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Over ten years ago, the Museum formed a Campus Planning Committee to develop a plan <br />to move the Cabin near the Museum so it can be used much more extensively in programming <br />with school children and included in tours. During this period, the Museum acquired eight <br />properties near the west side of the Museum (with donations specified for this purpose) to develop <br />a site which will be much more conductive to teaching school children about early life in St. Joseph <br />County. The Museum's plan was to move the Cabin in August of this year and fundraise around <br />the newly relocated Cabin and related educational opportunities. <br />Delays ensued related to the approval process and pandemic. Ultimately, the Museum <br />submitted its proposal at the June 15, 2020 HPC meeting along with favorable recommendations <br />letters from South Bend's Venues Parks & Arts ("VPA"), the South Bend Schools Superintendent, <br />Todd Cummings, and PHM Superintendent, Jerry Thacker. Before any public input was heard, <br />the HPC basically made its decision and the vote was 4-2 to deny the Petition. With the Cabin in <br />Leeper Park, the Museum's "Cabin Days" for school children is shared with helicopters landing <br />at the hospital, the water reservoir, the Pumping Station Building, and much traffic noise. HPC <br />refers to this Leeper Part site as "idyllic'; the Museum respectfully disagrees. <br />The Museum has a newly expanded "west" campus it intends to develop for the benefit of <br />the community and its school children and citizens. The Cabin is an important landmark and needs <br />to be preserved. However, the Museum has little use for, or ability to maintain, the Cabin if it <br />cannot move the Cabin on campus. The Museum has owned the Cabin for over 125 years and the <br />Cabin has been moved three times previously because "it was in the way". Now, the Museum has <br />a long-term plan to move the Cabin for the Cabin's benefit. The Museum respectfully requests <br />that the Common Council reverse the HPC's denial of the Petition and allow the Museum to <br />effectively utilize the Cabin in the community's best interest. <br />-3- <br />