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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.A. Communicationsq. A . From: Adam Detweiler Submitted on Tue, 10/09/2012 - 11:12am Submitted by user: Submitted values are: Select the Redevelopment Commission Members you wish to contact: - Marcia Jones, President - David Varner, Vice President - Donald Alford, Sr., Secretary - Gregory Downes, Member - Henry Davis, Jr., Member - John Stancati, Representative of School Board Subject : Fellows Street Corridor Project Comments: October 9, 2012 • • • Adam C. Detwiler 4312 Fellows Street South Bend, Indiana 46614 Home: (574) 520 -1719 Cell: (574) 339 -8359 acdetwiler @live.com South Bend City Replanning Commission 227 West Jefferson Street South Bend, Indiana 46601 Dear Commissioners, I am one of the homeowners in the Fellows Street Corridor, where there are current proposals for redevelopment. I am writing this letter to you all today to respectfully inform you all that my household will no longer be cooperating with any plans of redevelopment in the Fellows Street Corridor in any way, shape or form. I am hoping that this letter will also enlighten you to the fractured nature of this project and the misuse of City funding that this project involves. Furthermore, I am wanting the Commission to see how the citizens in my neighborhood have been mistreated, misinformed, and misrepresented by Bill Schalliol and will seriously question his motives involved with this project. I do not wish to seem ungrateful in any way for the time and effort that the Commission has put into accommodating the needs of the citizens affected by this project. I do appreciate the tabling and revising of this project to stop the destruction of my home. The problem that I have now is that this project should have never even been proposed according to the clarification of the INDOT plans for US 31. 1 was under the assumption from both the maps I was shown, and the projected number of vehicles to travel down Fellows Street, that US 31 was to be cut off at the US 20 bypass. This would create a situation in which the only options that travelers would have would be to get onto the US 20 bypass or use this new access road that INDOT is building from Kern Road to Ireland Road via the new flyover. At this point, I truly believed that to do nothing at all would be irresponsible, but I didn't want to lose my home, nor have this new traffic driving down my street. Plan C seemed to fix this problem, but the newest Plan C would come at a great cost of convenience to my neighbors, the patrons of the O'Brien Center, and me. This also would take out two businesses on Ireland Road, creating a loss of tax revenue. On Wednesday, October 3, 2012, 1 was called to a meeting with Jason, from Burke Engineering, and Bill Schalliol, representing the City of South Bend. I went into the meeting with an open mind in hopes of a final, acceptable resolution. My mood changed drastically when I questioned if there would be local truck and semi traffic coming down the road. I was told no, except for the occasional lost truck. When I questioned where local delivery traffic would be routed instead, I was told that they would use US 31 to enter and exit the city. This confused me because I thought that the whole reason for this project was because US 31 was being made limited access and we needed an access route for local traffic. They then explained that by limited access, US 31 was just being closed off to side streets from the US 20 Bypass, south to Kern Road. At this point the meeting changed and I was upset. That told me that my home was in line to be destroyed so that we could make it more convenient for the one square mile of homes from the. US 20 Bypass south to Kern Road, and from US 31 east to Miami Street! Not to mention being held in limbo for the last five months while more taxpayer money was spent on ridiculous convoluted plans that were just for show. Dr. Varner tried to explain to me last night, October 8, 2012, after the Common Council meeting that the New US 31 would effectively dead -end the soon -to -be Old US 31 and that the traffic would have nowhere to go but this new access road that INDOT is building. I was a little bit appeased with his explanation. Since then, I have researched and looked at the INDOT plan all morning and I find a flaw in Dr. Varner's explanation. There is clearly an access ramp onto and off the New US 31 at Kern Road that will give access to vehicles on Old US 31. 1 am not sure where the major influx of traffic is to come from now. I look at both the city's plan and INDOT's plan and I fail to see it. With this being said, this project should have never been presented, the 1/3 million dollars that has been spent should never have been spent, and the citizens should not have even been bothered with this project. Analyzing all this information brings me to one conclusion: The only responsible thing to do is to stop this project. I'm not saying, table it for later, re -plan it yet another way, but throw this plan in the trash can and burn it! This is why my wife and I have decided that if this City pushes any part of this project through and it requires even one inch of my property to be used, you will now have to try and take it, and I will take you to court. Now, the next matter at hand is Mr. Bill Schalliol. I have been to the Replanning Commission meetings to see his presentations of the revisions of this Fellows Street Corridor project and I am frankly quite disturbed and in awe of his blatant deception. I truly wish I had known about the meeting in which this project was first presented as having the involved homeowners in unanimous favor of the project. I've been looking for the recording of that meeting online, and have not found it. The moment that we as homeowners took our disapproval of this project to the City Council, Mr. Schalliol should have been either asked to resign or fired. This project is too serious for the citizens to be misrepresented by someone WE pay. I've also found myself in these Replanning Commission meetings wondering who exactly the boss is and who the employee in this situation is. If I tried to push my boss around like Mr. Schalliol does the Commission, I again would not have a job. I have a signed petition with many of the homeowners along Fellows Street's names on it, stating that they will in no way sell their home or property to the City of South Bend. Many of the names on that petition are names of people who now want to sell their property to the City for this project. I'm not saying that people can't change their minds, but I am questioning the ethics of the processes that have taken place with the citizens involved. There have been phone contact, meetings, letters of intent, and other miscellaneous, unrecorded, undocumented involvement of Bill Schalliol all of his own accord, not under request by the Commission. So what's in it for him? Why is it so important to him that this project continues with the original plan? Is there money to be made from Contractor kickbacks? Is there a future plan that hinges upon the development of a larger road down Fellows Street? Why do we even have someone in his position that's not even a citizen of our city? Can someone who lives in a neighboring city that competes with South Bend for jobs and revenue really have the best interest of our city in mind? This really needs to be investigated thoroughly. If this project does move forward, I will be requesting copies of all the bids and contract grants involved with this project, and I hope none of them will be traceable to Bill Schalliol in any way. There are many other issues that have crossed the desk of the Replanning Commission that I have found to be questionable, but I don't believe in speaking without all the facts, so I haven't raised any questions... yet. In regards to the Fellows Street Corridor Project, I feel you have the opportunity to end the misery that this project has brought the City on Thursday morning, October 11th. I am asking one last time nicely to kill this project as a whole and let us repair the hurt feelings between neighbors that it has caused. Sincerely, Adam C. Detwiler Contact Information: Adam C. Detwiler