03-23-09 Common Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 23, 2009 Street Commons, the annexation of the Portage Prairie Area, the annexation and rezoning of the Innovation Park Area and the rezoning and development of the LaSalle Square Project. Each development area comes with the potential to increase shopping employment and residential living and also comes with a price to develop in terms of TIF Districts to fund it and the responsibility of the City to provide services. During these times of HB 1001 that can be a daunting task. It is not without controversy as there are those that do not want to see any growth by the City especially those on the perimeter of these developments. He stated that personal property rights still do exit in this country and those that own property in which to voluntarily annex into the city have the right to do so. It is the Council’s job to ensure this fall within the City’s Plan including “City Plan” and Smart Growth Options and that it receives a fair and equitable hearing. It must also be remember that a city that fails to grow and change is a city that will eventually die. An ongoing issue affecting the neighborhoods in the City of South Bend that pertains to the Zoning and Annexation Committee is the growth of rental properties. He noted that this include weekend home game rentals, legal and illegal grandfathering of homes for multi-family use; the use of spot zone properties for a different use; and the inappropriate number of unrelated occupants living within a SF1 or SF2 neighborhood. While there are many landlords that provide good homes at fair rent to families that need decent and safe place to live, the city is seeing those investors that have no knowledge or want in disregard for the zoning ordinances that are in place. This causes havoc both within the challenged and stable neighborhoods, the burden should not be placed upon the neighbors to police, control and complain to the City about occupant problems of rental properties. The burden should be placed upon the owner of the home and this can only be done by moving towards a registration of rental properties that exists in the traditional neighborhoods. He noted that it doesn’t have to be an extensive or time consuming process, but it needs to exit in an ordinance form. It should be done to strike a balance between those that own resident property for profit and those that own it to raise a family. Failure to address this has the potential of destroying the traditional neighborhoods by addressing it properly they have the ability to stabilize and enhance property values for all property owners concerned. Councilmember Kirsits stated that it is his goal and that of the Zoning and Annexation Committee to attempt to bring together all interested parties during 2009 and work towards an ordinance that addresses these problems. He advised that the CCAC was formed in the after math of the Special Event Lawn Parking Ordinance that was discussed in the spring of 2007. After much discussion it was decided to separate ordinances and move forward with the passage of the special event lawn parking. In lieu of passing a social host ordinance which was based on information from the Department of Justice Cops Manual and similar ordinances from other college towns it was voted to put that on hold. Instead, the CCAC was put in place at the request of local universities primarily the University of Notre Dame and landlords in an attempt to talk and educate students and residents living in close proximity to each other. It was then Council President Timothy Rouse who asked him to Chair this committee and accepted. The first CCAC meeting was held in February 2008, membership has extended to Notre Dame, Holy Cross, St. Mary’s, IUSB. Also, in attendance have been City Council Members, City Administration, Code Enforcement, Police Department, the local Alcoholic Beverage Commission Board as well as landlords and residents. City Clerk John Voorde sworn in the members and Kathleen Cekanski- Farrand serves as Legal Counsel. A complete listing of minutes is on file in the Office of the City Clerk. Meetings have been held in April, October, and November 2008. The next meeting of the CCAC will be held on Thursday, April 2, 2009 at the University of Notre Dame, Administration Building. The following are a list of several things that have occurred since the creation of the CCAC: Leadership from the University of Notre Dame Student Body Presidents has been outstanding, the past president Liz Brown and the Current President Robert Reish. They have made legitimate attempts and significant progress in reaching the Student Body with a message to be good neighbors when they live off campus. The University of Notre Dame has published and distributed a booklet about off-campus living and how to be a good neighbor, and has responded quickly to isolated incidents of inappropriate behavior so they would not be repeated. St. Mary’s sends an e-mail alert about upcoming weekends and the behavior and activity that they expect from their students. The South Bend Police Department has been working with the University of Notre to inform students through e-mail of all burglaries and suspicious persons regarding off-campus properties. Crime prevention is working to give them 9