02-29-16 Special Elbel Committee Minutes

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Soon we'll be standing here talking about the kickoff for the budget. We'll have to be as prudent as ever about the use of our limited resources that go throughout nearly 60 Park and Recreation assets and the programming that goes along with it. Meeting the first three (3) goals for Elbel have to be accommodated with that last goal. Lastly, Mayor Buttigieg stated his appreciation for the process, and that he is looking forward to reviewing the findings of this body. Councilmember White thanked Mayor Buttigieg for his comments. Councilmember Broden invited the next presenter to introduce himself. Larry Magliozzi, Executive Director of the Area Plan Commission, with offices on the 111' floor of the County -City Building, presented a map that showed a residential district comparable to the city's SF -1 and SF -2 district. This is right on the edge of the agricultural district in the county, which is one of the most restrictive land use districts in Indiana. The blue is either wetlands or flood plains. To the south and the west there are smaller wetlands that were part of the edges of the grand Kankakee marsh back from before the 1900's. In the area zoned R Residential, any land owner has the right to subdivide or develop that land for residential purposes. There is a large list of uses, including special exception uses, that could be permitted on this land. Any public hearing process for land use change would require a public hearing in front of the county council and all property owners in the area would be notified by mail. The flood plains and wetlands don't necessarily have a restriction from development. The flood plain ordinance allows some development with very strict standards. Mr. Magliozzi has heard that wetlands must be replaced four (4) times, and wetlands are expensive to create. Mr. Magliozzi's map is available in the Office of the City Clerk. Santiago Garces, Chief Innovation Officer of the City of South Bend, with offices on the 12 h floor of the County City Building, is responsible for the GIS mapping and analysis of property. Mr. Garces presented the results of the last survey done by the City, which is available in the Office of the City Clerk. A registered surveyor goes through the legal description and demarks it on a map. When a property owner decides to subdivide the land, the owner demarks the subdivision and presents it to the Area Plan Commission. Once it is approved, it goes to the registrar to change the mapping in the system. The nature preservation has a different designation than the rest of the park. In the GIS system, within bodies of water, at least in GIS they don't appear in parcels, they appear as empty space. That area belongs to the state and is controlled by the Department of Natural Resources. Ariel photography was also provided by Mr. Garces. There is currently a request in Area Plan Commission to separate the two parcels between Elbel Major which contains the golf course and Elbel Minor which contains the tree nursery. Mr. Magliozzi pointed out the major subdivision near the park. It is just waiting on a signature until it is subdivided out. Aaron Damrill, with the Army Corps of Engineers, with offices that cover almost all of Northern Indiana and parts of lower Michigan explained that two of their main tasks are the regulation of Section four (4) of The Clean Water Act and Section ten (10) of The Rivers and Harbors Act. Section four (4) applies in Elbel's case. They can apply for a permit to discharge into a water in the U.S. Mr. Damrill stated when someone comes to us with a project, we first look to avoid the wetland. If the wetland cannot be avoided, we look to minimize the impact to the wetland. If the impacts cannot be minimized, we have to mitigate for those impacts. We work hand in hand with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.