Special Exception - 121 North St. Louis Blvd.

Home Browse Search

Board of Zoning Appeals - January 18, 2007 couldn't think of any at that time. 1 also had a visit with Bill Schalliol and he could see nothing wrong. The reason I went to him is because they made a detailed zoning proposal plan about four years ago and 1 wanted t0 nlalCe Slll'e tl)CI'e WBSn't anything in there. Although the things dead, it wasn't approved. But it's all fi-ture planning and it takes a IOt Of llme. And he COUId sGe notlllllg adverse about this use. So now With these two lots, and We find manna from heaven, the guy will come in and take these houses, and they're going fast, deteriorating, the one across the street where my former tenant moved to. He died and his wife died and they have no children and they're fighting the estate nephews clown in Indlanapolts and that house Was acquu'ed pretty quick and the windows are starting to rot around and they'll be out of there. I even went so far because I got ellthtlSCd after talking to Howard, I just sold 100 and some lots over in Elkhart, and going to be building Crest homes and I went out and checked to see what it would cost to put up modular, five bedroom and $175,000 with a basement and perhaps fix three more with escape windows for a total of eight rooms. I at this age of 8C really do not need to become a landlord. I'm somewhat doubtful my son, who is a federal judge and daughter-in-law Jane Want to start collecting rent monthly from these students. I certainly would be able to finance a structure under the right zoning and have someone like Howard Dosman who lives in that neighborhood take over and manage them. It might be the first viable use for my lots in 75 years. Now I can't for the live of me except I know a little bit about bureaucracy having been in it myself some time ago that you kind of study these things. And the Plan Conunission said they would like to take a look at this for a couple of years. Well I just can't believe that anybody in the Plan Commission or sitting up here in front of me to ask the old judge to invest $175,000 so they can take a look for two years and see how stupid, it doesn't work that way. If this shoulchl't become student housing tell him no today. Don't let him go out there and pave that $12,000 worth of lots. He happens to have the money, if he Went down to the bank to borrow it, they wouldn't lend it to him with that restriction on there. But I think that's wrong if they haven't made up their hind in the last 75 years on whether or not student housing Would be ideal for that rather than crack houses, then I don't think they're going to decide in the next two years. And I certainly don't know if I'm going to be around in tWO years to perhaps finance a multi bedroom structure. Building a new one for these students is kind of the Way to go because you've got all the satellites, all the Internet connections, all the cables going through there and they have to have all of that today and when you start out building it to begin With, it's a lot easier. By whatever they get done with those existing houses will have to help the value of my lots or nobody ever buys them. I'm paying the taxes. They say why don't you just abandon them. Well that's What a lot of people have done, Miller's have never done that Uefore and I'll keep on paying the taxes no matter what you do. But I want to urge you to think seriously about finally the time has come that you have a chance, not a guarantee, a chance of salvaging a neighborhood. Nobody built anything in there in the last 75 years that I know of. And nobody will with the crack houses and the conditions of some of those other houses today. So I urge you to grant his petition with, take off the two years, if you Want to study it for two years make him come back in two years, but don't do that to him. Having a government agency looking over your shoulder for two years, you don't know whether you can rent them or not, it's not fan'. So I urge you to do the right thing. fill not sure you're helping the Miller family any but at least it's giving me a little hope that maybe somebody if not me will come along and put one of these beautiful homes in that old, old, old neighborhood. Thank you very much gentlemen and lady. I' m sorry my eyes are bad. MR. BILL SCHALLOIL: With Community and Economic Development. I just want to tell you that over the last several years we spent a lot of time and energy in the East Bank area. Did a lot of study alld really this project is right on target. As we looked at the bigger area, as we looked at moving from the downtown at the higher density, the west part of the East Banic at a medium density, and as we moved into the neighborhoods of the east Washington Street area this is the right type of project on St. Louis Street. Really fits and kind of buffers between the industrial that Northern Electric is to the residential that's to the east. As Judge Miller had 8