Carmel Plan Commission to Vote on Beazer PUD Application Tues., Oct. 17 at 6PM (PLEASE ATTEND)

Thank you everyone for your support in opposing Beazer Homes’ application to rezone the property located at the NE corner of 136th Street and Keystone Avenue in Carmel from its long-standing R-1 designation to PUD. Beazer needs this zoning change in order to fit as many dwelling on the land as possible and make this space financially viable for them. So far more than 1,200 people have signed the petition in opposition to Beazer’s PUD application. I submitted the petition to Mayor Brainard, the Carmel City Council, and the Carmel Plan Commission. The Carmel Plan Commission’s Residential Committee has held several meetings with Beazer representatives (with community representatives opposing the application in the audience) working through changes to the development plan. On October 3, the Residential Committee voted in favor of forwarding Beazer’s application back to the full Plan Commission Meeting with a favorable recommendation to approve Beazer’s rezoning request. Please know this was not unexpected and just the first phase in a multi-tiered process. Now Beazer’s rezoning application will go to the full Plan Commission this Tuesday, October 17 for vote by the Plan Commission. There have been several Plan Commission members who have expressed serious concerns about this project (with one comparing the back of some of the home designs to “pole barns”) and hopefully they have maintained their resolve and not succumbed to political or commercial pressure and will keep their opposition to the rezoning request. I urge you to attend the Plan Commission meeting on Tuesday at 6PM at the Monon Community Center East Building, Meeting Room B, 1235 Central Park Drive East, Carmel, IN 46032, and make your opposition known to the Plan Commission. We can make our point and display our resolve by showing up in large numbers. If the Plan Commission votes in favor of the rezoning application, the application will be forwarded to the City Council for vote. Thus, there are several steps remaining in the process and now is the time for those in opposition to this rezoning effort to stand up and make their voices and opinions heard. I encourage everyone to write an email, send a letter, and/or call members of the Plan Commission and City Council and Mayor Brainard and express your opposition to Beazer’s PUD rezoning application. We’ve also learned that Beazer has approached several homeowners adjacent to the proposed development offering to deed them 30' property areas along the border of the proposed development in return for their acquiescence in opposition of the rezoning effort. While this may seem enticing to the homeowners whose properties are connected to the development area, this does not address the concerns raised by all those in opposition to the PUD rezoning, which includes increased traffic at the proposed main entrance at the roundabout on 136th street (which means increased traffic around the high school), increased traffic moving through the connected neighborhoods, 100+ duplexes and limited home designs adjacent to R-1 neighborhoods, and squeezing a high density development in a R-1 zoning area that does not fit with the surrounding communities. Please share this petition with your friends and neighbors via social media and encourage them to join the petition so we can keep the pressure on and prevent our City representatives from making a mistake and rezoning the proposed land from R-1 to PUD.