Letter #6 Jordan Kohl
Butler, Bric
To:Butler, Bric
Subject:RE: Searching for a small affordable home in Carmel
From: Jordan Kohl <kohl.jordan@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2024 10:06 AM
To: Finkam, Sue <sfinkam@carmel.in.gov>
Cc: Keeling, Adrienne M <akeeling@carmel.in.gov>
Subject: Searching for a small affordable home in Carmel
Mayor Finkam,
I am writing to express my sincere hope that the Housing Task Force, along with the city council, and your
staff come to the conclusion that the Carmel Unified Development Ordinance needs to be updated to
match the needs of our current and future residents. I would like to be on record as one of the many pro-
housing residents in this city that wants Carmel to be a place of prosperity for all.
My family moved to Carmel in July of last year. We chose Carmel for the good public schools, the
walkable downtown core, and the (relatively) affordable housing. While waiting to buy, we have been
renting a townhome on Main Street. Unfortunately very few homes come up for sale in our price range, in
the school district where my daughter has already made friends.
We have been scouring the housing market in and around downtown Carmel on a daily basis since
before we moved. We have seen prices go up, inventory go down, and our options dwindle. We are
looking for a duplex, townhome, or small house with an even smaller yard, but unfortunately the only
options are larger than we need and generally more than we can afford. It is my dream to set down roots
in Carmel, but in order to live within walking and biking distance of my daughters school, it seems like we
will be renting for the foreseeable future.
Our lease is up for renewal and the landlord has informed us that our rent will be increasing by 16%. My
salary will not be increasing by nearly that much, but we don’t really have an alternative. I can’t imagine
how a rent increase like this would affect a single working mother or someone on a service industry
salary.
When I started researching Carmel, I was inspired by all the density that had been built and the mixed-
use projects in development. However, I’m saddened when I see public backlash over a new
development like Andrews PUD. The original plan of 46 townhomes and duplexes was exactly the kind of
missing middle we need. Unfortunately it got watered down to just 30 single-family homes costing over
$700K — exactly the kind of housing of which we have too much.
It is inevitable that homeowners (who benefited from their development getting approved) will protest
new developments in their backyard. The city allows this vocal minority to dictate the scope of these
projects, which will have massive effects on the local housing market for decades.
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In order to sidestep these project by project arguments, we should legalize more density by right. The
solutions for Carmel are simple. Unaffordable housing is not a unique issue to Carmel and we have
plenty of examples to learn from.
Reduce minimum lot sizes
Since Carmel has few vacant lots, it stands to reason that we can’t increase housing supply by building
out. Also, as shown in the presentations at both Housing Task Force meetings so far, Carmel has an
oversupply of housing that fits the existing zoning: large single-family houses on large lots.
The minimum lot area in Carmel’s residential zones (S1, R1, R2, R3) is between 8,000 and 15,000 square
feet. With the high cost of land, developers are incentivized to build the largest and most expensive
house they can in order to get a return on their investment.
In 1998, facing a similar steep population increase, Houston made substantial revisions to its zoning
code, including lowering the minimum lot size for single-family homes to 5,000 square feet (and even
1,500 square feet in certain cases). In 2013 they expanded that city wide. The success of these reforms
has been evident: Houston has a median house price below the national median despite decades of job
and population growth.
Other Texas cities like Austin and Dallas are also reducing lot size minimums to spur housing
development, as multiple different studies have shown this can have a dramatic effect on reducing new
home prices and rental costs.
Reduce parking minimums
Parking mandates, like those we have in Carmel that require two per dwelling unit, can raise housing
costs by tens of thousands of dollars. By reducing the minimum, we can allow for major cost savings
across all developments and build right-size parking for smaller homes, especially near downtown,
where many people are a single-car household.
Plenty of other cities have already reduced or removed parking minimums to improve housing
affordability and help build missing middle housing. Removing parking requirements doesn’t mean an
end to parking: developers will still build what is appropriate for the market.
Legalize Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
Most properties in Carmel have space for an ADU, but are not legally allowed to build without a lengthy
permitting process. This deters many homeowners from adding much needed housing to our city. ADUs
can be used to house family members and bring revenue to existing homeowners.
In California, statewide legalization has facilitated over 80,000 new ADUs since 2017. Carmel should
make it quick and easy to get ADU approvals, reduce impact fees, avoid imposing parking requirements
or limiting ADUs to owner-occupiers, and remove public hearings.
Reduce setbacks, legalize duplexes, increase max lot area, etc.
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I could go on forever on the amount of rules in our zoning code that make it difficult and expensive to add
more housing to Carmel. Things like setbacks and max lot areas limit the amount of density that can be
built, even in multi-family zoning. Restricting duplexes in all but a handful of zones has made this much-
sought after commodity a complete rarity here in Carmel.
I hope that with your lead Carmel can continue to build towards the future, so people of all income levels
can afford to live, work, and prosper in our community.
Thank you,
Jordan Kohl
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