Ron Stiver, commissioner of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, center, on Sept. 27 comments on the new license branch that will be built in downtown South Bend at 623 S. St. Joseph St. Mayor Steve Luecke and State Rep. David Niezgodski, D-South Bend, joined Stiver. (Tribune Photo/MARCUS MARTER)
Story Created:
Nov 21, 2007 at 7:38 AM EDT
Story Updated:
Nov 21, 2007 at 11:03 AM EDT
(SBT24/7News) The new downtown license branch is on a fast track.
The Area Plan Commission on Tuesday gave a favorable recommendation for rezoning the site for the new building at 623 S. St. Joseph St.
The property needed a zoning change from single- and two-family district to office district.
The 1.17-acre site at the northwest corner of Bronson and St. Joseph streets is a parking lot owned by the River of Life Family Church.
It is being purchased by Indiana Property Group LLC for use by the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
The plan is to construct a 7,000-square-foot building on the site that also will have 73 parking spaces, according to the APC staff report.
The new office will replace the current branch at 4646 W. Western Ave.
Access to the site will be from St. Joseph Street, where there already is a driveway, said Troy Terew of Indianapolis, who addressed the board on the issue.
Terew said plans are to begin construction as soon as possible with an anticipated opening next summer.
The St. Joseph Street site was chosen, due to public pressure, to take the place of a previously announced branch 6½ miles north on Brick Road near Cleveland Road.
The building is expected to include about 14 customer service terminals, up from eight at the current branch, officials said at an announcement of the site in September.
Since then, the proposal has been on a fast track with planning staff moving it through the required stages quickly to take action at Tuesday’s meeting, according to John Byorni, executive director.
No one spoke for or against the rezoning at the public hearing.
The rezoning now will go before the South Bend Common Council for final approval.
The APC also approved unanimously the new comprehensive plan for the town of New Carlisle.
Steve Vojtko, a New Carlisle Town Council member, who is also an APC member, said the plan represented about two years of work.
Byorni praised the thoroughness of the plan for the small town on the western edge of the county.
A public hearing on the comprehensive plan is set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the New Carlisle Town Hall.
