Voice of the People

Prior Town leaders had a profound vision of what they wanted Chesterton to look and feel like in the future. I believe this vision, at its core, was that it is beneficial for Chesterton to maintain its character and it is proper to promote high quality development. Lot size goes a very long way to establish a certain level of quality and it is always beneficial to the look and feel of a neighborhood and thus the Town.

Based upon the initial proposals for two new proposed developments it is clear that the developers will look to circumvent current Town development standards by going the way of a PUD. I’m not sure if it is written that all Town standards are up for debate with every new developer that rolls in to Town with a PUD in hand, but it sure seems that way based upon a few recent developments approved by the Town.

My understanding is that a PUD is a tool to be used by the Town in order to gain more control over development and not a means by which to surrender it. The Town should not let a PUD to be used as a way for developers to rewrite the Town ordinances in order to maximize their own profits to the detriment of the Town in the years to follow.

Not including acreage required for roads and storm water detention, one of the proposed plans calls for square footage to be 25 percent less than what is proposed in the current ordinance. The other calls for similar density but with a very high percentage of multi-family dwellings (a 3:1 ratio) and mixed with commercial property. Surely the Town of Chesterton deserves better and can do better. Both have the initial earmarks of forgettable suburban developments that sadly are the norm.

As Chesterton begins the process of reviewing these two new major housing developments I think members of both the Plan Commission and the Town Council should rededicate themselves to this ideal.

John Swibes

Chesterton

Posted 3/15/2007