By Jason M. White
May 01, 2008 08:44 am
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PENDLETON — A planned subdivision has a group of Pendleton residents worried about increased traffic congestion along Old Indiana 132.
Cicero-based Coronado Ridge Development plans to build a 56-home subdivision with only one entrance and exit onto the road.
Town Plan Commission members this summer expect to review technical aspects of the subdivision, such as road and home construction. Coronado Ridge plans to present the commission with a traffic study of Old Indiana 132 in May or June.
The subdivision, called the Falls at Pendleton, is planned for 20 acres west of the Pines of Deerfield subdivision along Old Indiana 132, in the South Madison school district. Earlier this month, the Plan Commission voted 4 to 2 to approve the subdivision’s initial site layout.
Commission members Cheryl Ramey-Hunt and Carol Hanna voted against the site layout. They were concerned too many homes would cram together on too few acres with not enough green space.
However, residents were more concerned with potential traffic problems.
Jim Baltimore has lived along Old Indiana 132 for 33 years.
“I’ve seen traffic increase 20-fold,” he said.
A single entrance onto the road will likely make traffic problems worse, he said. Residents who live along the road sometimes have to wait five to 10 minutes before being able to pull out of their driveways, he said.
Some residents were also concerned that too many homes were being crammed together on the property.
But the proposed home quality is worth allowing builders to construct homes on smaller lot sizes than allowed on the land, said Rob Williams, a town planner. The minimum lot size allowed is 14,375 square-feet, but most of the subdivision’s yards are smaller than that, he said.
This is acceptable, because the developer is agreeing to avoid the construction of another “vinyl village,” he said. Most homes will have fiber-cement or solid-wood siding, said Kelly Newcomer, assistant director of development with Coronado Ridge.
However, plans do not allow for any green space, which was a concern for Ramey-Hunt. As the town grows, it needs to grow its parkland as well, she said.
“It seems like we’re going backwards a bit,” she said. “I think allowing no green space is probably not a wise idea.”
Developers did agree to design a path to link the Falls at Pendleton to the Pines of Deerfield subdivision, which is also a Coronado Ridge development. This would allow a link to an existing trail system and path towards existing parkland.
However, developers want to avoid linking the two subdivisions with roads.
The Plan Commission asked developers to get a traffic study of Old Indiana 132 to determine the subdivision’s impact to traffic flow.
Developers plan to have the study when they go back to the Plan Commission in May or June for further approvals to items such as home designs.
Home are planned to come in four different-size products: the 2,000-square-foot Jefferson II, the 1,900-square-foot United, the 2,100-square-foot Heritage and the 1,500-square-foot Patriot.
Homes will likely sell in the low $200,000 range, Newcomer said.
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