11-12-01 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 12, 2001 Councilmember White 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) to "O" Office (City of South Bend) to allow office uses and incidental residential uses in the existing building. The property currently contains a single family home and vacant land. Located to the north across Douglas Road is vacant land zoned "R" Residential; to the east is vacant land zoned "R" Residential; to the south is vacant land zoned "R" Residential currently in the process of being annexed into the City of South Bend; and to the west are single family homes zoned "R" Residential and vacant land zoned "R" Residential currently in the process of being annexed into the City of South Bend. Access to the site will be from Douglas Road. Water and sewer will be available to the site. The drainage has not been addressed by the petitioner. The total site to be rezoned is 11.2 acres. Of that, the buildings will occupy one (1) acre, or eight per cent (8 %) of the site. The parking and drives will occupy twenty -four per cent (24 %) of the site and sixty -eight per cent (68 %) of the site will remain as open space. A check of the Agency's maps indicates that no public wells or environmental hazard areas are present. However, a portion of the site is located within Flood Zone "A -1" and it also appears that a wetland is located onsite. The Douglas Road/Uniroyal Superfund site is located to the north across Douglas Road. The site plan is preliminary. The City Engineer will require a drainage plan at the final site plan stage. Mr. Myers further noted that the Area Plan Commission, at its Public Hearing held on September 18, 2001, sends this petition to the Council with a favorable recommendation subject to a final site development plan. It is the Commission's opinion that "O" Office zoning is compatible with the established zoning and development pattern to the north and east in the City of Mishawaka and will act as a buffer for the residential uses to the south and west. Mr. Michael Danch, President, Danch, Hamer & Associates, Inc., 2422 Viridian Drive, Suite 201, South Bend, Indiana, made the presentation for this bill, on behalf of the Petitioners, Mr. and Mrs. Macri and Mr. & Mrs. LaFree. Mr. Danch stated that the Petitioners would like to rezone approximately eleven (11) acres of land on the south side of Douglas Road in the 17,000 block. They intend to build eight (8) single individual buildings with a maximum size of five thousand (5,000) square feet. Mr. Danch noted that there is one (1) existing building at the southeast corner of the property which will also be used partially for an office and for residential use. The two (2) streets coming off of Douglas Road, as shown on the site plan, will be dedicated to the City. Additionally, the petitioners will be going through the major subdivision procedure and creating legal lots of record for each individual building. The drainage will be per the latest City of South Bend standards and will be addressed through the subdivision procedure. All the buildings will be single story and will have extensive screening as shown on the site plan. The lots will be connected to sewer and water which will be brought to the site for development purposes. Because a large portion of the property is in the flood zone for Judy Creek they have worked with the staff on the development of the site plan and that area will be left as "A" Residential single family. Additionally, there will be no access to the existing residential area that is located at the southwest corner of the site along McErlain Street. That will be left as "A" residential single family. In conclusion, Mr. Danch noted that as part of this rezoning to "O" Office there will only be office uses provided in this office park and there will be no commercial uses. Councilmember King asked Mr. Danch to confirm that there is no intention to bring any thoroughfare or roadway to connect to McErlain. Mr. Danch stated that the site plan shows two (2) cul de sacs that will be dedicated to the City. Also, as part of the subdivision procedure they will -2-