Samm Quinn took over the North of 96th beat for the Indianapolis Business Journal about one year ago.  I invited Samm to share with me in a podcast what she has taken away from the year of covering the northern suburbs of Indy.

A standing-room-only crowd at the Holland Park shelter house heard a presentation from Jacobs Engineering Monday night on several visions of a train, or trail plus train, along the Nickel Plate rail line.  There was talk of the value the Nickel Plate Rail has to the regional potential for train connections north of Indianapolis.  There was a lot of information about the value of the rail and how a rail and trail operation could exist together along the rail line.

Ty Mendenhall of “Save The Nickel Plate” said after the Monday presentation that this was not a feasibility study.  “Whether we go in that direction or not is going to depend on some of the feedback we get here tonight, and other things that happen,” Mendenhall said.  “Seems like things change day-to-day on this situation.”

Save The Nickel Plate is not anti-trail, according to Mendenhall.  His  concern is the regional impact a trails-only plan would have on the train network north of Indianapolis.

The Fishers City Director of Engineering, Jason Taylor, watched the Monday presentation and described the people pushing for the rail with trail along the Nickel Plate as interest groups not living in Fishers and not in touch with the Fishers community.

“The rail with trail project this group is proposing represents just 4% of the Fishers population’s wishes,” said Taylor.  “The residents do not want freight, and the City of Fishers does not support any proposal that leads to freight cars travelling through neighborhoods and running through our city, clogging traffic on major thoroughfares multiple times a day.  The City still stands by its independent, professional assessment that shows rails with trails is not realistic.”

The City of Fishers has included funding in the 2019 budget to begin constructing the trail-only along the Nickel Plate, beginning this fall.

The Redevelopment Commission approved a project agreement for the Browning Investments development along the north side of 116th Street, near the municipal complex.  Fishers Economic Development Director Megan Baumgartner said the boundaries for this part of the project will be North Street, Maple Street to the east & 116th Street to the south.  The four existing buildings along 116th Street will remain as part of this plan.  The city is providing a $250,000 incentive in order to rehabilitate those structures.  The city also negotiated provisions in the agreement with Browning Investments/CRG allowing existing rents to be maintained for the existing buildings, for tenants in the building now throughout the construction period, and that will also apply to any new tenants for those existing buildings.  There is a cap for future tenants in those buildings once construction is done at $15 per square foot.

“The city is committed to making this a location for affordable downtown retail space,” Baumgartner said.

The agreement calls for incorporating planning for the Nickel Plate  Trail.  The city is offering $500,000 for the planned public plaza north of the Nickel Plate Bar & Grill location.

This agreement encompasses $61 million in project investment, including 235 residential units and a parking garage with 329 spaces.  The city will have access to 55 of those spaces exclusively.

A Tax Increment Finance (TIF) backed bond of $25 million will be used for land acquisition, parking garage, the incentives for building rehabilitation & the public plaza, as well as $200,000 of infrastructure improvements along Maple Street.

Construction should begin on this project in November of this year.  Completion of the work should take about two years.

The Redevelopment Commission also approved an amendment to the economic development agreement with Knowledge Services, allowing an extension of the time to begin construction on their new building to September 31st, 2019.  The office building is to be be located near Navient, along I-69.

Fishers Director of Economic Development Megan Baumgartner told Redevelopment Commission members that initially, Knowledge Services was focused only on the office building, but that has changed.

“(Knowledge Services) turned from looking at just their office building to a holistic approach to their whole 17 acres,” said Baungartner.  “We have the commitment from Knowledge Services that this project is moving forward, there’s no question as to their commitment to doing this project, just wanted to be very thoughtful in their approach.”

Baungartner later told LarryInFishers “holistic approach” means Knowledge Services was initially focused on the office building itself, but the firm is now looking at the larger plans for the entire 17 acres of land.

The Fishers City Council passed a resolution March 18th approving the extension.  The Redevelopment Commission could not vote on the measure last month due to a recusal by a commission member that resulted in the lack of a quorum.

In other action, the commission finalized the master lease for the Hub & Spoke project and a professional services agreement with Launch Fishers to continue running the IoT (Internet of Things) Lab.

Vertical Horizon and Tonic will take to the stage, opening the 2019 Spark Fishers Fishers Festival at 7pm, June 28th.  The concert at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater will kickoff the two-day Spark festival.

The second day of the celebration June 29th features a 5K Walk/Run, a street fair, a patriotic evening parade, and a fireworks show.

The June 28th concert is free, but tickets are required. Those tickets will be available beginning in May.  You can get them through ticket stops and giveaways hosted by the City of Fishers and radio station 107.9 (The Mix).

The overall sponsor of the Spark Fishers Festival is First Internet Bank.

Jason Taylor had served as the Assistant Director of Engineering for the City of Fishers when the Indiana Department of Transportation came calling and offered Jason an opportunity to become Technical Services Director for the Greenfield District, and Jason accepted that job.  Then, Jeff Hill, Fishers’ Director of Engineering the past seven years, accepted a private sector offer and left his city job.

When it was time to replace Jeff Hill, Mayor Scott Fadness tapped Hill’s former second-in-command, Jason Taylor.  Fadness announced Monday the appointment of Jason Taylor as the Fishers Director of Engineering.

“Jeff Hill has built a great engineering department that has reduced traffic congestion in Fishers, increased our state and federal funding, and improved our city’s infrastructure during his time here,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release. “I have no doubt that under Jason’s leadership, these efforts will not be in vain. I look forward to having Jason back on the team as we continue to reinvest in our infrastructure to grow the quality of life here in Fishers.”

Jason Taylor was once a part of the Engineering Department staff while serving as  assistant director, and has the advantage of knowing those working under him very well.

“I’m humbled and excited to come back to the City of Fishers and be a part of the next chapter of our growing community,” said Taylor. “Under Jeff’s leadership, the team has made great strides in bringing Fishers’ infrastructure up meet the demand. With that foundation in place, I’m looking forward building proactive and innovative infrastructure that will serve this community for generations to come.”

Taylor will have plenty of work on his agenda, the biggest being the State Road 37 upgrade, which begins in earnest later this year.

He is a graduate from Purdue University with a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering and is a certified Professional Engineer in both Indiana and Ohio.

Jason, his wife Carri, and children, Dean and Linley, reside in Fishers.

When Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness spoke with me on a podcast in early 2018, he said it was his intention to run for re-election in 2019, but he also voiced strong support for the members of his city council, saying he intended to support those council members in their re-election campaigns.

Mayor Fadness formalized that support Monday through a news release issued by his re-election campaign, confirming his endorsement of all council members with a primary election opponent.  All 9 council incumbents have filed to seek re-election, but only 5 have challengers in the May 7th Republican primary election.

The mayor and all 9 council members are Republicans.

“This is the team that’s moving Fishers forward,” Fadness said in the news release. “Under their leadership on the council, we’ve strengthened our city’s finances, kept taxes low for residents and ushered in record job growth, investment and innovation to Fishers. I’m grateful to Rich Block, Cecilia Coble, Brad DeReamer, Pete Peterson and Todd Zimmerman for working to improve our city, and I’m asking voters to support this team.”

DeReamer is running for another term in the Northeast District.  Pete Peterson seeks re-election in the Southeast District.

Three of the endorsements were for the At-Large incumbents:  Rich Block,Cecila Coble and Todd Zimmerman.

Paula Hughel is challenging Peterson in the Southeast District.  Tom Grinslade is running against DeReamer.  Gurinder Singh is a candidate for Council Member At-Large.

When spring break started for families with students in the HSE Schools, we had snow.  Now that spring break is over and classes are resuming, the weather has changed for the better.

But there have been several news stories over the past week that are worth your attention:

–First, Stoney Creek Farm has been sold to a local firm, Boomerang Development.  The President of Boomerang, Corby Thompson, told the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) he immediately worked out a deal to buy the property once he discovered the 50-acre farm, nursery and landscaping business was  on the market.

“I had it under contract with him in a day,” Thompson told IBJ reporter Samm Quinn. “I didn’t want it to get developed.”

Stoney Creek is best known for its annual fall Pumpkin Harvest Festival, an event Jane & I  shared with our daughters when they were young.

Thompson has made it clear he wants to keep Stoney Creek Farm as it is.

You can read more of Samm Quinn’s story about Stoney Creek Farm at this link.

–The Nickel Plate Bar & Grill made official what has been rumored around town for weeks, the long-time downtown eatery will be closing.  The last day for their famous tenderloins, and other food offerings, will be April 20th.  The city has said for some time that if the Nickel Plate Bar & Grill decides to close, the city will make every effort to find a firm willing to place a similar restaurant at that location.  Browning Investments will be constructing a major development on the north and south end of 116th Street near City Hall.  The building that currently houses the Nickel Plate Bar and Grill, along the the older structures just to the east, will be preserved but will have what Mayor Scott Fadness described as “deferred maintenance” and before re-opening.

–The Republican primary election campaigns are now fully underway, with political signs popping-up all over town.  It appears Gurinder Singh, candidate for Fishers City Council At-Large, may be trying to set some sort of record on the number and size of his campaign signs.  Not only are his signs everywhere in Fishers, they have been seen in Castleton, Noblesville and McCordsville.

Also, I recorded a podcast with mayoral candidate Logan Day.  I have a podcast recording session scheduled with incumbent Mayor Scott Fadness in about two weeks.  The timing of that recording session was at the request of the Fadness campaign.

I have already recorded podcast interviews with the two candidates for Fishers City Clerk and all contested races for Fishers City Council, 8 council candidates in all.

So, I hope all of you lucky enough to skip town for spring break enjoyed your time away from Fishers.  But it’s time to get back down to business.

WISH-TV/Hamilton County Reporter

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is looking into what some fisherman are calling an abnormal-looking fish kill on Geist Reservoir.

It is still early in the season for recreational fishers to be out on the water but it is not unusual to have fish turn up dead when the weather starts to warm up.

For people like William Briere, who have been out on the water training since March, they are noticing something different in the fish.

“The fish that you are seeing now have big red splotches on them and a lot of times those red splotches start getting that fungus you know, growing around them,” Briere said. “And it is just odd.”

Briere has been fishing on Geist Reservoir for more than 20 years. He says it is not so much the number of fish that turned up dead in this year’s kill that is concerning, but rather the types of fish.

“Big mature ones that are several years old, for them just to die like that and have the fungus growing on them like what is growing on them, there is something going on,” says Briere. “I am not a biologist but it sure looks chemical related.”

The Geist Reservoir Coalition treats the area for algae a few times a year, but the chemicals used are cleared by the Indiana Department of Environmental management.

However, there are other ways chemicals could be getting into the water and that is what DNR and IDEM are trying to figure out.

Contamination could have major effects on both the reservoir and those who fish in it.

“When you see the fishkills like that,” said Briere, “that affects your tournament fishing. Nobody wants to go fish a lake where you can’t catch fish.”

The Geist Reservoir Coalition says it is not overly concerned with the fish kill but that there are many different sources that could have led to the contamination of the water.

As of now, IDEM says that there are no concerns with the water affecting people.

Hamilton County Reporter

The Hamilton County Election Board met on Friday to review a request filed by Democratic Party Chairman Joe Weingarten concerning bribery allegations in the Carmel mayoral election.

Weingarten issued a letter to the Election Board requesting an investigation into allegations made that candidate Fred Glynn was offered $140,000 to withdraw from the race.

Greg Purvis, the sole Democrat on the board, recommended the board review the claim or ask for assistance from the Indiana State Police.

Board member Ray Adler agreed the board should investigate the matter.

Hamilton County Clerk Kathy Williams told the Reporter the board would review the matter but not until after the election.

Williams said the board would reconvene on May 14: “At that time the names Joe Weingarten has listed in his letter to the Election Board will be asked to come and answer questions from the board.”

The Fishers Mayoral race in the GOP primary election this year is getting some attention from the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ).  “North of 96th” reporter Samm Quinn has a story in the IBJ’s April 5th edition of the weekly newspaper, highlighting how development, and the speed of development, is a dividing line between the two candidates.

Incumbent Mayor Scott Fadness argues change in Fishers is necessary, in his view, in order to move the city forward.  His challenger, Logan Day, says residents he interacts with in his campaign are telling him the development is coming too fast and most projects appear mostly done before the public has a chance to see the plans.

I posted a podcast interview with Logan Day recently that is available at this link.  Mayor Fadness’ re-election campaign has chosen to record a podcast with myself and the mayor later this month…I will post that podcast as soon as it is recorded & ready.

To read Samm Quinn’s IBJ story on the Fishers mayor’s race, use this link.

(NOTE: If you are not an IBJ subscriber, you may be limited on the number of stories accessed each month)