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2021 02 04

Random Rippling

January zoning

by Alan Hague

posted: Feb. 04, 2021

The January public meeting of the Broad Ripple Village Association's Land Use and Development (LUD) committee was held via a Zoom virtual meeting on January 26th.

(All images included here were presented at the public meeting.)

There were four items on the agenda (in bold below)

1) College & Broad Ripple Ave. - Keystone Group with a presentation and request for a vote on the Broad Ripple mixed use/Purdue Polytechnic High School (PPHS) project. (6:10-6:30 p.m.)

This proposal is to raze the former Chase Bank Drive-Thru facility at 6230 N. College Avenue (just south of the parking garage) to make way for a new building for Purdue Polytechnic High School and apartments.

The structure to be located at 6320 is five stories, with the first three dedicated to PPHS. This will provide the school with 33,000 square feet. The target is to have the school space ready for the 2022-2023 school year.

Levels four and five would be apartments. This part of the structure would extend to the north over the existing parking garage, adding a 4th and 5th layer there.

There would be a total of 69 apartment units built: 17% studios, 52% one-bedroom, 29% two-bedroom, and a few three-bedroom. The apartment portion of the building would have a separate entrance and lobby from the high school.

A small parking lot with 17 spaces would be added behind the 6320 building. The parking garage would be used for the rest of the needed parking. The petitioner stated that the garage has 348 spaces. Enterprise Rental has 20 of those. A few are rented by the month and 20 to 75 spaces are used daily on average by the public, which leaves enough for the new project.

The zoning request is to change to MU-2, with 65 foot maximum height and 5 foot setbacks to align with the existing garage structure.

There was a lengthy discussion with the committee. One question raised was about the proposed school's proximity to bars. Would the school be allowed to open with existing bars within 100 feet? Would the addition of the new school restrict any new bars attempting to open in the area?

It was agreed by the petitioner that all student drop offs and pick ups would occur on the third floor of the parking garage and not be allowed on any street or alley surrounding the complex.

The committee did not take a vote at the meeting. It stated that due to the volume of information presented, the committee would need to deliberate before making a decision on whether to support or oppose the project at the hearing downtown. A vote would be taken electronically. As of publication time, the vote had not been taken.

The view from College Avenue

The view along Westfield Boulevard

2) 6220 Carrollton Ave. - David Kingen representing Cairo Sands, LLC. requesting a variance of development standards to provide for a bar within 50 feet of a dwelling district. Hearing date: February 16, 2021 Case #2020-DV3-069 (6:30-6:50 p.m.)

This proposal is to move the existing Egyptian Cafe & Hooka Bar from the current location (since 2007) at 6265 Carrollton Avenue [I4] to the empty building at 6220 Carrollton Avenue. Most recently this was Online Transport, but some may remember it as Ed Schock's Toy and Hobby. This is across the street from Hubbard and Cravens Coffee Company.

The interior restaurant space is roughly the same as the existing restaurant. An additional 800 to 900 square feet of rooftop space would be added and that deck would be limited to 50 patrons.

The petitioners agreed to limit the types of entertainment (and times) in the outdoor space.

The committee voted to support this request at the downtown hearing.

Aerial site locator - new location and adjacent parking

New site layout plan

3) 6108 Carvel Ave. - Brett Davis with Buckingham with a presentation only on a potential project for this parcel. (6:50-7:10 p.m.)

This presentation was information only, to obtain comments from the committee. It is to raze the apartment building on the northeast corner of 61st Street and the Monon Trail (containing 51 units) and build a new apartment structure with 186 units and internal parking.

The new structure would be four floors of apartments on top of a parking floor. The new project would be zoned DP. A linear park is proposed between the building and the Monon Trail.

The building would vary from 40 to 54 feet tall.

There was a discussion by the committee concerning the rents of the new units compared to the existing units, causing a possible lack of affordable housing in the area.

The results of the long discussion on the project will be used to prepare the next version to bring before the LUD committee at a future meeting.

4) 1040 Broad Ripple Ave. - Misha Rabinowitch with a presentation only for an eight-unit townhome development proposed for this parcel. (7:10-7:30 p.m.)

This presentation was also for information only. It is to raze the small building on the river behind McDonald's and FedEx, at 1040 Broad Ripple Avenue, to build eight four-story town homes with integrated parking. The existing building was most recently Chef JJ's Backyard, and Snapdragon Salon before that.

The project would include the continuation of the Riverwalk project at the edge of the White River at the fronts of the town homes. Each unit has space for future private elevators to be added at the discretion of the owners.

The petitioner hopes to have a presentation for vote available by the February LUD meeting.

The next public meeting of the BRVA LUD committee is scheduled for February 23. It is expected to be a virtual Zoom call at 6pm.

alan@broadripplegazette.com

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