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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2A Redevelopment Commission Minutes 4.27.23 South Be n d Redevelopment Commission 227 West Jefferson Boulevard, Room 1308, South Bend, I N SOUTH BEND REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION SCHEDULED REGULAR MEETING April 27, 2023 – 9:30 am http://tiny.cc/RDC2023 or BPW 13th Floor Presiding: Marcia Jones, President The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. 1. ROLL CALL Members Present: Marcia Jones, President – IP Eli Wax, Commissioner - IP David Relos, Commissioner – IP IP = In Person V = Virtual Members Absent: Troy Warner, Vice-President Vivian Sallie, Secretary Leslie Wesley, Commissioner Legal Counsel: Sandra Kennedy, Esq. Danielle Campbell, Asst. City Attorney Redevelopment Staff: Mary Brazinsky, Board Secretary Joseph Molnar, RDC Staff Others Present: Caleb Bauer Erik Glavich Chris Dressel Rosa Tomas Craig Braje Bill Jagger Matt Barrett Jordan Smith Leslie Biek Charlotte Brach Amy Paul Zach Hurst Jordan Gathers DCI - IP DCI – IP DCI - IP DCI -V 126 E 5th Street Michigan Old Fort Building Supply Resident Resident Engineering – V Engineering – V DCI – V Engineering – V VPA - V South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – April 27, 2023 2. Approval of Minutes • Approval of Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Thursday, April 13, 2023 Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Commissioner Relos, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved the minutes of the regular meeting of Thursday, April 13, 2023. • Approval of Executive Session Minutes, December 23, 2022 Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Commissioner Relos, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved the minutes of the Executive Session of December 23, 2022. • Approval of Executive Session Minutes, March 9, 2023 Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Commissioner Relos, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved the minutes of the Executive Session of March 9, 2023. • Approval of Executive Session Minutes, April 13, 2023 Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Commissioner Relos, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved the minutes of the Executive Session of April 13, 2023. 3. Approval of Claims • Claim Submitted for April 11, and April 25, 2023 Upon a motion by Commissioner Relos, seconded by Commissioner Wax, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved the claims allowances for April 11, and April 25, 2023 4. Old Business 5. New Business A. River East Development Area 1. Budget Request (Angela Blvd Improvements Project) Charlotte Brach, Engineering Presented a Budget Request (Angela Blvd Improvements Project). The City of South Bend is partnering with Notre Dame for improvements on Angela Boulevard. The project will take place between 933 and Twyckenham. The first budget request is for the portion between Notre Dame Avenue and Twyckenham which will be a road diet; mostly paint work at the intersection and adding on street parking, reducing the travel lanes to one in each direction and narrowing the width for traffic calming. South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – April 27, 2023 Curb work will be done at the intersections to improve the safety of pedestrian s crossing and a new signal will be added at Angela and Joyce. Pavement will be milled and re-surfaced. Notre Dame will reimburse the City of South Bend for the amount of this first budget request ($2M). Commission approval is requested. Commissioner Wax asked what the impact on neighboring streets is. Ms. Brach noted that this should not impact the neighboring streets too much. There is a lot of traffic on Angela, but the road diet will improve traffic flow all around campus. It is a high pedestrian travel area, and we are looking to improve crossing and safety. Commissioner Wax asked will residents start avoiding that area due to congestion therefore creating new pedestrian risks on other streets since they are trying to bypass the congested area. Ms. Brach noted that with the traffic being slower in other neighborhoods , streets are already narrower; that helps a lot with traffic. Every other street has a stop sign pattern installed slowing traffic. Upon a motion by Commissioner Relos, seconded by Commissioner Wax, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved Budget Request (Angela Blvd Improvements Project) submitted on Thursday, April 27, 2023. B. River East Residential Development Area 1. Budget Request (Angela Blvd Improvements Project) Charlotte Brach, Engineering Presented a Budget Request (Angela Blvd Improvements Project). This second budget request is for the portion of SR 933 and Notre Dame Avenue. This portion of the project includes a road diet to add a center left turn lane to reduce the travel lane widths. A shared use path will also be added on the north side of Angela along the Notre Dame Golf Cou rse (there are currently no sidewalks there). Pavement will be milled and resurfaced. Budget request is in the amount of $900k. Commission approval is requested. Upon a motion by Commissioner Relos, seconded by Commissioner Wax, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved Budget Request (Angela Blvd Improvements Project) submitted on Thursday, April 27, 2023. C. South Side Development Area 1. Budget Request (Miami Street Pedestrian Islands) Chris Dressel Presented a Budget Request (Miami Street Pedestrian Islands). This is a budget request for improvements on Miami Street that is a result of the neighborhood plan from 2020. We are looking to add a pedestrian refuge island at both Clayton and Byron Drives. These are in concert with improvements that have already started taking place on Miami. It is part of a planned road diet conversion from four lanes to three. Although along Miami Street there were sidewalks, they were not continuous on either side of the street; this created a scenario where pedestrians were encouraged to cross mid-block. Between Donmoyer and Ireland South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – April 27, 2023 Road there is only one controlled crossing at Ridgedale (a one-mile section). We are proposing two pedestrian refuge islands. Where there is a three-lane road diet section, it would allow for safer crossings one lane at a time. President Jones asked if we have any other areas like this that we will need to do the same thing for? Mr. Dressel noted that yes, there is one by Trader Joe’s. Commissioner Wax noted they will be near those intersections but not at those intersections as that will defeat the purpose of the center turn lane. Mr. Dressel stated that engineering would allow for clearance coming off of Byron and Clayton onto Miami. Commissioner Wax asked about the turn lane as it is not really going to delay or slow down traffic too much as people start to turn. They can move over into the center lane, but we are not giving them a lot of time. We are only giving them 50 feet which will congest the whole pitch from switching to three lanes. Mr. Dressel pulled up a map onto the screen with the conceptual look at the intersection. Commissioner Wax asked if there will be a stop sign associated with this. Mr. Dressel stated there would not be one. This walkway would be mid-block. We are asking $150k for two locations. Commissioner Relos commented that it could be a race track down that Miami Street. Commissioner Wax commented that he hopes that people do not get more aggressive driving to avoid the slowdowns and this potentially backfires. Upon a motion by Commissioner Relos, seconded by Commissioner Wax, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved Budget Request (Miami Street Pedestrian Islands) submitted on Thursday, April 27, 2023. D. River West Development Area 1. Certificates of Completion (Old Fort Building Supply) Erik Glavich Presented Certificates of Completion (Old Fort Building Supply). For your consideration are two certificates of completion for old real estate purchase agreements that the commission had entered into with Old Fort Building Supply. The properties are located to the south between Lafayette and Main just north of Broadway. There were two agreements, one for 1996 and the other from 2002. Old Fort Building Supply was never issued certificates of completion , therefore, we are asking for the commission to approve these today. The 1996 agreement was for demolition of the building and construction of a parking lot. The 2002 agreement was development of a lot for outdoor masonry storage. South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – April 27, 2023 Commissioner Relos asked if this was the block north of their building. Bill Jagger, Owner Old Fort Building Supply replied yes. Commissioner Relos asked if there were plans for the property. Mr. Jagger replied when they started the process of a purchase agreement for the property, when his brother retired is when they became aware of the certificates not being completed. The lack of certificates of completion were on the title report. The business has been sold to Ellen W. and are currently working at hiring people and expanding the real estate portion. Mr. Glavich has helped us in getting the certificates of completion through the Redevelopment Commission and recorded . Mr. Glavich states that the property has been well maintained and there are no violations or complaints against the property. Commissioner Wax asked as far as we are aware the agreement was completed, and everything complied. Mr. Glavich states yes. Commissioner Wax asked going forward and we able to keep track of these agreements to what is outstanding, Mr. Glavich stated that these pre-date him but yes, we now have a tracking system for these. Mr. Bauer states that when Joe Molnar presented the status of the existing development agreements, he mentioned that there is a significant number of these that have been completed with no certificates. We will be bringing a packet of these through the Redevelopment Commission for approval. We have gone back to agreements in 2000 then we will be working our way back. Matt Barrett, resident, asked whether or not there has been public notice given to surrounding property owners in case they may have an issue with a property owner. Danielle Campbell, Assistant City Attorney responded that there is not a requirement for this. Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Commissioner Relos, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved Certificates of Completion (Old Fort Building Supply) submitted on Thursday, April 27, 2023. South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – April 27, 2023 6. Progress Reports A. Tax Abatement 1. The Common Council confirmed two single family residential real property tax abatements for Cross Community. They have a program where residents go through homeownership and financial education classes. Cross Community is building brand new homes using the city’s pre-approved plans and the new homeowners will then receive the benefits of a tax abatement to that property for five years. Commissioner Relos asked how many houses there were. Mr. Glavich noted that two were subject to this tax abatement. Tina Patto n, President of Cross Community had an original plan of five. Two are completed and they are getting ready to begin construction on another two ; there is a third one as well. Commissioner Wax noted the cool part of this is that the abatements transfer to the property owners. The idea is that after the family completes their homeowner education and purchase the home it enables them to get lower monthly payments and financing. The abatement keeps their payments lower for a number of years when it is transferred with home ownership. They will pay lower property taxes. Mr. Glavich noted it will be significant savings for new homeowners in a neighborhood where we need housing. Commissioner Wax stated that they wanted to be sure that homeowners had the education and knowledge, so they were not hit all of a sudden with surprise that comes five years later and now the mortgage goes up. B. Common Council C. Other 7. Next Commission Meeting: Thursday, May 11, 2023 8. Adjournment Thursday, April 27, 2023, 10:01 a.m. David Relos, Acting Secretary Marcia Jones, President