Zionsville planners hear extensive public support and staff objections for Maple Lane Club PUD; petition continued to Oct. 20

The Zionsville Planning Commission on Sept. 15 opened and then continued the public hearing for a rezoning request that would convert about 181 acres along U.S. 421 and County Road 200 South from rural agricultural to a planned unit development to permit a mixed-use neighborhood anchored by a nonprofit campus for adults with intellectual disabilities. The petition was continued to the commission’s Oct. 20 meeting after the petitioner agreed to waive the new 90-day statutory shot clock for PUDs.

Staff told commissioners the PUD ordinance would allow up to about 360 dwellings and six use blocks including a campus for “Watch Us Farm,” a private 501(c)(3) that the developer says will operate vocational greenhouses and agricultural amenities. In staff’s view, most of the PUD’s proposed single-family neighborhoods do not align with the 2022 airport-area land use plan for Union Township and would exceed the character and density the plan recommends.

The proposed plan divides the site into a Founders Grove block (staff noted a cap near 159 single-family residences), a Heritage Hill block (about 97 residences), a Pine Gate block (about 80 residences), a central community amenity block with no residential, a Watch Us Farm campus block (up to 24 residences intended for adults associated with the nonprofit), and a Maple Lane Commons neighborhood-commercial block at 421 and County Road 200 South. Petitioner materials and the developer’s presentation said the total dwelling units would not exceed…