Kite Realty utilizing special event permit for ND home football game days

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- On Friday morning, South Bend’s Special Events Committee approved Kite Realty’s application for special event permits for the remaining Saturday Notre Dame home football games of the year:

• Oct. 4
• Oct. 11
• Oct. 18
• Nov. 8
• Nov. 22

Kite Realty owns Eddy Street Commons.

In the meeting, representatives from Kite said their application for the special event permit includes the public right-of-way sidewalks in phase one and two retail areas.

They say it also closes Eddy Street between Napoleon Street and Angela Boulevard, creating a private area on home football game days.

Assistant Chief Dan Skibins with the South Bend Police Department says the permit enhances Kite’s authority to keep residents, locals, businesses, and visitors safe within Eddy Street Commons.

“This permit will allow for greater authority for Kite Realty’s officers, who are off-duty officers, mostly from South Bend, to effectively remove individuals who are acting out of line and causing disturbances within Kite Realty’s property,” said Skibins.

Skibins says this allows Kite to set rules, even beyond the rules outlined in their code of conduct if necessary.

If you walk around the Eddy Street Commons area, you will see the code of conduct posted throughout.

He says you can expect to see more police presence in the area for home games. Skibins says as the area gets busier, more of Kite’s officers come in and SBPD assists them if needed.

Skibins says SBPD worked with Kite and the University of Notre Dame to find strategies to help officers keep the peace and maintain public safety.

“We've made adjustments. We made adjustments after the Texas A&M game. You saw a few arrests, unfortunately at the Purdue game, and that could happen again if behavior continues to be out of control to the point where we feel like public safety is in jeopardy. Unfortunately, we may have to make arrests. We don't want to have to do that,” said Skibins.

He says officers are directed to ask, tell, then remove people from the property if necessary.

According to Skibins, Kite Realty has been getting complaints that people can't walk to businesses or apartments on sidewalks because people are blocking them.

“Well, of course, they're going to say, ‘I’m on the public's right of way. I’m on the sidewalk, and so you can't remove me from Eddy Street Commons, because I'm not in Eddy Street Commons. I’m on the public sidewalk.’ So that was one of the problems that the officers working up there were faced with. And so now, they'll have the ability to remove someone, and ultimately, they could end up trespassing people. And the last thing we want to do is arrest people,” said Skibins.

If problems continue, Skibins says you could unfortunately see more measures taken in the area like fencing, or more barricades.

Isabel Pithie, a Notre Dame student who lives at The Foundry apartments.

says she’s noticed extra police presence recently.

“There’s been an increased presence, at least in our lobbies, with security people sitting in there at night especially. And there's definitely increased police presence on the corners of Eddy Street. I will say it still hasn't felt entirely safe, but i think we're getting there. There are measures that are being implemented more,” said Pithie.

ABC57 reached out to Kite Realty today for more information on this permit and safety measures in the Eddy Street Commons area but did not hear back.