Residents of Carmel's Parks at Springmill neighborhoods and nearby building owners are pushing back on a proposal to build a midpriced hotel across the street from them.

The hotel, proposed for land near Main Street and Ind. 31, would be part of the avid brand. Avid is a newer chain described by owner InterContinental Hotels Group in a 2017 news release as having "the basics" done well at an affordable price.

At two public meetings in the past month those living in the Springmill neighborhoods voiced their concerns over increased traffic and described what they view as the negative effects of having a midscale hotel in the area.

Spring Mills neighborhood residents said they fear hotel guests would use the neighborhood's amenities. The proposed hotel wouldn't have a pool. The Spring Mills neighborhood has a pool, trails, a playground and tennis and basketball courts.

"I do believe that having a hotel so close and unlike any other hotel in Carmel to a neighborhood will damage our property values and will introduce potential for trespass, for vandalism or other incursions," Rusty Duncan, a resident in the neighborhood, said at a zoning meeting.

He warned that traveling youth sports teams would gravitate toward the hotel because of its price, get bored and want to use the neighborhood's amenities.

Other Carmel hotels

The avid hotels brand was described in the news release as "expected to be about $10-$15 less" than IHG's Holiday Inn Express. The Holiday Inn Express just north of Carmel is one of the cheaper hotels in the area.

The Carmel avid hotel would be independently owned and operated by Yorktown-based Saamrajya LLC. Fredrick Lawrence, an attorney at Nelson & Frankenberger representing Saamrajya, said avid room rates are within 10 percent of the average rates in Oklahoma, so he predicts the same would be true in Carmel.

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Lawrence argued that other hotels in Carmel are just as close to residential neighborhoods.

Patty Thornberry, who owns land including the drive that would be used to get to the hotel, worried about getting everyone out of the office park once a hotel is built when there is no traffic light or roundabout.

"Traffic will be a nightmare," she said. "Illinois is quite busy. Illinois backs up at that roundabout that's right off 131st. This hotel would have 103 potential people coming in, checking in, checking out, leaving for lunch, leaving for dinner, coming back at night."

Avid scales back hotel plan

The company's original plan was to build a hotel with over 100 guest rooms. Butless than 50 percent of the first floor would be used for hotel services, such as the front desk and laundry area, while the remaining spacewouldbe rented out commercially, such as for restaurants.

The setup would be unique for a Carmel hotel.

But in order to make that plan a reality, Saamrajya LLC needed Carmel's Board of Zoning Appeals to wave a requirement that a hotel without any conference-room space could not operate on the first floor of a building in an area zoned MC/Meridian Corridor. Zoning there does allow a hotel without conference space to operate on the upper floors of a building.

In a win for some neighborhood residents, the board denied that request.

An IHG representative said there are still plans for an 80-room hotel at that location, despite the setback, but didn't elaborate on what the new plan would look like.

A familiar fight

For some longtime neighborhood residents, this experience feels repetitive.

In the mid-2000s neighborhood residents pushed back on a proposal for a Holiday Inn on that same piece of land. The proposal ended up being withdrawn in a temporary success for those homeowners.

"I'm not opposed to the hotel," Thornberry said. "I'm just opposed to a hotel being on this lot."

Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at 317-432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.