03-11-19 Zoning and Annexation - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, Is the job description for the Zoning Administrator baked into State Law as well? Mr. Corcoran replied, Yes, that is correct. We can add, and we have added some elements to that, but yes. Committeemember Broden followed up, Are the current legal services for APC and ABZA contracted or outsourced? Are they evaluated annually for performance? Mr. Corcoran replied, They are outsourced. As far as the review of their work and performance, I don't know. I do know the Area Plan Commission puts together an annual report that sort of summarizes what's happened over the year. I think that report is something we would like to continue as a metric, just for our own understanding. We might be able to find some data that suggests we tweak it. One (1) of our goals is that the zoning ordinance should not be a static document. It is a living document. Some of these Codes have not been updated. The subdivision ordinance was something like 1982. We want to make sure that as we find things that don't make sense, we figure out how to make it make sense because I don't want to administer something that doesn't make sense and you don't want to deal with things that don't make sense. Committeemember Broden followed up, To your philosophical point about South Bend residents making decisions for South Bend, I do think South Bend is not an island and we are part of the County. I think there are a number of issues,beyond annexation,that you hinted to where you have City meeting county and they are challenging things. I appreciate your point about the other projects we coordinate on, but that interface can be problematic if that relationship isn't ongoing and formalized, especially with regard to those projects that abut right to the county. Mr. Corcoran replied, I've personally thought a lot about it and I hope to be able to develop some better thoughts as to how we make good decisions about annexations or planning just on the other side of that line. We are asking Urban3, who are the people who came out in 2016 and analyzed our property tax evaluations, to do a cost model for South Bend. That is going to do a lot of things but one (1) of the questions I've posed to them is what is the minimum amount development that the City would accept because it is a revenue positive thing? Not suburban sprawl which is a cost to the City. So, is there a minimum density or dwelling count, per acre, that we would have developers provide? So, if people want City water and services, they have to achieve a minimum value, right? Otherwise, it is a drain to the City and then what we are finding is other neighborhoods, like the NNN, are subsidizing other parts of the City because of the imbalance of value. That is a difficult question to answer but is one(1)we are trying harder than most to tackle. Committeemember Broden followed up, I do think there needs to be a level of independence in the legal piece. The evaluation on an annual basis and a contract on an annual basis could help put in some safeguards there. I guess I want to understand, more fully, as this conversation goes forward, about that legal component because that legal authority, in particular with the ABZA matters, can really impact the quality of the decision-making process. So, I just want to make sure we keep track of that as a Council and that we are not just defaulting to an internal City Legal Department function because it's a cost savings. I think the quality of our decisions include a tradeoff where we don't really want to go that serves our community. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.92211f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 vwwv.southbendin.gov 5