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SPECIAL MEETING JULY 16, 2007 <br />at the front door of South Bend. It is also his front door and urged the Council and <br />everyone here tonight to take advantage of this and say to salesman, "good to see you, we <br />would like to talk about LEED Certification." <br />Mr. Robert Easley, 1105 N. St. Joseph Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he would <br />like to ask a very difficult question when you ask whether you are in the yes group or the <br />no group. Mr. Easley stated that it is evident that everyone present tonight would like to <br />see the project succeed, and he is certainly in that group. The reason he chose to speak in <br />opposition tonight is because he felt that the Council did do an excellent job of asking <br />some very tough concessions, and got a lot of what was asked for. But as other have <br />pointed out tonight there are other things to address. One of the key concerns of the <br />neighbors in the immediate area is where or not this project is appropriately scaled? One <br />of the key pieces of information needed is what the impact on the traffic in the area is. <br />Mr. Easley stated that he just received the traffic study on Friday. He sent an e-mail to <br />the Council, but doubted that anyone got a chance to read it, in which he explained that <br />there were a number of inconsistencies in the study. One of the key problems that he has <br />with the study is that it states clearly that the assumption is that as you travel toward <br />Notre Dame on Eddy Street from the South the street will be as it is now. That clearly is <br />not the case it has been described as being reduced to two lanes with diagonal parking on <br />both sides. So that appears to be an error in the way that the traffic study was done. Mr. <br />Easley stated that one of the key intersections at Napoleon and SR 23 after the <br />improvement of SR 23 gets and "E" in that traffic study. An "E" is not considered <br />acceptable for most developments. He called a friend who is a traffic engineer to have <br />explained to him and this is generally not an acceptable rating. He stated that when Mr. <br />Compton presented the traffic studies in past meeting, he talked about "B" and "C" <br />scores; he never presented that "E" score. This is brand new information; it concerns the <br />Napoleon Street intersection with SR 23. Mr. Easley stated that his home is on <br />Napoleon, and he is concerned that traffic will be pushed in his direction because they are <br />turned away from SR 23. Mr. Easley stated that the traffic studies could be done in a way <br />that would give very important information for knowing whether this development is <br />scaled properly. He thinks in particular along Eddy Street, there are concerns about the <br />height of the buildings on Eddy Street. He noted that there are a number of changes <br />being made to this plan; more changes could still be made. Mr. Easley stated that he <br />agrees with Councilmember Pfeifer to wait, there is only one more week until the next <br />meeting of the Council. Mr. Easley encouraged the Council to wait one more week and <br />really find out some of the answers to the good questions that have been raised tonight. <br />He stated that is was just found out tonight that the parking garage was scaled up and it's <br />also an issue for the retailers at the Eddy Street Commons. Parking is an issue for people <br />working in the Eddy Street Commons as well as those that will be shopping and dining <br />there also. <br />Mr. Steve Francis 54174 Juday Lake Drive, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he lives just <br />two blocks out of the City limits, if the Council would like to take up annexation <br />proceedings with Clay Township, not at this meeting, but in the future because he would <br />be interested, because he considers himself a resident and citizen of South Bend. There <br />have been a number of people speaking in favor of the project. He stated that he too <br />favors development of that area. He finds himself in an awkward position on the con side <br />but there has to be a pro and a con side to every issue. There has been much discussion <br />on LEED Certification and strong beliefs on that and he wanted to say to Notre Dame and <br />the developer who have expresses and interest in developing the project in a way that is <br />sustainable in out of concern for the destruction of the wooded area, that they entertain <br />the Council's adding to the conditions the requirement that it be LEED certified to the <br />silver level or higher. It will be an excellent marketing tool for the developer in the <br />future for the type of tenants that they want. It will reduce energy costs and operation <br />costs for the tenants, which makes green building really an issue of bread and butter for <br />the citizens for the Country and South Bend, because if you design your buildings in such <br />a way to take advantage of passive solar, active solar, green space, shading, energy <br />design, recycling materials, using sustainable products in the construction of the <br />buildings, they will be savings the tenants money, they will be reducing energy costs and <br />reducing the operating cost of the buildings for the entire lifespan of those buildings. He <br />strongly urged the Council to take the time to really craft these written statements which <br />15 <br />