Two rezoning proposals that would bring 215 homes to Greenwood’s eastern and southern limits cleared a major hurdle Monday night.
With one member absent, the Greenwood City Council voted 7-1 — twice — to approve two separate rezoning requests from Carmel-based Pulte Homes Indiana on Monday. Council member Brad Pendleton voted against both rezonings.
In both proposals, Pulte Homes was requesting agricultural land be rezoned from agricultural to residential. The Greenwood Advisory Plan Commission gave favorable recommendations for both rezonings.
One proposal was for 83 acres of farmland on the northwest corner of the intersection of Whiteland Road and Honey Creek Road at the city’s southern limits, while the other was for about 24 acres of farmland between Combs Road and Five Points Road located on the city’s east side.
No one from the public spoke about the project during’s Monday city council meeting. Council members did have questions, however.
The southern project
For the 83-acre southern development, Pulte plans to build 160 single-family homes with an amenity area, pocket parks, trails and green space. The homes will range in price from $350,000 to $550,000, though Pulte officials expect the price range will be closer to $400,000 to $500,000, Rex Ramage, director of land planning and entitlements for Pulte Homes, previously said.
The planned neighborhood is located just east of Scottsdale Estates, a massive Arbor Homes development under construction between Honey Creek Road and State Road 135, Ramage told the city council Monday. Plans for this subdivision, which were approved in late 2020, call for 505 medium and large single-family homes to be built, along with several amenities.
Pulte Homes’ development would feature streets that would connect to stub streets to the Arbor Homes development, which surrounds the Pulte proposal on both its west and north sides. Current plans call for two entrances into the neighborhood, both off Honey Creek Road.
Council member Erin Betron asked Ramage and city planning staff about whether a roundabout was planned for the intersection of Whiteland Road and Honey Creek Road, which is currently a T-intersection. Ramage says the intersection will need some improvement, and a recently completed traffic study should address that.
As part of the rezoning, Pulte is required to dedicate some land for future road improvements. But constructing a roundabout will not happen anytime soon.
A roundabout at the intersection would require the cooperation of three governments — Greenwood, Bargersville and Johnson County— as it is at the city’s outer edge, said Gabe Nelson, planning director. It’s on the city’s radar.
“We couldn’t force it upon the other jurisdictions. We’d have to coordinate with our neighbors to the south, Bargersville and the county,” Nelson said.
Council member Linda Gibson asked if the developer could share an overview of the traffic study with the city council at a later date, and Ramage said they would send it to city planning staff for distribution.
Before the vote, council member David Hopper asked to amend the rezoning to exclude vinyl siding. He later did this for the eastern project as well, and both amendments were passed.
The eastern project
The eastern, 55-home Pulte Homes development is planned to be built on a narrow strip of land. It also has a cut out for a single-family home that is not part of the project.
This subdivision is also located between two previously approved projects that are expected to bring an estimated 600 homes to the area.
It would be located directly west of Sagebriar, an up to 519-home Del Webb active adult community also planned by Pulte Homes. It’s also directly east of Ridgetop, an Arbor Homes development that will consist of 80 lots. The original Ridgetop proposal was 120 lots, but it was trimmed down to 97 before having a final plat of 80 lots approved earlier this year.
Most of the development would be two-story homes, though some ranch-style homes are possible, Ramage said. All of the homes would range in price from $350,000 to $500,000, and the project would help bring utilities to the area.
Pulte Homes has also worked with the owners of the house that is cut out from the project on some of the road improvements required by the city, he said.
Later in the meeting, Hopper asked Ramage about whether residents of this development would be able to use amenities in the Del Webb community. They will not be able to, as they are not part of the active adult community, Ramage said.
Betron asked Ramage about the peculiar size of the development. It is a narrow strip surrounded by other narrow strips to the north and the south. The land was subdivided into narrow farmland tracts in the past, Ramage said, and while Pulte Homes tried to acquire them, the other property owners weren’t interested.
Betron also asked about the zoning of the adjacent properties and what could be placed there. The tracts of land to the north and the south are currently operating as farmland, and would have to be rezoned in order to become something else, Nelson said.
Additionally, these tracts are not within city limits, meaning that if the owners did want to rezone the land, they would have to go the county — not Greenwood. However, it is likely the county would tell them to go to Greenwood to be annexed then rezoned, Nelson said.
“Historically, if someone’s surrounded by Greenwood, the county will ask them to not file with them, but to file for annexation (with us) instead. But that’s not guaranteed,” he said.
