12-08-03 Council Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2003 Councilmember Pfeifer thanked everyone for taking the time of come before the Council this evening and for attending a public forum meeting that was held on December 2nd with Mr. Michael Morris and Mr. Mike Danch to give the neighbors an opportunity to discuss what is going on in their neighborhood in regards to the Hurwich request. She noted that about twenty (20) years ago the neighbors in that area were fed up with the activities taking place on the corner of Walnut and Washington and they wanted to revitalize the neighborhood. They hired a firm from Chicago who did a survey and advised that on West Washington Street they needed to provide the opportunity for new families to come and live and preserve the people who were already living there. New houses plus multi - family were built and support was given to the existing businesses on Chapin Street. Councilmember Pfeifer stated that they had a list and started out by cleaning up West Washington Street. Business revitalization on Chapin Street is going well and is still moving. Part of what the neighborhood wanted to do was to clean up the zoning in that neighborhood and the zoning was changed because they wanted to encourage families to move in and to stay. Councilmember Pfeifer stated that she is unclear why Mr. Hurwich was not notified at the time of that rezoning. It was the neighbors who stood up and came together to revitalize that neighborhood and they were successful. The City later joined in as a partner. Councilmember Pfeifer stated that there are five (5) major churches located close to Hurwich Iron and everyone complains about dust. The neighbors do not want to reverse the trend of all the hard work that has been done. South Bend Heritage and the City of South Bend have made investments in this neighborhood. The neighbors very clearly wanted to downsize the industry. By the end of the meeting on December 2nd they all agreed and Hurwich Iron agreed that they would be willing to move out of the neighborhood so everyone left the meeting thinking they supported Hurwich in what they want to do but they wanted them to do it somewhere else as the neighbors continue the revitalization of that neighborhood. Councilmember Pfeifer stated that she will not be able to support this initiative and encouraged fellow Councilmembers to follow suit. - Councilmember Kirsits stated that in his capacity as a City of South Bend firefighter he has twenty- five (25) years of experience in going on the Hurwich property on numerous occasions and he is appalled by the condition of the property. Councilmember Kirsits noted that Mr. Zappia commented that there are safe guards that protect citizens, but he was often asked where they are because the property contains items such as fifty five (55) gallon abandoned drums, abandoned structures and private fire hydrants that were not properly maintained and did not operate. In regards to the process of recycling, Councilmember Kirsits stated that as someone who travels on Lathrop Road daily it is noticeable when those trucks are running because they put a lot of dust and dirt out on that street. Councilmember Kirsits also commented that in 1993 he was part of a team of firefighters that went to DeMoines, Iowa to help with a flood. During the two (2) day operation that they staged at an organic composting facility for the City, there was a smell but the most significant thing was the amount of insects and flies that were attracted to this site. When piles of organic material get wet it can cause problems with flies and insects. Councilmember Kirsits further stated that a comment was made this evening that Hurwich has been trying to clean up this property since 2002 and he asked where have they been all this time. Councilmember Kirsits stated that with the pictures submitted this evening of mounds of dirt that is called landscaping he believes that is a weak start and he will be voting against this Petition. Councilmember Varner stated that the conflict of industrial versus residential is not going to go away because in older cities industrial areas abut residential areas. In about 1991 the City made the point of suggesting that the residential interests were clearly going to take priority in considerations in the future but at the same time it allowed the zoning change and grandfathering of the operations of Hurwich Iron Works. The fact that this amount of time has passed and a number of changes have taken place with both the residential and the industrial, in the final analysis Hurwich Iron Works is going to be operating at this location. They may not be doing the shredding of mulch which is about the only thing that will be excluded from this because the use of crushing is still permitted and while not on a large scale, this seems to be an opportunity for neighborhoods and neighbors whether residential or industrial to get together and find a good solution. This is also a good time for the City to jump in and use economic development dollars and perhaps create the buffer zone that is necessary so the residents can be buffered by a block or two and yet the interests of the iron works -13-