At the July 10th Fishers Plan Commission meeting, the Commission voted unanimously to send an unfavorable recommendation to the City Council on a proposed gas station and convenience store at 135th Street near State Road 37.  The matter was scheduled for a final vote by the City Council Monday night.

Fishers spokesperson Ashley Elrod tells LarryInFishers the petitioner chose to withdraw the proposal from the Council agenda.  It is not known where this proposed development goes from here.

At the Plan Commission meeting, Commission member and Councilor Selina Stoller expressed her view that there are plenty of gas stations and convenience operations in that area of the city.

Kyle Pierce is a Fishers High School graduate and went on to achieve his degree at Ball State University.  His interest in politics led him to a seat in the Indiana General Assembly, representing Anderson and a part of Madison County.

Kyle Pierce talks about his journey in politics that landed him with a seat in the Indiana State Legislature.

The Fishers City Council honored two state championship teams Monday night, both from Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) High School.  The Boys’ Lacross and Girls’ Softball squads received a hearty round of applause and were handed certificates by Mayor Scott Fadness and John Weingardt, representing the City Council.

Weingardt presided over the Council meeting due to a home accident and injury, plus a positive COVID test, kept Council Chair Cecilia Coble from attending the meeting.  Vice President Pete Peterson was also unable to attend.

The Council passed measures implementing the economic development plan for a major expansion of the life sciences firm INCOG.  Mayor Fadness praised INCOG for selling Fishers as a good business location, drawing other life science firms to the city.

The Fishers City Council joined Mayor Scott Fadness in a work session Monday to discuss annexing an area in the far southeast section of unincorporated Hamilton County, mostly adjacent to the City of Fishers.  The session also reviewed the innovation grant program for Hamilton Southeastern School District teachers.

The tract of land Fishers is looking to annex in the southeast area is unincorporated Hamilton County, although residents in the area have Fortville addresses with the Postal Service. There are 960 parcels of land that Fishers is eyeing to annex, but 710 of those have remonstrance waivers.  This is mostly tied to a zoning designation granted to the developer in 2009, according to the mayor’s Chief of Staff Jordin Alexander.

Public sessions with the those residing in the neighborhoods will be held this month and in August.  The City Council will vote on the fiscal plan for annexation at the August meeting.  A public hearing will be conducted in October, with the adoption of the annexation ordinance subject to a City Council vote in December.  The remonstrance and appeal period is a long one, extending to May of 2025.  The entire annexation process will not likely be completed until June of 2025.

Mayor Fadness indicated that once this annexation is complete, he will likely call for a special census.  The last official census in 2020 put the City of Fishers population a tick under 100,000.  Fadness believes the current Fishers population is about 105,000, with 110,000 coming soon.  A special census could help by allowing the city to up money it receives from state government.

Council members and the mayor turned to the HSE Schools Innovation Grants the city is funding.  Fadness emphasized this program is not in competition with the money provided HSE teachers by the HSE Schools Foundation, but can fund requests for projects the Foundation is unable to handle due to the dollar amounts.  The fund started this year with $500,000 and has handed-out $80,000 in grants.  Fadness says the $500,000 amount was for one year only.  He hopes to fund the grants by providing smaller funding each year, but with enough money in the fund to approve a large project if the committee sees fit.

Retired HSE teacher Mike Fassold outlined for the Council how the committee he chairs considers each request for project funding.  He highlighted one HSE High School teacher proposing a virtual reality system that has so far been very successful.

The Fishers Events Center may still be under construction with an opening in November planned, but Mitch Lists, General Manager of the facility, talks about the first three acts to appear on the local stage in this podcast, link below.

INCOG BioPharma Services, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in sterile injectable biopharmaceuticals, has announced a significant investment to expand its manufacturing capabilities in Fishers. The expansion includes constructing a second 100,000-square-foot building on its campus, with groundbreaking scheduled for August. This new facility will increase the company’s commercial-scale device assembly capacity, supporting autoinjectors, pens, wearable injectors, and syringe accessorizing, while also adding new labeling and final packaging capabilities.

The addition of this second building will enable INCOG to offer comprehensive, end-to-end solutions from filling to device assembly and final packaging. This streamlined process aims to simplify supply chain solutions for its global biopharma customers.

“We are excited about this new investment and the opportunities it brings,” said Cory Lewis, CEO and Founder of INCOG. “Our customers will have access to a suite of solutions from filling through final packaging. This supply chain integration is essential in accelerating a drug product to commercial launch, and even more important in today’s constrained markets as the need for sterile injectable products is quickly growing to address challenging diseases and improve healthcare outcomes. The hard work and expertise of the team we have built at INCOG has allowed us to accelerate investments and address the immediate needs of the global biopharma industry.”

The expansion is expected to create over 100 additional high-paying jobs in Fishers. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) claims Indiana is the largest exporter of pharmaceutical products in the continental United States. By the end of 2023, Indiana’s Life Science sector included over 3,000 companies, employing 67,000 people and contributing $95 billion to the state’s economy, according to the IEDC.

“We are proud to contribute to the social and economic growth of Fishers by creating new jobs and fostering a vibrant life science community,” added Lewis. “The city and IEDC have served as an extension of our team. It’s exciting to bring current and prospective clients to our facility so they can experience the growing community where we do business.”

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness expressed his pride in INCOG’s growth and expansion into a second building. “This expansion reinforces Fishers as a leading hub for life sciences and biopharma manufacturing. INCOG has played a significant role in building the industry cluster in Fishers, and we look forward to celebrating their future successes,” Fadness said.

The expansion follows ongoing efforts to commission and install a second high-speed syringe and cartridge filling line, along with supporting automated visual inspection equipment. The new filling line will complement INCOG’s existing multi-use filling line, bringing the site’s filling capacity to 140 million units per year. The automated visual inspection and autoinjector assembly capabilities are already available, with the additional syringe filling capacity expected to come online in Q2 2025. These enhancements will enable INCOG to meet the growing demand for biopharmaceutical solutions that utilize pre-filled syringes and autoinjector delivery mechanisms.

The Fishers Events Center has announced the first three shows to be offered at the new venue, currently under construction.

“We are joining the ranks of the amazing entertainment options in this market with something different to offer, having a unique opportunity to bring in great shows that are selling out arenas elsewhere in the country,” says Mitch List, Fishers Events Center General Manager. “We look forward to seeing the Fishers Event Center become a catalyst for so much growth as it fills a void for this community. We’re just getting started, and there’s a lot to come with much more to be announced in the coming weeks and months ahead.”

Here are the first three acts, with descriptions provided by the Events Center:

• Turnpike Troubadours with Trampled by Turtles and Tyler Halverson – Friday, November 22, 2024 (Tickets on sale this Friday, July 19 at 10 a.m. ET)
  Turnpike Troubadours formed in 2005, assembling a lineup that eventually included frontman Evan Felker, lead guitarist Ryan Engleman, fiddle player Kyle Nix, bassist R.C. Edwards, drummer Gabe Pearson, and steel guitar and accordion player Hank Early. Their debut album, Bossier City, was released in 2007 and the first of five studio albums the group would release. Their self-titled 2015 album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 and inside the Top 5 of U.S. Country, Folk, Rock and Indie charts. 2017’s A Long Way from Your Heart would peak at number 3 on the Billboard Top Country chart. In 2019, the band announced their indefinite hiatus. Two years later, in November 2021, the band teased their return and shortly after started announcing new shows starting in 2022, including two sold out dates at Red Rocks and an appearance at Bonnaroo.
• Leanne Morgan – Saturday, November 30, 2024 (Tickets on sale this Friday, July 19 at 10 a.m. ET)
  Leanne Morgan has taken the world by storm and her national headlining tour is, “Just Getting Started!”  Following the breakout ratings success of her critically acclaimed Netflix special, I’m Every Woman, Morgan has sold out over 100 theater and arena shows across the United States – with often second, third, fourth and fifth shows added in major markets.  In an effort for more of her fans to have the chance to experience her hit show, Morgan is extending her theatre and arena tour into 2024 by adding shows in new markets across the United States.
• AEW – Wednesday, December 4, 2024 (Tickets will go on sale at a later date TBA)
  History will be made when All Elite Wrestling’s wildly popular professional wrestling shows, “AEW: Dynamite” and “AEW: Rampage,” make their Fishers Event Center debut for a thrilling night of high-flying action! AEW’s roster includes headliners such as Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Adam Copeland, Swerve Strickland, Will Ospreay, Christian Cage, The Young Bucks, Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Hangman Adam Page, Toni Storm, Mercedes Mone, Saraya, Adam Cole, FTR, Dr. Britt Baker, Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, Jay White, Claudio Castagnoli, Malakai Black, Will Hobbs, The Acclaimed, The Lucha Bros., Mark Briscoe, Samoa Joe, and many more. For additional information, visit AllEliteWrestling.com or @AEW across socials.

The 7,500-seat capacity center is situated on a 53-acre plot expanding upon the popular 18-acre development Fishers District, and will host everything from concerts, entertainment acts to basketball games while serving as a community-focused venue for local athletes to compete, graduation ceremonies and more.

“We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to build an unmatched venue that brings top-level talent to one of the most dynamic parts of our community,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness. “These opening events at the Fishers Event Center will mark an incredible milestone for our city and there’s even more to come.”

For tickets and more information about the Fishers Events Center, use this link.

When it became clear that there had been an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, my mind went back to November, 1963.  I was 12 years old, in elementary school, when it was announced on the loudspeakers that President John Kennedy had been shot and we later learned had died.

When I was 17 years old, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were both assassinated in 1968. There were assassination attempts on President Gerald Ford.  President Ronald Reagan barely survived an attempt on his life.

Political violence goes way back in our history.  The young nation put down the Whiskey Rebellion during the 1790s.  Of course, there was the Civil War, ending in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  In 1881, President James Garfield was gunned down at a train station.  William McKinley was shot and killed when shaking hands in Buffalo, New York.  There were unsuccessful assassination attempts on the lives of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

If you want to widen the definition of political violence, go back to the Red Summer of 1919 or the racial violence of the 1960s.  You can add the Rodney King violence in Los Angeles.

It breaks my heart to think about all this, but we in America have a violent history, including our treatment of the native tribes.  We need to understand our history, including the parts we don’t like to think about.

Many commentators have called the attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump un-American.  It was un-American when measured against our laws and constitution and the overall good in American society.  I would go one step further.  This act of violence was evil.

It will take time to sort-out the story behind the alleged shooter and what his motive might have been.  Let’s not jump to conclusions, something far too easy in our interconnected world.

My prayers and sympathies go to those lost and badly injured in this attack.

Be aware that the west side of State Road 37 and 141st Street will close July 22nd for the remainder of this year.  That is just one of a long list of road construction updates in the weekly report.

Below is the full road construction listing for the Fishers area, as provided by the City of Fishers,  for the week starting Monday, July 15:

Continue reading Fishers road construction update for the work week beginning Monday, July 15 →

The Mudsock Office Building at Billericay park is considered a top candidate for a solar panel grant.  This work would need to be completed by the end of 2024 to qualify. The original roof is still on the building and has only about 2 years left on its expected useful life.  The roof must be replaced in order to qualify for the grant.  The Fishers Board of Works and Public Safety voted to award a bid of just over $60,000 to replace the roof.  The solar panels would provide electricity to that building alone.

In one other matter before the board Thursday morning. a transfer of $400,000 was approved providing a 96th Street Facade program.  This is aimed at helping older business buildings along that corridor spruce up their locations and will include setting-up outdoor areas.  The funds are expected to provide “improved exterior aesthetics” for businesses along 96th Street, the Fishers border with the City of Indianapolis.