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A 147-acre residential and commercial development with more than 350 new houses proposed for rural land in northern Zionsville continues to face opposition from nearby residents and Indianapolis Executive Airport officials.
The Zionsville Town Council is expected to make a final decision on The Reserve at Union Woodlands on May 5. On March 17, members of the Zionsville Plan Commission declined to give a recommendation for the project.
Since the project proposed east of Michigan Road/U.S. 421 and south of East County Road 200 South was introduced in January, Zionsville-based developer Pittman Partners has reduced the number of single-family houses from 284 to 204. The development plan calls for 150 town houses and 20,000 square feet of retail space.
If the project receives approval from the town, Pittman Partners hopes to break ground in the fourth quarter. The Reserve at Union Woodlands would cost about $250 million to develop and take up to seven years to build.
The property Pittman Partners wants to develop is bounded to the north by single-family houses, to the east by the Union Woodlands subdivision that is being developed by the central Indiana office of Miami-based Lennar Homes, to the south by the Countrywood subdivision and to the west by large-lot single-family houses and agricultural land. The Indianapolis Executive Airport is about a mile northeast of the site.
The Reserve at Union Woodlands would feature four different “use blocks.” From west to east, there would be commercial buildings and town houses in the Michigan Road Use Block; a natural setting in the Tree Preservation & Wildlife Use Block; single-family houses in the Center Common Use Block; and large single-family houses costing upwards of $1 million in the Estate Residential Use Block.
A 49-acre public park with two or three pickleball courts, a playground, a trail system and a restroom facility would also be built on the east side of the development.
An earlier plan called for five use blocks. The one that was eliminated would have featured more single-family houses.
Pittman Partners is asking the town to rezone the property from Rural General Agriculture to The Reserve at Union Woodlands Planned Unit Development. Earlier this year, Zionsville town planning staff forwarded the rezoning request to the Zionsville Plan Commission with a negative recommendation due to concerns about incompatibility with the town’s comprehensive plan, proximity to the Indianapolis Executive Airport runway and the density of the project.
Pittman Partners CEO Steve Pittman told Plan Commission members last month that he decreased the number of lots and increased lot sizes after meeting with residents, but there is only so much he can do while keeping the project viable.
“Ultimately, we see the world differently in terms of density,” Pittman Partners CEO Steve Pittman told Plan Commission members last month. “They felt they would like to get down to one unit per acre, and that was just something that economically, there’s just no way you could do that and make that work.”
Indianapolis Executive Airport Director Sam Sachs told Plan Commission members that airport executives have safety concerns about the proximity of the proposed development to the airport’s main runway. He said he is not concerned about the operations of the airport, but rather the people on the ground.
“This area is directly under the base turn for Runway 3-6, which is our primary runway at the airport,” Sachs said. “The base turn is an area where the aircraft are flying low. They are flying slow. They have their landing gear down, and they are turning toward the runway.”
More than 10,000 business flights operate in and out of Indianapolis Executive Airport annually, making the airport the fourth-busiest non-towered general aviation airport for business traffic in the United States, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s traffic flow management system counts. A $15.2 million project completed in 2023 extended the airport’s runway from 5,500 feet to 7,001 feet.
Residents who spoke expressed concerns about the impact of the development on the rural character of the area and area infrastructure.
“There is no way anyone with a proper mind can sit here and say this will blend with the area,” Michelle Grosse-Stark said. “I ask that we stop what I call the ‘development mullet.’ You know what I mean. Business in the front, residential in the back. It does not belong in our unique, rural Zionsville.”
Pittman Partners initially submitted a rezoning request for The Reserve at Union Woodlands last summer. The project was scheduled to be discussed at the Zionsville Plan Commission’s meeting in September, but it was delayed for four months as the developer met with neighbors, Indianapolis Executive Airport authorities and the Zionsville Parks Board.
The initial plan called for 250 single-family houses, 84 town houses and 350 apartments. Pittman Partners also proposed a $4 million Zionsville Sports Park with four baseball and softball fields and eight pickleball courts. The sports park was scrapped because the airport might someday expand its runway from 7,001 feet to 7,700 feet, putting the park in the runway protection zone.
Pittman Properties is currently developing The Farm, a mixed-use project on 48 acres in Zionsville at the southwest corner of the intersection of Michigan Road and Sycamore Street.
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Pittman usually does a good job, but Lennar is very questionable based on what they’ve done in Indy. All the potential home buyers will regret living under that flight path, and the airport is designed for more and bigger jets. Not compatible at all!