Pulte Homes asked the Carmel Plan Commission committee on Jan. 6 to recommend approval of a planned-unit-development rezone to build a 27-unit townhome neighborhood at 220 West 106th Street.

For the petitioner, Rex Remington said the revised PUD now includes an agreed buffer with adjacent property owner Forte that will add about "38 trees and 86 shrubs" along the northern property line and that the internal street will be public and built to city standards with sidewalks and tree lawns.

The PUD also specifies architectural standards — more masonry, defined window trim and side-elevation treatments for units visible from Illinois Street — and includes a separate recorded commitment extending local rental-restriction rules. Remington described the rental commitment as building on the city's recent code: a 10% cap on rentals (2 of 27 units for this project), an initial 12-month owner-occupancy requirement and a minimum six-month lease term thereafter; leases must be recorded with the HOA.

Staff from the Department of Community Services, Alexia Lopez, said the petitioner has addressed most outstanding comments, will submit fuller water-resource documentation for engineering review and had written buffer and architectural changes into the PUD documents.

Commissioners split sharply over whether the townhome product is appropriate along the US-31/Meridian Corridor. Several members said they feared the product was “forced” into a commercial corridor and questioned long-term market demand and noise impacts; others said the rental restrictions and revised design elements mitigated the principal concerns and pointed to the Meridian Corridor plan’s guidance.

After extended debate and a tied voice tally among committee members, commissioners opted to forward the application to the full planning commission on Jan. 20 with no recommendation rather than endorse or oppose it.

The full planning commission will receive the file on Jan. 20, when council and additional planning commissioners will have an opportunity to vote on the rezone and associated PUD commitments.