10-28-13 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING OCTOBERT 28, 2013 Mr. Cooreman: We are, we absolutely are. We are getting a lot, our primary demographic is empty nesters, because they have the ability to fly out of South Bend Airport to visit their grandchildren or like to be close to Notre Dame or they like to be able to jump on the 80/90 Toll Road and go to Chicago or they like and have a number of people who work at Whirlpool up in St. Joseph, Michigan they like the fact that they can be in St. Joe in 30 minutes by jumping on the by-pass. Yet, they like the quality of life of living in South Bend better so they lived down here but work up in Michigan. Is that the kind of thing that you are asking? Councilmember Henry Davis Jr.: Well yeah, because again, I have been focusing on this more often than before. When we are beginning to provide subsidies or ability to partner in with the city for tax dollars or what have you. I would like to know what is the return or benefit of return or return of investment by the city for a lot of things that happen. I am not against what you are doing Sir, believe me, but in case of understanding what is going on and what the return is, just saying yes to it and moving on and thinking, it deserves more conversation, that’s why I was asking those questions. So, I am not apologizing for asking questions, I am just saying, I think that there needs to be more of a dialogue on the return of investment that happens when granting tax abatements and when we give government subsidies to individuals or whomever. Mr. Cooreman: I can answer that in about 1 minute. When we purchased the land there was approximately 57/58 acres. The total amount of tax dollars being collected by the City were under a $1,000.00. When we are built out it will be over $400,000.00. As a developer we pay for the infrastructure of the roads, the water, the sewer, all that. Obviously, the city incurs a lot of cost by providing police and fire protection and stuff but I think it has been a great investment for the city and every single buyer keys in on that tax abatement. It helps us compete with Penn School system; it helps us compete in a lot of ways with all the bank foreclosures that are still on the market. And a lot of my competitors that own subdivisions or banks out in that area, they will be getting those at a lot less than what we are selling for. So the tax abatement I believe is, the city gets a really good return on their dollar and a real big bang for their buck, and I think that it makes a lot of sense. The bottom line is that we would not be able to bring a lot of new residents into the City of South Bend without it. Councilmember Henry Davis Jr.: Yeah maybe, maybe not, I just think, thank you for your investment and also thank you for your investment. A Public Hearing was held on the Resolution at this time. There was no one present wishing to speak to the Council either in favor of or in opposition to these Resolutions. Councilmember Ferlic made a motion to adopt Bill No. 13-70. Councilmember Oliver Davis seconded the motion which carried and the Resolution was adopted by a roll call vote of nine (9) ayes. Councilmember Dr. David Varner made a motion to adopt Bill No. 13-71. Councilmember White seconded the motion which carried and the Resolution was adopted by a roll call vote of nine (9) ayes. BILLS - FIRST READING There were no bills for first reading at this time. UNFINISHED BUSINESS REPORT FROM AREA PLAN COMMISSION BILL NO. 48-13 – REZONING - 1906 S. FRANKLIN ST. BILL NO. 59-13 – AMEND ZONING CHAPTER 21 Councilmember Scott made a motion to refer these bills to the Zoning & Annexation Committee and set them for Public Hearing and Third Reading on November 11, 2013. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9) ayes 37