Officials from the Town of Culver have been working on the proposed Dunes subdivision project for the past several years and the Culver Town Council took additional action to move the project forward during their regular meeting Wednesday, June 26.
The current plan calls for 132 apartments, 48 homes, 28 duplex units, and 20 senior living apartments with the possibility of an additional 73 homes.
According to documents on the project, The Dunes will run along the west side of South Main Street beginning at Davis Street and running south past Wabash Street to the line of evergreens adjacent to the cemetery. The project will wrap around the Culver Garden Court center on the west side of South Main Street at Tampa Street.
The town previously approved a bond ordinance toward the project by a majority vote. Culver received $1.3 million in READI grant dollars to assist with the cost of infrastructure for the project with matching TIF funds approved by the Culver Redevelopment Commission.
Research into questions from town officials and members of the public have resulted in studies from engineering firms into water and wastewater capacity for such an addition, as well as the impact of traffic.
Many members of the public attended Wednesday night’s meeting to continue to voice concerns of access to State Road 17 from the proposed development, utility capacities, traffic, safety, density, affordability, and the size the project..
Others who supported the project noted the increase of economic benefits to the downtown and other merchants, growth of the community, more students attending the Culver Community School Corporation, and more opportunities for workforce housing.
After 90 minutes of taking public comment and questions posed by the public and answers provided by the developer’s attorney Burke Richeson, there were two votes before the council Wednesday night. Councilwoman Ginny Munroe made a motion to approve the dedication of the rights-of-way and easements for The Dunes project, with the motion seconded by Councilwoman Sally Ricciardi. Councilman Bill Githens stated that the was not in support of the vote and would like to see the project downsized to its original scope of about half of the current project. Councilwoman Ginny Munroe stated that housing has been an issue for some time and the council members identified that into the comprehensive plan about 10 years ago and it remains a top priority. She also noted the amount of work done by financial institutions, engineering firms, town employees, and Plan Commission members when it comes to this project. Councilman Dana Neer agreed with Githens and Ricciardi agreed with Munroe. When it came to a vote, Munroe, Ricciardi and Council President Bill Cleavenger voted in support of the vote while Neer and Githens opposed the vote.
The second action item was to approve the site plan for the development. Ricciardi made the motion for approval and Munroe seconded the motion. The vote was 3-2 with the same council member vote.
With that, Town Manager Kevin Danti stated that he will continue to take public concerns into consideration as the project continues to develop and any questions can be directed to the Culver Town Hall. All of the documents involving the project can be found on the town’s website at www.townofculver.org.
