Zionsville Town Council

Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 ZIONSVILLE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FOR MARCH 4, 2024 AT 7:00 P.M. EST ONSITE MEETING 1100 West Oak Street This meeting was conducted onsite. All Councilors participated in person. Council Members Present: Jason Plunkett, President; Brad Burk, Vice-President; Craig Melton, Evan Norris, Sarah Esterline Sampson, and Joe Stein Absent: Tim McElderry Also Present: Heather Harris, Town Council Attorney; Mayor John Stehr; Deputy Mayor Kate Swanson, Lance Lantz, Director of Department of Public Works; Mike Dale, Director of Planning and Building; Corrie Sharp, Economic Development Coordinator, Redevelopment Commission Director; Cindy Poore, Director of Finance & Records; Amy Lacy, Municipal Relations Coordinator; and other Town Department Staff OPENING A. Call meeting to order B. Pledge of Allegiance Plunkett All right, good evening. I will now call to order the Monday, March 4, 2024 Town Council meeting. If you would please, stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. All Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF THE MEMORANDUM OF THE FEBRUARY 20, 2024 REGULAR MEETING Plunkett All right, the first item up on the agenda is the approval of the February 20, 2024 Town Council meeting memoranda. A copy has been posted. Are there any questions from Councilors? Otherwise, I’d entertain a motion. Norris I make a motion to approve the Town Council minutes from the February 20, 2024 meeting. Page 1 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Sampson Second. Plunkett I got a first from Councilor Norris, a second from Councilor Sampson. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY PAYROLL CLAIMS Plunkett Up next, is the approval of the February payroll claims. Are there any questions from Councilors? I’ll make a motion to approve February payroll claims. Burk Second. Plunkett A second by Vice President Burk. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. APPROVAL OF MARCH 4, 2024 CLAIMS Plunkett Up next on the agenda is the approval of the March 4, 2024 claims. Are there any questions from Councilors? Sampson Did we get more information on the Whitsitt & Nooning? Plunkett Yes, Heather actually shared with me her legal opinion on it and I have no problem with paying the claim so. Melton I do have a concern/question and it’s about seeing some names of residents on there that are getting – Stein Refunds – Melton Refunds from the waste – I don’t know if it’s the wastewater treatment or, I believe it’s wastewater treatment and this is not the first time it’s happened and I just don’t know why it’s continuing to happen. Are they getting billed overly? This is kind of frustrating because it’s the same names that this happened with. I don’t know if it was eight months ago but it’s happened before with Mallur as the last name on one of them. Page 2 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Poore As far as the repetitive names, I’m not sure that I can answer that but usually what happens in those situations, somebody might make an overpayment. We’ve actually had some people that accidentally mailed in their mortgage payments instead of wastewater and so then we have to turn around and flip that back to them and so there’s a lot of various reasons why. If they move they might pay in advance, they move they get a credit back. There’s a lot of different reasons why somebody would get a refund. Melton Okay and I do realize that person owns several parcels as well so I think that could be – Poore Right. Melton Part of it and that might be why we see it again so. Poore Yes. Melton I believe I was told that they were billed that – Poore Yes – Melton So I just don’t want people to be billed incorrectly so. If we can just keep an eye on it. Poore Yep. Melton Appreciate it. Poore Sure. Plunkett Any other questions from Councilors? I’ll make a motion to approve March 4th claims. Melton Second. Plunkett Second from Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. REQUEST TO SPEAK Plunkett Up next is Request to Speak on agenda item. Amy, do we have any requests to speak on agenda item? Lacy No we do not. Page 3 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Plunkett We’ve still not gotten you a microphone. Lacy Nope. Harris I’ll share. MAYOR/ADMINISTRATION UPDATE Plunkett We should do that. Up next is the Mayor/Administration Update. We have Mayor Stehr here this evening. Good evening. Stehr Good evening Councilors. It’s good to see everybody tonight, well six out of the seven at least. You probably noticed the new Welcome Center desk as you came in the door today. By the end of the week we will have that desk fully staffed with the Town’s liaison and also our security officer. Construction is pretty much finished and the next step is going to be to get IT installed. We think that this is going to position us to offer much better and more efficient services to both our employees and our guests so that will be there in place by the end of the week. Comprehensive Plan Now moving on to the priorities for 2024 – as far as the Comprehensive Plan is concerned, we did get nine proposals through the RFQ process and a committee narrowed that list down to three finalists. I want to thank Councilors Sampson and Burk for your help in that. The short list of consultants under consideration for the Comprehensive Plan include the firms: Rundell Ernstberger Associates or REA, Hannum Wagle & Cline Engineering which is also known as HWC and also Planning Next which is a group out of Columbus, Ohio. So the next thing is going to happen on Saturday, March 16th. We will have each of them make a presentation to a joint meeting of the Plan Commission and the Town Council. This is going to be done in an open public meeting in this room. It’ll be streamed live and the goal is to merge with a consensus on which company will lead us through the Comprehensive Plan process. I hope you’ll all be able to attend and, again, this is a public meeting. It’ll be posted appropriately in compliance with Indiana’s Open Door Law. The meeting begins at noon on that day and we expect it to wrap up by 4 p.m. South Village The South Village – we are working through a Planned Unit Development document that will provide a code for the mix of uses in the South Village. Unlike previous PUDs in Zionsville, this one will be directed by the Town rather than a developer or a group of developers. It is in draft form right now and we plan to have a working copy by the end of this month. Now I promised you a South Village update on the first meeting of each month so I’m going go ask Corrie Sharp to come up and deliver that in just a couple of minutes. Norris Couple of seconds. Sharp Joe, do you have another slide? Oh, no. Okay, well, as we’re preparing for a Planned Unit Development for the South Village, one of the key things that we’re doing is taking a look back at all of the studies that have been done already because we understand that professionals have already been plugged in on this Page 4 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 area so I just wanted to highlight some of those studies. The first one we’re all familiar with because we’ve been talking about it at least for the last year and a half is the 2021 Zionsville Gateway Area Master Plan. This is a Master Plan that has been adopted into the Comprehensive Plan and it makes specific recommendations on where and how development can be formed around Sycamore, Main Street and First Street. The second plan that we evaluated was the 2012 Economic Development Plan. This is on the Planning Commission’s website. If we had this you would have this great QR code and you could just scan and see all of these but I’ll tell you where they’re at. It’s on the Planning Commission website and this plan has a couple different sections, one of them specifically is for downtown and it grabs the area basically between First and Main Street from Pine/Oak area all the way down to the interstate. Specifically, it, it talks about extending the Village all the way down to 106th Street and then to work collaboratively with the Chamber to create a marketing package to strengthen the existing business opportunities that are out there and then promote tourism in the Village and the commercial areas around it. And finally, the last study that we have studied in-house is the 2014 Downtown Zionsville Market Study and Parking Analysis. This is an analysis that took into consideration marketing specific for the Village. So, again, working with the Chamber and the partners to manage and advocate for the Village and then a parking analysis that looked at what is the peak time when people are there and when, when and where is there ample parking and where is there a gap. We are actually, the RDC, is working on getting an update to this because it’s 10 years old and, of course, Village activities have changed since this has been done so we are getting this updated and that will go into consideration as we shape out our vision for the South Village. Digitization/Cyber Security Stehr As promised, she did that in a few minutes. Thank you, Corrie. The next priority item is Digitization and Cybersecurity. Now I did mention at our last meeting that we’re now cashless in Town Hall. The next step is to be able to accept all payments through our website. Currently, we can only do that with wastewater payments but we can use that as a template to take on other payments as well. That is in process and then once we have the payment protocol in place, we can begin to digitize our permitting and inspections. So we are making progress one step at a time. Also, we are part of the state’s first round of municipalities that will come under the CrowdStrike program which is a very robust cybersecurity protocol. It is federally funded and administered by the state and we are one of 30 municipalities chosen to use it in the first round and that’s because Joe Rust has been closely involved in its implementation so we are proud of Joe for getting us in the first round of that and that is making a big difference in our cybersecurity. Finance – 2023 Financial Report by Cindy Poore Stehr The next item under priorities is Finance and I’m so happy to tell you all tonight that the reconciliation of 2023 was completed on time during the last week of February. It was uploaded to Gateway to the state as required by March 1st, in fact, we got it in a few days early. So our Finance Director, Cindy Poore, is here to give you the 2023 financial report. Page 5 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Poore Good evening. I just wanted to touch on a few highlights. One of them, what Mayor Stehr just spoke of, we were able to get the annual report in on time; 2023 is completely reconciled and 2023 has been closed out so our new employee as of in November, Janet, will start in 2024 reconciliations for January to get those caught up and you guys will start getting reports on a monthly basis – the fund report and the appropriation reports. As the slide says, we do finally have a full staff now plus one. Thank you to you guys to allow us to hire another, start another position and hire for that. When I wrote this, we didn’t have everything submitted yet so that’s the reason why I said we were on target and we met that target. Probably within the next two to three weeks we’ll be calling State Board of Accounts to set up a, an audit for ’22 and ’23 and then I just wanted also to give a shoutout to Crowe and Baker Tilley and my staff. This was no easy feat getting three years of issues from a financial system that did not want to cooperate cleaned up in a year and it was a lot of, a lot of sweat and long hours that, that it took to get this cleaned up. So, we couldn’t have done it without Crowe, Baker Tilley and the staff that I have right now so. Getting into some numbers – I just wanted to touch on some highlights. With this being the first report, President Plunkett and Mayor Stehr, I kind of want to get together with you so we can set up a template on how we want to see this each quarter and that way we’re always seeing the consistency and being able to compare from one quarter to the next then we know we’re looking at the same type of information. So maybe in the near future we can get together and do that. Next slide please – so these are a few of our revenue categories. It’s not everything. We would have many slides if If I had everything on here but these are just some of the major ones that I touched base on and what we brought in in 2023. The next slide or the, this is our budget – our DLGF budget, non-DLGF budget. We had $10 million in additional appropriations and I will say we usually don’t have that much. That was because we had to do some additionals to put, there were some budget numbers for the non-DLGF that did not get included last year and so we had to do those in the form of a, an additional appropriation so that made everything, made it look a little higher than what we normally do. And then 2022 encumbrances that moved into 2023 – so we ended up bringing in $69 million is what we ended up having between additional appropriations, budget and encumbrances. Next slide – expenses. I broke this down by our categories, our budget categories. Personal services, operating supplies and so forth and this is what the spend was in 2023 for each of the categories. As you’ll see, we have $6.4 million that’s going to get carried over into ’24 for encumbrances. A lot of that is to do with contracts. I know Fire and their equipment they’re having to pull forward and their equipment is not cheap so there’s quite a bit of encumbrances that were pulled forward this year. And then there was approximately $6.2 million of unspent appropriated dollars that dropped back into the reserves in their various funds that they were initially appropriated from. Page 6 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 And that’s what I have. And then you should’ve received the fund report and the appropriation report that gave you the overall total picture of everything so. Questions? Plunkett Any questions for Cindy? Sampson Yes, I have a question – I was looking at the appropriations report and seeing the allocations – Poore Yes – Sampson With the adjustments and I was wondering if that’s how we were correcting the funding that we were making all your reconciliations with. Is that or Poore That could be some of it. Yes. Sampson Okay. Poore Yes, the – Sampson Do you think we’ll see less of that then now that we’re going into a cleaner – Poore Yes. Sampson System? Poore Absolutely. Sampson Because there are some pretty substantial ones. Poore Right, right and some of those – you see that additional and adjustment column it’s for the additionals and adjustments – Sampson Right – Poore So some of the larger items were probably additionals that actually went in but I, yes, there would’ve been some adjustments too as far as doing the reconciliations. Sampson So what would be the reasoning for like an additional item? What would make that item hit and then the additional instead of the main line that I was, I don’t know – maybe we should just do this in person so that I could ask questions about – Poore Yes, I can explain it to you but basically with the additionals that would show up in that column, these are items that weren’t originally budgeted for and they, something may have come up that they needed to, a department needed to spend over and above their budget and so they came and asked for those additional funds – Sampson Okay. Page 7 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Poore So it wouldn’t deplete their budget that they already had. Sampson Okay, so it’s through like a process of asking for additional? Poore Yes, yes. Sampson Okay. And then on – do we feel like we are going to kind of revisit how things are not on some of the budgets that we pass? How we, we spoke about that last meeting where on like the APRA dollars were not matching and $150,000 had come off. Is there a way like now that we can have a running total that maybe – Poore Yes – Sampson Some of those items would be more obvious to (inaudible). Poore I do know and Crowe and I will be sitting down in the, in the very near future to discuss the budget process this year. There are going to be some changes on how things were done and so I believe less of that will happen. Sampson Okay – Poore Yes. Sampson I just, when I ran through and I – Poore Yes – Sampson I did have that moment where I was like what am I looking at? Poore Right. Sampson You know? Poore Right. Sampson Because I see totals and no details on – Poore Yes. Sampson Some of those numbers so. Poore And some of those in the additional and adjustment column that you were talking of, some of that would’ve been the non-DLGF budget that didn’t get put in there as well. Sampson Right. Poore So that’s probably what some of, because a lot of it were bond payments – Sampson Okay. Page 8 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Poore And so that, they would’ve been larger amounts. Sampson Okay and I saw some of it would come up later in the meeting as far as like the READI grant and stuff like that – Poore Yes. Sampson The one I saw – Poore Yes. Sampson But thank you for your work. I know that you really worked hard on this – Poore Yes – Sampson And I commend you – Poore Thank you. Sampson And I just want you to hear our praise because you’ve done a lot of work this year especially – Poore Thank you, I appreciate it. Sampson So we surely appreciate it. Poore Thank you. Any other questions? Stein Cindy, I would also offer congratulations on getting everything done. I’m sure it’s a giant weight off of your shoulders and thanks to the firms, the two firms that helped get us across the finish line. I would love nothing more than to sit down and I’ll connect with you – Poore Yes – Stein Offline but just to get a better understanding of all the different funds and what they’re for – Poore Sure. Stein Because there’s so many of them I could probably make some guesses that would be wrong but I’d rather hear it from you so I’ll connect with you probably later this week. Poore Sure. Sampson Yes, put me on a second for that. Poore Okay, all right. Thank you. Page 9 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Plunkett Thanks Cindy. Stehr This is such a good thing that our finances are back on track and look forward to making regular reports to you as we continue moving forward. Salary Ordinance Amendment – Total Eclipse 4/08 Added to Holiday Schedule Stehr Also under Updates tonight – we have the Salary Ordinance Amendment that’s before you tonight for the Solar Eclipse day which is the 8th of April. Now I want to point out that this is one-off for this year only. This is, of course, the date of the great eclipse. The school district has added this date to the spring break calendar and it’s a Monday so I think allowing our employees an extra day for some family time during a once-in-a-lifetime event is appropriate. Now I understand that paid holidays are an expense to the Town both in dollars and in efficiency but I will point out that this is a leap year and we were fully staffed on February 29th so perhaps we could consider it to be a wash. And if you’re worried about setting a precedent, keep in mind that the next total eclipse in Zionsville will be in October of 2153 and I’ve done a little math on this so this is going to be an issue for our great, great, great, great, great grandchildren to deal with when it comes around again and also I want you to know that we’re putting together a public safety plan to make sure that our residents and visitors are well served on that day and we will share appropriate details of that with you as the day gets closer. So I’ll take a moment here and stop if anybody has any questions about that or concerns? Plunkett No I think that’s on the agenda right? Later on in the agenda. Stehr It is on the agenda, yes. Plunkett We can, we can walk through it then. Stehr Okay. Plunkett If there’s any. I think that makes sense. Golf Course RFP Stehr Okay, I’ll be here. The next item is the Golf Course. The RFP process was completed since we last met and we got three proposals. Of those three, one of them rose to the top as being the most consistent with what we asked for and we will meet with them later this week to negotiate the details. Now as I said from the beginning, one option here is to continue operating the course the way we have been since the Town took it over in 2007. Hopefully through this process though we will be able to find some efficiencies to make the experience even better for our golfers and the employees who keep the course running. The new season does start on or about March 15th and I think today was such a beautiful day probably had some people thinking about going out and playing golf but I don’t think that this has to be an issue. If we come to an agreement to outsource the management, we can make sure that the transition period works for everyone. So the opening of the season does not have to be affected. So if the weather is, is with us on March 15th, we can still open the golf course at that time. Page 10 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Communications Role Stehr And then one other item I have is the Communications Coordinator and I am very pleased to tell you all that we have hired a new Communications Coordinator. Her name is Katelyn Watson. She has a long Zionsville history dating back to when she was six days old and came to Zionsville for the first time to visit her grandparents. She has been in and around Town ever since including spending summers here while growing up and she joins us in this building on April 1st. As I have said, I think she will play a vital role in what we do here going forward so I look forward to getting her in place and getting her to meet all of you and also our department directors as well. So, April 1st Katelyn will be joining us. Are there any questions anybody has? Alrighty. Thank you very much. Plunkett Thank you. Stehr Appreciate it. Burk Thanks John. TOWN COUNCIL UPDATE Plunkett All right, up next on the agenda – I’m sorry. Are there any Council updates? Up next would be Town Council Updates. Are there any updates from Councilors? OLD BUSINESS Consideration of an Ordinance Vacating Portions of Public Rights-of-Way (Holliday Farms) Ordinance 2024-06 (Final Reading) Plunkett All right, moving on to Old Business. The first item up on Old Business is a Consideration of an Ordinance Vacating Portions of Public Right-of-Way. This is in Holliday Farms. It’s Ordinance 2024-06. This is a final reading. We have Mike Dale, Planning & Building Department Director, to present. Dale Well good evening. I think we covered this pretty well two weeks ago. Nothing’s changed. This is really relocating an existing easement for a pathway to the north and then that pathway will be reestablished as part of the platting process. Plunkett Are there any questions for Mike? Burk Mike, the only questions I had and I appreciated Matt Price giving us some maps that we’d asked for at the last meeting. I know Evan and I had asked and I went out there and looked. I think, I don’t think anyone’s opposed. I’m certainly not opposed to doing this. What I was trying to figure out was once, once the path moves around the back of the property, and I know this isn’t, this is to come but at some point we’ve talked about certainly, you know, a crosswalk across 421 or a stoplight and I’m trying to figure out where that might be as folks come across Page 11 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 will they be able to access a trail and where the easement now it’s moved and so there are two roads that would potentially go to where a, where a stoplight would be if they were to be considered either right at Interactive Academy or further down where the new Sentry product is going to be but that’s not a trail. I understand there’s a sidewalk there – Dale Yes – Burk And so just, just imagining once that trail comes in, this a few years down the road, and people are coming in they’re going to come into the neighborhood and there’s not going to be a trail there. This is Frederick’s is one of the roads – Dale Yes – Burk I don’t have the map in front of me but – yes, do you have that Matt real quick? Boy Scout – came prepared. Anyway, this is helpful to me. So, Rogers Way is an opportunity south but, again, that’s, that’s not, that’s not trail – it’s near the trail and then Frederick’s Place would be another potential spot where we assume there could be a crossing so. I know this isn’t going to change that other than just I just wanted to get into my head if the trail was not there and Frederick’s Place wasn’t an option, people coming into the neighborhood are going to be on a street or potential sidewalk until they access the trail and so if where the easement was I don’t know that that easement would’ve necessarily been a crosswalk either but I was just trying to get my head around thinking, thinking ahead a little bit. Dale That’s great. Thank you for that. Norris And that was kind of my – Dale Yes – Norris Issue as well – Dale Yes – Norris Was making sure that there was some thought putting, put behind where this trail was going to go and then, and then am I correct – the Michigan Overlay PUD requires that the trail go the full length of the property or? Dale Yes – Norris Is that – Dale Yes, on, on the east side where? Norris Oh yes, on the east side. I’m talking about the Holliday Farms side. Dale Yes, that’s my understanding as well. Norris Okay. Page 12 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Dale Yes. Norris So it’s not as though we could just cross over in, into the east portion excuse me? Dale Okay, I’d have to check that for you. I’d have to confirm that for you. Norris Okay. Plunkett Are there any other questions from Councilors? I mean I think from my perspective I said this last time – I think, obviously, there’s a lot of conversation about sidewalks up and down 421 but that’s a completely different discussion than this in my opinion. Burk It’s not about 421, it’s about just making sure that when we do cross over at the stoplight that it’s the right place, that we’re thinking ahead about where we want people to come into traffic to pick up the trail but I’m, I’m in favor of it. I just wanted to get, I want people to be thinking about how folks are going to access that trail when they do come across. I know that’s down the road but – Dale We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you. Plunkett Thanks Mike. Any other questions for Mike? Norris Did somebody raise their hand – somebody raised their hand in their crowd. I didn’t know – Garontakos (Inaudible off microphone) Plunkett Well, yes, if you want to come up and chat you’ve got to go to the microphone please. If you would, just state your name and your address for the record. Garontakos I’m Traci Garontakos and I’m the one doing this project and I just wanted to state for the record that the original trail easement was supposed to go through the middle of the site so the original trail easement wasn’t on Frederick’s Place, it was like through the actual middle of the site so I just, I just wanted to state that because it’s not like we were moving it away from where a sidewalk would go. It, it was inhibiting what we were able to do with the site. Sampson I’m actually glad to see the on our map the trail on the south side. That’s what I was trying to say last time I think when we thought a description of what was happening, we were vacating the easement in the middle of the proposed site but also it only showed the trail going on the west side and north of the building. It did not show that south side so that’s why I kept saying what about the south side, what about we could, if we needed to go on the east side of your lot that you’re closing to, to perfectly align with a, a cross. That’s what I was trying to say. So that line on Frederick’s is actually new from last week or two weeks ago per what we were shown. Plunkett Correct. Page 13 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Sampson So I think that is, that’s, that’s an improvement for me. That answers what I was hoping to see. Price Yes, for the record, Matt Price for Traci Garontakos. Yes, the exhibit you saw at the last Council meeting just showed the vacated easement and the relocation. It didn’t highlight the existing planned sidewalk along Frederick Place. There’d actually be a sidewalk on either side of Frederick Place. Norris Okay. Price Yes. Sampson So that, that meets what I was looking for to have. Price Yes. Plunkett Any other questions from Councilors? I’d make a motion to approve Ordinance 2024-06 on final reading. Norris Second. Plunkett Second from Councilor Norris. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. NEW BUSINESS Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the 2024 Salary Ordinance (Holiday Schedule) Ordinance 2024-07 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is the first item of New Business. This is a Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the 2024 Salary Ordinance. This is for the holiday schedule, Ordinance 2024-07. This is a first reading. We have Jo Kiel here, Mayor Stehr, obviously, presented on this earlier. Are there any questions from Councilors? Otherwise, I’d entertain a motion. Burk Move to introduce Ordinance 2024-07 on first reading. Melton Second. Plunkett First from Councilor Burk, second from Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Page 14 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. Consideration of a Resolution Approving the Plan Commission Order – Wild Air EDA Creation Resolution 2024-08 Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of a Resolution Approving the Plan Commission Order. This is the Wild Air EDA Creation. This is Resolution 2024-08. We have Corrie Sharp with us this evening and Heather James. Sharp Good evening Councilors. Corrie Sharp with the Redevelopment Commission. Heather James with Ice Miller is here with me along with the Crowe team and the developer team because, you know, in development it takes, takes a crew. I’ll go quickly over the project and then Heather can work through the process of approvals. You have two approvals for consideration this evening but before I do this I believe this is your first TIF project to come before the new Council so I just wanted to touch on the statute and how it reads in regards to how this project specifically. The redevelopment statute allows for TIF to be used to redevelop blighted areas and it also allows for the redevelopment in economic development areas. Specifically when we’re looking at economic development, it needs to benefit the public health, safety, morals and welfare, increase economic wellbeing and, of the unit and the state and serve to protect and increase property values in the unit and the state and are public uses and purposes for which public money may be spent and private property may be acquired and that’s Indiana Code 36-7-14-2.5 for those interested. So Wild Air has been a project hopefully you are familiar with it because it was approved last June for a land use. It is 260 acres north of Oak Street on Marysville Road. It is a Planned Unit Development that includes 700 single- family residential units and then separately it also calls for 20,000 square feet of office and retail and 11 acres for a senior living development. From the TIF standpoint, it’s important to, it’s an important distinction to know that the property taxes will be captured for the commercial spaces and the senior living spaces, apartments. It will not be captured for the 700 single-family homes. The developer is requesting that the funds for this public infrastructure be used for basically land, land improvements, two roundabouts on Marysville Road, 10 acres dedicated for a community center that also includes improvements of utilities, road access and preliminary grading – basically creating 10 acres at the corner of Marysville and Oak as a shovel-ready site for civic use, and then a pedestrian crossing across Marysville Road, all total approximately $12.8 million. That $12.8 million creates the project list basically of how these TIF funds can be spent for public infrastructure. The Redevelopment Commission started this process in December of last year and there was a bit of discussion during that meeting. Unfortunately, we did not Page 15 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 have live video during that meeting so I can’t say oh, just go look there so I just want to highlight a couple of the questions that were asked during that meeting. We talked about a detailed project and a construction timeline, we just kind of walked through that. Construction-wise they will start construction as soon as this bond issuance goes through. The first phase is anticipated to be complete at the end of ’24. We talked also about a development agreement which is something new that is going alongside our bond documents. The RDC will enter into an agreement with the developer that highlights all of these commitments to complete the infrastructure within a certain timeframe but also to make sure that the land transfer goes to the RDC as well, just another what do you call – T crossed. And then we also asked about how they were valuing the civic property and they, it provided an explanation that the property north of there, the senior housing, is similar in size and that market value is around 6 point or $6 million and then the civic land their estimate for the land value is $4.5 million and of that $1.5 million it goes towards the infrastructure improvements to make it shovel- ready on that site. So that basically highlights the project. If you have specific questions on TIF projections, Crowe is here but I’ll let Heather take over on what approvals you have in front of you. James Thanks Corrie. Okay so before you this evening there are two documents related to this project. The first one is Resolution 2024-08 and that resolution is simply noting that the Plan Commission and the Redevelopment Commission have already taken action. The Plan Commission adopted the resolution finding that what the Redevelopment Commission did at the declaratory resolution stage is in line with the plan of development for the Town and so the resolution before you this evening is simply saying yes, we agree this resolution approves what the Redevelopment Commission and the Plan Commission have already done. So that’s kind of on the TIF side of things. Assuming you move forward and adopt that resolution this evening, then we will publish notice and move forward with a Redevelopment Commission public hearing at which point they can consider adoption of a confirmatory resolution that confirms what they did at the declaratory stage and then we will come back to you one more time to ask you to adopt a resolution approving creation of the new Wild Air Economic Development Area and the two allocation areas created within that Economic Development Area as outlined in the declaratory resolution that the RDC adopted back in December. The other thing before you tonight is the Bond Ordinance and we are only looking for you to introduce the Bond Ordinance at this point because we need the Economic Development Commission to meet and hold a public hearing to consider adoption of their resolution before we would ask you to move forward with adoption of a Bond Ordinance. And the Redevelopment Commission will also meet on the bond side to consider adoption of a TIF pledge resolution pledging the TIF that’s generated from this project to the prepayment of the bonds. We’re not looking to pledge any other funds. It would simply be the TIF generated from the multi-family that would pay back the multi-family bonds and then if down the road for phase 2 we would look at issuing bonds and having the TIF solely generated by the senior living portion of the project pay the senior living bonds which would be a second series, Series B. So with that, to get Page 16 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 through all of the steps involved, we look like we’re going to be closing in probably late April unless anything happens with our current timetable. The Bond Ordinance before you has all of the maximum parameters that you’re used to seeing so a maximum principal amount, a maximum interest rate and a maximum term of the bonds. We can't go over any of those parameters without coming back to you so the bond issuance will be within those parameters so up to or less than so we would not go over the $12,822,000 bond amount in, in this ordinance. We are looking at a developer purchased bond so the risk is completely mitigated to the Town to the extent that the developer does not deliver on their project and generate the assessed value that we expect them to deliver. They simply, they simply are not paid back the full amount of the bonds because they’re serving that dual role as developer and bond purchaser so. I’m happy to answer any questions that you have on either document. Plunkett Heather, I just want, again, just to, to reiterate what you guys are asking – so we’ve got the $12.8, not to exceed $12.8, not to exceed 25 years, not to exceed 8%, even though the projections are 6% because that’s the rate you think you guys think you can go out and get? James That’s right, yes. Plunkett Right. And you guys, we’re, we’re establishing the EDA assuming Council is prepared and ready to do that tonight and then introducing the Bond Ordinance on first reading and then it would be at the next meeting would be finalization of that. James Exactly right. Plunkett Yes. Are there any questions from Councilors for Heather or Corrie? Burk I guess my only question is having done a couple of these and I know what’s kind of standard and 25 years is, is certainly not standard but I know that can be negotiated. Is there any, is there any reason we went with 25 and not 20? James Well, the statutory maximum is 25 years and so we just went with the maximum number. I would have to refer to the Crowe team’s numbers to see how long they’re actually looking at for the projections on how long it’s going to take to repay the debt service. Burk So it’s not to exceed 25. So it could be lower? James Correct, correct. Burk Right, but I hope it is. I hope it’s negotiated to be lower. James Becca, Tim – do you, are your projections for a full 25 years? It is for the full 25. So it’s unlikely that we’d be able to fill the gap that the developer would need to cover all of the costs that Corrie mentioned if we don’t have the opportunity to spread those debt service payments out over the full 25 years. Page 17 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Burk Thank you. James Yes. Burk Appreciate it. Norris May I? Plunkett Sure. Norris At what point will we see the development agreement from the RDC? Is that the March 25th special meeting? Sharp The Commission meets at the March 26th – it’s a Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. James Yep, March 26th. Sharp That is when we will consider a development agreement. Norris Okay. Sharp And I’m happy to share that with the Council. It will be in an agreement between the RDC and the developer. Norris That’d be great. Sharp Yep. Norris Thank you. Sampson So some of this might come from my inexperience in (inaudible) a TIF with a developer – so, it was my understanding that the land for the civic, the community use was on, I guess, being donated to the Town for this project but if set up a TIF for the bond that has that same amount put into it, I was trying to wrap my head around how that’s still a donation because isn’t the Town’s tax money that we would be earning now paying back the developer? James So, so the Economic Development Area is larger geographically than the two allocation areas within it so there’s a multi-family portion where we’re actually generating TIF and all of the increase in AV that comes from that area will go into a fund and then there’s a separate allocation area for the senior living portion – Sampson Yes – James And the increment from that area will go in a fund and then the rest of the area that’s in the EDA is area where we expect development but not where we’re capturing any TIF. Sampson Okay, so – Page 18 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 James Oh sure. Sampson Hi Justin. Moffatt Good evening. Justin Moffatt, CEO of Old Town. I think I want to answer that question in a different way just so there’s clarity on the subject. There’s, there’s two distinct areas that would be contributed to the Town of Zionsville. One is a 30-acre woodland preserve that would be donated as a Town park facility. So in the process of, of planning the development, we came to agreement with the Johnson Family that they would donate that to the Town of Zionsville to be used as, like I said, a woodland preserve, more of a passive park space, but add to the, the park, available park space for the general public for Zionsville, not just the residents of Wild Air. Separate from that as we were planning the development – we’re going back to 2022 now – we were asked to consider the set aside of an area that could be used for a future civic space, like a community center but ultimately, I’m going to repeat what I’ve said for every meeting we’ve, we’ve discussed this subject – it’s not the developer’s decision to define how that space gets used but we were asked by the Town leadership at the time to consider setting aside an area to be used for a civic space in our Master Plan and so we made that decision to, to hold that area. At the time, we raised our hand and acknowledged that we have a pretty significant stack of asks from us. The roundabouts are significant, probably the most significant. Sampson Right. Moffatt Direct costs, but when you consider 30 acres of land that was set aside as a park space off the top and then another 10 acres, we’re talking about 40 acres of land that we’ve set aside for public use in addition to the public infrastructure roundabouts and so our discussions with Town leadership has been gift of park space, the 30 acres, and then in exchange for the ability to TIF the commercial components, the multi-family and the senior living, we would use those funds to build the public infrastructure, like roundabouts, but also offset our costs because we’re still actually acquiring that land where the civic use site would go. We’re still paying for that and so it would, it’s a direct cost to our budget. Sampson Okay. So you’re paying for that but the Johnsons donated the other 30? Moffatt They will, they’ll be donating the other 30 acres as a park. Sampson That’ll come through you not the Johnsons? Moffatt The 30 acres will come as a donation – Sampson Yes – Moffatt From the Johnsons to the Town – Sampson Okay. Page 19 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Moffatt And then unrelated to this TIF conversation, our company has partnered with local nonprofit, ILADD – Sampson Okay – Moffatt Not part of the TIF project but we are donating 20 building pads for their cross bridge point development that will serve as housing for intellectually and developmentally disabled residents of that community. Plunkett Justin, does that land, out of curiosity, does that land go to the Parks Board or does that go to the Town itself? Moffatt We’re talking about the woodland preserve? Plunkett Yes. Moffatt That’s really up to the Town. So our goal, we’ve already had some healthy conversation with the Parks Department just to kick that off and start envisioning of what, what that use could be and how it would get programmed – Plunkett Yes – Moffatt But our hope is that we can convene the conversation between the Town, Parks Department and the Johnson Family, celebrate something really positive that they’re doing so it’s really up to the Town to determine – Plunkett Yes – Moffatt What the best facility is to hold that asset. Plunkett No, that makes sense. I just want to, you know, obviously, want to be cognizant of the cost to the Parks Department to keep that particular part of the land up, you know? Moffatt That’s fine. Just to clarify though in the stack of expenses that we have within our project budget, and I believe what’s listed as a potential use of TIF funds is we are programming that park space out and so partnering with the Town to determine how it gets planned but then we would be building out that infrastructure – Plunkett Yes – Moffatt So it wouldn’t be an added capital expense for the Town. Sampson Well and I saw that there was a, on proposed, I guess one of the expenses listed was about the pedestrian crossing and I mean growing up in this area, I always thought of that land right there as very wet and I kind of remember standing water driving on Oak Street. We used to come up Cooper Road and go to church so I saw it every Sunday of my childhood and it was often wet. So, umm, there’s that consideration for me in two part: 1) In that the civic space maybe it’s changed but it represents a wetter area of that area and also when we look at the Page 20 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 expenses that you itemized out, it said a tunnel or a pedestrian crossing and I wondered if there had been any decision or input on what was going to happen with the pedestrian crossing because I thought that was a pretty hot topic. I have been watching the Plan Commissions and I know that was a big question and I hadn’t heard any progress on the answer to that and you might’ve said it and I may have missed it but. Moffatt Great question – glad to tackle that tonight. I’m guessing that will result in another Council agenda item in the future. We were asked at the Plan Commission level before we even made it to the Council through the PUD process, if we would provide options for a safe crossing of Marysville Road between what was set aside as this woodland park space and then the east side of the road. I will add that in the east side of the road is where we have our multi- family development which includes up to 20,000 square feet of neighborhood retail. We’re also planning a dog park and, you know, coffee shop, some light retail, that sort of thing, and so we want to provide safe access across the road. We were asked to consider a tunnel as an option and we did some research, we actually dug some test kits to determine what the water table was and we were pleasantly surprised that it was lower than we had anticipated and we determined it was possible to do a tunnel. We didn’t advise the Town should want a tunnel because the, even if we built it upfront, the long-term maintenance cost and the reality is it would be subgrade, it will have moisture, it won’t last a long time and so when it’s time to replace it probably with concrete structure that’s subgrade it’s not going to last 20 years and so having a future expense there so it was our recommendation that we do a at-grade pedestrian crossing that had a pedestrian safety island. If you’re familiar with that, basically a place to land in the middle before you cross the other lane of traffic and have what’s called a rapid flashing beacon so it signals that people are crossing so that was our recommendation but ultimately, it’s the Town’s decision and so we’re in conversations about what the Town’s preference is and so I think that was something Mr. Dale and the Department of Engineering and Board of Public Works will, will make a decision on and maybe potentially in partnership with the Council. I do want to address water table though because obviously that’s a concern for us when we do development work – Sampson Yes – Moffatt Especially the scales development, really concerned about what issues we might face as we develop the site. I think a lot has changed with the construction of Marysville Road and some of the improved drainage work in the general area. We’ve actually found the site pretty dry in most areas. There’s a few pockets. There, there are some articulated wetlands in the area where we are preserving as a dog park and a few pockets in that woodland preservation area but they’re not significant in scale and we’ve found actually the site is really well drained and so adding the layer that we’re now providing a complete stormwater system for the entirety of the development, we’re actually capturing most of those areas other than the areas that are in the woodland preserve that we can’t really get to nor would we want to because it’s part of the character of the woodland nature preserve. Page 21 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Sampson Okay. I just saw that range in the listing of items that came to your number for the $12 million 8 – Moffatt Yes – Sampson The difference for the pedestrian and I wondered if that had still been, because you didn’t know which option you were doing. Moffatt We know which option we would recommend and it’s really the Town’s decision on – Sampson Okay. Moffatt Which it would like to live with. Burk I have one other question particularly looking into the crowd and seeing some of our leadership from our schools is here tonight. Could you address, because I know this will come up with kind of constituent conversations over the next month if we bring this back to us, the impact of this particular TIF on schools and is there, is there flexibility to, to craft something where the schools still are able to benefit from this tax revenue? James Sorry. So the Crowe team has to prepare a tax impact statement that will go out to all the overlapping taxing units and that will be done at the stage where we deliver the notice of the public hearing on the declaratory resolution so the confirmatory resolution stage but they haven’t put that together yet. It’s not required to be done at this point so I can’t tell you any actual numbers but the theory is that because the developer wouldn’t be able to do this project if not for the TIF incentive, that there would be no project and there would be no benefit to the Town at all if, if not for moving forward with the financing. Burk Is there flexibility though in crafting TIFs where, where, whereby schools still receive some portion? Is, is that not something that can be – James Certainly, that’s a possibility, yes, legally. Burk Right. James Yes. Burk Okay. Just, just, I know that may come up and I understand they can't do the project but I also realize there’s a burden to schools and 25 years is a long time for a contract. Moffatt Can I? James Sure. Moffatt I wanted to clarify on the total unit count of the development. Actually, 400, maximum 400 single-family homes for sale residences and 300 multi-family units. We’re proposing the TIF allocation area be specific to the multi-family Page 22 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 uses and the senior so not touching the 400 single-family residential units that are for sale. If you look at the average minimum sale price of approximately $700,000 up to $3 million for the estate custom sections, we ran our own models before we even went down this path and had a few conversations with the school leadership early in the, the PUD process. The amount of new tax revenue generated just from the single-family portion is significantly greater than the burden of the education costs and so as, as a project whole, it balances out even with the TIF process. The reality is, the multi-family will have some students but historically, it’s not a significant portion of a resident population. Also, I would add that we have several sections, product sections, of the single-family that are geared towards seniors. Certainly they’re not age restricted but we can, we can tell you with a great deal of confidence based on demographics of the community and how the product is designed for sale that it tends to not have an impact on schools but provides that high base assessed value. Sampson So what you just said is actually, I was taking notes. It’s good clarity because I wrote down 700 – that someone had said 700 – Moffatt 700 total residential units of which 400 for sale – Sampson Okay. Moffatt 300 for rent. Sampson Because I had written the TIF is not touching 700 single-family homes question mark so. So it was 400 and then 300 are in the TIF. Moffatt Yes ma’am. Sampson And how many bedrooms do we have planned for these 300? Moffatt In the 300? It, it’s a mix of studio units, 1 bedrooms and 2 bedrooms but average about 1.5 with, among the total project. We actually were through the Plan Commission process a few weeks ago for the development plan approval for the multi-family. I think we fell just short of the 300. I think we ended up seeking approval for around 290 units total but at approximately 1.5. Burk I appreciate hearing about the 400. I guess that was in there and I missed it so thank you for calling that out because that’s a, that’s a substantial bit of information for our friends who are interested in school funding. Norris President Plunkett, can I ask a couple of questions? Plunkett Certainly. Norris Justin, thank you for all that. Real quick question – I saw section A or allocation area A projected timeline 2026 full completion. Is that still accurate? Moffatt That is the plan sir. The goal would be to start construction this summer, complete phase 1, the majority of infrastructure fall of this year – it’ll trail into spring of next year but just add phases as, as market demands but the multi- Page 23 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 family and a substantial portion of the single-family is part of phase 1 so the multi-family we would expect delivering by the end of ’25, into early ’26. Norris And what about allocation area B? Moffatt Umm – Norris Which is the senior living. Moffatt It’s market driven but we are working with a group to look at timing of maybe a 2026 start. That’s what we’re targeting as a goal. I think that’s a good pace for the phasing into the development as well. I hope you would believe based on other developments we’ve done in Central Indiana that we’re pretty discerning with the groups that we partner with so trying to make sure that we find somebody in the senior space that will bring beyond just a great customer experience for the residents but also high-quality architecture. Norris Do you have the projected assessed value of those two areas? Moffatt We do. That, that’s been provided to the bond consultant to run these, these calculations and I’ve been a part of a few conversations related to TIF projects in the past. Typically the projects I’ve been a part of have been related to mixed-use developments that were, was using the TIF funds for like structure parking – parking garage, that sort of thing. This one was unique and really generated by requests that came to us in our development planning process by the Town and our, our goal is to be good partners and listen well and so I think every single one of these items is a direct response to a request that, that we received and in the spirit of the if but for test of the TIF per state statute, we will not be able to move forward with building this infrastructure but for the use of TIF funds so really and that’s a message I shared. I know this is a new Council and we really are resetting the conversation. I respect that we’ll take whatever time it needs to take but it’s really a requirement for us to be able to move forward with the development as planned. Norris Of the $12.8 million do you have a hierarchy of, of infrastructure improvements that, that need to occur first versus things that – Moffatt Ultimately, the roundabouts and some of the main utility mains we’re extending and connecting sanitary and water mains through the site from, from Oak up to the north end of the site that will loop the Town, if you will, they like to have connectivity and have, have complete loops and so absolutely that’s necessary for our development as well but hopefully it serves a public benefit beyond our project but having that, those utilities and the roundabouts are critical for us to move forward. Norris Thank you. Plunkett Are there any other questions? Stein Who has the sewer for that area? Page 24 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Moffatt The municipality. Stein It is? Sampson Yes. Plunkett I’m sure we’ll get further into a lot of these different discussions as the project continues but I would like on the front end of this is the conversations you and I have had. I, I appreciate the roundabout discussion, we just can't shut down that road entirely. We’ve got to keep that north-south corridor open. Moffatt Yes sir. Those comments were taken to heart by our development team and all of the MOT and maintenance of traffic plans in our construction drawings have, have made sure that – Plunkett Great. Moffatt The road stays open. Plunkett That’s awesome. Norris Awesome. Plunkett All right, any other questions from Councilors? Again, we’ve got this, this particular item is a resolution to approve the Plan Commission order and create the Wild Air EDA. This would be an approval. So we’d hear this one time, just so everybody’s on record. Any questions? I would entertain a motion. Stein I move for adoption of Resolution 2024-08. Plunkett We got a first from Councilor Stein. Norris Second. Plunkett A second from Councilor Norris. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. Consideration of an Ordinance Authorizing Bonds (Wild Air) Ordinance 2024-08 (First Reading) Plunkett A lot of the same players here so up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance Authorizing the Bonds for the Wild Air. This is Ordinance 2024-08. This is a first reading which means we will have a second reading at the next meeting should we go through there. We have Corrie, Tim Berry with Crowe and Heather, obviously, available as well. Are there any questions for any of them? Page 25 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Stein Yes, I just had one – I was reading Section 6 and it talked about the Mayor and the Director of Finance having express authority to approve modifications to the documents. I guess maybe, Heather, is that, is that boilerplate language? I went on further to read before we get into the they can’t change the amount, they can’t change the interest rate, they can’t change the duration so my – I calmed down after ready that part of it but I guess my question is if they can’t, I mean, what can they modify? Is this just standard language? James Yes. Harris (Inaudible) and ask the other Heather. James No, which Heather? Sorry. Harris Go ahead, Heather. Stein Any Heather. James Yes, I’d say that is boilerplate language and that’s because what the statute requires at this point is that you have substantially final versions of the documents but they haven’t been fully negotiated yet. For instance, the bond purchase agreement has lots of blanks in it with regard to what the final debt service schedule is going to look like. Will it be 8% or less than that, right? Those things are still in flux so it’s because we’re approving maximum parameters. We put that language in there so that we can continue to negotiate those fine details but always, of course, within the parameters that you’ve approved. Stein Sure. And nothing against the Mayor or the Director of Finance, just being the governing body for the fiscal or fiscally responsible body, I initially, my dander got up but I calmed down. Plunkett Any other questions from Councilors? Having none, I will make a motion to introduce Ordinance 2024-08 on first reading. Burk Second. Plunkett Second from Vice President Burk. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor 0 opposed. James Thank you. Plunkett Thank you very much. Page 26 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the READI Grant Fund Number Ordinance 2024-09 (First Reading) Plunkett All right, coming down the homestretch here. Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the READI Grant Fund Number. This is Ordinance 2024-09. This is a first reading and if there are questions, we have Cindy here, Director, our Department of Finance and Records Director. I mean I feel like after reading through this, this is just simply a correction of one fund number to another, right? Yes. Any questions from Councilors? Otherwise, I’d entertain a motion. Sampson Is it an introduction or an approval? Plunkett This would be a first reading so we will have, we will hear it again at the next meeting. So this would be an introduction on first reading. Sampson I move to introduce Ordinance 2024-09. Burk Second. Plunkett Vice President Burk seconds that, first from Councilor Sampson, second from Vice President Burk. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. OTHER MATTERS Plunkett Up next are Other Matters. Are there any other matters from Councilors? Norris President Plunkett, I’d like to congratulate the Zionsville Artic Eagles on their 4A state championship, the hockey team. They won over this weekend 1-0 against the formidable Evansville Purple team. So I wanted to congratulate them and all their hard work in getting to state. That’s pretty awesome and I know we have Dr. Coffman in the crowd and so I want to thank the team and keep going and keep doing their thing so. Very awesome ADJOURN Plunkett Very cool. Thank you. Any other matters from Councilors? I will make a motion to adjourn. Norris Second. Plunkett Second from Councilor Norris. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Page 27 of 28 Zionsville Town Council March 4, 2024 All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. The next regular Town Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 18, 2024 at 7:30 a.m. in the Zionsville Town Hall Council Chambers. Final notice will be posted in compliance with the Indiana Open Door Law. Thank you. Respectfully submitted, Amelia Anne Lacy, Municipal Relations Coordinator Town of Zionsville Page 28 of 28