Final plans were unveiled Tuesday for the Kingsbridge mixed-use development on Franklin’s northside.
Indianapolis-based developer Platinum Properties Management Company, LLC is planning the mixed-use development to include 240 new homes, a market-rate apartment complex, two commercial spaces and an 18-acre public park.
The property, currently farmland, is located south of the Park Forest subdivision in Whiteland, and south and east of the Knollwood Farms subdivision in Franklin.
The Franklin Plan Commission forwarded a planned unit development to the Franklin City Council for consideration. A PUD is a special type of zoning classification, so the process for approval is similar to a rezoning.
The plan commission also approved a waiver to shorten a cul-de-sac that was formerly a road leading into the Park Forest subdivision. That road connection was removed after a previous outcry from neighbors and concerns from the Whiteland Town Council.
The portion of Kingsbridge that was located outside the Franklin city limits was annexed into the city earlier this month. The PUD is the final piece of the puzzle.
The new plan includes 10 more homes than the initial plan. The developer shrunk the size of the drainage ponds, with permission from the Johnson County Drainage Board, said Dustin Huddleston, attorney for Platinum Properties. Shrinking the ponds also allowed the developer to increase lot sizes across the development, he said.
The size of the public park also shrunk to 18 acres, because the city’s parks board did not want to take on maintenance of a drainage pond that was previously included in the 28-acre park, Huddleston said.
The developer will donate 18 acres of land to the city, and use money that would normally be paid to the city as a per-home and per-apartment unit park impact fee to develop amenities at the park. The fees will be used to build a parking lot, trails, playground and dog park, plans show.
If approved, the housing development, by Miami, Florida-based Lennar Corp., would include about 63 homes from Lennar’s Venture Collection, priced at $275,000 to $350,000, and 177 homes from the company’s Cornerstone Collection, priced at $350,000 to $450,000. The new plan includes three more Venture homes and seven more Cornerstone homes than the previous proposal.
The homes would be developed first if plans are approved, with the apartment complex and commercial developments to come when partners are found for those projects.
The two commercial buildings would be built on U.S. 31, with a road between the two leading to the apartment complex and subdivision behind it. The park would be on the westside of the property.
In other news
The plan commission also approved plans for a 125-home subdivision west of the Cumberland Trace and Cumberland Trail subdivisions. A rezone to RS-2 from RS-1 was approved earlier this year to allow the developer to build smaller lot homes.
Arbor Homes, which was not announced as the builder, presented the plans Tuesday.
The development will include both ranch-style and two-story homes similar in price and style to Branigan Preserve and Bluffs at Youngs Creek, two Arbor Homes neighborhoods already in Franklin, said Lantz McElroy, of Arbor Homes. Those homes have starting prices in the low $200,000 range, according to Arbor’s website.
The development also includes a 17-acre common area to include green space, a large retention pond and a walking trail that would connect to the future extension of the Franklin Greenway Trail, plans show.
A neighbor shared concerns about flooding, given that part of the property is in a floodplain. The water will be routed to the detention pond to be built on the west side of the property and overflow will go into Youngs Creek, McElroy said.
