Apartment Choice

SOUTH BEND — The city's historic preservation agency Monday rejected a request by South Bend schools officials to demolish the old Marquette School building , a plan that has been in the works for years but has met with resistance from preservationists. The South Bend-St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the South Bend Community School Corp .'s request to demolish the 1937 building to create more outdoor space for the current Marquette Primary Montessori Academy . Elicia Feasel, the commission's executive director, recommended that the panel deny the request. In a report to the commission, she concluded that the school corporation had failed to prove the types of safety issues that would justify demolishing a local historic landmark . The commission agreed and voted 4-1 to deny the district's request for approval to demolish the building. Several members faulted the school corporation for building the new Marquette school in...

The Olathe City Council on Tuesday approved rezoning 27 acres at the southwest corner of 119 th Street and Pflumm Road for a 240- unit apartment complex . The 6-1 vote came after almost a dozen neighbors spoke against the project and dozens more wrote letters and emails to the city voicing their own opposition. But while the residents were unable to scuttle the project itself, they were able to persuade the council to ax plans to connect 123 rd Street through the development to Pflumm Road as planned, a move they warned would have dumped fast-moving traffic on the doorstep of Heatherstone Elementary School . “If we are going to make considerations and alterations to the infrastructure of our city based on residents that are not here in these apartments now, I plead with you to protect the citizens that are here and living in this neighborhood now,” said Tim Laughlin, who lives across the street from the school. The thin strip of land has sat unused since being rezoned in 2001 and ...