What happened: The council voted to rezone approximately 597 acres located on the west side of Michigan Road north of Willow Road, from rural residential to a planned unit development district for a project called Holliday Farms, named after the farm previously located on the acreage.
What this means: Henke Development Group LLC will now move forward with plans to redevelop the nearly 600 acres into a residential development and 18-hole golf course, designed by famed Carmel-based golf course designers Pete and Alice Dye. The project contemplates a maximum of 595 single family homes in the residential and lifestyle block. Over 50 percent of the project area is designated to green space, including the golf course. There will also be town homes on one side of the development. Matt Price, a representative of Henke Development, presented the proposal to the council.
“We created a community residential district on the southern frontage along Michigan Rd. that can be used for residential uses like town homes,” Price said. “We did this in lieu of having business or retail. It does allow some additional dwelling units.”
The project will also seek exemption from the town’s golf course ordinances.
“We think this can be the beta example of how to permit golf carts within a (Zionsville) community,” Price said.
The development will also include multimodal transportation with the addition of an east-west pathway, dedicated for pedestrians and open to the public. The extension of the Turkeyfoot pathway will run along Eagle Creek.
Included in the project is the preservation of a small cemetery, and the restoration of the historic Simpson-Breedlove home on the edge of the property, built in 1865.
“There is a lot of history of the farm itself,” said Steve Henke, head of Henke Development.
Henke plans to protect the cemetery with wrought iron fencing and refurbish the historic brick home to use as offices. The home’s most recent owners built a barn behind it in 1996. Henke plans to refurbish this and potentially use it as a clubhouse or event center.
What’s next: The project is planned to begin in early 2019. Henke’s goal is for the course to be completed in the late fall of 2020. Some home development will be taking place in tandem with the course development, but most homes will be built after the golf course is completed.
