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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDept Report 11-1-05 .. " Q o CARMEL PLAN COMMISSION SUBDIVISION COMMITTEE DEPARTMENT REPORT November 1, 2005 7. Docket No. 05100008 CPA: Comp Plan Amendment - Civic Design Policies The applicant seeks to amend the CarmeVClay Comprehensive Plan in order to add Civic Design policies. Filed by the Carmel Department of Community Services. The public hearing for this item was held at the October 18, Plan Commission meeting. No one from the public spoke in opposition. Please refer to your original packet for Civic Design draft. There were several concerns and questions expressed by the Commission. Perhaps the main concern was the atypical nature of this document - it is not a zoning ordnance amendment, nor does is fit within the current format of the comprehensive plan. The Department would like to propose that the principles and recommendations featured in Civic Design simply be acknowledged and encouraged by resolution. Such resolution would direct the Department of Community Services to promote these principles through its planning duties in the central core. This would leave Civic Design intact as a stand-alone document which could serve as a foundation for future comprehensive plan updates related to the central core. Instead of formalizing each and every recommendation as part of the comprehensive plan, vital portions could be incorporated into the upcoming overall comprehensive plan update. The Department recommends that the Subdivision Committee discuss this matter further and forward this item back to the full Plan Commission after all comments and concerns are fully addressed. For the more general questions regarding the document's purpose and intent, we offer the following clarifications: .:. What is the purpose of CNIC DESIGN? The purpose of Civic Design is to be a tool for staff and local officials to measure features proposed in development projects, future ordinance updates and city policies related to Carmel's central core - a tool to remind all of us of the ideas and concepts introduced and/or studied by the Carmel Urban Design Initiative throughout various lectures, discussions and a field study tour. With development areas shrinking in far eastern and western Clay Township, there is increasing pressure to develop (and redevelop) areas in the central core. Month after month the Plan Commission is reviewing new projects, and the Redevelopment Commission is entertaining multi-million dollar proposals in the central core. The time is now to further solidify our goals and visions. - ., Q o .:. These principles are very broad, how will this document be used? As was mentioned at the Plan Commission meeting, this document was not initially envisioned to be formally adopted. Civic Design, the guiding principles document derived from the Carmel Urban Design Initiative, was envisioned to be more of an attitude and guide document. Particularly, DOCS would use the document recommendations as a work plan by using it as a guide to consider the formation of various committees and to initiate relevant studies and plans to position Carmel to better exemplify the principles: . A Comfortable City . An Interesting City . A City of Neighborhoods . A Mobile City . A Healthy City . An Adaptable City .:. What does this mean for the Plan Commission? These principles are very broad. We, as staff, will be reviewing projects with these principles in mind, and hope that the Plan Commission will also. To some extent we are already doing this, and see the Plan Commission paying even more attention to items including pedestrian connectivity and urban design. As for planning studies, we have already begun a land use study for the area near 96th Street and Westfield Boulevard. This would correlate with the area titled South Gateway on the map on Page 16. The Department foresees a series of studies and plans to cover these areas, particularly a central business district plan for the downtown area (Carmel Drive - Range Line Road Overlay expires at the end of 2006). .:. How does this affect the Zoning Ordinance and other regulations? Civic Design does not negate any adopted ordinance or code. Outdoor Storage and other similar regulations remain effective and will remain so until formally amended by the Plan Commission and Council. Upon the Plan Commission's endorsement/adoption of the guiding principles, the Department plans use the document as a guide to propose ordinance amendments which favor these principles. Ordinance amendment details would be hashed out through the normal Plan Commission process. .:. How and to what extent has the public been involved? A draft of Civic Design was released for comment and review OQ July 26, 2005. There were also articles regarding the document in the Indianapolis Star, one soliciting comments and another reporting Home Place's irritation that they are included in the core area. There were a handful of comments received from both Commission members and the public. Based on those comments a few changes were made, including making maps more legible, expanding the core area to look at the west side of Meridian, and lending more attention to the benefits of an urban forest. A majority of the comments were ideas about how to bring these principles into reality, including widespread installation of sidewalks, directional signs and implementing specialized committees.