Dozens of people attended the New Whiteland Plan Commission meeting on Tuesday to share their thoughts on the proposed development. Elissa Maudlin | Daily Journal
A proposed residential development with approximately 430 homes is closer to coming to New Whiteland.
The New Whiteland Plan Commission unanimously forwarded a favorable recommendation to the town council Tuesday to rezone land for a planned unit development dubbed Pleasant Creek PUD. The development is proposed to be at the northwest corner of Sawmill Road and County Road 500 on several parcels surrounding the wastewater treatment plant.
The land still needs to be annexed to the town but the council has already given preliminary consideration to the annexation and will make a final decision on the annex at its Nov. 6 meeting, said town attorney Lee Robbins. He said the annexation happens alongside the development approval process because some landowners may not want to annex the land to a town if a development is not also approved for the land.
The subdivision will be built by two different builders and feature homes with 46-foot, 52-foot and 54-foot wide lots alongside attached and detached townhomes, said Adam Mears, representative of Gradison Land Development. Homes on the east side and the townhomes will be built by Lennar while homes on the west side will be built by Ryan Homes, according to the concept plan.
“To have a community where you can have different sized houses, different sized lots, different types of townhomes is hopefully going to meet the needs of the public and provide a new place and new life and for people to live,” Mears said Tuesday.
Although it may change as the development gets further into the town’s approval process, the developers are currently expecting to build 145 homes with 52-foot wide lots, 83 homes with 46-foot wide lots and 85 homes with 54-foot wide lots, according to the concept plan. For townhomes, the concept plan shows 117, although Mears said Tuesday that number could decrease.
Developers also plan to build a pool and pool house for residents, alongside open greenspace.
According to estimates by the developers, the subdivision will have a positive impact on property values. Mears said the current valuation of the parcels is approximately $797,000 and the values would increase to around $124 million as a result of the project.
Several members of the public attended the meeting to hear about the development, ask questions and share their thoughts. A few residents were skeptical of the development, citing concerns about flooding, traffic and the pool amenity.
Theresa Rogier, who attended with her husband Mike Rogier, asked how the developers will handle traffic since the subdivision features lots of homes in a small area with limited entrances and exits. Mears and Mark Gradison, of Gradison Land Development, said a traffic study will be done and a roundabout is planned for the intersection at Whiteland and Sawmill roads.
People also brought up questions about a bridge near the property. Gradison said the bridge being small is a traffic calming mechanism. However, Mike Rogier said emergency services would have a hard time getting through there during an emergency and the weight limit on the bridge could become a problem. He recommended a second entrance on Whiteland Road for the development instead of an emergency exit.
Maxine Wolfe shared concerns about having the pool for the development when the town doesn’t have a pool for residents already living there.
“Our town doesn’t have a pool. If you guys are paying attention to the Town of New Whiteland Informed Citizens (Facebook page), you would see that people are constantly complaining they don’t have a pool here …” she said. “What I’m saying is that they’re putting in a pool over there for that subdivision and you’re going to annex that in the town, some people are going to kind of feel like that’s a spit in the face.”
Robbins said whether or not the town has a pool isn’t relevant to the project.
Kate Kerry said she is concerned about the development’s impact on the creek and wanted to know how the developers would prevent flooding. Mears and Gradison said the project will meet state standards and a full drainage study is being completed. Kate Kerry wasn’t convinced and said other projects had caused more water to come on her property despite those developers saying the same thing.
“All the concrete you’re going to put in is going to cause my house to flood. What’s your plan?” she asked Gradison representatives at the meeting.
The conversation tensely shifted as Kate Kerry and her husband Jason Kerry continued demanding answers. Town officials, Mears and Gradison said they couldn’t give any other answers than what they’ve previously said.
Plan commission members attempted to interrupt Jason Kerry as he continued speaking. During this exchange, Jason Kerry expressed frustration and asked if he could continue speaking.
To which John Perrin, a town council member and plan commission member, raised his voice to say, “We can stop this right now.” Perrin later apologized to Jason Kerry shortly for raising his voice during the tense moment.
Matt Gillock, plan commission chairman, said the purpose of the meeting is not to fully address all concerns but just the most pertinent topics related to the rezoning request and information that the developers and town have right now.
“We will get into further detail as the preliminary plat [moves forward] … and once we get construction documents, [we can address] things like that, if it gets that far,” he said.
The developers will present a preliminary plat of the subdivision for approval at the November plan commission meeting.
