07/16/07 Council Special Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

SPECIAL MEETING JULY 16, 2007 forward the prior should be completed as promised. Secondly, Notre Dame should be made to look at their commitment to the entire community. They have a few offices downtown, they weren't told that the own the Center for the Homeless, he did not know why. He stated that he supports the Center for the Homeless; he thinks that it has been a wonderful part of South Bend, it's in his neighborhood. But what is the University of Notre Dame's commitment to the entire City, not just its neighborhood, its gateway, what are they willing to do for City Plan. He would like for the Council to request that the University come back in a years time with a project for Downtown South Bend, that they are going to lend their name and their wealthy partners to that they might in fact actually have a College Community, that reflects both the College and Community moving into the next century even with the kind of pride and cooperation and sense of community that we should have between the University of Notre Dame and South Bend. He urged the Council to put off their decision for one week, and before approving the project to ask for two more things from the partners of this project and that it benefit all of South Bend not just the northeast side. Chairperson White asked if there was anyone present that spoke at the last Council Meeting on July 9, 2007 and had new information to come to the podium and present that information. Ms. Jessica Payne, 1119 N. Francis, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she lives at that address with her husband and their three children. She stated that she would like to clarify a few points that Dr. Graeves made reference too. He made reference to all the new dorms that are being built and that should possibly lessen the impact on the potential for student rental in the neighborhood. She wondered over the next ten years what is the projected student enrollment, do they anticipate an increase in that, are those dorms actually being added to alleviate that or are they just simply to allow for more students. She stated that she has been a member of the University family for decades and has heard that a lot what they are going to be doing once those dorms are done is actually renovating the old dorms. She stated that she has son that lives in St. Ed's and he will be happy to hear that once he leaves, but that's another story. In the past or the years since she and her siblings went to Notre Dame, the standard motes apparandae was to close down a dorm for the summer, get as many people in their to renovate somewhat as much as they could and get out by the time the students came back because they didn't have room. She stated that she understands that the new thing to do is going to be once they get those new dorms to actually close a dorm for an entire year to totally renovate it. So in theory, potentially for a great number of years they might not reap the benefit of that additional dorm space. Kite presented wonderful graphics; unfortunately if you were sitting in the back of the Council chambers you could not see them very well. She stated that she thought she saw some numbers that don't seem to add up. The numbers that she had a question on was the parking study and it didn't appear to her that the numbers added up to what was in the power point presentation and the actual number of square footage that the numbers came from the parking and traffic study in regards to the retail and restaurant. Kite continues to reiterate that the density of this project is the key to its success. No one wants to potentially acknowledge the reality that the density may never exist they could build it and build it exactly as they claim, but she is one of the ones that has anon-resident living next to them. She knows a number of people in the neighborhood that have sold their homes to non-residents. To her town homes, condominiums and flat absolutely scream out to those non-residents. Might this help not having those people buy up the houses in her neighborhood, absolutely? She also believes that this development is creating an entire neighborhood ofnon-residents. If the density doesn't exist to support the retail because most of those people will buy those homes with the intention of not living there, then she questions the entire concept. If the project is scaled back a little bit it might increase its overall potential for success. More single family homes should be incorporated into the plan as opposed to condominiums or townhouses to increase its success. She cautioned the Council to truly look at every aspect of this project, the numbers, its impact on the individual residents that currently live there and would very much like to remain there and its overall impact on the community. 18