M’ville OKs two developments on site of former country club
Nearly a year after they were first proposed, the Merrillville Plan Commission gave the green light to two new residential developments slated for the old Broadmoor Country Club property.
Commissioners unanimously approved August Manor and Royal Estates during its Wednesday night meeting. August Manor will be a 52-unit, R-2 community on a 17-acre lot at U.S. 30 and Morton Street; Royal Estates will contain 38 single-family homes on 12 acres north of August Manor on W. 77th Avenue.
After sitting down before the meeting with Commission President Marge Uzelac — in which whose ward the former country club resides — August Manor engineer Gary Torrenga said he’s “particularly proud” of the project. Among the items that needed ironing out included parking, privacy of the development’s cul-de-sac, and a tie-in road to Royal Estates since that development’s proposed dead-end road and August Manor’s cul-de-sac would make it difficult for fire trucks and snowplows to maneuver through.
The tie-in was the most difficult since for a moment, Royal Estates ceased to exist, Torrenga said.
“(Royal Estates) died last July, so we went to redesign; then it reappeared with a different engineer,” he said. “It’ll pass this commission, so our permissions will be provided.”
Commissioner Brian Deering said that the Broadmoor property has several oak trees that are at least 100 years old, so he requested that the developer consider keeping at least a few. Torrenga said that was part of the plan from the start.
Torrenga a year ago said the duplex proposal is named in memory of his deceased son and that the units will range in price from $300,000 to $400,000. He said the development is designed with a large open area with a wet pond, and residents of some of the units will be able to look out at the pond from their unit.
“My son, Brent Augustus Torrenga, is very pleased with you folks,” Torrenga said.
Royal Estates representative Doug Brenning said that development will be straight R-2 homes on 80-feet-by-125-feet lots, with no variances or waivers. Some of the issues it had were navigating the creek that runs through the property and reverifying and remodeling a ditch as well as installing box culverts. Brenning said they now have Indiana Department of Natural Resources approval, and they plan on starting to build this year.
In other business, the commission did the following:
— approved the re-subdivision of 400 W. 84th Drive so that Urological Specialists of Northwest Indiana can build a 9,600 square-foot addition and add 55 parking spaces.
— approved a separate allocation area in the Mississippi Street TIF district for a warehouse distribution development on the 195-acre Silos Janders farm. The area will pay off a $1.7 million infrastructure bond the town’s redevelopment commission seeks to issue.