Owners of the Brassie Golf Club who want to turn the course into a housing subdivision were told by three members of Chesterton’s Advisory Plan Commission that their proposal for 600 units on 200 acres is too high in density.
PMM Chesterton, which does business as Diamond Peak Homes, was making their official concept review proposal before the seven-member Advisory Plan Commission Thursday night. There were about 25 people in attendance, but only the plan commission members could speak.
While it was the first official appearance, PMM Chesterton has been publicizing their intentions for what they called “The Brassie Plan” for months. PMM Chesterton met with town economic development officials and also made one prior unofficial appearance before the Advisory Plan Commission. They also held two community forum meetings at Chesterton High School.
The next steps before the Advisory Plan Commission — if PMM Chesterton proceeds — would be a preliminary hearing, a public hearing and then a vote by the commission. The Town Council would have the final vote.
As a result of interaction with town officials and the community, Michael Herbers, the managing partner for PMM Chesterton, said they did adjust the housing units downward to 600 from 632.
The development would have a variety of home styles with 83 single-family homes on 75-foot-wide lots and 127 single-family homes on 50-foot-wide lots. There would be 196 paired villas — or duplexes — and 194 townhomes.
When asked, Herbers estimated that the low-end pricing for the townhomes in the development would cost between $250,000 to $300,000. Herbers said that it is important to have housing available for the area’s workforce, like teachers and police officers.
Plan Commission member James Kowalski was the most blunt in his assessment, saying they were trying to put “10 pounds of potatoes in a five-pound bag.” He said a lot of people weren’t happy with the plan and some labeled the developer’s meetings with the community at Chesterton High School a “dog and pony show.” He also was critical of what he saw as a lack of concrete information and added “I don’t see anything here that I see as really sincere.”
Kowalski noted that in some places, the housing was so dense there was only 10 feet between the houses. He said that would mean that a person would open their window and end up watching a neighbor take a shower, which he described with the profanity for bull waste.
“This just ain’t gonna fly with me, I’ll tell you right now,” Kowalski said.
Plan Commission member Thomas Kopko noted that he was opposed in November 2022, when Lennar Homes proposed building almost 400 houses on the property.
“This would be 50% more which would be 50% worse,” Kopko said.
Kopko said he wouldn’t be for such density “in this lifetime or the next.”
“Come back with 300 (houses) and you might get my interest,” Kopko said.
David Uran of Game Plan Solutions, who is assisting PMM Chesterton, said that having only 300 single-family homes would drive pricing of the homes “way up.” He said with the market today, there is a need for housing for first-time home buyers and seniors.
Councilwoman Sharon Darnell, D-4th, who is also a plan commission member, said she was concerned how the density of housing for the Brassie Club property would affect drainage because it is “the wettest section of town.”
The water table is only 4 to 8 feet from the surface in some areas. Darnell said there is no way the houses could have basements.
Darnell said she lives in the area and knows there were houses built with basements and now the owners have to deal with flooding.
“I am not going to go through that again,” Darnell said. She noted that the developer is at some disadvantage because prior builders “were not good stewards.”
Building 600 homes would also overload the roads in that area, Darnell said.
Herbers said that a traffic impact study would be performed for that area.
However, Darnell noted that the town must now deal with the funding implications of Senate Bill 1 and the new property tax revenue generated by the housing wouldn’t be enough to cover the costs of providing town services.
Herbers and Uran said they would consider the input they received from the commission members, along with the town’s Engineering Department. Uran emphasized that they want to build a quality development for the community.
After the presentation of the Brassie Plan, Councilwoman Jennifer Fisher, R-5th, told the Post-Tribune she was disappointed by the conduct of some of the commission members which she thought was “unprofessional.”
“It is really inappropriate for an advisory plan commission (member) to be yelling and cussing when talking to people,” Fisher said. She said she also was disappointed that the developer was talked down to and interrupted when they tried to answer.
Fisher said that some town council members had asked the developer to have a diversity of housing, yet one advisory plan commission member wanted only single-family housing.
At a February council meeting, Fisher raised concerns about the town’s reputation with developers and how the advisory plan commission members had treated them. She said with the town’s new economic development team, there was a need to improve the town’s approach.
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