By Enrique Saenz, Mirror Indy
Mirror Indy is a part of Free Press Indiana, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to ensuring all Hoosiers have access to the news and information they need.
When Ellen Morley Matthews bought her home on Knollton Road about 40 years ago, she was struck by the beauty of its surroundings.
Located on the westernmost portion of Washington Township near Crooked Creek, Knollton Road cuts through thickets of trees, some more than a century old. Because of the thick forest, living along the road felt more like homesteading in a rural part of the state rather than squeezing a home into its most populous city.
The trees also complement the variety of architectural styles, ranging from farmhouses dating back to the 1800s to more modern Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home designs.
“There’s no place else quite like this neighborhood,” she said. “If you didn’t know this neighborhood was out here, you would not expect it.”
But a proposed development near Kessler Boulevard and Michigan Road next to the historic Broadmoor Country Club threatens to upend life for residents and the wildlife that call those thickets home by cutting down about 13 acres of trees that could be among the oldest in the township in order to build 43 upscale houses.
The tree-lined Knollton Road Jan. 28, 2025. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy
City approval is far from certain. The Metropolitan Development Commission’s hearing examiner recommended at a meeting Jan. 23 the city deny a rezoning that would have allowed construction of residential housing. The examiner made the decision based on the density of the proposal, saying it was incompatible with the area.
Department of Metropolitan Development staff suggested Broadmoor Investments, the Indianapolis-based company pushing for the rezoning, agree to conduct a tree inventory, assessment and preservation plan as a condition for consideration of the rezoning. The company has agreed to conduct the survey, which would determine the significance of the woods.
Company officials declined to comment to Mirror Indy but told the hearing examiner the construction is vital to the ongoing success of the country club.
Residents like Morley Mathews are opposing the project and say they are ready for a long legal fight. Aside from preservation, they also are worried about increased traffic, especially if Broadmoor moves the entrance to the country club from Kessler to quiet Knollton Road, as proposed.
“We are not trying to prevent change or development,” she said, “but the only people who think this is a good idea are the investors.”
The development plan
Broadmoor Investments’ attorney, Russell L. Brown of the Indianapolis-based law firm Clark, Quinn, Moses, Scott & Grahn, LLP, told the hearing examiner the proposed development would be priced at nearly double what other homes in the area are selling for, according to online listings.
Brown said lots, which would be located next to the country club, would cost between $250,000 and $350,000, and the total price for a lot and a home in the development would range from $750,000 to more than $1 million. Homeowners there would also be required to be members of the Broadmoor Country Club, which costs several thousand dollars annually per family.
Broadmoor Investments proposes 43 homes on 13 wooded acres near Michigan, Kessler. Credit: Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development
Brown said the development would allow the country club to increase its membership.
“The ongoing success of BCC is in the best interest of all residents of the larger neighborhood,” Brown told the hearing examiner.
The country club was established in 1922 and features a course designed by famed Scottish golf course architect Donald Ross, who designed about 400 courses in the early 1900s before his death in 1948.
Some residents, like Scott Monk, who lives directly across the street from the planned development, worry the days of abundant animal life there would end if the development is allowed to happen.
“The entire character of our neighborhood will be changed, both because of the loss of the woods and because it will destroy the large, wide-open feel of our neighborhood,” Monk told Mirror Indy.
The Broadmoor Country Club seen through netting along a portion of the golf course along Knollton Road Jan. 28, 2025. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy
Kelly Franklin and her wife, Lana Gersich, were drawn to the area’s natural splendor and moved into a home nearby about six years ago.
“We have about every kind of wildlife you could imagine,” Franklin said. “We had 10 deer walk by in our backyard the other morning, coyotes, foxes. You name it, and we all have seen it.”
What’s next
Broadmoor Investments has until the end of this week to appeal the hearing examiner’s decision, which would then be heard by the full Metropolitan Development Commission on Feb. 19.
Morley Matthews believes the residents’ opposition to the development will ultimately be beneficial to all Indianapolis residents. She said soon after purchasing her property in 1985, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources told her the trees in her neighborhood were rare.
“The gentleman who came out told us we had one of the last remaining urban forests in Washington Township,” she said.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.
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Featured image: Residents opposed to the proposed Broadmoor Investments, LLC development in Washington Township raise their hands at a DMD hearing Jan. 23, 2025. Credit: Enrique Saenz/Mirror Indy
