What's the best way to find out about building/development in Hamilton County...? (Carmel: for sale)

[ImmerLernen]

Ya'll have been so helpful with your local viewpoints and sharing your expertise when it comes to house-hunting, so I'm going to ask for some more advice.

How do I find out what future building plans are when I see a property adjacent to an undeveloped area of land and/or backs up to a through street? Take the following real estate listing in Westfield, for example:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...4_M35878-42001

Ignoring the fact that this is out of our family's budget (and a bigger house than we'd consider even if it were in budget), I'd like to know if the road behind this house (Oak Road) is slated to be widened or become a major thoroughfare, and I'd like to know what future development plans are for the empty areas on the west side of Oak Road south of 161st and on the east side of Oak Road north of 161st. Are there maps or something on a town or county website that would give me an idea? It would make a huge difference to me if the undeveloped land was going to be used for commercial or high-density residential vs. low-density residential.

[rrah]

Researching vacant land will take time because some areas are unincorporated and some are in incorporated area.

Start with the Hamilton County GIS: https://gis1.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/GeneralViewer/

Click a property and scroll down to find the property class (zoning).

Go to this site to identify the name of each property class: https://www.in.gov/dlgf/files/Proper...lCodeLists.pdf

This site explains the meaning and permitted uses of the zones: https://library.municode.com/in/hami...Id=ORNU3-19-90

You might also look at this site: https://www.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/62...-Jurisdictions

This site will indicate if something is inside or outside Hamilton County zoning (vs.a city). https://www.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/61...ommission-Maps

I'd also look at the Planning Commission stuff. For specific projects I'd start with google, local papers, and news and an agent.

All of that said, even with due diligence things change or there can be little known exceptions to zones. For example we live about 1.5 miles away from what appeared to be a small farm. We called the county and asked about it before we purchased our property. It was zoned agricultural. We thought we understood the zoning rules and permitted uses. Little did we know that some agricultural properties can grandfather in a quarry.

The tricky part will be a property in a city like Carmel. The city may have slightly different zoning rules or may make exceptions. People can also petition to change zoning or get exceptions. In Hamilton County I would never expect any vacant property or farms to remain that way in the future. The only "guarantees" that a property will remain vacant is if it's a park of some sort or perhaps near a creek.

[ImmerLernen]

Thank you so much for all of those links, advice, and for sharing your personal experience. I will put them to good use!

Yeah, I would expect nearly every speck of land in/around Carmel to be developed within our lifetimes (except maybe nature preserves). It's just uncovering what could possibly go where that concerns us as potential buyers.

[Serious Conversation]

I would advise you to speak to Bruce Kimball, Carmel city council. He's very forthcoming with this type of information and involved on Facebook. You may also want to ask a question in the "Carmel Social Media" Facebook group.

[indy_317]

When we were looking for lots, I saw the same lots for sale in Carmel listed for months and months. The thing is, many of these lots were in flood zones, so the chances of anyone buying is likely slim to none, unless they want to build up the lot and have it reassessed. You can use links at this website to see where flood zones are: https://www.in.gov/dnr/water/5647.htm

Usually, if there is a flood zone on the other side of the road, chances are development will never come to that area, as such, the likelihood of a road extension, adding another round-about, etc. is diminished.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by indy_317

When we were looking for lots, I saw the same lots for sale in Carmel listed for months and months. The thing is, many of these lots were in flood zones, so the chances of anyone buying is likely slim to none, unless they want to build up the lot and have it reassessed. You can use links at this website to see where flood zones are: https://www.in.gov/dnr/water/5647.htm

Usually, if there is a flood zone on the other side of the road, chances are development will never come to that area, as such, the likelihood of a road extension, adding another round-about, etc. is diminished.

Be careful with this approach.

While a property may or may not be in a designated flood zone, if a LOMA has been filed it could very well be exempt.

Understand that FEMA flood maps are not updated regularly. That is, a developer can come in and raise the elevation of a property and file a LOMA, effectively taking the property out of the flood zone. However, this will not be reflected in the FEMA maps, as LOMAs are typically filed with the state and local regulatory agencies (they are referenced by FEMA in their records.)

This can make for some real confusion, as if you look at a FEMA map for a given property it may be in a flood zone, but a LOMA could be on file that takes it out.

I've had direct experience with this process, and it can be confusing as heck.

RM