April 18, 2022 Historic Preservation Commission Minutes

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Sandra Kennedy, 227 W Jefferson Blvd. Suite 1200 South Bend, IN 46601 The public was represented by: Randy James, 125 S Lafayette Blvd. South Bend, IN 46601 Charity Stowe, 614 S. St. Joseph St. South Bend, IN 46601 After due consideration, the following action was taken: Upon a motion by Mary Brazinsky, seconded by David Wyncott, and unanimously carried by vote, the Historic Preservation Commission APPROVES Certificate of Appropriateness Application #2022-0404. Vote: 4-4. Four in Favor, four opposed. COA#2022-0404 is denied due to lack of majority. Commission President Gelfman clarified that, when certificates of appropriateness are not approved, Commissioners are required to state their reasons for denial. Roll was called. Commissioner Hertel (NAY): I vote against demolition for the reasons that have already been stated, and I just want to restate Eric's concerns about demolition and the landfill, the fact that we do not know what the inside looks like. I recognize that there is a potential that if people are inside or living inside the dangers to that. I am confused as to why the City would possibly pay a million dollars to demolish a building and not feel the need to invest that into rehabbing a building that is a part of our community and offers so much character to our community. It breaks my heart. I honestly came into this meeting anticipating that I would approve this, and my ideas have been changed because this is an important part of our history, and we can't afford to lose any more buildings. We don't need any more farmland in the City of South Bend. Commissioner Brazinsky (AYE): Commissioner Andrews (AYE): Commissioner Stalheim (NAY): For the reasons listed I totally agree, and I believe that we don't know enough. I want to emphasize that point about the interior integrity in the main part of the building, not the single story, the main part. The iconic part, it's the first thing you see when you come into town from the airport. It is an important building; we need to do better. And this is that point. Also, we should not be demolishing buildings, we are in the climate change era now, right. The greenest building is a building that's already built. We need to take care of this stuff. Commissioner Downs-Krostenko (NAY): I also voted against demolition at this time because I don't think that we can make that decision without more information and because I want to draw a line in the sand and say what we all know is true. Which is that even if this building does eventually come down, this should be our rubicon. Like we just need to stop, and somebody needs to reconsider the way we are doing everything. And so, if this is the one that goes, helps start that conversation seriously and helps the City actually put resources towards it so for instance if we are going to have a commission committee that addresses this on the statewide level, and lets face it, it is a property values issue it is probably going to go higher than that. There are lots of tendrils to be considered the city needs to give us city employee time. We need Christina or Sandi; we need someone that's Page 12