Now that the City of Fishers will be paying more than originally proposed for the new Geist Park property, the Fishers City Council will be asked to approve a $5 million general obligation bond to fund the remainder of that land purchase. The council has already voted for a $12 million bond issue for the project, which remains in place.
The eminent domain process is valuing the land, now owned mostly by IMI Incorporated, at $15.7 million, $6 million more than originally budgeted for the land purchase.
The Fishers City Council Finance Committee voted 2-1 to favorably recommend moving forward with the $5 million bonds issuance. Committee President Selina Stoller voted no, while John Weingardt and Cecilia Coble voted yes. Eric Moeller was not able to attend the Wednesday meeting.
Coble expressed concerns about the condition of Geist Lake. Weingardt said a conservancy district needs to be created so property owners around Geist Reservoir would pay for the upkeep of the waterway. However, several government jurisdictions other than Fishers have land on that lake, making the creation of such a conservancy difficult.
Coble expressed concerns about the city spending money to buy the land for the park if the lake is not being kept in good shape. She did, however, vote in favor of recommending a “yes” vote by the council on the bond.
“I think we need to get that conservancy district,” Stoller said in explaining her “no” vote. “We need to go into a partnership with (Geist Lake property owners) to clean up that lake and to get it done. This project is already over budget from the beginning, and to know there’s residents out there and the way I look at it, they’re just sitting back (and saying) ‘well, there’s a mess out there, yes it’s at my back door, why don’t you clean it up for me?’ I don’t feel, until they’re on board with cleaning this up, that we need to be putting this type of money into (the park).”
The city council is being asked to suspend the rules and approve the bond on first, second & third reading Monday night. Since it takes a unanimous vote to suspend the rules, I asked Selina Stoller whether she plans to vote yes or no on suspending the rules and allowing a final vote on the bond Monday. Stoller declined to comment.