HomeMy WebLinkAboutDept Report 02-15-11 CARMEL PLAN COMMISSION
DEPARTMENT REPORT
Feb. 15, 2011
4. Docket No. 10120008 Z: The Bridges PUB
The applicant seeks approval to rezone 63.7 acres from S -2 /Residence to PUD /Planned Unit Development.
The site is located at 11405 Spring Mill Rd., at the southeast corner of 116` St. and Spring Mill Rd. Filed
by Charlie Frankenberger of Nelson Frankenberger, on behalf of G. B. Developers II, LLC.
The applicant seeks approval to rezone 63.7 acres from S -2 /Residence to PUD /Planned Unit Development.
North of the site is the Clarian North hospital development, east of the site are office buildings, south/ southwest
of the site are single family dwellings, and west of the site will be a church. The US 31 Corridor Overlay
Zone's west boundary is that of future Illinois St. The proposed development is broken into three blocks: the
commercial amenity use block, the office and residential use block, and the corporate office use block. Please
view the petitioner's information packet for further detail on the PUD text, conceptual site plan, and
conceptual character imagery.
The Carmel Clay Comprehensive Plan "the C3 Plan adopted in May 2009, marks this site as an area for
special study. To this date, no official C3 Plan special study of this specific site has been conducted or adopted;
however, there are several studies of the US 31 Corridor and the Illinois Street Corridor that lend themselves to
helping guide development on this site, and these can be discussed t the committee level. The C3 Plan provides
for a number of policy objectives which, in this instance, do not offer concrete guidance, but they do help:
1. The C3 Plan does provide a matrix showing land classification compatibility, showing Best Fit and
Conditional Fit (see below).
2. The C3Plan also provides an objective to be sensitive to connectivity and transition between adjacent areas.
3. While another objective is to promote mixed use, compact development in areas suitable for commercial
development, the C3 Plan objectives also stress that we must protect residential areas from unsuitable
commercial development.
4. Another objective is to encourage diversity in housing types.
5. The C3 Plan also suggests that we must continue to build upon the economic benefits of the US 31 corridor
by further maximizing its development potential by encouraging new buildings to be constructed at
maximum building heights and encourage parking areas to be structured.
6. The C3 Plan also suggests that every trip to the store should not be a mandatory drive in the car. Residents
should be able to access daily goods by walking or bicycling.
7. The C3Plan lists high quality and well designed landscaping as an objective, along with requiring parking
to be on the rear and side of a property, and to utilize `green' building and low impact development.
All of these aspects should be considered when reviewing this rezone petition.
Staff's outstanding comments:
Currently, the petitioner meets with the Forestry Dept., Engineering Dept, and Planning Dept. staff weekly, to
address review comments and the conceptual site plan. Topics discussed are land uses, traffic flow, road
improvements, pedestrian and bicycle accessibility, site plan layout, screening of parking, landscaping and
buffering, building architecture, lighting, signage, and much more. The Dept. is still working through these
comments and waiting to receive the revisions of the PUD Ordinance at the committee level, after the petitioner
collects comments from the public during the public hearing and from the Plan Commission members.
Recommendation: The Dept of Community Services (DOCS) recommends that the Plan Commission sends
this item to the March 1 Special Studies Committee meeting for further review and discussion.
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