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REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 27, 2010 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />environmental impact on the adjoining Rum Village Park. He stated that the City of <br />South Bend Park Department has done a wonderful job in keeping this park a beautiful <br />place and a very popular place for the residents of the city to enjoy. He questioned the <br />environmental impact that this project is going to have on that park. He stated that Mr. <br />Deahl has mentioned time and time again the criteria that must be met when considering <br />this petition. Whether there is injury to the public health, safety, comfort, community <br />moral standard, convenience or general welfare. He stated that this project is going to <br />greatly impact those issues and the desirability of that area. In regard to the proposed use <br />be consistent with the character of the district in which it is located and the land uses <br />authorized therein, this is a more intense use and changes the nature of this use because it <br />brings in more volume than it can handle and be a detriment to the neighborhood. As far <br />as the City Comprehensive Plan, it states that this area is industrial, but we don’t know <br />what is going to happen with this intense of a use and urged the Council to vote against <br />this bill. <br /> <br />Mr. Mark Harbaugh, 1710 S. Carlisle Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he lives <br />near the Ethanol Plant and smells the emissions from that plant daily. He stated that <br />some days it makes him sick to his stomach. He stated that he has grandchildren and <br />doesn’t like for them to play outside because of the stench from the Ethanol Plant and he <br />worries what those emissions are doing to his family’s health. He stated that this project <br />needs to be relocated to another site that can handle the traffic and not located near a <br />residential area. He urged the Council to vote against this bill. <br /> <br />In Rebuttal, <br /> <br /> <br />Mr. Deahl, stated that he would like to highlight three points that were brought up tonight <br />by the remonstrators. First, that this piece of machinery is going to transform the use <br />from industrial to heavy industrial by bringing additional intensity to the use. Mr. Deahl <br />stated that industrial use is the heaviest zoning classification that the City has; there is no <br />heavier district other than industrial. The GI district is established by code to provide for <br />development of manufacturing and processing facilities that require additional outdoor <br />storage or outdoor operations. Permitted uses in this district tend to generate heavy <br />traffic and require extensive community facilities. There is already a general industrial <br />use at Gertrude Street Metal Recycling and this additional equipment does not change the <br />fact that this district perhaps other than in a Special Exception process contemplates a <br />heavier industrial use or that has more significant traffic than Gertrude Street has <br />currently or contemplates having. Regarding the traffic issue to clarify it is not the <br />petitioner changing the number of trucks leaving the facility, it has been the <br />remonstrators throwing out and contemplating the different numbers of trucks in and out <br />of the facility. From day one the petitioner has stated that it currently has 10 trucks a day. <br />With the addition of the equipment the trucks needed would be an additional 30 trucks <br />per day for a total of 40 trucks per day. Mr. Deahl stated that this is an extremely small <br />increase in the percentage of vehicular traffic along either Chippewa or Linden Avenues. <br />The second item has been traffic considerations. He stated that the Schlipps are very <br />aware of the neighbors concerns regarding the truck routes that are going to be taken. <br />Mr. Deahl stated that the Schlipps are willing to work with the City and County officials <br />to make whatever truck route that is given to them work. They are willing to commit the <br />resources to use and develop the safest route to handle an additional 30 trucks per day as <br />part of this project. The transfer of the designated route since we have met out at the site <br />from Chippewa to Linden was a suggestion after further consideration of the overall cost <br />to extend water and to improve the roadways and there is some synergies that can be <br />maintained by doing both of those infrastructure improvements at the same time. The <br />third and final point, is the environmental issues that have been brought up tonight. As <br />indicated on the final site plan that this project has some sophisticated environmental <br />measures in place to make sure operations on site and which are currently followed by <br />the petitioner but any additional processing operations which are currently on site would <br />not produce any water run off that would not be treated and cleaned before being <br />disbursed if at all. In addition there were a number of references to the South Bend <br />Tribune’s paper this past Saturday into a study that was done. Mr. Dahl stated that he <br />investigated the study and has looked at the two what are called scrappers that were <br /> 29 <br /> <br />