Saint Francis council rezones St. Francis DeSales Seminary property, approves detailed PUD plan and agreement

The Saint Francis Common Council voted July 1 to conditionally rezone 3257 South Lake Drive — the Saint Francis DeSales Seminary property — from a planned unit development to an amended planned unit development and to approve the developmentplan and a related agreement with the seminary.

The council took the actions after a brief public hearing held at 7 p.m. at the Saint Francis Civic Center. A resident who identified himself as Andrew Teshinski of 3284 South Illinois Avenue asked the council for a map of the property, saying the legal description in the notice was difficult to use to visualize the parcel. "I don't see what we're looking at...It would certainly be easier if you could just say, this is what we're talking about for everybody to see," Teshinski said. A city staff member replied that public notices use the legal description, parcel numbers and address but offered to show a map at the meeting.

Following the public hearing, a council member moved to adopt an ordinance to amend the zoning for the seminary property under the City of Saint Francis zoning code; the motion passed on a voice vote. The council also moved to approve a resolution adopting the detailed planned unit development plan for the seminary property and approved an agreement between the city and Saint Francis DeSales Seminary Inc.; those measures likewise passed on voice votes. The council referred a separate ordinance to repeal and recreate the use table for nonresidential districts to a public hearing.

The public notice read into the record lists the parcels and tax keys included in the rezoning review and gives the hearing date and location; the notice stated the hearing concerned a change from planned unit development to amended planned unit development for 3257 South Lake Drive. The council did not discuss project financing, phasing, or specific building plans on the public record beyond taking the land-use and agreement votes. The record does not indicate any formal amendments to the ordinance or plan at the meeting.

The seminary property was referred to repeatedly in the meeting materials by address and parcel identifiers (including the tax-key numbers read as part of the public notice). Council members and staff indicated that additional, more detailed materials (such as maps or plan drawings) are available to interested parties on request. The record shows the council completed the procedural steps on July 1 to change zoning classification and to adopt the PUD plan and agreement; any implementation steps (permits, construction phasing, or subsequent council approvals) were not described in the meeting transcript.

The council closed the matter and proceeded to other business.