01-26-09 Common Council Meeting Agenda & Packet

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Justification for Seeking a Special Exception as a Group Residence for the property located at 744 South Main St. South Bend, IN 46601 Submitted by Michael Baxter, Margaret Pfeil, and Charles Wilber On behalf of Our Lady of the Road, Inc. P.O Box 4375 South Bend, IN 46634 (574) 514-8859 This petition pertains to a property zoned LI (Light Industrial) and is made in concert with a petition for re-zoning to MU (Mixed Use). It seeks a special exception so that the re-zoned property may be used as a "group residence" for emergency in ielation to the program known as "Weather Amnesty" whereby people with nowhere to stay are housed overnight by social agencies and ministries. The property is located at 744 South Main Street in South Bend, Indiana. The building area is 12,320 square feet situated on .97 acres, with frontage on South Main Street, just to the south of the downtown area in South Bend. 'The building consists of (1) a large front area with a kitchen, chairs, tables, and couches; (2) behind this, another large area for men's and women's restroom, three showers, three washers and driers, and clothes racks; (3) behind this, another large area for supplies; storage, and a small office; (4) behind this, a smaller area for use as storage; (5) adjacent to this, a warehouse area for more storage of larger items; and (6) an upstairs area which is vacant. A large parking lot (18,900 square feet} is located to the north of the building, and a side yard is located to the south of the building. As regards the proposed special exception for "group residence," Our Lady of the _ Road has been asked by social agencies and ministries to assist in providing housing to homeless people over night. People will be welcomed in the evening and depart early the next morning. They will be received in the front area of Our Lady of the Road (# 1; __, ._ above), use the bathrooms and showers (# 2), and sleep on twin beds in the area adjacent to the office and supply room (# 3). At least two staff members and/or volunteers of Our Lady of the Road will stay over on these nights as well. This service will be provided in conjunction with the Center for the Homeless, Hope Ministries, the YWCA, Life Treatment Center, and other agencies operating as part of the Continuum for Care. The number of people housed for weather amnesty would be about ten, the same number of people not being taken in by Hope Ministries due to changes in their facilities. This will therefore not increase the overall number of people receiving overnight weather-amnesty but allow it to remain the same. Our Lady of the Road will begin functioning as the final