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STAFF REPORT CONCERNING APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS Date: June 8, 2006 Application Number: 2006-0608 Property Location: Leeper Park West along Riverside Drive Property Owner: City of South Bend Landmark or District Designation: Local Landmark and National Register Landscape Landmark Rating: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE/HISTORIC CONTEXT: Leeper Park is a designed landscape located in South Bend, Indiana in a residential area immediately north of the Downtown commercial district of the city. In 1911, noted landscape architect George Kessler prepared a master plan for south Bend to develop a citywide park and boulevard system. Leeper Park became a focal point within Kessler's Plan. APPLICATION ITEMS: To connect the existing sidewalk segment, located in the northern section of Leeper Park along Riverside Drive, with a new five-foot wide concrete sidewalk to the segment of sidewalk at Riverside Drive on the top of the bluff. (See attached color scale drawing, Exhibit A) The connecting sidewalk will be approximately 355 feet long and it will have an access ramp directly across from the access ramp for the sidewalk on the south side of Riverside Drive in Leeper Park. (The work on the south side was approved by the Commission in COA #2006-0306A on March 20, 2006) Standards for Leeper Park: 9.5 Circulation #3 Alteration of existing or addition of new circulation layouts will be considered if it can be shown that better site circulation is necessary and that the alteration does not alter the basic concept of the historic landscape design. RECOMMENDATION: Kessler's sketch of his plan for Leeper Park is the basis for the landscape landmark. In Kessler's sketch the area for the proposed sidewalk is not developed. (See Exhibit B). An "informal" pathway connecting these two sidewalk segments has developed over the last century. Staff recommends approval, as it does not alter the basic concept of the historic landscape design.