The November Fishers City Council Meeting will be held at 7pm on Monday, November 20, 2023. I warmly encourage you to participate.
All City Council meetings are 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 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 did not meet this month. There is no committee report this time.
6. Department Reports.
Item a. The monthly Fishers Health Department Report is usually made available to residents every month about restaurant food inspections, our city’s vaccine status, COVID community risk status, and other important public health info. The FHD 2022 Annual Report is available.
Item b. There is no Engineering Report for some reason. This is disappointing to me because there are substantial Engineering projects that are impacting local residents and businesses.
Here are some important Engineering Dept reports from earlier this year:
Commercial Private Roadways Report is an update on private roads near SR37 and Barrett Law implementation.
The State Road 37 Progress Report alerts residents about the status of the 141st St Roundabout plans. The date to rebid the 141st Roundabout has been set for Spring 2024 and the actual completion date is late 2024/spring 2025. Completing this interchange means converting the 141st St/SR 37 Right-In/Right-Out intersection that was constructed in January 2023 to a Roundabout. Mayor Fadness committed to completing the 141st roundabout as originally promised at the August 2023 city council meeting.
Most recent State Road 37 article from The Indianapolis Star.
Most recent update to residents from the City of Fishers.
7. Consent Agenda.
There are two items on the Consent Agenda.
Item a. is approval of last month’s City Council meeting minutes. (For some reason, the document says Agenda at the top, instead of 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
Budget/Financial
8. Financing for District South.
Proposed $12 million of TIF revenue to be used to fund the District South project. VOTING ITEM. The approval of the resolution for TIF to be used to pay debt service (loan repayments) and finalized the structure of the funding occurred at the Oct 2023 city council meeting. The approval of the allocation area to capture TIF revenues for this project occurred at the Sept 2023 City Council meeting.
The District South project itself was approved in June 2023. It is located on the just south of 116th St, on the south side of South Street between Lantern Road and the Nickel Plate Trail, transforming six vacant, blighted properties into a village comprised of a four-story mixed-use building, seven small business retail units, 38 exclusive loft residences, 44 multi-family units a fitness center, café lounge, shared conference room, and civic plaza and courtyard. Additionally, the village will include with modern finishes. District South is slated for completion in early 2025.
There are plans to extend the Cheeney Creek Trail along the west side of the development, and possibly an elevated crosswalk to the north side of South Street, providing pedestrians immediate and safe access to the Nickel Plate Trail. Financing is a city-backed $9.4 million bond.
9. General Obligation Bond Issuance. Authorizing a loan in the amount of $11.8 Million to pay for Fleet, Road Projects and Trail Development. VOTING ITEM.
Economic Development
10. Project Agreement for The Union & The Crossing at the District. This is the city financial agreement for Thompson Thrift for The Union & The Crossing at Fishers District. It will be adjacent to IKEA and the New Event Center in Fishers. For the Union & The Crossing projects, City of Fishers will issue a developer-backed bond, utilize excess TIF $ from the Yard TIF District to pay off the loan and budget shortfalls, and pledge tax increment from the Additional Crossing Allocation Area.
Government/Miscellaneous
11. Cost to Receive Law Enforcement Recordings. Indiana Code allows cities/police departments to charge on a per minute basis, up to $150 for copies of law enforcement recordings. FPD has reviewed the cost of retrieving the data, the labor involved with reviewing and redacting each video, as well as review by the law department and has determined that the cost should be $.50/minute for FPD review and $.75/minute for attorney review, for each video that is requested. This ordinance simply codifies these fees in the Fee Schedule. This is the current Fee Schedule.
12. Agreement between City and INDOT for drainage and erosion control. INDOT and the city entered into a partnership to address erosion issues adjacent to I -69 along USA Pkwy. There are two locations that have seen through the years erosion due to existing construction work and clearance performed by the city and INDOT. The city has engaged with Crider & Crider to preform the work after receiving three quotes from other contractors. The total cost of work is $110,000 dollars that will be split between the city and INDOT. This agreement will allow the city to preform the work along the two locations identified in the exhibit and will be reimibursed from INDOT. The dollar amount for reimbursable will not exceed $55,000.
Planning & Zoning
13. Cove at Thorpe Creek. This is a new housing development progressing that is located South of 126th and Southeastern Parkway. Fischer Homes requests a text amendment to the Cove at Thorpe Creek PUD for approval of new home elevations, an updated concept plan and to increase the height of homes in the Grand Estates District from 35 feet to 40 feet. November 1, 2023 PUD Review Committee with a vote of 3-0. A Public Hearing was held at the November 1, 2023 Plan Commission Meeting, and Plan Commission sends a favorable recommendation of 7 – 0. FINAL READING. A final reading is the final vote to approve or disapprove a matter.
Rezoning
14. Fishers Community Center Rezone. Changing the zoning of 25 acres on the site of the new Community Rec Center from Residential to Open Space. The Open Space designation provides for permanent open space areas that will be preserved as undeveloped or open land and developed land for use as parks, playgrounds, recreational areas, buffer zones between commercial and residential, etc. The Community Rec Center will be located on Hoosier Road near 121st St. The fiscal plan and annexation of these 25 acres is agenda items 16 and 17. More information about the Community Recreation Center can be found here. FIRST READING is the first consideration of a matter. No vote is taken.
15. Drive Planning Rezone. A 0.88 acre residential property is located at 13562 E 116th St that will be demolished and a commercial office for Drive Planning Financial Planning will be built there. Changing the zoning from Residential to Commerical. It is located on 116th St, W of Olio Rd. FIRST READING is the first consideration of a matter. No vote is taken.
Community Center Annexation
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 or prepared for development. Annexation Procedures can be found here.
16. Community Center Fiscal Plan. This plan details the cost to the city to serve this new property as newly annexed part of the city.
17. Community Center Voluntary Annexation. Finalize annexation of 25 acres for the Community Rec Center. The Community Rec Center will be located on Hoosier Road near 121st St. FINAL READING. A final reading is the final vote to approve or disapprove a matter.
Unfinished/New Business.
Community Comment. At the end of each City Council meeting is an opportunity for your comment on any Fishers topic. This is an “open mic” opportunity for 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. The topic you comment on does not have to be on the agenda, it can be anything that is on your mind!
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.