The Plymouth Plan Commission took action – without taking action – on a request for re-zoning by Garden Court during their recent meeting.
The company hopes to build an apartment complex on property adjacent to Martin’s Supermarket. The plat of land has two lots just to the west of the store and Garden Court would like to build three buildings with a total of 36 apartments and an office building on the lot nearest to Berkley Street.
For the plan to go through, the current zoning of commercial would have to be changed to multi-family residential.
A motion was made to send an unfavorable recommendation to the Plymouth City Council for re-zoning, but could not get the six votes necessary to pass. As a result, the Plan Commission officially took “no action” on the request that will now move on to the City Council for a final yes or no.
Bradley Company, who manages the other Garden Court properties, would manage the complex that would have a frontage on Berkley Street.
The plan for the apartments is to give an option for affordable housing to lower-income families.
Renters would need to meet the requirement of an income less than 60 percent of the current median income in Marshall County. The income amount provided by Garden Court in the meeting was $33,000 per year.
Opposition to the plan centered on two main areas – one of which was preserving the “commercial corridor” created by the current zoning. The other was a concern over the property being similar to another Garden Court project on the west side of Plymouth at Serenity House.
Dave Morrow, who owns one of the buildings in the area of the proposed development, and Fred Webster, a Plan Commission member, spoke of the area being one of the entryways to the city. Morrow talked about the preservation of the current makeup of the area which is mostly small businesses, along with Martin’s and Oliver Ford.
Webster who resides in the vicinity was concerned that with several other housing projects already in the area, there would be a “saturation” of the neighborhood with low-income housing.
The second concern pointed to the current project on West Jefferson at Serenity House. Brandon Richie, who serves on the Plymouth Board of Zoning Appeals, and Webster pointed out the large number of fire and police calls at that complex since its beginning. Both had a concern over what measures would be taken to keep similar incidents from occurring at the proposed complex.
City Attorney Sean Surrisi told the board the city administration was supportive of the project. He pointed out that part of the financing for the complex would come from a competitive grant process with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority that would make tax credits available to fund the project. The application deadline to be considered for those funds is time sensitive, with a deadline at the end of July.
Webster’s motion of sending an unfavorable recommendation did not receive the six votes necessary, in essence sending no recommendation to the Council.
The item will be on the agenda for the Plymouth Common Council tonight.
