Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee

Indianapolis City-County Council

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Monday, Nov. 18, 2024
5:30 p.m. — 7:30 p.m. EST

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200 East Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204 (Directions)

City-County Building, Public Assembly Room (PAR)

The Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee of the City-County Council concentrates on neighborhood concerns, such as zoning, planning, land use, public housing, township administration, code compliance and enforcement, historic preservation, and economic development.

Current Committee Members

Maggie Lewis, D-District 5, chair
Paul Annee, R-District 22
John Barth, D-District 7
Derek Cahill, R-District 23
Brienne Delaney, D-District 2
Jared Evans, D-District 17
Ron Gibson, D-District 8
Michael-Paul Hart, R-District 20
Kristin Jones, D-District 18
Brian Mowery, R-District 25
Nick Roberts, D-District 4
Leroy Robinson, D-District 1

Find the meetings live-streamed here: https://www.indy.gov/activity/channel-16-live-web-stream

Check the source website for additional information

Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Indianapolis - IN Documenters Team

Note-taking by Jemesia Jefferson

The Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee approved proposals including a live music venue, restaurant and a parking garage to Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

View notes

Live reporting by Breone Dupree

Bréone L Dupree, MSA @Dupreezine

Hi everyone, I’ll be live tweeting the Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee Mentioning at 5:30pm for #IndyDocumenters. Media Partners: @indydocumenters @mirrorindy

04:23 PM Nov 18, 2024 CST

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The meeting agenda can be found here: indy.gov/activity/counc…

indy.gov/activity/counc…

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The live stream is available here: indy.gov/activity/chann…

indy.gov/activity/chann…

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Meeting Start: 5:30 PM

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Meeting starts with committee roll call

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PROPOSAL NO. 325, 2024 – reappoints Lana Cosby-Jones to the Woodruff Place Economic Improvement District Board.

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Moved, second and passed unanimously

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PROPOSAL NO. 362, 2024 – reappoints Andrea Neely to the City Market Corporation Board of Directors. Moved to the bottom of the agenda as we await her arrival

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PROPOSAL NO. 364, 2024 – reappoints Julie Burns to the Indianapolis Community Food Access Advisory Commission. Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 365, 2024 – appoints William Longest to the Woodruff Place Economic Improvement District Board. Carried.

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PROPOSAL NO. 366, 2024 – reappoints Brian Barton to the Marion County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. Postponed until the next meeting.

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PROPOSAL NO. 367, 2024 – reappoints Cathi Gould to the Marion County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. Moved to the bottom.

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PROPOSAL NO. 368, 2024 – reappoints Belinda Drake to the Board of Business and Neighborhood Services. Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 378, 2024 – appoints Brent Lyle to the Metropolitan Development Commission.

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Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 362, 2024 – reappoints Andrea Neely to the City Market Corporation Board of Directors. Neely arrived late. Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 335, 2024 – approves the establishment of the CSX Redevelopment Project Area and CSX Allocation Area in connection with the proposed CSX Building project.

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I love hearing about projects that will employee Indianapolis residents.

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Some project details..

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The photos of the vision are immaculate!

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Project Cost..

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TIF 💰

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Boxcar will own the building and Live Nation will be lease the space. Live Nation plans to bring acts that other venues don't currently house well. This is 1 of 40+ venues they plan to open around the country.

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Barth's concern is for smaller venues like HiFi and The Vogue. This shouldn't cannibalize smaller venues already established in the city.

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There is an intentional financial relationship being built with the Pacers.

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Evans is disappointed that this project did not include residential housing.

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Response to Gibson's OMWBE participation..

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Redevelopment tax credits have been requested for this project. $33M tax credits with $10M being repaid have been granted.

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Motion carries!

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PROPOSAL NO. 345, 2024 – authorizes the issuance of Economic Development Tax Increment Revenue Bonds, Series 202_ (Boxcar Development/CSX Project), not to exceed $15,600,000. Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 346, 2024 – approves the statement of benefits of Rocky Mountain Energy Holdings, LLC and Peregrine Energy Solutions, LLC for tax abatement.

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Additional details..

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Bottom line..

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Evans asks how to handle a disaster like an explosion. The adjacent fire department will be trained on handing these concerns. 4 systems of redundancy will have to fail for a large fire to happen. Water can be used on neighboring units without damage.

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Mowery asks if the battery is similar to Tesla batteries as we had a an issue putting out a battery fire in the past involving a Lithium-ion battery. These units have a 20-year life and the batteries are recyclable.

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The store energy will go back into the grid through AES. This will provide energy when we need it.

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This holds about 20k homes worth of power. As far as noise, the HVAC hum isn't expected to be heard by neighboring communities.

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AES will be a provider and customer at the same time. The cost affect to citizens is unknown. It would hurt financially to sell outside of Indy.

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Concerns about buying and paying from AES as well as future plants coming online..

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Without the abatement the costs would make this project uncompetitive with the city property taxes as most of the time these are built outside of the city limits.

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Evans shows his excitement for the project and suggests his district for future projects as wind and solar depend on these types of sites.

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Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 347, 2024 – approves the 2025 Budget of the Woodruff Place Economic Improvement District.

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Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 348, 2024 – approves the 2025 Budget of the Greater Virginia Avenue Corridor Economic Improvement District. Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 367, 2024 – reappoints Cathi Gould to the Marion County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. Motion carries.

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PROPOSAL NO. 349, 2024 – amends portions of the Revised Code of the Consolidated City and County in Chapter 744, Development Standards.

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Cahill is in support but believes that digital billboards have a need as they allow for multiple languages and his districts has many citizens speaking other languages besides English. Hart is seeing the opposite when it comes to digital billboards in his district.

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Numerous community organizations are in support of this compromise.

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Mowery sees some safety announcements being shown on digital billboards and see a need to continue the conversation on adding digital billboards instead of the old stagnant billboards.

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It's a recurring theme that councilors are in support, but believe there's more space for discussions around digital billboards and this compromise.

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Public comments center around supporting the adoption of the proposal. MCANA and HUNI reps both spoke in support of the proposed changes.

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Motion carries.

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Downtown Economic Enhancement District Update – Taylor Schaffer, President & CEO Downtown Indy Inc. I apologize. I'm not sure why the 1st video is upside down. This was simply an update and no vote is required.

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Meeting Adjourned: 7:24 PM

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Meeting*

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Agency Information

Indianapolis City-County Council

See meeting notes for details

www.indy.gov

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The Indianapolis City-County Council is the legislative branch of our local government. In addition to adopting budgets, levying taxes, and authorizing financial appropriations to fund city and county operations, the council is responsible for enacting, repealing, and amending local laws. The Council appoints members to boards and commissions that serve the community, and all meetings are open to the public.

Council members