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Mike Danch, 1643 Commerce Drive South Bend, served as the petitioner for this bill. What we <br />are doing is taking the Ford distribution building and changing it into a Mixed Use project for <br />residential development and some commercial development. This project has been before <br />Council before and it is almost the same as this one (1) but before we had forty -two (42) <br />residential units and this time we are up to fifty -six (56) units of residential development along <br />with commercial development. The property that is on the corner of Rex and Portage has also <br />been added to this project site and it is currently owned by the City of South Bend. That will <br />allow for additional parking for this project. The parking areas have screening so all adjacent <br />residential areas will be screened from the parking lot. One (1) of the other things we are asking <br />the Council to do is approve two (2) special exceptions. The reason for them is because we have <br />off -site parking. The parking lot to the south and also the five (5) spaces to the east on California, <br />because they are not on the same piece of property that the building is located on. We have to <br />have a special exception approved for off -site parking. We have been working with Community <br />Investment, who originally wanted half of the parking lot to be used for additional development <br />but with the Area Plan Commission requirements for parking that goes away. The Area Plan <br />Commission gave no recommendation on that due to some confusion between what was <br />approved for the parking variance. All lighting will have to stay on -site and there will be no <br />spillage over to the other properties. From our standpoint we believe we have met all conditions <br />required. There will be some tax credits that need to be authorized by the State of Indiana. <br />Committeemember Ferlic asked if this is contingent on receiving those tax credits. <br />Mr. Danch responded, yes. We will know in March if we receive them. <br />Councilmember Williams- Preston asked what kind of commercial space will go in at the <br />property. <br />Mr. Danch responded we have secured some early commitments from Goodwill and a veteran <br />group. It will be light commercial that will complement the area. This site is also on the bus route <br />which is beneficial to the parking situation. There also is parking on the street but we are not <br />allowed to use that in our calculations. We have also received confirmation that visitors could <br />park at the Near North West Organization's parking lot but we also can't include those figures as <br />well. We are aiming not to have any parking on the street. <br />Councilmember Scott asked about potential screening for the parking lot. <br />Mr. Danch responded we will have screening along the entire parking lot as is required. <br />Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked if the site is a brownfield. <br />Mr. Danch stated there was a gas station on the corner lot and the City has to work that out. <br />Councilmember Scott stated there was a little gas station there at one (1) point and also a dry <br />cleaner. He stated he does believe it is a brownfield and the best thing to do is cap it. <br />No one from the public spoke either in favor of or in opposition to the bill. <br />K <br />