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Plan Commission recommends Town Council approval for Park West rezoning to PUD
Summary
The Saint John Plan Commission voted 5-1 to recommend the Town Council reclassify a Calumet Avenue parcel from C-2 to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) to allow up to 160 townhomes and a future fire station lot; a resident raised traffic and school-capacity concerns during public comment.
The Saint John Plan Commission voted 5-1 on May 21 to recommend that the Town Council reclassify a parcel at Calumet Avenue and roughly 193.5 feet south of 100 and First Avenue from C-2 to a Planned Unit Development, a proposal known in materials as Park West (petition 25-10).
The change would allow a development commonly called St. John Commons with “not to exceed number of 160 townhomes,” two builders (Blackburn Builders and McFarland Homes) and a fully improved lot to be deeded to the town for a future fire station, according to the applicant's presentation by Mr. Kell, the project's representative.
Residents raised concerns about traffic and school crowding during the public hearing. “You guys are building up every single space in St. John … They are redistricting all the schools because they are crowded over crowded,” resident Linda Collina said, adding worries about commuting time and classroom sizes. Kell told the commission the site is “in the Southwest quadrant of 100 And First and Calumet, just South of Providence Bank” and said the development team has discussed utilities and water mains with Public Works.
Commission discussion addressed traffic and jurisdictional limits. A commission member noted the area of concern described by the resident is several miles from the subject parcel and that the roundabout and signal decisions cited are controlled by INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation), not the town. The applicant said they had been unable to install traffic control devices at earlier developments when INDOT declined those requests.
Motion and vote: Commissioner Russ Vogel moved a favorable recommendation; the motion was seconded and approved 5-1. The commission recorded the motion as a recommendation to the Town Council and closed the public hearing on petition 25-10 Park West.
Why it matters: A Town Council approval would change zoning and allow the developer to proceed toward detailed engineering, utility coordination and eventual building permits. The commission’s recommendation does not itself rezone the property; it forwards the PUD request to the Town Council for its legislative action.
What remains: The application will proceed to the Town Council for final legislative action. The record includes public concern about school capacity and traffic; commissioners and staff noted limits on the Plan Commission’s authority for annexation and state-controlled road access decisions.
