A proposed large-scale housing development received rezoning approval Monday.
The Kokomo City Council unanimously approved on second and final reading a rezoning of some 146 acres of farmland on the city’s south side from low intensity industrial to R3 medium density residential and then to a planned unit development.
Publicly-traded homebuilding company D.R. Horton is planning to develop a largescale residential subdivision on the farmland between Center and Alto roads, just north of Indian Heights and Highland Springs neighborhoods.
The proposed housing development totals 569 units and includes three separate areas, according to a concept plan submitted by the company.
Those three areas include 295 single-family homes for sale, 116 single-family homes for rent at market rate and 158 units that will be either two-family duplexes or multifamily attached townhomes for rent at market rate.
The development would include a centrally located amenity area of roughly 2.5 acres that could feature a playground, sports court and more. A walking path and greenspace will inhabit the development’s east side.
Homes in the Parks District would be a mixture of three to four bedrooms and two or three bathrooms with two-car garages, ranging in size from about 1,500 to 2,600 square feet. Cost, in today’s dollars, would be between $275,000 to $335,000, to upward of $350,000.
If all goes to plan, construction would start sometime next year, with the first homeowners moving in either in the fall of 2025 or in the first quarter of 2026, Brian Tuohy, an attorney with Tuohy, Bailey & Moore LLP and who has represented D.R. Horton at public meetings, said last month.
The residential development itself will likely take several years to fully build out, Tuohy added.
The details of the housing project may change in the future as it still needs development plan approval from the Kokomo Plan Commission.
Over the last two months, the proposed housing development received minor opposition from a handful of nearby residents who expressed their concerns over increased traffic and construction noise and the possibility the multifamily area could become government subsidized housing in the future.
Tuohy, in response to the latter concern, said D.R. Horton is in the business of selling homes and building market rate rental properties, not offering Section 8 or other low-income housing.
The nearly 600-unit project is a direct result of the city of Kokomo’s recent efforts to attract new housing developments.
A city commissioned housing study found Kokomo is in need of hundreds of new single- family and multifamily housing to meet current and future demand and expected population growth.
Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore told the Tribune last summer the city sent the housing study to a couple of dozen housing developers.
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