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REGULAR MEETING February 25, 2019
<br /> Mr. Danch replied, They have looked around at other areas into the County, you still need
<br /> industrial zoning in the County. Anywhere you would move farther west until you get almost to
<br /> New Carlisle is zoned Industrial.
<br /> Councilmember Sharon L. McBride asked, And there are no homes in view of that, even on the
<br /> backside?
<br /> Mr. Danch replied, No. On the rear side of this is a wooded area, but it is also three (3) different
<br /> railroad rights-of-way.Anything past that point are basically wooded areas, and there are no homes
<br /> back there.
<br /> Councilmember Tim Scott asked, How tall is the fence around the property?
<br /> Mr. Danch replied, The fence that we're showing would be a solid, ten(10) foot high fence.
<br /> Councilmember Tim Scott followed up, For thirty(30) foot high piles?
<br /> Mr. Danch replied, Yes. Now, if the Council would like us to do a portion there where you might
<br /> believe someone would see a pile, you would ask us to add evergreen screening and we could do
<br /> that.
<br /> Councilmember Tim Scott stated, Yes.
<br /> Mr. Danch stated, We're doing a special exception so that can be in the petition.
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis asked, Who regulates whether or not the piles are the right height,
<br /> things are going well, things are not in violation of what we have agreed to do tonight?
<br /> Mr. Danch replied, That would be Code Enforcement or the Area Plan Commission. It depends.
<br /> We're doing a written commitment, so if we are doing that it would be with the City of South Bend
<br /> which would also be the Building Department.
<br /> This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents and
<br /> opponents were given an opportunity to be heard.
<br /> Jason Banicki, 3822 Ford Street, South Bend, IN, stated,Whoever from the City offices during the
<br /> Committee meeting said We don't think we can do any better than this project on this site, that's
<br /> just a shame if we don't think we can do any better than a project that, somebody once upon a time
<br /> was wise enough to say, zone the entire City away from this project. That's why we have to ask
<br /> for a special exception. They keep talking about the facade of the building being eighteen(18) feet
<br /> tall. That is only at its highest point. If you look at that building, and you pull up the pictures that
<br /> are already there, you can use the building there that is only two (2) stories tall as a reference point
<br /> and you'll see that there are points of that facade that are only ten (10) feet tall. So, if you put a
<br /> thirty(30) foot pile there, I don't care if you say it is three hundred (300) feet behind, you're still
<br /> going to see that from the road when its twenty (20) feet taller than parts of the facade. And they
<br /> keep ducking the neighbors that live on Kenmore Street or Falcon or Wellington Street directly
<br /> across the street from this. Yes, there is a vacant parking lot that sits there, but if you are looking
<br /> at a thirty (30) foot pile that sits behind a ten (10) foot wall, I don't think that any of us want to
<br /> look toward. I don't think this should be allowed in City limits. We wisely have coded us out of
<br /> it, and I don't think this needs a special exception.
<br /> David Andre, 2920 West Sample Street, South Bend, IN, stated, Grace Steel Corporation was just
<br /> in front of the Council and has committed a multi-million-dollar project to improve Sample Street
<br /> and take a vacant building and make it a viable entity. This project, putting giant piles of debris
<br /> onto Sample Street definitely devalues the project that we have undertaken. Frankly, this is
<br /> adjacent to the Urban Enterprise Zone incubator. What are we saying to new small business people
<br /> who are going into an incubator,they're looking at the City authorizing debris piles to be put right
<br /> next door to them. That does not send the right signal. I personally went yesterday to Osceola to
<br /> look at their site there. I was shocked, I took some photos, provided them to Council today via
<br /> email, provided some photos tonight, it's shocking. It is a ginormous debris pile. I went around
<br /> back of their property, through a fire station and took a photo through the woods. It looks like a
<br /> landfill. That is not what we want. If the Council approves this, they're selling out Sample Street
<br /> for many, many years. That is just not right to the neighbors and it's not right and does not
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