03-25-02 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 25, 2002 THE ZONING ORDINANCE FOR CERTAIN LAND IN CLAY TOWNSHIP CONTIGUOUS THEREWITH; JERRY • MARGUERY MACRI AND RICHARD & ANN LAFREE • ECLIPSE LLC, 17,185 AND 17,240 BLOCK OF DOUGLAS ROAD, SOUTH BEND, INDIANA PHASE III Councilmember Coleman made motion to hear the substitute version of this bill. Councilmember Kelly seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of seven (7) ayes. Councilmember Uj dak reported that the Zoning & Annexation Committee met on this bill and sends it to the Council with a favorable recommendation. Mr. Jeff Myers, Staff Planner, Area Plan Commission, Room 1140 County -City Building, South Bend, Indiana, presented the report from the Commission. Mr. Myers advised that the petitioners are requesting a zone change from "R "Residential (County Zoning) to "O" Office, and "C" Commercial, "A" Height and Area to allow commercial uses consistent with a typical small strip shopping development including uses with a drive -thru window and office uses. The property is currently vacant land. Mr. Myers further advised that located to the north and west are single family homes zoned "R" Residential, to the east is vacant land in the City of Mishawaka zoned "S -2" Planned Unit Development for commercial facilities and to the south across Douglas Road are single family homes zoned "R" Residential and a single family home and vacant land in the City of South Bend zoned "A" Residential, "A" Height and Area. Access to the site is from Douglas Road. Water and sewer will be available to the site. The drainage has been addressed by the petitioner. The total site to be rezoned is eight (8) acres. Of that, the buildings will occupy nineteen per cent (19 %) of the site, the parking and drives will occupy fifty -one per cent (51 %) of the site and thirty per cent (30 %) of the site will remain as open space. A check of the Agency's maps indicates that no public wells, flood hazards or wetlands are present. The Douglas Road/Uniroyal Superfund site is located northeast of the site. The site plan is preliminary. The Area Plan Commission, at its Public Hearing held on March 19, 2002, sends this petition to the Council with a favorable recommendation subject to a final site development plan. The proposed development is consistent and compatible with the recently approved office complex to the south across Douglas Road, as well as the established land uses to the east in the City of Mishawaka. The proposed "O" Office zoning for the western portion of the site would act as a buffer for the residential uses to the west from the proposed commercial uses to the east. The final site plan should show (1) the number of curb cuts accessing Douglas Road reduced by two; (2) the number ofparking spaces be reduced to reflect only the required numbers specifically relative to the commercial development; (3) that the two office pods on the west end of the development are moved further east to provide additional buffer space between them and the adjacent residential property to the west; (4) a detailed landscaping plan that provides real quality of life improvement to the street scape, specifically the size and types of trees to be planted, additional tree coverage on the interior of the parking lot area and year around screening material along the north property line and (5) an effort to provide a building facade that provides genuine curb appeal. Mr. Mike Danch, Danch, Hamer & Associates, Inc., 2422 Viridian Drive, Suite 201, South Bend, Indiana, advised that he was present on behalf of the Petitioners, Mr. and Mrs. Macri, Mr. and Mrs. LaFree and Eclipse LLC. Mr. Danch stated that this rezoning involves a piece of property that is located on the north side of Douglas Road. The rezoning specifically requests two (2) different zoning classifications. One classification to the "O" Office category and one to the "C" Commercial category. Mr. Danch noted that the site plan shown to Councilmembers during the committee meeting this afternoon shows that -2-