HomeMy WebLinkAboutDept Report 07-01-08
CARMEL PLAN COMMISSION
SUBDIVISION COMMITTEE
DEPARTMENT REPORT
JULY 1, 2008
3. Docket No. 08060001 OA: Monon and Main PUD Amendment
The applicant seeks apptovalto amend Ordinance Z-462-b4 Monon and Main PUD for the
purpose of allowing non-residential uses on upper !lOOTS in the Primary Area. The site is located
at the intersection of Main Street & 3'd A venue NW and is zoned PUD. Filed by the Department
of Community Services, on behalf of the Cannel Plan Conmlission.
Please refer to the memo and information packet for more detail. The Monon & Main PUD Ordinance
was adopted in 2004, which set the framework for an attached residential townhome development,
including the option for ground ftOOT retail storefronts along Main Street in an area referred to as the
Primary Area (pg. 19). More specifically, a list of Primary Area permitted uses was included in the PUD
Ordinance (pg 17), which were limited to the first floor of any LivefWork Dwelling.
Now that Monon & Main is well under construction and with most of the Primary Area units complete,
there has been much interest in allowing Primary Area permitted uses to occur in garages and on upper
floors. In fact, four units have successfully petitioned the BZA for variances to allow expansion into
garages and/or upper floors. Three more petitions are pending. Currently, there are 23 potential live-work
units within the Primary Area of the Manon and Main PUD.
Given the fact that so many variances have heen granted, the City feels it is appropriate to amend the
PUD Ordinance to allow this practic~ to continue without petitioning the Board. Three section of the
PUD Ordinance are affected by this proposal, they are:
o 2.13 (B), Page 5 Eliminates garage requirement for non residential units (garage remains
when used as residence)
Fixes an incorrect reference (scriveners error)
LivefWork Dwelling, eliminates first floor limitation
o
3.5, Page 6
15.26, Page 12
o
Any concern of parking in Old Town can be alleviated. The city has already purchased several parking
lots in the area; a parking study was conducted this year, and there are plans developed to handle the
additional needed parking (per Les Olds, director of the Carmel Redevelopment Commission - CRC). The
CRC is or will do several things to alleviate the parking problem in Old Town: providing a new parking
area just south of Main Street where they demolished the First Indiana Bank building, redesigning the
parking lot north of the 911 Communications Center, having both on-street and underground parking at
the Indiana Design Center, and providing on-street diagonal parking along 1 ,t Ave SW, (from 1 ,[ to 2nd
Streets). All of this will be in addition to the proposed public parking garage that the CRC will construct
wi thin a development at the northeast corner of 2nd Ave NE and Main St. that will serve many of the
adjacent businesses in Old Town and will help solve the shortage of parking spaces downtown. This
parking garage would have 100 parking spaces available to the public, while approximately 156 parking
spaces would be reserved for tenant/residents within the CRe development at that comer. This CRC is
trying to set this project as a priority, in regards to timely approval and construction.
At the June 17 Plan Commission meeting, there was a request by the plan commission to remove some of
the permitted uses and make sure that the garage doors remain in tact, from a design perspective.
The Department of Community Services recommends the Committee vote to send this item to the
July 15 Plan Commission meeting with a favorable recommendation.