Special Exception - 121 North St. Louis Blvd.

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Board of Zoning Appeals -January 18, 2007 homes in the South Bend area are abandoned. And I had no idea that was that severe and a lot of those are right over on Lincolnway. I have talked to a gentleman that is very large into student rentals and he owns homes here in South Bend, Muncie and Bloomington. And he tells me that his desire as time passes is to turn these homes back into single family residences. Actually when you stop to think about it, this is a phenomenal win-win. An immediate resolution to some of the housing problems that face South Bend. A company like myself I can go in afford to spend $30,000 on a home because I know I'm going to re-coup my money. Also { have the benefit of depreciation that I'm going to be able to take off my books. The home I just remodeled when We open up is going to look like a brand new home inside. And we will make sure £lnCl CIO OUr IllOlllt0l'S and make sure it stays that way. Some clay I also Would be willing to change this back into a single family home but ['m waiting for the day when someone like the Marriott Hotel wants to pelt a big building over there alld wants t0 buy the Whole thlllg is What I'd really like to have happen. The other reason Why we're going to keep our homes in excellent condition is remember some of our renters are going to be filhu-e lawyers. So we don't want to practice with a lawsuit right off the bat. This concept may very well Ue the answer for some of the housing problems that ace facing the City of South Bend. If you look at we are a college town. We have Cve universities here. Not just one like Lafayette, Indiana. In closing I'd like to state that Northern Electric Company has a strong desire to build our future here in South Bend. And it Is beCOllllllg hal'del' fOC lls t0 lllallltalll Ollr bUSI11eSS because Of industry leaving this al'ea. SO I need t0 IllaXlnllZe Illy investments, the I11C0111e fl'Olll lily lllVeSlllleiltS. Alld I belleve Olll' gl'Ollp hoille 4V 111 be a pOSltlVe 1110Ve f01' the area. Bl'lllglllg young people Who are in pursuit of a higher education info the downtown area. They will eat, shop and entertain and possibly work in this area. The students are people in good standing and we have not had any problems with any students in our area. And if you're familiar We have right across the a large apartment complex that's owned by Kramer properties. The problem that we are having is from the abandon homes that seem to attract the homeless and drug trafficking. We can take these homes back With this concept. The homes we brought up to standards and stay maintained. We are asking for complete approval of our request without the probationary period but if a probationary is offered please consider the cost of the paved parking and possibly granting us the gravel parking. We Will definitely provide off street packing, but the $12,000 investment would be hard to do. I want to thank you agaln for this opportunity and if you have any questions? tN rnvnrz MR. ROBERT MILLER SR.: I'm a retired attorney, former judge and a former resident of South Bend for over 50 years and I reside at 17526 Douglas Road, South Bend, Indiana. I've had some business with Mr. Dosnlan and at last you have a live one. Got soulebody in the area that has some money in his pocket and has a program. in my family we've owned two lots across the street at 118 N. St. Louis for at least 75 years. We used to have rental houses on there, I think 3 or 4 and we tore them down. The calls on keeping those lots clean from Code Enforcement, I spent a lot of dollars. Finally found a neighbor Who Would police these for a couple of hundred of bucks a year and I was glad to do that. I tried to give them away and haven't been able to do it. There's a crack house next door. And I'd lot rather have a little tailgate five or six time a year when Notre Dame wins than have then that crack party every weekend. I really truly believe because I've been down there looking at it again. By the way I have the taxes down on my two lots because you can't build on either one of them because the lots are only 33' wide. So in order to build you have to own two just like he says. And I kept in hopes foe all these years that St. Joseph Hospital doing so well and the doctors coming in that area, elan this is a future here, we had them listed for a long time and never got the first offer. Now with St. Joseph Hospital moving out and there goes that potential market. He's up with what I think is the best and highest use of this land. I visited with the Plan Commission and asked them eyeball to eyeball and they 7