Carmel council OKs 43-home Monon Lake project

CARMEL — Over the objections of nearby residents and the city Plan Commission, the City Council agreed to rezone a wooded area in south Carmel for a new neighborhood.

The 6-1 vote on Monday night represented a 180-degree turn from a month earlier when councilors chided developer M/I Homes of Indiana for bringing a project that they said had little chance of passing.

What changed? Concessions to protect existing neighborhoods from an influx of traffic, and facade changes to improve the look of the neighborhood.

The proposed subdivision, known as Monon Lake, calls for 43 homes on 34 acres bordered by 101st Street, I-465 and the Monon Trail. It gets its name from a 13-acre lake west of the Monon that neighbors had argued should be preserved as one of Carmel’s few remaining natural resources.

Residents collected more than 180 signatures, and peppered councilors with dozens of emails and phone calls throughout the months-long zoning process. After M/I Homes’ concessions passed the land-use committee with a positive recommendation, a neighborhood group announced it would form a limited liability company to purchase the woodland to preserve it.

While praising the neighbors’ persistence, counselors said they feared that they could be held liable for damages if they delayed the zoning process any further. Because M/I Homes had a contract in place to buy the land, some worried it would be tantamount to tampering for the council to intervene on the residents’ behalf.

“It would be expensive and complex,” Councilor Luci Snyder said. “(The LLC) is a two-minutes to midnight kind of thing with an amazing number of legal ramifications.”

The best hope for residents was that the city would tap the property as a future park. But as city officials had no concrete plans to do so, councilors said they were wary of interceding on residents’ behalf.

“I don’t like voting against the Plan Commission. I don’t like voting against residents who oppose a project,” said Councilor Sue Finkam, emphasizing that the land has long been privately owned. “Ultimately, those that have written saying how much they enjoyed this property over the years — they’re on (someone else’s) property.”

In a nod to environmental concerns, developers included a tree preservation area and a promise to donate unused land between the lake and the Monon Trail to Carmel Clay Parks and Recreation for public use. According to planning documents, the developers are targeting empty nesters with the homes, ranging in price from $325,000 to $400,000.

Councilor Ron Carter was the lone vote against the project, saying the council should defer to the Plan Commission’s recommendation.

Call Star reporter Brian Eason at (317) 444-6129. Follow him on Twitter: @brianeason.