700 new homes expected on Lebanon’s north side near LEAP Innovation District where area residents currently complain about heavy traffic

Corbett Towns will be a townhome community with 96 units on 14 acres off of Ind. 39, roughly across from Witham Hospital. All the units will be for individual sale and not intended for longterm rental.

Paddock Place will be a community of townhomes and seven apartment buildings and additional townhome buildings, for about 250 units. The 15 acres will be accessed from C.R. 300 N. across from the Spring Creek entrance. All of these units will be rental only.

The Lebanon City Council approved planned unit development, PUD, zoning districts for Spring Creek and Corbett Towns earlier this year. And the Lebanon Plan Commission on Monday approved preliminary site plans for both.

The plan commission also gave a favorable recommendation for a PUD for Paddock Place. Justin Farris, founder of Spectra Acquisitions, is the developer. Spectra is headquartered in Indianapolis and builds and manages multi-family communities.

The apartment and townhome community would feature a 5,000-square-foot clubhouse with a lounge, a fitness center, a dog washing area, and bike storage. There would also be a park for dogs and grilling stations and fire pits outdoors, Farris said.

A portion of the meeting was opened for public comment and a woman who owns a home south of the intersection approached the podium with the use of a walker. She said traffic is already so heavy that it’s a struggle to leave her driveway onto Ind. 39.

She asked the commission to give heavy weight to the already congested traffic in the area, as well as new traffic that Lilly and the rest of LEAP Lebanon is expected to produce. She asked them to especially consider how so many new homes would affect the intersection and homeowners along Ind. 39.

The Indiana Department of Transportation, INDOT, and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. have already planned transformational changes to area roads. There will be a new Interstate exchange to replace the one at U.S. 52, and it will be in the area of the Lilly property.

C.R. 300 N. will most likely become a four-lane boulevard with a roundabout or light at Ind. 39, Lebanon Planning Department Director Ben Bontrager said. The IEDC has said the same is a possibility at C.R. 300 N. and Witt Road, but plans for that area aren’t final.

State leaders are doing an expansive traffic study to help evaluate and predict traffic patterns in light of expected construction traffic and commercial and residential growth here.

Another homeowner brought Realtor Phil Ludlow to speak on her behalf. Her farmhouse sits on a secluded lot that includes a barn and chicken coop that abuts the coming Corbett Towns development.

Her home was burglarized last year, and she’s concerned about privacy and trespassers. Ludlow asked the commission to require the builder to fence off or otherwise delineate the property line to discourage would-be trespassers among townhome residents or their visitors.

He also suggested a taller earthen berm than proposed, but that would require moving three manholes. Or, a privacy fence might work, he said.

The developer said the plan is to preserve as much of the existing dense tree line as possible between the two properties and pointed out that a farm fence is already there.

Commission President Corey Kutz said the city can’t require developers to take measures beyond the city’s standards, but the developer could volunteer to. The developer did not offer. And the commission unanimously recommended the PUD to the Lebanon City Council.