HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter #27 Pat RiceSeptember 5, 2022
TO: Carmel Plan Commission and Residential Committee
CC: Carmel City Council Members
FROM: Pat Rice
RE: Docket No. PZ-2022-60117 PUD.961h and Haverstick PUD Rezone
(Estridge Development/Tintera Property)
Hopefully, the following information can shed some light on what has been going on for
more than fifty years in our community. When my husband and I moved here from
Indianapolis in July of 1988, we had no idea we had moved into what was to become a
political football between Hamilton County, Marion County, Clay township, and the City
of Carmel. Our immediate section of this area, Wild Cherry Corner, has always been the
"elephant in the room" for a number of reasons, due to its unique layout of 1-3 acres of
land per each family home that all the newer subdivisions were built around. The
"unrecorded" plat is part of every parcel and deed and includes a variety of restrictions.
I understand from the attorneys, that these restrictions do not apply to the Tintera land.
However, it was obviously the grandfather's plan as laid out in the "unrecorded" plat.
Later, due to the size of lots, in Wild Cherry Corner and frontage on 96th Street, the
updated Comprehensive Plan carved out that area as future low intensity commercial
development with a minimum five acres for rezone. Even then, it was never the intent to
strip the land of trees without providing adequate buffering to the surrounding
communities. The Estridge PUD before you has brought things to a head. I have met with
at least four prior hopeful developers who came tome before applying to the DOCS. Each
one decided it either wasn't worth the cost of going forward after realizing the proposals
were not compatible with the area or the Comprehensive Plan. The elephant in the room
is now about to be eaten one PUD bite at a time.
Already, three properties have been put on the market on Haverstick, just north of the
dental office, listed as high density commercial or high density residential, depicting the
Estridge project as an example! In talking with the realtor, he said he has already been
approached by a car wash, fast foods, stating it might even be the "second phase of the
Estridge project!" He was adamant that "this is what Carmel wants" and that it has been
communicated to him by various entities of the City.
I have been asked by two councilmen to bring forth some kind of plan for development
that would be "acceptable" to our community. Instead, I believe a moratorium is in order
for the entire area until a specific plan is put forth, not just "intent" as to what the city
planners not only envision but actually are planning. It's not just about saving trees. It's
about saving an important part of the heart and soul of our community which is suburban,
not urban.
Our message is, "Plan with our community." Not everyone wants to live in a new utopian
urban city! We still like green space and wildlife, small vegetable and flower gardens,
and yes, wild cherry trees. Our area already has hundreds Of mature trees that do far
more than planting "pop sickle trees" which take decades to provide a healthy
environment. Don't let the can keep being kicked down the road until no one cares
anymore, or gives up, and the past is no longer relevant. We can enjoy the "new Carmel"
and yet come home to what most of us think of as a sanctuary away from the business of
an urban environment.
Whatever is appropriate along the frontage of 96th St., should be given serious
consideration for incorporating both tree preservation and adequate buffering for the
now stabilizing Wild Cherry Corner and larger community including the Chesterton
subdivision. Show plans for what 96" St. parkway is to look like, which may mean buying
out the homes facing it. Don't just leave it up do developers to do PUD patchwork projects
that jeopardize the community. It can be done! In closing, I use this quote from the
letter I received from Mayor Brainard in 1998 which you all received from me earlier -
"We power to help people. n
'For we are given power not to advance our own purposes,
nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is 6ut one just use of power,
audit is to serve people. Yfelp us to remem6er i4 Lord"
Sincerely and hopefully respectfully,
Pat Rice
9659 Wild Cherry Lane in "Wild Cherry Corner"