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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes SpecStdy 03-07-06 City of Carmel CARMEL PLAN COMMISSION SPECIAL STUDIES COMMITTEE MARCH 7, 2006 Minutes The Special Studies Committee met at 6:00 PM on March 7, 2006 in the Council Chambers of City Hall, Carmel, Indiana. Members present: Leo Dierckman, Madeleine Torres, Susan Westermeier, thereby establishing a quorum. The Special Studies Committee considered the following items: th 1.Docket No: 05120025 Z 126 & Keystone/Gramercy PUD Traffic Discussion ONLY. This item will be heard from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM The applicant seeks to rezone 116 acres from R2/Residential and R4/Residential to PUD/Planned Unit Development for the purpose of creating a mixed use development comprised of townhouse, apartment, retail, and office uses. th The site is located between Carmel Drive, 126 Street, Keystone Ave, and Auman Dr. Filed by James Shinaver of Nelson & Frankenberger for Buckingham Properties Inc. Jim Shinaver, Nelson & Frankenberger. Present for Buckingham Properties: Brad Chambers, President, David Leazenby, Vice President of Land Development, Sara Nasuti, Development Manager, Murray Clark, Baker & Daniels, Counsel to Buckingham Properties; Gary Murray, Civil Engineer, Schneider Engineering; Steve Fehribach & Matt Brown, A & F Engineering Co. The petitioner is proposing a mixed-use project for the gradual redevelopment of this site located th between Carmel Drive, 126 Street, east of Keystone Avenue and west of Auman Drive. The mixed use would consist primarily of residential uses. The plan is to create an environment where people can live, work, and shop within a 5 to 7 minute walk of the site. Jim Shinaver explained that there are several points of connection adjacent to the perimeter of this site. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the connections are good site design and land planning; secondly, these types of connections are required by the Zoning Ordinance. However, the connections shown are preliminary in nature. The petitioner has been and will be continuing to work with the DOCS and the Dept. of Engineering regarding the number and location of these connections. As explained during the first Plan Commission meeting, the objective of these connections and the internal road design is to improve the overall flow and function of the adjacent roadway systems. Currently there is only one way in and one way out of this site. The connections 1 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 shown on the conceptual site plan should balance the traffic flow in a more efficient way to the adjacent roadways. David Leazenby then addressed the Commission. In looking at the traffic issues in the area, it is important to consider traffic in the overall context of Carmel. There has been a lot of work and improvements on adjacent roadways in the core of Carmel. There are currently a lot of plans going on for improvements, specifically the Thoroughfare Plan that was created for all of Clay Township. In this particular plan, there is a planned connection to Auman Drive from the subject site and a connection to AAA Way from the site. The development plans do not necessarily depend upon the connections, but it is important to recognize that they represent good planning on the part of the City, The City Engineer, Buckingham, the Comprehensive Plan and the Urban Design Initiative. Access has an economic benefit and a value to residents and neighborhoods that depend on safe and efficient means of travel and circulation. Steve Fehribach, licensed professional engineer in the State of Indiana, A&F Engineering, with offices at 8365 Keystone Crossing addressed the Committee regarding the traffic. In the late 80’s or early 90’s, Carmel developed its own guidelines for Traffic Impact Studies along with the State of Indiana guidelines—as traffic engineers, we must follow those guidelines set forth by the State and the City. Within those guidelines are how it is prepared, what items are to be looked at, how far out (timeline) is given, when the study is needed, what kind of improvements and what level of service. A & F prepared the traffic study for this particular site and is currently working with the Engineering Staff to review this study and go over some items. Carmel guidelines, along with the State of Indiana and most communities that have them dictate to the traffic engineers that they must fix the system; the way we do that is by adding travel lanes at the intersections. The traffic guidelines force the traffic engineers to identify the deficiencies and then determine what can work in the future if necessary. How we do that is look at what is proposed on this site and generate the amount of trips—how much traffic in/out of the development—and put it to the roadway system. We took the land uses as proposed and added the traffic; then it was taken one step further. “Background traffic” was computed to grow 1 ½% per year for the next ten years. We picked a horizon year of 2016 and that is what we looked at. Along with that, we have to look at what improvements are currently being investigated or currently designed; those improvements are looked at with the added traffic. th The intersections looked at were 126 and Keystone Avenue, Carmel Drive and Keystone, and th 116 Street along with all of the access points and the future connection along AAA Way. We looked at traffic volumes that will occur at AAA Way and the future connection. In doing so, we looked at existing conditions, existing plus the proposed development plus future traffic. When we took the existing traffic and added proposed traffic, we end up with an acceptable level of service at those intersections. When we take the traffic and add the 1 ½% along with the improvements—added travel lanes on Keystone being looked at by INDOT—projected to 2016, we also end up with acceptable levels of service at those intersections. As traffic engineers, we have the model capability of looking at the future. We have identified deficiencies and by adding travel lanes, we can improve those corridors. 2 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 INDOT has looked at Keystone and determined it is an “added travel lane” project—one lane in each direction. A&F Engineering looked at this for Carmel to make sure that the State’s proposal will also work with the added traffic. At the time IDOT did their study, they did not know about the future lane. What we found is that some improvements will have to be made at the intersection of th . 126 & KeystoneThose improvements are basically necessary for the year 2016 after future traffic is added. If this development were built and then we quit, this intersection will work at the same level of service—we can’t say that for the year 2016. What A&F is proposing by year 2016, based on every unit being sold, everything is occupied and density is all there, the project is completely filled—what we found in the east-bound direction is that we need a through lane, a left turn lane, and a right turn lane to move this traffic through. Likewise on the other side, westbound traffic would need the same improvements—a left turn lane, a right turn lane and a through lane. Both directions today already have a left turn lane and what is referred to as a “shared through and right turn” lane. We then took a look at this segment—basically a two-lane segment. We need to provide left and right turn lanes at these access points and A&F Engineering has recommended doing that. Right now there are two lanes, basically an east-bound and west-bound lane. There are some tapers and a quick left turn lane—more a quick widening of the road. In this case, A&F has recommended th a continuous lane along the north side of Grammercy, adjacent to 126 Street. We don’t have to th widen to the north side of 126 Street because there is already right-of-way there. We would be adding a left turn lane and a right turn lane, continuous, so that if you turned off Keystone and you wanted to go into the proposed drive into Gramercy, you could get in the left turn lane and move all the way down and turn left. This is important because it leaves the through lane open for traffic th that wants to continue east. You could travel north on Keystone, turn left onto 126 Street, and come all the way down and turn left into Gramercy.It is adding capacity because the left turning car trying to get into this development can accomplish that without being in front of someone going straight through. Likewise, in the east-bound direction, we have called for a continuous right turn lane, the reason th being that people will come across 126 and if they want to come into the proposed access into Gramercy, they can move into the right turn lane and free up the through lane for anyone wanting th to get to the 126 & Keystone intersection. Capacity is actually being added by getting the turning cars out of in front of them. We are trying to prevent through traffic from slowing down while cars turn right and a right turn lane will accomplish that. Heading east, there is no dedicated right turn lane. th Because we are able to widen 126 Street along the north side of Gramercy, the right turn lane can continue to Keystone Avenue and become the right turn lane for Keystone. Now, we have improved the intersection by adding the right turn lane and cars can get into the right turn lane if they want to travel south on Keystone Avenue and they do not have to get in the through lane. This is a very economical improvement. 3 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 Regarding the future AAA Way connection. The intersection of AAA Way and Carmel Drive is already signalized and this can be designed in order to accommodate the volume of traffic. This will be designed as a future roadway; a left turn lane, through lane, and a right turn lane can be added because it is an existing intersection. This is an easy intersection to design for the future. Regarding the intersection at Carmel Drive and Keystone, INDOT needs to do their “Added Travel Lanes” project and it will get back to the level of service in the year 2016. This is a provisional job by INDOT, and that means they are looking at it, but there are no funds available right now. This connection onto Keystone is a right in/right out and we have asked INDOT to look at this. This is an important connection to the overall system. When talking about the overall system, it means all the way to Range Line Road. What can happen for the Auman Addition is that when the connections are made, whatever connections the Staff deems necessary, these people who live in this area can move through the Gramercy development and exit right onto Keystone into the system. Any vehicle in Auman Addition or Gramercy will be able to use either Keystone or AAA Way and th will no longer be in the system, including Carmel Drive, Range Line Road, and 126 Street. th The reduction of traffic at the intersections of 126 and Keystone, especially in the east-bound direction, is important because every car that is in this approach will no longer need green time. We have to account for all of those cars and give them as much time as we possibly can to get the cars onto the roadway. Every car that we can develop at the Keystone access point is a car that does thth not occur on the side streets at Carmel Drive, 116 Street, or 126 Street. This is an important access point and we hope we are successful at INDOT. This is for people going south on Keystone th Avenue. This is important because if people are coming across 126 Street and want to turn into Gramercy,now they do not have to cross Keystone and turn left into Gramercy—they can turn left at a signal with an arrow, come down Keystone and turn right into Gramercy. It is not a full access, so if you come northbound on Keystone, you will not be able to turn left into that drive. () At some point, people will come south to the signalized intersection, Carmel Drive and AAA Way make a left to come here, (Carmel Drive and Keystone) then head south on Keystone. . That is the green time---it helps both AAA Way and this approach (Carmel Drive) If we are successful with INDOT, we can potentially even help the green time on the side streets and INDOT can run green time a little longer on Keystone Avenue. Auman Drive—one of the things that is important along this corridor is that the recommended improvements are to replace the two existing lanes with 12-foot lanes, add curb and gutter sections along the east side and an eight (8) foot parking lane so that on-street parking can be obtained. By using the 8-foot lane, we will not obstruct any capacity on the roadway. The connections between Auman and Gramercy will add traffic that will move from Auman Addition over to Keystone Avenue. It is logical that the majority of traffic from Gramercy will move to Keystone; the traffic will move to Keystone to 465 and to 31 north. There will also be significant landscaping along Auman Drive with streetlights and street trees. th David Leazenby clarified that there would also be an 8-foot asphalt path along 126 Street, Auman Drive would have a sidewalk along the Gramercy side; there would be a curb, planting strip, street trees, then the sidewalk—all of this is conceptual—the Engineering Department is still reviewing. 4 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 Questions from Committee: Leo Dierckman: What is the parking on Auman Drive—who is the user, Gramercy or the neighborhood? What is the concept? David Leazenby responded that Auman Drive would have public, on-street parking—the intent is to provide a buffer to the street and slows traffic, it provides transition from the street itself to the sidewalk and to the building. We are trying to create an appropriate transition with buildings facing the street. A sidewalk would be in front of the building, much more of a neighborhood streetscape type of feel. Leo Dierckman asked Steve Fehribach what traffic would be using the new ingress/egress points along Auman Drive—what is the calculation? Steve Fehribach responded that all together, there would be 50 vehicles that would move at the AM thth and PM peak hours through Gramercy onto Auman Drive to get to 126 Street and/or 126 Street. Sue Westermeier asked if AAA Way and all roads were assumed to be built when the plan and traffic study were done and isn’t Keystone a little “up in the air” right now? Steve Fehribach responded in the affirmative, but said it was at the 2016 volume. AAA Way Drive is anticipated in being by 2016 as well as some lane improvements on Keystone. Keystone is provisional—there are no funds available at present. th Leo Dierckman asked why the access point is needed from Auman Drive and into 126 Street? It would seem to encourage traffic into the neighborhood and would serve as an outlet for cut-through traffic; 50 cars at the AM and PM peaks? th Steve Fehribach said that Auman Drive turns, then flows north to 126 Street. The count would be 50 cars in the peak hour. . Leo Dierckman: What is the status of Keystone Avenue with the State relative to curb cuts? Steve Fehribach said a report and request for curb cuts had been sent to INDOT—to date, nothing has been received from INDOT, however, the Department concurs with the request. The State could take 30 days, but they may respond earlier. Leo Dierckman: What is the road that is headed south, (not AAA Way) what is the continuation of that road or is there a road there already? Is this the Barnes property? David Leazenby responded that as of today, there is no road shown on the plan. However, there is another proposal for this lot when the developer planned the property—Buckingham is only 5 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 showing the connection. The property is not part of Buckingham’s proposal and will not be in the short term. The property is not the Barnes property. For clarification: There are two different properties here—the former Marsh store, now The Fountains, and the property to the east that is referred to as the Barnes property. Buckingham is showing a street that would continue through to Carmel Drive—this is part of the Thoroughfare Plan. The time frame is not known at this point, be we are pretty confidant that the connection will be made some time within the next 8 to 12 years. Leo Dierckman asked what would happen if the connection (to AAA Way) is not made to the other points—from a planning standpoint, what would need to occur if that were never to happen? What additional improvements would be necessary? Steve Fehribach said they are currently reviewing the situation and cannot answer at this time. David Leazenby added that while the Thoroughfare Plan does show the connection, the intent is to thth provide a connection from 126 Street south to 116 Street. The alignment today is what Buckingham is showing to connect to the light. Could that happen in another way around the property? There are other ways to accomplish the goal—this is just the way it is shown at present. Madeleine Torres asked if Steve Fehribach could further explain, for the benefit of the public and the Committee: the times the traffic was measured; how long it was measured; from what time to what time was it looked at; and over what period of time, two weeks—a month? Steve Fehribach responded that all of the traffic is put on the system for the full build-out plus the year 2016. What we look at when we do that is the peak hours—AM peak hours and PM peak hours. “Peak” is the worst hour that can occur any time during the day. In this community, the majority of the peak time occurs in the evening hours and in the morning hours. Peak is known to occur at any time of day at other locations, sometimes lunchtime hour can be the peak. We want to be able to design the road or lane so that it can handle the worst-case peak time. When we talk about the peak hour, we do that for the one hour the lane will handle the most traffic—at three in the afternoon it will not be that bad, but if we take care of the peak hour, we have taken care of the other 23 hours of the day. The reason we look at AM and PM peak hours is because there are usually different flows in different directions; AM peak might be an east-bound problem, PM might be a west-bound problem. Therefore, the roadway would be designed to handle the lanes and traffic east-bound in the morning and west-bound in the evening—we look at all those things and the worst case scenario that can occur in the lanes. We literally count traffic between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM and between 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM in the afternoon, due to the retail component. We count seven hours of the day and find the worst hour in the AM and PM peak hours during the week, usually between Tuesday and Thursday—not Friday afternoon and not Monday mornings. Leo Dierckman asked about the plan for the other ingress/egress points--at what stages will each be implemented? David Leazenby responded that the plan is for those ingress/egress points to occur as different phases of the project are introduced. A formal phasing plan has not yet been put together. As different phases are introduced, the Plan Commission would review it under ADLS and exact 6 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 locations would then be determined. Today, those are conceptually shown. Again, Engineering has yet to provide their direct input. Leo Dierckman asked if on-street parking on the east side of Auman—the west side of the development—was included in the parking calculations? David Leazenby said that a parking calculation has not yet been provided for the entire project. However, yes, on-street parking on Auman would be envisioned. Since it would be directly accessible, logic would tell you that someone would park in front of someone’s house, then yes, it would be included. Leo Dierckman commented that he would rather see parking on the opposite side: put the additional parking on the Gramercy side to provide more buffering. Leo did not what the residents in Auman Addition to have to look at cars parked across the street every morning. Leo definitely wanted to discourage such a situation and wanted to move the parking inside the Gramercy development. David Leazenby responded that they were completely open and flexible with the design of Auman Drive and they have already included in the PUD Ordinance restrictions on height, no commercial, no backs of buildings, etc. If we do the front of the building facing the street, then on-street parking is consistent with that. Leo Dierckman said the situation needed to be discussed with the Department relative to their desire. Leo said he would definitely discourage parking on Auman Drive—persons in residence should be able to look at landscaping or sidewalk and buffer—not the on-street parking. public comments At this time, Leo invited and the following persons spoke: Jerry Johnson, 741 West Auman Drive, agreed that on-street parking on Auman would not be a good thing and would only encourage people to drive in/out, park, and go into the Gramercy project—ideally would want to avoid as much traffic as possible into the area. Also, wanted to know how much traffic “In Total” this project will generate—50 cars during peak hours is a very low estimate. The 50 cars is dependant upon the Keystone exit—what if it does not get approved by the State? 50 is a lot of cars through a residential area. 20/20 Vision document states that…. “predominant site access to medium intensity residential areas should not directly utilize minor streets which pass through low intensity residential areas. In addition to peak hours, how many cars throughout the day would be going through Auman Addition? The streets in Auman Addition were not designed to carry that kind of traffic. It is important that independent traffic studies from uninterested parties be utilized to determine the traffic flow and counts from Gramercy Park. Henry Winckler , 411 Jenny Lane, representing Central Carmel Preservation Assoc. Cannot turn thth onto Ash Drive from 126 Street—must wait a long time—there are more than 30 cars on 126 Street alone. Keep in mind this is a settled community—we do not need a new development next door. Keystone is a scar to the community with the noise and traffic. We want to change priorities that are simply wrong right now: cars, traffic, road construction; commercial development; 3) residents concern—living conditions, environment, safety and ease of movement; must be less 7 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 dependant on cars and traffic in our planning. Residents’ concerns should be number one! This area is one of the areas in Carmel that is an affordable community, including the apartments. We don’t want to see that destroyed—where would the people go? Philomina Squier, 1315 Lawrence Road, referred to a chart that is included in the Comprehensive Plan under Chapter 5—Growth Policies Plan. Under neighborhood commercial, support circulation—“the site must have direct access to regular access without traffic intrusion into adjoining neighborhoods. With the access proposed into Auman Drive, that is a lot of traffic in an adjoining neighborhood. Question is: Who is going to pay for all of the roadway improvements on th 126 Street—the taxpayers who don’t want this to begin with? thth Paul Davis, 320 East 126 Street, 32-year resident, had a lot of questions: When will 126 Street th be widened—before or after the start of construction? How wide will 126 be upon completion of roadway improvements? What roadway improvements will be done at the intersection of Auman thth Drive and 126 Street? Five years ago, 116 Street was to be widened at Merchants Square—it is still not widened! Traffic now backs up from Keystone to Rangeline between 7 and 8 AM and between 46 and 6 PM with traffic as it is now—with more homes, where will the traffic go? There th could possibly be 2000 more people moving on 126 Street going to Keystone. John Sullivan , President of The Enclave HOA. (Submitted some material from Auman Addition) The commercial parking for the proposed use in Gramercy—where will that occur? Will they park in The Enclave, across the street? Is that included in the traffic plan? The entrance from Mohawk Hills is directly across the entrance to The Enclave and we have a tremendous amount of traffic. Has A & F done any study on that? Will the City retain its own traffic engineer for an unbiased report? A & F is working for and being paid by Gramercy—who is working for the residents of Carmel? Nobody! Are the developers taxpayers in Carmel? Installing two northern entrances to Mohawk th on 126 Street and moving them about 100 feet to the west and installing a left turn lane as is west of Keystone on Carmel Drive would prevent traffic from coming directly into The Enclave. If this does not happen, we will have to ask that our community be “gated.” Keystone: In my mind, the ingress/egress onto Keystone Avenue is key to this project; if the developer is not successful in obtaining that—the whole thing should disappear. We should also know what they are doing. The developer says they don’t know—they would not put $40 million into this project and anticipate another $100 million into if they “don’t know.” There is no final, ultimate traffic plan for Keystone. So, we are putting 2,000 living units and a commercial project basically right in the middle of downtown Carmel with no way to get in and no way to get out—when we have the exact same thing three blocks away. Tom Meganheart , 11938 Eastwick Circle, resident since 1960. Mr. Meganheart remembers when Carmel had no traffic—he likes Carmel better with traffic. Traffic is not a bad thing; traffic congestion is. Traffic brings jobs, traffic brings businesses, traffic brings increased property values. As long as traffic is managed well by competent people who do a good development, as a resident of Carmel, I want traffic. I know what it has done for me and for employment. Carmel today is a whole lot better place than when there was no traffic years ago. Traffic is not a bad name—congestion is. 8 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 th Tim McDonald , Lawrence Drive, only wanted to discuss westbound traffic on 126 Street. At the previous meeting with Gramercy, the traffic engineer said that there was a portion of the project outside his purview, and he was not concerned with the existing level of service at this intersection. Mr. McDonald wanted to give a clear picture of just how bad this intersection is. The traffic is not up by 1 ½%, it has gone up three times in ten years traveling westbound. A significant portion of th the time it takes to get from 126 to I-465 has gone from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. A significant th portion of that time is getting on to Keystone. The intersection at 126 and Keystone is inferior. The left turn lane is too short, there is a temporary, unofficial right turn lane, the traffic mixes up and does not make maximum of the green time at the light. The traffic backs up three blocks to Lawrence Road. Angie Molton , (sp?) 740 West Auman Drive, had questions as to where the numbers came from. The proposal states that the land uses are proposed but not limited to—what numbers? In other words, how much commercial, how much residential, how many restaurants—what were the numbers used to come up with the traffic generated by Gramercy? There is not enough information given to the residents. Another concern is the timing of construction. Ms. Molton lives at the northern end of Auman and if construction starts in the northwest corner, what will be put into place to accommodate the neighborhood residents and children at the school bus stop. If the developer is not successful in getting an access point at Keystone and farther south onto Carmel Drive, do you foresee the City having to run roads through our homes to connect the four roads to accommodate traffic for this development? Ms. Molton would not want to see that—it would be THEIR property at the expense of hers. Jeff Havens , 240 Shoshone, as former police officer, one of the things noticed already is the amount of cut-through traffic in Mohawk Addition. Once traffic emerges from Gramercy into the four points, there is no way to control speed limits or what route they take. Mr. Havens suggested that there be a dedicated egress only for Gramercy Park that would not allow either their traffic to enter our neighborhood or Auman Addition to enter Gramercy. Barry Reynolds , 132 Ute, Newark Village. Mr. Reynolds asked “Why Auman at all?” Secondly, 50 cars is a lot of cars and a lot of people that won’t be able to get out of their driveway. Most of the residents have already figured out routes out of the Subdivision, just to go south is no help at all—it will end up being just a cut-through for a lot of the activities that will happen in the future with the Arts & Design District and Civic Center. Opposed to cut-through traffic. Rebuttal: Steve Fehribach referred to the 50 vehicles and whether or not the roads could handle that. The engineers measure by capacity; typically in neighborhood streets, one lane of traffic could handle up to 1500 vehicles in one hour if they do not have to stop. Adding an additional 50 cars to Auman Drive will not cause any additional delay or capacity problems along the corridor. The total number of vehicles on a daily basis crossing into Auman Addition is not calculated at this time. The total number of cars for the development—again, we look at peak hour—that calculation can be made. Who pays for the roadway improvements and when? The answer is unknown at this time. The thth timeline for 126 Street? The development will not be completed overnight and 126 Street should 9 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 be in place when the volumes dictate the need. The number can be calculated by using a phasing-type study. th Madeleine Torres asked about the east and west bound traffic on 126 Street and the number of lanes. Is A&F Engineering recommending dedicated left turn, right turn, and through lanes in each direction? Steve Fehribach’s response: There would be a through lane in the west-bound direction; next to it would be a continuous left turn lane so that you could turn left into any of the proposed Gramercy access points. East-bound, there would be a continuous left turn lane or continuous through lane so people could either turn left into The Enclave or they could go all the way to the intersection of Keystone Avenue and get into either a through lane or left turn lane. There will be a continuous right turn lane so that people could turn directly into this development. There will be four (4) th twelve-foot lanes across the frontage of this development. How wide will 126 Street be? 48 feet is recommended (4, twelve-foot lanes.) The capacity is about a 24-foot wide road. th Susan Westermeier asked if A & F Engineering had looked at the intersection at 126 and Range th Line Road—people do travel west on 126 Street, west of Keystone—not everyone travels east and then south. Steve Fehribach responded that traffic was projected that would go west. One situation we have th not really looked at yet is the four-way stop on 126 Street--Auman Drive on the south and Lexington on the north. The 4-way stop does create a delay; at some point in time, 4-way stops th reach capacity. We will probably have to look at that, but we have not gone down to 126 and Range Line Road for this project. A & F has looked at that intersection several times for the City for other projects; the amount of traffic from this development to that intersection would be handled at that intersection, but this study does not include that. Regarding the cut-through traffic to The Enclave—the traffic engineers did drive The Enclave corridor along with the corridor in the neighborhood to the north; however, we did not take a look at people that would cut through between the current apartments—we will follow up on that. th Westbound traffic: Mr. McDonald is correct. In the westbound traffic at 126 and Keystone, the lanes are not long enough. The left turns trying to get onto Keystone actually block the through lane at some point. The recommendation on this approach is to add a left, a through, and a right turn lane. We would then have an additional lane—people are making their own lane now because people are trying to get through. Our recommendation is to improve this intersection. Access to Auman Drive: There are no plans to run any roads through any houses right now. This development would not cause the need to do that. Regarding the traffic through the Auman Addition neighborhood, there are various traffic calming devices if the speed increases, but the way traffic moves through this neighborhood--angles, stop signs, etc. help to reduce the speed. There may be additional things necessary to reduce the speed and we can look at those. 10 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 Why Auman? Are 50 cars a lot? 50 cars across four driveways or 12 ½ cars per driveway—that would be on an hourly basis. You might get one car every ten minutes across each of the access points—not an excessive amount of traffic. On an overall “U” to get people to move back and forth th across there, it will help the system across 126 Street, across Range Line Road, and across Carmel Drive. David Leazenby responded to the question about the proposed uses being open-ended.The way the PUD Ordinance is written, it contains a list of uses that are permitted and by design, the neighborhood is meant to have a mixture of uses. In that mix, some assumptions were made in the study. The design as presented to the Plan Commission is to have a variety of uses and a mixture of housing types. The parking is to be handled in on-street parking and parking structures. Parking is not anticipated at The Enclave—the commercial uses are designed towards the southern part of the site. The design then is to be pedestrian friendly with a mixture of uses—there will be some reduction in traffic just by the mixture of uses. Not everyone must get into his car to drive to get a gallon of milk—they could walk a few blocks. By design, this is a different way of living—it will be more pedestrian friendly. The petitioner will continue working with the City. The City Engineer’s office reviews Steve Fehribach’s work. The City Engineer will also help determine the th timing of roadway improvements on 126 Street in conjunction with this project. The City also has th plans for Auman Drive and 126 Street; the 5-year old plans have not yet been taken to construction and are being reviewed again with the proposed project in mind to see how it would all fit and accomplish. Paying for the improvements: We are in the preliminary talking stages with the City and analyzing the overall improvements in the core of Carmel are already on the books and already planned. In working with Steve Fehribach, the study will determine what actually needs to be done; the cost is anticipated to be incorporated into the project—but how dollars are allocated has not yet been determined. st Jim Shinaver, final comments: After the Commission meeting on the 21 of February, an additional neighborhood meeting was held with the residents of Auman Drive and the residents of th Cool Creek neighborhood east of Keystone, north of 126 Street. During one of those meetings, the question was asked about construction traffic. What was explained at that time was that if the rezone is approved, we would have to come back for ADLS/DP approval for any particular section that we would want to develop. Assuming that approval is granted, the construction traffic issue would be discussed at that time. The petitioner would also have to go through the Board of Public Works in conjunction with the Department of Engineering so that the appropriate entrances could be established—construction traffic, where construction trailers may be located, etc. Also mentioned during the neighborhood meeting: the Buckingham Companies has been involved in the development business for a number of years and they understand the importance of construction traffic, construction trailers, etc. and would be sensitive to those types of issues. Can separate roadways be designated for the residents of Auman Drive and a separate type of dedicated drive for the residents of Gramercy? The only observation made is that the zoning ordinance does require connections to adjacent roadways. The Plan Commission has dealt with this issue on many, many occasions. The belief is that there are certain sections of the western part of Clay Township where, historically, those connections did not occur and years later it resulted in 11 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417 difficulty with traffic flow because there were no alternate “release valves.” Part of the reason for that is not only traffic flow but also for perpetual integration of neighborhoods. As it relates to traffic, one of the speakers mentioned traffic versus congestion. The Urban Design Initiative in the central core study for Carmel does propose a different vision for the central core of Carmel and with that comes certain traffic considerations. The petitioner does not believe that what he is proposing is inconsistent with that particular vision. However, we will continue to work on the issues. With the special meeting on March 16, 2006, if acceptable to the Commission Committee members, the petitioner would like to talk about some of the other aspects of the project so that traffic could th be revisited at another meeting after the 16 of March. Department Comments, Christine Holmes: As noted by the petitioner, the Department has not yet received formal review from the Engineering office, although they did indicate that they want to see more numbers. The planning staff as well would like to see more cross-sections of streets, more numbers for those streets, street widths, and more detail on how that will all be handled. The Dept. staff has an interest in AAA Way as well and how that will connect—the concern from a planning standpoint is that AAA Way will lead into what will be the commercial heart of the project. AAA th Way also represents what could be an additional cut from Carmel Drive to 126 Street—more information is required. Regarding parking on Auman Drive—anytime there is a project this size, it will have an impact on the surrounding area; the planning staff would like to minimize the impact as much as possible. There are several possible design solutions to the parking on Auman Drive that will still maintain the neighborhood feel of both Auman Addition and Gramercy. One of the ways this can be done is having the houses in Gramercy face the houses on Auman Drive, lighting the walkways to the sidewalks and providing parking areas such as parking courts internal to the development—all these would lessen the impact on Auman Drive. This can be looked at later in the development stage. The Department is awaiting comments from the City Engineers. Docket No. 05120025 Z Gramercy PUD (Mohawk Hills Leo Dierckman then announced that Redevelopment) continued would be to a special meeting of the Special Studies Committeetobe March 16 at 6:00 PM. The Topic for the nextmeeting will deal with heldThursday, Basic The meeting will be held in the Design Issues--traffic issues will resume on March 30, 2006.) Council Chambers subject to availability. __________________________________ Leo Dierckman, Chairperson __________________________ Ramona Hancock, Secretary 12 S:/PlanCommission/Minutes/Committees/SpecialStudiesCommittee/2006/mar07 ONE CIVIC SQUARE CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 317/571-2417