The April Fishers City Council Meeting will be held at 7pm on Monday, April 17, 2023. I warmly encourage you to participate.
IMPORTANT LOCATION CHANGE: All City Council meetings (and Work Sessions) will now be held at Launch Fishers, 12175 Visionary Way. Launch Fishers is located in the tech park, just north of Super Target.
How to Observe and Participate in the City Council Meeting
- The meeting will be held in-person and will be open to in-person attendees.
- A video of the meeting will be broadcast live at http://tinyurl.com/CityOfFishers starting at 7pm onMonday so you can watch from home. This is the way to observe the meeting remotely.
- In-person attendees are welcomed to address the City Council during any Public Hearings during the meeting – and during Community Comment, which is held at the end of every meeting.
- Fishers residents are also welcomed to submit public comments electronically prior to the meeting. In order to submit a comment, you need to designate the date of the meeting that you want to comment on. Look at the public meeting calendar. Then, complete the online Public Comment Form. Select “City Council” and that will open a comment box for you to type in. Submit your comments by NOON on Monday, the day of the meeting. All comments submitted before the meeting will be presented to City Council members. These comments are not read aloud but become part of the official meeting minutes.
- Community Comment at the end of each City Council meeting is always open for your comment on any Fishers topic. This is an “open mic” opportunity for 10 Fishers residents to address the City Council for up to three minutes each. The council members are not required to resolve or respond to your comments at that moment. Usually, pathways are identified for follow-up and additional dialogue.
- Meeting agendas and past meeting minutes can be found here, under City Council tab.
- Past meeting videos are supposed to be posted within 48 hours of the meeting. You can find the videos in the City of Fishers YouTube channel.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
The City Council Meeting agendas are available here, under the City Council header. Each agenda has items on it that appear in blue. These are links to open the supporting documents.
Here’s a rundown of this meeting’s agenda items and my interpretation of them.
5. Council Committee Reports.
Finance Committee Report. The Finance Committee is charged with advising the City Council on matters concerning the general financial operations of the City. The City Council is responsible for fiscal oversight and final approval of the municipal budget. Typically, the Finance Committee report is reflected in action items for the City Council that are reflected in the “Budget/Financial” part of the meeting agenda. The Finance Committee meeting was cancelled this month, there will be no report.
6. Department Reports.
Item a. The monthly Fishers Health Department Report is usually made available to residents every month about our city’s vaccine status, COVID community risk status, and other important public health info. The FHD 2022 Annual Report is now available.
Item b. The Engineering Report is an update on private roads and Barrett Law implementation. I have asked for more information about this, specifically the estimated cost to the SR37-area businesses and the road improvement completion timeline.
7. Consent Agenda.
There are two items on the Consent Agenda.
Item a. is approval of last month’s City Council meeting minutes.
Item b. transfers funds. These actions transfer funds within the city budget, which is needed periodically. The transfers do not adjust the bottom line at all. This is a transfer of dollars from one budget category to another to avoid a negative balance in a category.
The Consent Agenda is a grouping of routine reports that should be approved in one swift action, instead of approving each one separately. I believe that all items included on the Consent Agenda should be approved as presented and approved unanimously. If not, the item that requires a revision, abstention, or other action needs to be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered as a separate voting item.
REGULAR AGENDA
Economic Development
8. City investment project agreement for City Walk, a new housing development on Lantern Road, between 116th-126th Street, across the street from Sunblest Apartments. It will include condos, townhomes and apartments.
- A four-story, multifamily building comprised of eighty-seven (87) for-lease multifamily units
- A six-story, residential building comprised of forty (40) for-sale condominiums
- A six-story, residential building comprised of sixty-one (61) for-sale condominiums
- forty-one (41), four-story townhomes
This project agreement includes the city taking out a loan (bond) for $16.1 million and the developer will invest $75 million. My understanding is that TIF revenue will pay for the debt service (interest) on the loan that the developer, not the city, will guarantee.
This is a special project that will transform this area, adjacent to the Nickel Plate Trail and will include public access to the trail. Indianapolis Star article, April 17, 2023.
Government/Miscellaneous
9. Amending Code of Ordinances. The recommended changes are about towing vehicles and increasing the fee associated with having your vehicle towed. Second Reading.
10. Agreement with HSE Schools for School Resource Officers (SROs). You can view the meeting when this agreement was presented and approved by the HSE School Board on March 22, 2023. VIDEO, click on #5. Informational Items.
Planning/Zoning
11. Sanitary sewer main being relocated in Saxony. This item will be open for a Public Hearing. (See item 15-17 for explanation of a public hearing)
12. Flat Fork PUD. This is a new proposed development that is 109 acres to become 220 single-family homes on the north side of 96th Street between Georgia and Cyntheanne and a commercial area at the NE corner of 96th and Georgia. First Reading is the first consideration of a matter, no votes are taken.
13. Revising/Amending the Nickel Plate District Code. The Code lays out the requirements and plans for the development of the Nickel Plate (Downtown) District. First Reading is the first consideration of a matter, no votes are taken.
14. This item has been removed from the meeting agenda.
Items 15, 16 and 17 are Voluntary Annexations, all are located east of Allisonville Rd, south of 146th St.
15. 14543 Allisonville Road
16. 14521 Allisonville Road
17. 14541 Allisonville Road
A voluntary annexation is when a property owner wants to incorporate into the City of Fishers and receive city benefits, i.e., access to city utilities and city services like road maintenance and snow plowing. The annexed property will start paying city property tax to cover these benefits. Sometimes, annexations are a first step for a property being sold for development. Annexation Procedures can be found here.
These agenda items will be open for a Public Hearing.
A PUBLIC HEARING means that any resident is invited to comment on this topic. This is the only opportunity to make a comment and address the City Council on this specific matter. Fishers residents are welcomed to submit comments for the public hearing on this matter electronically prior to the meeting. All comments received by noon on Monday on the day of the meeting should be presented during this part of the meeting and will be part of the meeting’s official minutes. The Public Comment Form is live on the website right now.
If you do attend the City Council meeting in-person, you may comment on this matter during this part of the meeting. The City Council President will open the public hearing by asking if anyone would like to speak. If no one indicates that they want to speak, the public hearing can be closed quickly. So, please indicate immediately that you have something to say when the public hearing is opened. Otherwise, you may miss your chance.
Unfinished/New Business.
Community Comment. All comments submitted through the online are supposed to be provided to the city council members before the meeting and become a part of the meeting’s official record. The Public Comment Form is live on the website right now. Select “City Council Meeting” and that will open a comment box for you to type in. Submit your comments by noon on Monday, the day of the meeting, so they can be distributed before the meeting.
Meeting adjourned!
If you have any comments or questions, please send them my way. Email is a good way to get a hold of me.
Thank you for reading all of this.