Developer plans 81 town houses, retail for Noblesville

An Indianapolis-based developer is seeking a zoning change for land at the corner of State Road 32 and Hazel Dell Road in Noblesville to allow for a mixed-use project featuring commercial lots and town houses.

KennMar LLC has filed plans with the city of Noblesville to develop 23 acres southeast of the intersection for six commercial lots and 81 town homes on a site formerly designated for a project called Shoppes at the Dell.

The developer has requested the site's zoning designation be changed from single-family residential to multifamily residential and planned business.

The project, called Hazel Dell Trails and Marketplace, is expected to be presented to the Noblesville Plan Commission on May 21. It would also require final approval from the Noblesville City Council.

City officials have made several recommendations for the plan, including the addition of landscaping as a buffer between the commercial and residential development.

The Shoppes at the Dell development was proposed by Indianapolis-based Peacock Cos. and approved by Noblesville in 2006, but it never came to fruition. Plans called for five commercial lots as well as housing on the 23 acres. Eventually, the zoning designation reverted to single-family residential after the Shoppes plan was never developed.

Now, six commercial lots would front State Road 32 with the multifamily homes being constructed south of the commercial development. Ten acres would be reserved for commercial use, with the remaining 13 being dedicated to homes.

The developer said the homes would be built by Indianapolis-based Westport Homes and would be similar to houses in the Saxony development at 131st Street and Olio Road in Fishers.

The commercial lots would range in size from 1.37 acres to 2.58 acres at the largest and would be used as retail and office space.

Conceptual plans filed by the developer show two lots would be reserved for a restaurant with outdoor seating and a fast-service restaurant with a drive-thru. The other four lots would be reserved for office or retail.

Submitted documents don’t detail whether any businesses or companies have committed to moving in, and KennMar representatives could not be reached for comment.

The residential portion calls for 15 buildings, the majority of which would contain five units, for a total of up to 81 homes. The city’s architectural review board has required each unit be at least 1,700 square feet. Some of the buildings would front the Midland Trace Trail, documents state.

The developer has provided a list of prohibited uses for the site—including manufactured homes, schools and golf courses in the residential district and club or lodges, meeting halls or party venues, or warehouses in the commercial district.