28-26 Alley Vacation - 718 and 710 Napoleon Street

Home Browse Search

The overall community benefits of this project include: • The replacement of a rental home at the end of its useful life with two new homes that will be owned and occupied by full-time residents and ongoing members of the South Bend community who wish to live nearer to downtown and Notre Dame. • A new sidewalk and renewed tree lawn area along Napoleon St., aligned with the recently renewed sidewalk and tree lawn east of the property on the south side of Napoleon. • Replacement of the existing ADA non-compliant curbs with ADA accessible ramps on Napoleon St., both at the corner at St. Peter St. (the applicant's property) and the corner at St. Louis Blvd. (the church's property). • Replacement of the old and heaving sidewalk all along the applicant's frontage on St. Peter St. • All expenses, including the new tree lawn, new sidewalks, and ADA ramps will be funded by the applicant for the Ludwig and church properties. The staff has provided a recommendation with concern, and a continued review by the Ludwig's and their home builder & engineer, concluded an additional reduction of the ROW ask to 3.7' fits a better aesthetic and lot size for the home development. Continuation of this petition incorporates feedback from City officials, also representation from the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization and the Northeast Neighborhood Community association, as well as the University of Notre Dame. Please see the attached letter of support from Mr. Greg Hakenan. In addition to the community benefits, we note the history of recent ROW vacations along Napoleon St., as shown in Attachment 2 - Area Right of Way Vacations. The request to vacate the ROW along the entire length of the block has to do with aligning the two homes on the property in a manner that can fit both two street frontages, maintaining an appropriate distance to a proposed public sidewalk, improving the sidewalk accessibility where two new ADA curb ramps will exist on St. Louis Blvd. and St. Peter St., providing for a new manicured tree lawn with approved South Bend trees, and generally creating a clean aesthetic streetscape. The proposed sidewalk is suggested to move 8' closer to the curb on Napoleon and properly align with the tree lawn size/sidewalk placement to the north and the east. A consideration like this is common in this neighborhood to realign the public space to fit current development patterns and use of the Right of Way. The regulatory review looks at right of way vacation in terms of aesthetics and appeal, assures this does not hinder or diminish access to either of the properties in any way and each parcel enjoys full access to dedicated streets, does not hinder the public's access to a church, school or other public building and does not hinder a public way and allows vehicle, pedestrian, and bike traffic to continue. •• O:\Projects\2025\25.0559 Ludwig Minor Subdivision\05 PERMITS F.APPROVALS\vocation Application\Updafred_Ludwig Vocation_drafldocx