The city of Hammond continues reviewing plans to bring new homes to the Robertsdale neighborhood.
City engineer Dean Button says the preferred option would allow for 24 single-family homes at the former Clark High School athletic fields, while leaving land along Calumet Avenue open. "That gives us an opportunity to focus on large, larger single-family residential lots contained within the infield of the development and allows for a future use, a future development, a green space, something in the future to be developed along Calumet Avenue," Button said during a public presentation Wednesday.
Button said previous proposals for town homes and higher density development were not well-received by residents.
The lots would likely be sold at auction in the spring. Chief of staff Phil Taillon said the city would place a number of stipulations on developers, including limiting the number of lots each bidder could buy and setting a minimum house size.
"They're bigger lots, so we're expecting bigger homes because we want to offer something to the residents that you currently don't have access to," Taillon said.
But many residents felt that potential developers may be hesitant to build in the area, if they weren't sure what may be built on the adjacent land along Calumet a few years later. There were also concerns about green space and the proposed move of the fire station farther south on Calumet.
Still, Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. felt there's a demand for more expensive homes in Hammond. "We have people that move out of Hammond because they want new construction and they can't find it because we're landlocked. So, that's why we've been cracking open projects like this. And we've been successful, and we'll be completely successful here. I know we will," McDermott told residents.
In the end, city officials agreed to revisit plans that would develop the whole site with single-family homes, without leaving space for future development.
