Milhaus Sponsors Jeff Speck in Carmel, IN

Yesterday was the August Monthly Luncheon for the Carmel Chamber of Commerce in which guest speaker Jeff Speck, a nationally renowned New Urbanist city planner and mixed-use advocate gave a presentation on the Non-Linear History of Modern Planning. One of his main points in the presentation was to recognize the four attributes of a healthy neighborhood. Stable neighborhoods are compacted within a .25-mile radius, diverse in uses, walkable, and connected to other surrounding neighborhoods.

Before his speech at the Carmel Chamber, Speck was given a tour of Carmel by Mayor James Brainard. Speck was astonished at what he saw; Carmel is currently above the national average with regards to curbing urban sprawl and advocating smart growth. Carmel’s New Urbanist influenced, Village of West Clay, Downtown and Arts & Design District are great examples of how the city is working towards a sprawl free tomorrow. The city has also implemented multiple traffic calming devices such as roundabouts and narrow lane widths, which work in conjunction with varying street standards to create pedestrian friendly environments.

In Speck’s presentation he talked about how planning through zoning and coding often leads to undesirable outcomes. For example, he mentioned only after a nine-month code battle could he finally build his Washington D.C. home without a garage. How long of a code battle would it take to make this garageless home a possibility in Carmel? Prior attempts have been made including the Carmel Smartcode that was shot down last year. Hopefully Carmel will be able to work through its differences and approve a revised version of this plan. Only time can tell.

Posted by Kyle Van Klompenburg, Development Assistant and Intern with Milhaus Development