The field next door has been a place for a Center Grove couple to spot deer and listen to the sounds of nature since they first built their home nearly 20 years ago.
But Jim and Oletta Keown always expected that field would eventually be developed into homes.
Their concern was when a developer planned homes they didn’t think would fit in with the rest of the area, and they and their neighbors spoke up.
Now, Beazer Homes has pulled its plans for Timbercreek, a 168-home neighborhood on 92 acres north of Stones Crossing Road, next to Forest Hills. The property will remain vacant for now.
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The issue for the developers stemmed from the need to get sewer service to the property.
Earlier this summer, Beazer Homes went to the county commissioners asking to be allowed to run sewer lines on land the county owns along Stones Crossing Road and reach State Road 135 to connect to existing sewer service. The commissioners asked for more information and didn’t make any decisions.
But the developers decided to drop the project because extending sewer lines that far, which also required them to buy multiple properties, was not feasible, said Ty Rinehart, director of land acquisition.
If the company finds a way to get the sewer line extended in the future, they could decide to pursue the project again, he said.
The property has remained empty, even while other neighborhoods were built around it. And residents know it eventually will be developed with homes.
But they said their hope is that whatever is built will fit in with the rest of the homes in the area, which were custom-built during the last several years.
Beazer Homes had proposed a neighborhood with lot sizes larger than the minimum allowed by the county and had planned for homes on the largest lots to cost $450,000 to $500,000 and homes on smaller lots would have a price range near $350,000, according to plans discussed with the county commissioners earlier this summer.
The Keowns were concerned about whether those homes would fit in with the style of other nearby homes, which are mainly brick and were custom-designed for each buyer, not production built like in other Beazer Homes developments, Jim Keown said.
“To plop down Beazer homes in the middle of this is out of place,” Jim Keown said.
“We want to make sure the housing blends with others.”
