McCORDSVILLE — Leaders have started approving a second annexation in as many months for another neighborhood planned on the town’s northeast side.
Indianapolis-based Silverthorne Homes wants to develop 258 single-family lots on about 147 acres at the southeast corner of County Roads 1000N and 500W. Called Liberty Ponds, the subdivision would be directly east of McCord Pointe.
McCordsville Town Council unanimously approved annexing the land on first reading last week.
Caitlin Dopher, entitlement manager for Silverthorne Homes, told the council last month that Liberty Ponds would offer 12 floor plans, each with about five different exterior styles. None of the houses would have vinyl siding. Minimum lot widths would be 65 feet and 75 feet.
The neighborhood would also have a looped trail system and playground.
Silverthorne Homes plans to seek a planned unit development for the subdivision, which would establish specific standards for the neighborhood that the developer and town would agree to. The request is on the agenda for the McCordsville Plan Commission’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. today (Tuesday, April 20). The town council would need to approve the planned unit development as well as the annexation on second reading.
Liberty Ponds would join McCordsville’s town council district 2, represented by Greg Brewer.
“That area’s a hot spot for residential growth,” Brewer said. “Talking to other contractors and builders, there’s still a high demand for McCordsville.”
The town is limited in the directions in which it can grow, however, with Marion County directly to its west and Hamilton County directly to its north. The town having utilities running out to County Road 400W makes easterly expansions all the more logical, Brewer added.
Town council members also last week approved an annexation just southwest of the Liberty Ponds tract on second reading that they introduced in March. Lennar Homes is planning for 171 low-maintenance ranch homes and 116 traditional single-family homes there.
The annexations and all of the development occurring and planned within McCordsville’s existing boundaries sparked a conversation on how the town will need to grow its services alongside its population.
“It’s obviously going to at some point … impact decisions on how we add people,” said Paul Casey, the town’s police chief. “Houses, rooftops and populations are part of that calculation, but also activity and department runs.”
How patrol coverage grows, whether the police department adds a detective division one day and other factors will all be part of those conversations, he added.
“There’s going to be certain tipping points where we’ll need to add; sometimes we won’t,” Casey said.
“That is on the council’s radar as a definite need,” Brewer told the Daily Reporter. “There’s infrastructure and building growth, but you also need personnel growth, and I think the problem we have right now is our building growth is way ahead of where our staffing needs to be, and so it’s something we definitely need to start addressing now rather than later.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Liberty Ponds
- Southeast corner County Roads 1000N, 500W
- 258 single-family homes
- 147 acres
- Looped trail system
- Playground
- Indianapolis-based Silverthorne Homes
- Annexing into McCordsville
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