05-28-19 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING May 28, 2019 Mr. Wyatt replied, If you go to page two (2) of the staff report,there are the four(4)questions that are part of State Law for land use. The answers are there. Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked, So, I'm sorry, this section is doing what? I'm sorry. Bob, could you explain? Council Attorney Bob Palmer stated, The City Ordinance requires the Common Council to adopt findings necessary for establishing a special exception. Generally, those findings are made by the Board of Zoning Appeals. All this amendment does is incorporate those findings into this ordinance so that the Council can adopt the findings. Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, Ok, thank you. Brian McMorrow, Abenmarche Consulting with offices located at 750 Lincolnway East, South Bend, IN, served as the petitioner for this bill. Mr. McMorrow stated, I'm here on behalf of the petitioner, Acquisition Group LLC. I thank Council for including that language that relates back to the Area Plan Commission's findings. We gave a presentation to them last week. Acquisition Group is the group that purchased the Blackthorn Golf Course from the City a number of years ago. We are interested in adding what we think is an interesting dynamic to both the golf course and the Blackthorn office park. We think that these stay-and-play type homes would be attractive to those that like,obviously,the lifestyle of living by Blackthorn but also maybe to business people that want to invest in Blackthorn office park and having adjacency to the airport. We are excited to bring this proposal to you and offer it to the City. Thank you. Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked, What is your timeframe? And also, what is the amount of predicted investment? Mr. McMorrow replied, The amount of investment is still being worked out. We've prepared preliminary concept plans showing that this private road would follow an existing contour that is there, and the homes would be above and below that grade so that each home would have a golf course view. We are also refining the actual architectural plans for each of the units.There is going to be a Single-Family unit proposed and then a Two (2)-Family unit. Then, from there, we will come up with the appropriate lot sizes. So, those firm numbers haven't been established just yet. So, for the timeline, we expect to wrap up that preliminary investigation over the next couple of weeks and then work earnestly to prepare detailed plans. We hope to break ground later this summer. Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, Thank you. Councilmember Jake Teshka asked, Are these being designed and built for specific consumers? Or are you going to spec some of these units? Mr. McMorrow replied, We are going to have an array of typical floor plans where the individual home owner could customize each just a little bit. But,there will be a common architectural theme that would run through each of the units. So, each will be a little different but would definitely have a common thread, design-wise. This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard. Wayne Hubbard, 215 East Fox Street, South Bend, IN, stated, My question is about how a park can take priority over the residential area. Researching this, I found out of State. How does that take priority over locating and purchasing houses back so that the City gets itself back? Also,how come the people were not allowed to vote on something so historic being removed and changed? That's it. Thank you. The petitioners were given five(5)minutes for a rebuttal. Mr. McMorrow stated, I'll do the best I can to address Mr. Hubbard's questions. The park itself is no longer owned by the City of South Bend. Maybe that was a misunderstanding. It is privately owned as Blackthorn Golf Club right now and the portion of the golf course property that is proposed to be developed is the practice hole right now. So, it in no way devalues the golf course itself. In fact, there was an appraisal done with and without that practice hole, there was no 3