Longtime homeowners seek preservation amid a developing downtown
On any given summer evening, you’ll find families wandering from yard to yard in the Johnson Addition neighborhood; the smell of barbeque smoke in the area and the sound of children running through the streets catching fireflies. It’s almost like a scene out of “Leave it to Beaver.”
“It was built by the greatest generation for their children and grandchildren,” said resident Chuck Ford, who has lived on Lantern Lane for 25 years. “Our neighborhood signifies that era of neighborliness and safety and family. It’s everything that we as a country ought to get back to.”
Over the last 20 years Carmel has seen change. But right in the middle of this growth, there’s a neighborhood of ranch-style homes built in the 1950s and 1960s that represent a quieter era for Carmel.
“It really is Americana at its best,” said resident Mary Eckard, who has lived on Lantern Lane for 11 years. “There are plenty of subdivisions, but this is a neighborhood.”
But its future is at a crossroads and some are worried that history will be torn down.
PRESERVING HISTORY
Recently, Eckard and Ford supported an effort to turn their neighborhood into a “conservation district” in order to preserve the traditional look. It passed through the Carmel City Council but Mayor Jim Brainard vetoed the bill and there were not enough votes to override his veto.
Brainard then suggested a new proposal that could help preserve the look of the area.
Creating the “conservation district” was a polarizing issue. Critics told the City Council that they worried that they wouldn’t be able to make renovations to their homes if the neighborhood was a conservation district. In a petition, the majority of neighbors supported the conservation district. Critics said that the petition was conducted in an improper manner, and that meeting’s notifications were not posted. (Eckard and Ford both said that’s not true.)
The new idea is to turn the neighborhood into an “overlay zone” which is a zoning classification that protects parts of the city with certain guidelines, such as height restrictions and architectural conformity. There’s a public hearing scheduled before the Carmel Plan Commission on March 17.
“I think it’s a better answer to the neighborhood’s concerns,” Brainard said.
‘DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH’
City Council President Rick Sharp, who voted in favor of the conservation district, said he thinks the overlay should be done under the control of the Carmel Historic Preservation Commission instead of the city.
“I don’t think the overlay goes far enough,” he said. “I think the veto was for political reasons and there’s a chance that overlay is for political reasons as well.”
There are some differences between the conservation district and the overlay zone plans. In the overlay zone, some homes along Main Street have been eliminated from the boundaries that were included in the conservation district.
Michael Houser, a neighbor who opposed the conservation district, said past experiences have left some neighbors feeling divided.
“There are really too many unanswered questions at this point to form an opinion on the matter but I am deeply concerned that once again this has been done by their small group without the input from the entire neighborhood,” said Houser, who has lived on Sherman Drive for four years.
FLOODS, CONDOS AND REZONING
Some neighbors are split in their feelings about new construction. Some complain that street festivals mean that random people park in front of their houses and that they have to worry about noise. Others say they love being able to walk to a restaurant to have dinner on a nice summer evening.
Just to the south of the Johnson Addition neighborhood, there’s unused land near Bub’s Café that’s being sold by the Carmel Redevelopment Commission.
Just east of the Johnson Addition boundaries, an art gallery owner wants to rezone a piece of property along Main Street she has so she can tear down a house and build a commercial building.
Meanwhile, Johnson Addition homes are being threatened by flooding after heavy rains. That problem is being fixed through a new Storm Water District utility, but Sharp said he thinks the area was ignored for many years.
But in the end, Ford said he’s optimistic about the future. He likes the growth as long as it doesn’t mean tearing down the past.
“To tear this down and just make everything glitzy and new just adds to any of the negative image that some people have about Carmel,” he said. “We should have a better image than that.”
What is an Overlay Zone?
It’s a regulatory tool that creates a special zoning district over an existing base zone that identifies special provisions for the area.
What are the notable rules for new buildings if the overlay zone is passed?
- May not exceed the height of the tallest dimension of the nearest two principal buildings on the same side of the street by seven feet.
- Must follow the dominant or average front yard setback dimensions.
- Must conform to the rectangular ranch floor plans.
- Wide house fronts compared to depth.
- Open front porches.
- Attached garages in line with or slightly forward of the home.
