Plan commissioners debate grant programs, design standards and park trails in Homeplace subarea review

The Carmel Plan Commission Committee of the Whole spent more than an hour on Sept. 2 reviewing a proposed Homeplace subarea plan that would amend the Carmel comprehensive plan to add neighborhood- and district-scale design guidance, funding concepts and street typologies intended to guide future private and public investments.

The draft recommends a "first 16 feet" focus — a combined public- and private-funded grant program to improve the area immediately adjacent to storefronts and porches — preapproved building plans to guide context-sensitive infill, temporary and permanent pocket-park treatments, and exploration of funding tools such as tax-increment financing (TIF) and a building improvement/business development fund to support façade and storefront upgrades.

Planner Adrienne (Department of Community Services) led the discussion and said the "first 16 feet" describes the pedestrian experience starting at the front façade and extending roughly 16 feet outward. "The program itself ... recommends a series of grants for folks to enhance, on the private property side, the first 16 feet," Adrienne said. Consultants from Yard & Company described similar…