01-10-05 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JIANUARY 10, 2005 Mr. Zappia advised that the property owners have submitted their fourth (4~') site plan which does eliminate any access point on to Locust Road in an addition thereto provides single-family residential development as an additional buffer to the neighbors that reside on Locust. The petitioner is seeking is to rezone two (2) parcels of real estate. The first parcel along Prairie Avenue and S.R. 23 is to be "LB" Distr7eC, which is the Local Business District. The preliminary site plan does show that we will have three (3) sets of buildings, those will encompass approximately 31,000 square feet of the area, about 5,000 to 10,000 square feet will be office space and the remaining portion of that will be retail strops. There are two access points from parcel I onto Prairie Avenue. The planning staff did indicate that since Prairie Avenue is a state highway, we would have to go through the Indiana Department of Transportation for curb cut and final state approval. More likely or not they would require deceleration tares and possible a passing blister. What they determine is ultimately what we will follow. The basis of the deceleration lane and passing blister is to meet the requirements of speed that are on Prairie Avenue as well as the safety site distances. Both issues are about safety, and they feel that is very important and one of the key issues with residents of the neighborhood. The front building on parcel I would be connected to City water and City sewer, obviously at the petitioners expense. There is approximately 430 feet distance between the nearest property owner and the property line. The second parcel of land encompasses about 21 acres, this is a reduction from about 29S acres. This is the multi-family or "MF2" District. There will be approximately twenty-four (24) buildings, two-story in height The site will be accessed will be through the "LB" District on Prairie Avenue. Mr. Zappia further noted again, that there is no access onto Locust Road. The planning staff recommended a divided entrance way off of Prairie Avenue, and the petitioner is willing to make modifications to accommodate this recommendation. There is an existing high tension line that tuns in a nozth/south direction it is 165 x 1000 feet, and the petitioner has worked this development around that. Ultimately the development has a recreation area; single family and multi-family and fifty percent (50%) of the entire site is open space. The project has provided a loop street for safety and access for fire and ambulance protection. The drainage requirements will be handled by the petitioner. The Cataldo family has owned the property for fifteen {15) years and have tried to market this particular piece of property as single family and have not been able to sell this property. Mr. Zappia stated that the economic impact of this project is approximately twenty-five million dollars. Mr. Mike Danch, Danch, Harper & Associates, 2422 'Viridian Drive, South Bend, Indiana, advised that he is representing the petitioners Bruno & Rosa Cataldo & Teresa M. Bova and prepared the site plan that is being presented this evening. There were four (4) revisions to the site plan at the request of the Area Plan Commission Staff's request and at the concern of some of the adjacent proper-ty owners. The original plans had access out to Locust Road, the site plan before you is a downsize of the entire project eliminated almost ten (10) acres of ground of multi- family down to the "MF 2" District of approximately 21 acres. NIr. Danch stated that this site has many different Itinds of soils on it, but mostly they are clay and sandy soils, the remonstrators at this afternoon's committee meeting were referring to the soil as marsh or wetlands and have a seasonable high water table over a majority of the site, that is not the case in this project. Mr. Danch also stated that because of the AEP electric lines that run through the easement on this property make this parcel of land almost impossible to develop into single-family lots. Mr. Danch stated that water and sewer will. be per the City standards and at the petitioners cost. Nir. Danch stated that if this project is approved the divided entrance way that comes off of Prairie and into the multi-family and commercial location. Mr. Danch advised that because of the new zoning ordinance that the City now uses for the multi-family district, there are a lot of restrictions that go onto the property that were not there before under the new standards. The requirement for recreational area within the multi-family district of approximately 10% of the project area, and there is also additional set back requirements around the buildings that did not exist before, which again creates an additional buffer from any building to the property lines. The single family area adds an additional 300 foot wide buffer between the project site and the closest single-family lots along Locust Road.