few things are the redevelopment of the old Martin's that is now the laser-tag where the Linden Grill is. That was fairly recent. But new construction-wise, no. This is unique in new construction. Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, I have a couple questions. Since this has not been considered before, the tax abatement relative to retail, why has that been the case? And what will be the parameters moving forward in terms of future tax abatements relative to retail? Second (2°1), on the scorecard for this particular application there were eighty-four (84) points awarded for donations to a municipal facility,Friends of Granger Paths, I don't know if that qualifies as a South Bend Municipal facility and maybe you could clarify that. Mr. Gammage replied, As we looked at the ordinance, it didn't know that we would not be able to grant a tax abatement for retail, especially a franchise. So it is within the law, if you will. Angelina Billo, Business Development Manager for the Department of Community Investment with offices located on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, With this application, they actually qualified for the maximum eight(8) years total but we gave them seven(7) years. James Mueller, Executive Director for the Department of Community Investment with offices located on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, We can assure Council you won't be seeing a rush of retail tax abatements in the future. As we have talked earlier, the compelling narrative here was that there was an equity play as well as an active corridor play that we are trying to get to. Also the transportation issue was huge. If there are other compelling cases like that, you may see that,but generally we would stick to that policy in the past. I think that is out of fairness. There hasn't been this kind of construction there in a long time. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 4