An 86-home single-family subdivision proposed by Lennar Homes will be the largest new housing development the town of Burns Harbor has seen in more than a decade.
Lennar Homes cleared a significant hurdle Wednesday when the Burns Harbor Town Council, at a special meeting, approved a Planned Unit Development agreement regulating the development.
Only three council members were present for Wednesday’s meeting. Council members Roseann Bozak and Lisa Draves were absent.
Lennar Homes plans to build the 86 homes on 27 acres on the south side of Haglund Road near the Ind. 149 intersection.
Todd Kleven, a vice president in the Lennar Homes Chicago office, has said the houses will range between 1,200 and 2,100 square feet in size and style.
The price point for the houses will be around $350,000 in the subdivision, to be known as Harbor Crest.
The PUD agreement grants Lennar Homes variances from the town code concerning lot size and allows for a dead-end street that is 800 feet, which is 300 feet longer than what is usually permitted.
A next step will be for the Burns Harbor Planning Commission to approve the official plat, which determines how the subdivision is divided into lots.
The subdivision will be on what had been mostly farmland, directly across the street from 25 acres owned by the town of Burns Harbor that includes a portion of the Marquette Greenway Trail.
Burns Harbor had hoped to build a mixed-use development on that property anchored by a combination Town Hall and Community Center, but the developer backed out in 2023.
Then last year, Sloane Avenue Group and Redstone Group of Grand Rapids, Michigan, were the lone bidders for the acreage, proposing to pay $25,000 for the land and to assume all costs of infrastructure, engineering, soil analysis and potential wetland mitigation.
The developer wanted to build 54 houses and retail space on the acreage. Much of that property is wetlands.
However, a number of residents objected, noting that the town wasn’t getting enough for the property. The town’s Redevelopment Commission ended up rejecting the offer.
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Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.