There were about 20 in attendance at the September public meeting of the Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) Land Use and Development committee. There were four items on the agenda, although only one item required a vote from the committee.

A. 6535 Ferguson Street, Amanda Bennington regarding approval on an egress stairwell from the second level of the house to use as an emergency exit in accordance with the fire code.

This item was for the Village Montessori School [C4 on map] planning to open the second floor of their structure to students. This will require a second means of escape in event of a fire. The committee voted to support this external staircase plan.

This information-only presentation was for the possibility of adding outdoor tables and chairs along Winthrop Avenue at what used to be Sigman's Gallery, at the northwest corner of Broad Ripple Avenue and Winthrop [H5 on map]. The Wisconsin sandwich shop Erbert and Gerbert's plans to open in that location.

This information-only presentation gave the current status of the redesign for the southwest corner of Westfield and Winthrop, including the current La Chinita Poblana and the previous Broad Ripple Steakhouse and New Paradise Cafe [G5 on map]. The new structure would be in line with the current structure. Variances will be filed for right-of-way and parking. There are 11 spots and the zoning code calls for 63. There was a long discussion of the serious nature of requests for support from the BRVA on parking requirement relaxations. One side asked when should new requests be denied, the other side said times are changing and the new generations are driving less.

This petition had not yet been filed downtown, so no vote could be taken by the committee. This proposal is to open an Enterprise Car Rental location on the top floor of the Broad Ripple parking garage at Westfield and College [H2 on map]. There would be a small office and a car wash area. The rental car parking spots would occupy approximately 20 spaces on the top floor that has around 140 spaces.

The next public meeting of the Land Use committee is scheduled for October 25, 2016, at 6pm at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 1660 Kessler Boulevard [KK28 on map].