Residents and council press Lennar on drainage and density for 146th & Towne PUD

Lennar Homes of Indiana representatives presented revisions to a proposed planned unit development (PUD) for roughly 16 acres at 146th Street and Towne Road during the Carmel Land Use and Special Studies Committee meeting on Jan. 8, 2025, drawing questions from residents and councilors about stormwater staging, tree preservation and housing type.

The committee heard that Lennar reduced the project’s unit count and removed a commercial neighborhood node from an earlier submission, and that Lennar committed to preserving wetlands and adding tree plantings. John Dobosiewicz, with Nelson & Frankenberger, who represented Lennar during the meeting, said the petition originally proposed 92 units and that the current filing reduces that number to 87 and converts the previously proposed commercial acreage to residential and open space.

Why it matters: the 16‑acre parcel sits between Ambleside and Saddle Creek neighborhoods. Neighbors said existing interlinked ponds and undersized drainage pipes have caused erosion and repeated, costly repairs downstream; they pressed the developer and city staff for a design that would avoid increasing flows into Saddle Creek.

Dobosiewicz outlined the substantive changes Lennar made after five hearings before the Planning Commission: the commercial node was removed; the overall number of homes was reduced from 92 to 87; the pond location was shifted north; wetlands on the site will be preserved in full and protected by a 25‑foot buffer; and additional tree plantings were committed. He said the proposed stormwater pond on the site would be about 3.8 acres in size.

John Thomas, stormwater administrator for the City of Carmel engineering and stormwater department, described the city’s baseline pond expectations and safety features. “We would just expect that we see a minimum, depth average depth of that pond to be 8 feet,” Thomas said, adding that ponds also require a safety shelf that “extends 15 to 20 feet out from the base of the slope of the, above normal pool … and then gets down to about 2 feet in‑depth before it then continues down to that 8 foot in‑depth.”

Residents from Saddle Creek said they remain worried the plan routes runoff east into Ambleside before it reaches Saddle Creek and that the combined system of pipes and ponds across several neighborhoods is already strained. Chris (identified in the meeting as a Saddle Creek resident and former HOA president) told the committee that an “independent pond would be a great help to the community” and described repeated outlays for pond repairs, estimating tens of thousands of dollars in recent years.

Dobosiewicz and Lennar’s on‑site team said the development will divert surface runoff away from the immediate south flow path that currently enters Saddle Creek; the firm and staff said the proposed pond’s larger normal pool volume should improve stormwater treatment and water quality compared with the existing conditions. Lennar also told the committee it would preserve the wetland area and avoid tree removal within that wetland, while agreeing to additional buffering and street and lot tree plantings. In the presentation Dobosiewicz noted commitments to plant additional shade trees along rear yards adjacent to Saddle Creek and to add trees in open space; Lennar described a total of roughly 67 additional trees as part of those commitments.

Beyond drainage, committee members and residents debated density and housing type. Dobosiewicz said the project now proposes a mix of single‑family detached homes and smaller townhome buildings (two‑story townhomes rather than three stories), with the majority of 146th Street frontage showing detached homes and three visible two‑story townhome buildings set back from the street. He said the townhome product was retained in part as a transition from higher‑intensity uses to the north and west.

Councilors and residents said they would prefer more single‑story, detached options for downsizing residents and asked Lennar whether removing townhomes or replacing some units with ranch‑style detached homes was feasible; Lennar said removing townhomes would raise base prices and could make certain price points infeasible. Dobosiewicz gave the price ranges discussed in the submittal: “the townhomes … in the mid threes” and single‑family detached product “in the ballpark of 350 to 425” thousand dollars.

No formal action or vote occurred. Committee members directed Lennar to return with options and more detailed analyses, including whether the petitioner could reduce townhomes or add more single‑family ranch homes and whether wetland mitigation or reconfiguration could yield additional buildable acreage. The committee scheduled further review at a follow‑up Land Use meeting on Jan. 22, 2025, and asked staff and the petitioner to continue coordination with county drainage and city engineering.

Next steps: Lennar agreed to evaluate alternative layouts and cost implications and to report back to the committee; city staff said additional hydraulic analyses would be performed during the development plan phase and that the committee would continue the conversation on Jan. 22.