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B. CHAPIN PARK PUBLIC HEARING CATHERINE HOSTETLER: Each side pro and con will have a main speaker who will give their introductory statement that will last for five minutes and that will be followed by support of those of that position and they will be limited to a three minute time frame. At the podium we have included a reminder to state your name, address, and if you are a property owner in that district, and then to give your three minute or five minute talk. The people who are against or have reservations about the district will then be able to give their side of it followed by three minutes each. John will then allow the neighbors in favor to rebut. The commission will close the public discourse and address questions to the homeowners and have the homeowners address questions to the commission. People who spoke in favor of Chauin Park becomine an historic district KOLIN HODGSON: I have lived at 807 Ashland for ten years. I have been a member of the Chapin Park Neighborhood Association almost three years. I was also a member of the association's committee that was assigned to establish the rules set out in the guidebook for the proposed Chapin Park Local Historic District that we're considering here tonight. We did this for a few simple reasons. Our neighborhood is bordered on the east side by Memorial Hospital and the South Bend Medical Foundation; and on the west side by the Portage Avenue Commercial Corridor; and on the south side by the city of South Bend. The commercial boundaries represent for our neighborhood a potential for encroachment on the neighborhood. Memorial Hospital, one of our biggest neighbors, has been meeting with the Chapin Park and River Bend neighborhoods for the past two years to discuss our common issues. Hospital officials have promised not to encroach on the neighborhood and we are grateful for the current administration's respect and consideration; however, this has not always been the case in history. If you look at an old photograph of Lafayette Street between Navarre and Lamont you would see a row of residential homes on the east side of Lafayette; that property is now parking for Memorial Hospital. As long as future hospital administrations honor their pledge then we have nothing to fear from the hospital itself; however, this doesn't mean we are out of the woods. For example, the OBGYN practice on the west side of Lafayette has recently expanded and taken over another lot of the neighborhood. The continued growth of the hospital with the new heart center this year and a new cancer center next year makes new businesses around the hospital more likely then ever. Things like coffee shops, restaurants, short term lodging, more medical practices and medical services, and more parking, all could be a viable commercial growth on our east border that's not growth that's instigated by the hospital itself. The South Bend Medical Foundation and Memorial Hospital both continue to grow and demand more of these services. Now to the west the Portage Corridor is seeing revitalization thanks to the efforts of the Near Northwest Neighborhood Association and the Portage Corridor Steering Committee. While commercial development there is low at the moment the potential impact in our neighborhood may increase as that revitalization continues. In addition to the protection of private property in the neighborhood from encroachment the Chapin Park board was also concerned with the protection of common property.