03-11-19 Zoning and Annexation - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OFSOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK as Bob Palmer looked at this. They suggested the minimum text changes are in line with proper procedures and are ok. They don't substantially change anything. Council President Scott asked, Is this a substitute to the substitute on file at the time? Mr. Corcoran replied, Yes. It is a second (2nd) sub. Mr. Corcoran went on, Thank you, Council Members. Today, I wanted to speak to you about the formation of a South Bend and a Board of Zoning Appeals. What I wanted to start off with right away is what this resolution enables. This resolution allows us to hire the staff as outlined in the 2019 budget. This will help us work toward the development of a South Bend Plan Commission, whose responsibilities will include coordinating with the Area Plan Commission in terms of knowledge and data transfer, process refinements to find efficiencies between City departments including Building, Code Enforcement, Economic Development and the Planning Department. Also, they will help with continuing to work on our zoning ordinance overhaul including a few more quick-fixes we want and intend to bring to Council the next few months. He continued, What this resolution does not do is establish the actual Plan Commission. That would have to be done with an ordinance later this year and, approximately, in September. So, why establish a Plan Commission for South Bend? We talked a little bit about this but, philosophically, we believe South Bend residents should be making decisions for South Bend. There were some questions about the skill sets on the Plan Commission currently and whether or not we would be able to match some of those skill sets with a new Commission. We believe we can. We have a lot of smart people and have a wealth of internal experience to help with this. I think one(1)of the goals of these two(2)people,too,is to help find and vet some of those potential people, especially when it comes to the citizen members that might be on this Board. We believe the South Bend Plan Commission members will have greater insights into City planning objectives and,thus,be aligned with what we are trying to achieve,especially when it comes to neighborhood development and plans. We recently brought the South East Neighborhood Plan to you and we are currently working on the Near Northwest Neighborhood Plan. One (1) of my objectives for next year is to try and do at least two (2) more of these and to continue that effort forward to get that up to date. He went on,And we think through better communication throughout the entire zoning and variance process. We think there will be a streamline and better coordination between departments. From a strategic planning point of view, there is neighborhood vision and master plan strategies we develop. There is a citizen engagement element with these things,too,all the way from plan review which is mainly a Building Department function to Economic Business Development. There are a lot of different people and a lot of different departments that have to come together in order to help make proper decisions. I think having that all under one(1)roof really would help streamline some of those decisions. Zoning Code Compliance (referencing a slide in a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office). We hope that the reform to the Code will eliminate unnecessary, overburdensome and out of date regulations. So, we're trying to streamline that part. But,we also want to stand firm on the rules that we really believe in.With this and being consistent in the application of the zoning ordinance, we hope this will help promote compliance with the Code. Over time, we also hope it will further reduce administrative time on things. I know we've heard, anecdotally from some,that certain variances are granted all the time and others aren't even asked of EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 s e w.southbendin.gov 2