Preserve the Character of Carmel’s Residential Neighborhoods

Comprehensive Planning

• Oppose any future plans of the city to allow new commercial stores and shops in residential areas throughout Carmel.

• Oppose the idea that much of Home Place will inevitably be developed with higher density and mixed use.

The City of Carmel’s Department of Community Services (DOCS) hired consultants to help draft the Comprehensive Plan. The Plan was last updated in 2009. The Comprehensive Plan provides guidelines for at least the next 10 years for city planners, the Planning Commission, and City Council. It will guide crucial decisions regarding growth, development, mobility, housing and economic development.

The Comprehensive Plan is not law and does not automatically change the zoning ordinances and regulations. However, the Comprehensive Plan does set expectations. It establishes a precedent for city planners, the Planning Commission, and the City Council.

The mayor and other officials have stated publicly that Carmel will be adding another 50,000 people to its population over the next 10-15 years.

A draft of the new Comprehensive Plan was published in the fall of 2021. I participated in two Town Hall meetings in November of 2021 to solicit feedback about the initial draft of the new Comprehensive Plan.

Based on some of the feedback, I worked with Councilor Tim Hannon to request several changes to the Comprehensive Plan, including:

1. Eliminate language about three-story buildings and commercial development being encouraged along the designated “Typical Corridors,” which at the time included 116^th Street between Town Road and Route 31;
2. Eliminate language that directly or indirectly encourages Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) within established neighborhoods
3. Constrain the plan objectives regarding the “20-minute city” to apply only to the central core of Carmel
4. Significantly restrict allowable building heights near residential neighborhoods

The city’s DOCS made several changes I requested in the Spring of 2022, including removing the emphasis on “commercial nodes” and “20 minute-city” from the Comprehensive Plan. Those terms had expressed the intent in the future plans of the city to allow new commercial stores and shops in residential areas throughout Carmel.

There were three Land Use Committee meetings to discuss the Comprehensive Plan. In the second Land Use Committee meeting (July 11, 2022), a DOCS representative told the committee that College Avenue should be labeled in the Comprehensive Plan as a Typical Corridor. (See page 37 of the Comprehensive Plan; Typical Corridor allows for commercial use and higher density).

The DOCS representative and a couple of City Councilors said that over 50% of the homes along College Avenue are owned by either developers and/or are rentals. They said that, consequently, it is inevitable that much of Home Place will be developed with higher density and mixed use.

In response to the comments made at the July 11 committee meeting, I introduced several amendments to the Comprehensive Plan at the third Land Use Committee meeting (August 8, 2022). Two of the amendments were approved.

The amendments consisted of the following language:

“{P}rotecting single-family neighborhoods from dissimilar adjacent uses with respect to scale of buildings, building materials, lighting, noise and other incompatible impacts.”

Several of the other amendments I introduced at the August 8, 2023, meeting were not approved.

I also held a Town Hall meeting on August 9, where At-Large Councilors Tim Hannon and Woody Rider joined me in discussing the Comprehensive Plan. We also discussed statements by DOCS and other city councilors about developing Home Place and surrounding areas. After feedback from the Town Hall meeting, Councilor Tim Hannon and I introduced amendments to the Comprehensive Plan at the September 19, 2022, Land Use Committee meeting.

The amendments that the City Council approved in the Final Comprehensive Plan on Oct 3, 2022, included:

• Removing Typical Corridor designation for College Avenue, except for between 104^th and 108^th Street.
• Removing the proposed arterial connector from Westfield Boulevard and College Avenue.
• Requesting multi paths along 111th from Monon to Westfield Boulevard.
• Requesting multi paths along Westfield Boulevard from 111th to 116th Streets.