02-27-17 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 27, 2017 Administrations, by previous Development Co fissions, by pr vious planners for the City of South Bend —why would we ignore that? Councilmember Broden then referenced another document, `Design Guidelines 2013', on file with the Office of the City Clerk. She stated that in June 2014, a project came before the Area Board of Zoning Appeals, then the Area Plan Commission, and eventually the Council, and the Council found a way to make that project work. A policy was drawn up, allowing for height variances in the East Bank Central Business District for up to eight (8) stories, or ninety -six (96) feet. In order to gain the City's support, though, such a project must provide for a public amenity and pedestrian scale fagade treatments for the first two (2) storie as written commitments. Councilmember Broden stated, So, we have an active policy on he books, publicly announced, and that people have made investment decisions upon for this am a. Councilmember Broden stated, I urge all of us not to turn our backs on the planners and, ankly, not to let this evening's event —where we are talking about something bigger than a prof ct —be short circuited or truncated. Our community deserves more, my district deserves more, and the people all over South Bend deserve more. I Councilmember Broden referenced the report of Torti Gallas, the consultant hired in late November of 2016, which she stated she would submit by the e d of the evening. She stated, He said it can be done. You can get mixed -use development here th t is sustainable at ninety -six (96) feet. Councilmember Broden stated that very little has been entered into the public record to substantiate the need for the additional height that would be all ed by the proposed amendment. She stated that a decision in favor of this amendment should be a decision made with a real economic benefit to the City in mind. She stated, We don't want to put all of our eggs in this basket going up. I think, reasonably, we should spread that development around and those opportunities around for people to invest in. I think what we do in this area will necessarily affect the West Bank and some of the momentum going on there, in terms of residential. Councilmember Broden stated that issues regarding sustainabili , feasibility, and getting the mix of the apartments right should not be resolved with somebo i ly's gut feeling that they are hitting the right notes. She stated, We should have more inform tion. Councilmember Broden concluded, I just hope that we are not going to alter these plans on a very short timeframe. The public has only been looking at this f r eleven (11) days. Councilmember Broden stated that previous text amendments took several months to process. She stated that there can be more time to consider this text amendment without endangering any other goals. She stated that she wanted to make sure, if this amendment goes forward, that design standards and references back to the redevelopment plans be in( luded in the amendment. She recommended that the amendment be tabled. Councilmember Dr. David Varner stated that plans are a produc L of the moment, and that dynamics can bring change within weeks, months, years that do not render them inadequate or totally out -of -use —but these changes sometimes need to be vie ed as opportunities instead of an obstructive process. Councilmember Dr. Varner stated, I think if represents an opportunity and viability that the City has not seen in my lifetime. I remember when Studebaker closed; I remember the Downtown Mall; I remember the problems we had out at Blackthorn with regards to the golf course. We have been fighting an uphill battle for the last thirty (30) or forty (40) years. I believe, with the opportunity to do something like this, that we have reached a threshold that South Bend heretofore has not seen in the last fifty (50) years —and that's an opportunity for a significant downtown project. Councilmember Dr. Varner stated that he is not worried about the height because the East Bank sits forty (40) or so feet belov the West Bank, so a building that looks to be one - hundred and fifty (15 0) feet on the east side looks to be one- hundred and ten (I 10) feet in height from the west. He stated that he did not feel' that a building one - hundred and fifty (150) feet tall would be so out -of -place in the East Bank. He also stated that a hundred and fifty (15 0) foot height limit does not preclude a developer from'',building something at the heights more typical of the area, but "it gives people the opportunity to !,dream." Councilmember Dr. Varner stated, I think progress is as important as process. I think I said before that the biggest problem South Bend has is deciding where to put the next huncilred and fifty (150) foot building. We will have made a lot of progress compared to where we we e a few years ago. 10