07/16/07 Council Special Meeting Minutes

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SPECIAL MEETING JULY 16, 2007 Ms. Mary Beth Dickey, 1105 N. St. Joseph Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she wanted everyone to build bridges. She stated that she is disturbed and saddened by the us against them mentality of this whole process. She would like to reach out to her neighbors with a generous heart and would like for them to reach back. She stated that they have worked very hard to try to make this project succeed and have asked for reasonable concessions. She would like to have some respect given back for that and have tremendous respect for the neighborhood associations and the NNRO and their continued work. She reminded the Council that there always is a third voice and a majority of these votes at the Area Plan Commission and the last two Council Meetings regarding this development have always fallen into the "yes" we know there is going to be development, but we would like to have this or that or no we don't want it at all or we like it just the way it is. Ms. Dickey stated that she doesn't want to be the person in this town who is looked at for the rest of her years as the crazy lady who spoke against the Eddy Street Commons. She would like what is best for the triangle, the neighborhood, the City, and would like for everyone to open their hearts and listen respectfully to everyone. She urged the Council to take time to make the best decision for everyone. She reiterated that she will be grieving for the loss of the beautiful woods. In rebuttal, Mr. Compton advised that he will have representatives from the Troyer Group to answer the traffic questions and then Victor from LRK to address the scale questions and he will have a couple of remarks and then Mr. Tom McGowan, COO, Kite Realty will finish their rebuttal. Chris Wegner, Troyer Group, 550 Union St., Mishawaka, Indiana, stated that Eddy Street existing is two lanes with on street parking that will remain two lanes with on street parking, it currently has a left turn lane onto Edison with a right in through and will continue to have a left turn lane onto Edison with a right in through. SR 23 when it is completed and widened will have a level of service of "B" at Napoleon. It is when and during the existing conditions of 23 that it will have a level of service of "E" at Napoleon and will be addressed when 23 is widened. Mr. Compton stated that they will continue to work with Gary Gilot and the Department of Public Works to implement the requirements of the traffic study. Any questions that Gary and his staff might have they will address through the process. This is not the last discussion on the traffic study or the parking study. Mr. Compton stated that Walker has worked with the City before and will continue to engage with the City. Victor Buckholtz, Looney, Rick, Kiss Architects (LRK), Senior Associate, stated that he feels really lonely here tonight because he really represents quite a number of planners, developers and architects that have worked on the project as well. He stated that they feel that they are leaders in the new urbanism movement. They are town architects in Celebration, one of the premier new urban communities and also Baldwin Park and Rosemary Beach and this is sort of what they do and they really consider it and respect the land that the community and Kite Realty has entrusted them to help fulfill the vision that they have for this project. They have really considered the scale of this project and the appropriateness of individual streets and the adjacent areas of the project. Mr. Compton stated that they stand by their commitment that they just added as a part of their presentation to add a third person appointee to the Board. Notre Dame is very interested in this development and obviously LRK is key part of the Kite team. This project will not stop just with the vote tonight; the project will continue to evolve. Tonight's discussion is about zoning and talking about the future, they are not talking about the final plans on all buildings, but have come along way on the plans and believe that the commitments reflect a commitment to what has been shown tonight and codified it in writing. In addition, they have put a representative, who maybe sitting in the audience tonight on the Architectural Review Board, which will become the watchdog for the Council in the future. Mr. Tom McGowan, COO, Kite Realty, Indianapolis, Indiana, stated that he wanted to confirm and make everyone aware that time is of the essence on this project. In his business time is their worst enemy. They have worked on this project for a year and half 19