07/16/07 Council Special Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

SPECIAL MEETING JULY 16, 2007 retailer, an office user, etc., all of those documents will require and it is very common in their practice and their developments throughout the country specific designated areas for employees. That is a very, very firm commitment that they will do, It is the correct statement on the Council's side and they will make sure that it happens. He knows that it is difficult to continue to add commitments, but he did want to make that clear because it is important to Kite as well, they need to keep appropriate parking available for the customers, not necessarily the employees. So he wanted to make that very clear as well. Councilmember Puzzello further noted that they are going to have bicycle lanes and racks for those who wish to ride their bikes to have a safe place to store them, while they are shopping, dining, and enjoying the amenities in the Commons. She stated that with regard to students living in the development, she is pretty sure that Notre Dame can take care of that. So when they talk about having the legal number which is two per apartment or condo, she is sure that Notre Dame can handle that and the possibility of those students being a disruption to the other people living there. So some students taken out of her neighborhood is a good thing. She also noted weekend people who do not live there but use the condos on certain weekends, again there are a lot of those kinds of properties in her neighborhood, they are empty, they are not neighborly, they are broken into and the people who live in her neighborhood are not real found of them. They can be better protected in the Eddy Street Commons and if that happens she doesn't think that it is a bad thing. She is a member of the NENC, she was not given the opportunity to sign the petition, had she been given the opportunity to sign it she would have signed it. She has been honest to the people she has talked with, study the issues carefully, listened to everyone that has spoken and taken each concern very seriously and shown respect to everyone. Councilmember Puzzello stated that she is in favor of the development, and doesn't think that waiting to vote on this development is going to change anything. As far as the traffic is concerned, she expressed some concerns at the intersections of Duey, Eddy and Twyckenham being the method of getting to or leaving the Eddy Street Commons because they are all two way streets. Communication is the key and keeping those lines of communication open regarding the traffic study and try to solve the issues before SR 23 is widened. The next couple of years are going to be difficult as far as traffic is concerned. Councilmember Rouse stated that he is a member of NNRO and has filed paperwork with the Board of Ethics and there is no conflict or fmancial gain from his voting on this project. Councilmember Varner stated that part of the Council's jobs is to way the wants and needs of the City. He stated that every time he looks at this proposal something is dropped or added, it may not be perfect, but it is a lot closer to being perfect today than it was a few months ago. Despite all the negative comments about perhaps the development at Erskine Common, which is in his district, the alternative was looking at a vacant, boarded up, and fenced off mall site. That project probably did not get all that they wanted, but it is a vast improvement and has brought retail back and while there is some progress that still needs to be made he hopes that the developer Kite can look into that. This development is positive, it's progressive, most importantly it is privately funded. The City has not seen many projects like that, it's taxable, and the City certainly has not seen a lot of projects like that. The project is encouraging and promotes further development in the triangle area. Councilmember Varner addressed Ms. Dickey's concerns about the woods and her concerns were addressed through concessions, she did not get everything that she would have like to seen happen with the wooded area, but because of her voice the developer is going to have six acres of land used for a common area that originally was not part of the original plan. Councilmember Varner addressed Mr. Perri's concerns and feels for his company not being able to get a project going at the former location of the Wharf Restaurant on the riverbank. His hopes are that this project will be synergistic for the City of South Bend and other projects rather than antagonistic. He doesn't see any other way that the City of South Bend is going to get a 200 million dollar project in such a short time frame and as soon as this. As far as the LEED certification is concerned that is a great idea, but that is something that you don't hoist on a development this far along in the process. As a Council they will need to look at that as a requirement for future development and incorporate that and serve notice on anyone 21