The October Fishers City Council Meeting will be held at 7pm on Monday, October 10, 2022. I warmly encourage you to participate.
IMPORTANT LOCATION CHANGE: All City Council meetings will now be held at Launch Fishers, 12175 Visionary Way. Launch Fishers is located in the tech park, north of Super Target.
How to Observe and Participate in the City Council Meeting at City Hall
- 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 on Monday so you can watch from home. This is a way to observe the meeting only.
- 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 meeting is reflected in action items for the City Council that are reflected in the “Budget/Financial” part of the meeting agenda.
6. Department Reports. 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. Here’s this month’s report. The FHD 2021 annual report is now available.
7. Consent Agenda.
There are three 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.
Item c. is approval of the City Council meeting minutes for the special meeting to receive public comment on the proposed Food & Beverage Tax.
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
Andretti Autosports
8. and 9. Andretti Autosports announced in late August its intent to build and establish its $200 million global headquarters at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport’s undeveloped business park property. The headquarters will bring Andretti’s operations for all racing entities, research and development, and history museum to one campus location. Pending City Council approval, the facility will break ground in late 2022 and open early 2025. The project agreement was approved last month by the City Council. This item approves issuance of bonds (not to exceed $26 million and bonds will be purchased by the developer) which are paid back solely from TIF revenues from the project. This item creates the Metropolitan Airport Allocation Area and allows for TIF capture of the area.
Next Phase Fishers District and New Event Center.
11. Adopting a Food & Beverage Tax.
The new Fishers Food & Beverage Tax will be in addition to the 1% Food & Beverage Tax that is already collected for Hamilton County. Consumers purchasing prepared food and beverages will be taxed at the combined rate – a 2% total rate – similar to many nearby communities. Revenue generated will go directly toward paying debt on the Fishers event center as part of the Fishers District expansion.
The Fishers City Council must vote to approve an ordinance adopting the food and beverage tax. A public hearing at a special city council meeting was held on Oct 6, in conjunction with the first reading of the ordinance. If the ordinance passes at the October 10 City Council meeting, it will take effect on December 1, 2022.
10. Rezones the Next Phase of the Fishers District area for “The Commons” from an Employment Node to a Planned Unit Development. FINAL vote to approve. Also see agenda item 25.
12. Allows leasing of certain facilities to finance the project. PUBLIC HEARING
13. Appropriates the funds received from the transfer of property to the Town Hall Building Corp. PUBLIC HEARING
14. Project agreement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se8KUW79Gvo&t=6s
The $550 million in additional developments will include new retail, restaurant, entertainment, and residential options within a walkable and vibrant community setting. The development will be located east of I-69 between 106th and 116th Streets southeast of IKEA. The expanded Fishers District will be anchored by an event center that will host sporting, theatrical, and entertainment events for up to 8,500 spectators. Indy Fuel owner Jim Hallett announced the Indy Fuel would call the event center its home beginning with the 2024-2025 season. Fans and patrons alike will experience entertainment in a new way with family suites, enhanced areas for hosting, and modern fan experiences.
The overall expansion of Fishers District includes Slate, a previously announced multi-family and garden home community with direct access to Fishers District; The Union, an expansion of the lifestyle, multi-family, and entertainment options at the District which, upon completion, is visioned to include approximately 250 luxury apartments, 60,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, 150 hotel rooms, and up to 80,000 square feet of Class A office space in a vertically stacked environment; and The Commons, home to the new Fishers event center and additional new-to-market restaurant, retail, and entertainment destinations, as well as additional residential options.
Once complete, the Indy Fuel, the professional hockey minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, and Hallett Sports & Entertainment will officially move its headquarters from the Indiana State Fairgrounds to Fishers with the event center serving as the team’s primary facility. Hallett Sports & Entertainment will manage the event center and provide day-to-day operational and booking management. The Indy Fuel currently utilizes the Fuel Tank, located in Fishers, for its practice and residential facilities
Agenda items 12 and 13 will welcome public comments in a Public Hearing format.
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.
Budget & Financial
15. Municipal Budget for 2023
The municipal budget not only sets the city’s priorities for the upcoming year it also sets the city’s property tax rate for citizens. The proposed 2023 budget lowers the municipal property tax rate slightly but probably does not actually lower your tax bill because property assessed value is increasing. This is the final approval vote for the 2023 municipal budget.
2023 City Budget Details
https://www.fishers.in.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08242022-2000
https://www.fishers.in.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09082022-2008
https://www.fishers.in.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09192022-2016
You can find information about past year’s budgets on this city webpage.
16. 2023 Salary Ordinance. Each year, the City Council finalizes the collective city employee salaries.
96th & Allisonville
17. 96th & Allisonville Financing. The project agreement was approved by the City Council in February. This item is to issue the bonds, not to exceed $23 million. The bonds will be paid back by TIF revenues generated by the project. This is considered “conduit debt” because the bonds are not purchased by the city. They will be purchased by 96th Street Partners LLC.
Annual General Obligation Bonds
18. Road improvements – issuance of bonds not to exceed $5.5 million
19. Trail improvements – issuance of bonds not to exceed $5.5 million
First Reading, this is the first consideration of the matter but not final vote.
Government /Miscellaneous
20. Permit Re-Inspection Fees. The proposed new fees are much higher than before to encourage builders who have multiple infractions on the same permit to get in compliance.
21. City Council Redistricting. The city is divided into 6 districts. Every four years, Fishers citizens vote for three at-large (citywide) City Council members and one City Council member in the district that they live in. The city district map had to be redrawn because a census was taken, Fishers population changed, and each new district must be close to the same population size. The new district maps have been prepared. They have been changed since the first look at new maps at the Sept City Council meeting.
22. Fishers Health Department Food Inspections. First Reading, this is the first consideration of the matter but not final vote.
Planning and Zoning
23. Proposed Revision to Sign Standards to allow temporary freestanding signs to be displayed longer – up to 6 months. Commercial and Residential For Lease or For Sale signs. FINAL VOTE TO APPROVE.
24. Consideration of Rezone. Proposal for 53 for-sale townhomes on 5.27 acres, North of 135th St and West of Bent Grass Lane. FINAL VOTE TO APPROVE.
25. Sunbeam PUD. Rezones the Next phase of the Fishers District area from an Employment Node to a Planned Unit Development. First Reading, this is the first consideration of the matter but not final vote.
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. 🙂