Vacation - Alley - First is north of Lincoln Way West between Cottage Grove Avenue

Home Browse Search

Community & Economic Development P l a n n i n g & Neighborhood D e v e l o p m e n t 1200 County-City Building, 227 West Jefferson, South Bend, Indiana 46601- 1830 To: Charlotte Pfeifer, President, Common Council From: Jennifer J. Mielke, Piannel~~/"' I Subject: NNN Alley ~,~acation Request Date: March 23, 2000 Phone 219/235-9660 ~ SpUTH 6 O ~\~11~II1~/~/~~O F'L ~ /~i U ~\~ // 2 \EAC6G/ . ~~ --, m 1865 Fax 219/235-9697 The purpose of this memo is to provide you with a description of the Near Northwest Neighborhood alley vacation process as requested by Cathy Cekanski - Farrand. Since 1991, the Near Northwest Neighborhood, Inc. (NNN, Inc.) has planned to seek a reduction in the number of east-west alleyways in the neighborhood. Page 14 of the 1992 Near Northwest Neighborhood Housing and Community Revitalization Plan states that the NNN, Inc. should partner with the City to vacate alleys in the neighborhood. These alleyways pose maintenance and crime problems and adversely affect property values. In 1998, the NNN, Inc. received $100,000 in CDBG funds to implement four (4) zones of alley closures. Because of funding constraints and time, the overall project has been reduced to three (3} zones (A, B & C), two of which are before Council in the form of vacation requests. After much discussion between various City Departments it was decided that the best method to complete this project would be to "close" the alleys through BPWs, do the construction, and then vacate the alleys. Since 1998, the NNN, Inc. was responsible for coordinating all the outreach to affected property owners and to the rest of the neighborhood. The NNN, Inc. sent certified letters and consent forms, which were reviewed by Legal staff, delivered flyers, held public meetings, and obtained signatures on the petitions to vacate alleys. (Please see attached). Any property owner who did not want their alley vacated was removed from the list. City Departments reviewed the list and removed any alley that access was a concern. It was the intent to have the BPWs "close" the alleys before construction, but since the NNN, Inc. did all of the outreach to property owners it was thought there was no need to go through that process. On April 19, 1999, the BPWs awarded the construction contract to L.E. Barber to remove the alley beds, replace it with sod, and curb the approach. All the construction has been complete, so the last phase of zones A&B is to vacate the alleys