By Adam Aasen
Josh Kirsh, of Carmel, said he recently had his “Lorax” moment.
The parks board representative and member of the Carmel Plan Commission has been passionately against the new Monon Lake housing development to be built where an untouched wooded areas sits next to the Monon Trail just north of the county border.
“Just like that Dr. Seuss book, I’m trying to ‘speak for the trees,’ because a lot of people aren’t recognizing the value of this area,” he said. “It would be a shame if we lose this space. There’s nothing like this around. And this is our only chance. We have to make people listen.”
Two weeks ago, Kirsh led a group of 50 fellow environmentalists and upset neighbors to hike through the natural trails surrounding the lake. This “flash expedition” was meant to show the Carmel City Council that residents don’t want this development.
“I even swam in this lake to show people how beautiful it is,” Kirsh said. “And I didn’t even get sick or eaten by a sea monster.”
But City Councilors say that preservation of nature won’t be the deciding factor in whether to approve this development – no matter how many people show up with passion.
“Passion is great, but I have to make decisions based on logic, not passion,” said City Councilor Luci Snyder.
The Council’s Land Use Committee voted to give the development a positive recommendation on Wednesday. Initially objections to the project were mostly due to traffic concerns, but those were resolved with a new traffic flow plan. But voting against the project just because of nature wasn’t considered by many members.
“I’m a big supporter of the parks system, but if we put a park somewhere every time the public expressed remonstrance against new home construction, we’d have nothing but parks,” City Councilor Ron Carter said.
City Councilor Rick Sharp added that the parks system could have bought the land if they wanted to.
“While Josh is a much respected member of the parks board, he’s not the spokesperson for the parks board,” he said. “We’re a little late in the game for the parks argument to wash. I don’t think parks has any deal on the table for this land. Given that parks hasn’t acted on it and it was available, that’s not the reason to turn this down.”
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Carmel Clay Parks Director Mark Westermeier said it would be inappropriate for him to advocate for or against a new housing development. He said the developer, M/I Homes, had approached him about dedicating some space for parks department use and that what was proposed might be positive.
But even if he’s the only one fighting for it, Kirsh won’t give up his mission to preserve the woods.
He has several ideas of how to use the land. He likes the idea of putting a nature center where school children can learn about environmental sciences. He thinks a Japanese tea house – connected to Carmel’s sister – could be constructed and accessible through hiking trails. This is similar to a tea house at Lake Louise in Canada. Another idea is adding a cable system for wakeboarding on the lake.
All of those ideas could help raise revenue to pay back the cost of the land, but even if nothing is done, he said it’s already in great shape.
We had kids walking through this area, saying, ‘This is so cool. I want to go here all the time.’ And people don’t know about this space,” he said. “But those that have been here know that Carmel would be better off without this development.”
Kirsh said he believes there are several ways to buy the land. He said the township has money in savings that could be used. Federal land grants could be granted.
“And I’m not above going door to door with a jar collecting peoples’ nickels,” Kirsh said. “This is that important to me.”
The Council will presumably vote on the development at its next council meeting on Sept. 15.
Just because the committee gave the project a favorable recommendation, don’t mean it will automatically pass. In June, the Council nearly killed a Pulte development called Bear Creek. It received a positive recommendation, but when it came before the full council, many were ready to vote against the project unless a mulch walking trail was immediately removed from the plans.
Carter said he has concerns about this project because he feels it’s just a way to cram in 43 homes when the original zoning was for 28. The plan commission voted against the project and he said that should be considered.
“If we just completely ignore the Carmel Plan Commission, then why even have them?” he said. “They did a careful analysis of this project and we should too.”
