Zionsville Town Council

Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 ZIONSVILLE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FOR APRIL 15, 2024 AT 7:30 A.M. EST ONSITE MEETING 1100 West Oak Street This meeting was conducted onsite. All Councilors participated in person. Council Members Present: Jason Plunkett, President; Tim McElderry, Craig Melton, Evan Norris, Sarah Esterline Sampson, and Joe Stein Absent: Brad Burk Also Present :Heather Harris, Town Council Attorney; Mayor John Stehr; Deputy Mayor Kate Swanson, Lance Lantz, Director of Department of Public Works; Michael Susong, Supervisor, Stormwater Management Division; Bobby Knox, Senior Stormwater Technician; 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 morning. I will now call to order the April 15, 2024 Town Council meeting. If you would please, stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. All Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF APRIL 15, 2024 CLAIMS Plunkett First on the agenda is the approval of the April 15th claims. Are there any questions from Councilors? Having none, I would move to approve the claims. Melton Second. Plunkett I got a first from President Plunkett, second from Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Page 1 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. REQUEST TO SPEAK Plunkett Amy, do we have any requests to speak? Lacy No, we do not. MAYOR/ADMINISTRATION UPDATE Plunkett All right, so moving on to the Mayor/Administration Update. Mayor Stehr – Stehr Good morning everyone. Norris Morning. McElderry Morning. Plunkett Good morning. Stehr I want to begin this morning with a quick look at our 2024 priority items. First of all, the Comprehensive Plan, just a brief note on that. I mentioned at your last meeting that the first steering committee meeting is likely to be in early to mid- May. More looking like it’s going to be mid to later May but the names of those chosen were posted on our website and on social media, chosen for the steering committee that is. We also sent a copy to those who have signed up for the email updates from the Town. I want to thank everyone who has agreed to be a part of that. It is an impressive group of people. They’ve got a lot of work ahead of them and I think they’re going to do a fantastic job. HWC is coordinating the committee and working behind the scenes to develop the appropriate branding, get the Comp Plan website up and running and also have outreach materials ready. So we are well on our way to getting the Comprehensive Plan process off to the best possible start. Finance – As you know, Baker Tilley and Crowe have been working with our Finance Department to arrive at a set of financial policies. One of the most important, if not the most important, is the new internal controls document. That process is moving along well and we intend to present that to the public and to the Council at its May 6th meeting, so the next one coming up. Digitization – In our continuing effort to streamline our permit applications and other online documents, we will meet with two consultant groups who might be able to help us with that in the coming weeks. We have room in the budget for this and we think it could ultimately be a cost savings to the Town as well as offer our constituents a better online experience. Page 2 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 Next on the priority list is the South Village and we continue to take input and work on planning for the South Village project as we prepare to take the latest draft of the Planned Unit Development before the Plan Commission which will be the first step in getting it approved. Now since the beginning of the year, we’ve been working on the Town-led PUD, which as you all know, is simply a land use area or land use plan for this area. Through the PUD we, that is the Town, will be able to dictate what kinds of buildings go where as well as our architectural style, size, height, setbacks and utilities. As it is now, there are a half dozen existing PUDs and development plans that are not always consistent with one another. What we’re trying to do is bring the entire area into our jurisdiction so that we have consistency across the project as well as the ability to set aside 40% of the land for conservation. Now, on your screens right now is an example of, I think, why this is important. We have a number of different PUDs going on there right now and if we can bring them all together under one, I think that will add that consistency. Now as another example of that as we go to the next slide – show you the current height map. The darker the blue, that is the lower the allowable height. That will allow construction to fit in with the buildings that are already there. Everything that appears on this map in green will be that conservation area that I talked about and to give you some perspective on that, the area to be preserved is the size cumulity of three Lions Parks. Now the first step in all of this is the Zionsville Road realignment with First Street. Our traffic engineers tell us that this configuration will slow traffic considerably as it enters the Village and vastly improve the traffic flow. It will also open up some of the best land in Boone County to be able to reach its highest and best use that will allow it to add to our commercial tax base. Another key to this development is the civic plaza which we think will bring a, kind of a new vibe to downtown that’ll make it more attractive to all of us who live here as well as our visitors. The current thinking is to put this in the old PNC lot just south of The Friendly Tavern. Now the picture that you see here is what could be involved there. On the left it is an artist conception of what it could be like with greenspace, a pavilion in the back there and an amphitheater but I think that this rendering is probably a little too formal for Zionsville. I don’t know that this really fits in with our character. The one on the right may be a little better starting point for us allowing us to lean into our heritage as a railroad town but I do want to say that this will likely be the last element of this project that’s at least five years away so we’ll have plenty of time to reach some kind of consensus on how it should appear. Parking is always a big issue. Current plans will provide a net gain in the number of spaces downtown and this picture shows a three-story tall parking structure that could be at Main and Pine Streets. The entrance and exit could be on Pine, not on Main and the bottom floor used for retail space that would match the surrounding buildings. It could also include public restrooms which I think a lot of people would agree is a good thing. As you can see, it doesn’t really look like a traditional parking structure. That’s because parking structures can allow for different heights when compared with residential or commercial spaces so you actually fit four levels of parking within a three-story-looking building on the outside and even allow for a rooftop bar or restaurant at the very top. Page 3 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 So, so here’s where we currently are. We have a 64-page proposed PUD. It goes into great detail about what would be allowed and what would not be allowed in the 160-acre area. It is posted on southvillagezionsville.com for anyone to read. It’s been there for nearly three weeks now and some stakeholders, including Councilors, have had access to it even longer than that. Now this is a different approach from any we’ve taken before because under this plan the Town would be in control of this area’s development, not the landowners, who will always have their best interest at heart. We believe that we, the Town, will always have Zionsville’s best interest at heart and that’s why we’re working so hard on this approach. We have communicated extensively with all the stakeholders including the landowners, the school district, neighbors of this area in both private and group conversations, and I mentioned earlier the number of opportunities we’ve already had for elected and appointed leaders to share ideas. As it currently stands, the draft PUD represents the beginning of the public process where everyone in Zionsville will have a chance to weigh in. Now I do say that, and, and I want to really emphasize that I do believe this is a work in progress as is every proposal like this that comes before the Plan Commission for the first time. We had no expectation the Plan Commission would vote on it tonight but, nevertheless, at the Council’s request, we have decided to pull it from the Commission’s agenda for consideration until next month and in the meantime we will continue asking you all for input and I really sincerely hope you’ll take the time to provide it because I think it’s really important that we hear everyone’s voices here in a constructive way. So that’s all I have to say about South Village. Any questions on that before I move on? Plunkett I just really appreciate you pulling that from the agenda giving us a chance. Really appreciate that. Thank you. Sampson Same. Stehr I think it’s the best way forward. Now we’re talking about a proposal here that I think is really going to be important for Zionsville for generations to come so if we spend a little more time on the frontend considering this before we go to the Plan Commission that’s, that’s not a bad tradeoff so. Thank you for saying that and I appreciate the process too. The next note is a procedural one. As you may know, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System stormwater permit requires us to make a public presentation to elected officials at least once a year. So, we have chosen today to make that presentation. Lance Lantz will lead it along with Michael Susong and Bobby Knox. Gentlemen – Lantz Thank you Mayor and good morning Council. Joe, can we drive from up here? Thank you very much. I’m Lance Lantz, your Director of Public Works, here and with me this morning is Micheal Susong, our Stormwater Division Supervisor, as well as Senior Stormwater Technician, Bobby Knox, and always hiding waiting Page 4 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 in the wings is Steve Parker if you could wave. Steve Parker is our third Stormwater Technician. Are we all set? Great. I’m going to shift this over, hopefully. So just to kick us off here very briefly with a high-level overview, we are required, as the Mayor mentioned, to get in front of elected officials at least once a year and make you somewhat aware of our stormwater program and efforts in compliance with state laws and we have an NPDES which the Mayor said that without tripping on that which I always do so kudos to him. I’ll point out here that this is the same permit that our wastewater utility holds so while the wastewater can through a series of pipes bring all of that effluent to a single location and biomechanically treat that before releasing it into the environment, obviously, rain falls everywhere within our community and makes its way across our landscape, both controlled, uncontrolled, confined, etc. So there’s just no way to get it processing rainwater. So since we can’t bring it to one single location and treat it all, our NPDES permit is made up of six minimum control measures. That is these six MCMs that will be the subject of this morning’s presentation and I apologize to two of you for whom this may look somewhat familiar but hopefully repeated exposure to this really drives the messaging home and then we’ll kind of wrap things up with some of the other Stormwater Division efforts so, Michael, I believe I can turn it over to you and take it away. Susong All right, great. Well, good morning. I’m happy to be here to talk about stormwater and I’ll, I’ll get started into the bulk of the work here. The goal of MCM 1 which is the Public Education and Outreach is to communicate to residents, Town staff, contractors and visitors that Zionsville is a regulated MS4. The Town’s website has information about the Stormwater Division and our efforts. Blue is the New Green is a 10-minute video which gives insight into stormwater. All new hires watch this video to gain awareness. It helps them to kind of get aware of all the things that they may need to know about stormwater. It’s a real quick way to get that done. The White River Alliance is an Indianapolis-based organization that helps with this effort. Zionsville is one of several local communities that work together in partnership with this organization. MCM 2 is Public Participation and Involvement. The intent for this MCM is to provide opportunities for members of the community to get involved in the MS4 efforts and take action. Clear Choices, it’s a website where people can take a pledge such as using less lawn fertilizer, prevent litter, many other ways to improve the stormwater quality, real practical ways that you can do things. So if you haven’t been on that website, it’s something to consider. The annual Eagle Creek cleanup known as Creekfest where members of the community volunteer their time to help remove trash out of Eagle Creek is in August. It’s a wonderful way to get citizens engaged in the stormwater efforts and report-a-polluter is on our website. People can go there and click there and submit a notice to us and that email will go to us here in the Stormwater Division and we’ll get that request and we’ll go out and, and figure out what happened and, and do an investigation on it but that’s a good way for the public to get in touch with us about things that may be of concern to them. Page 5 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 MCM 3 Illicit Discharge and Elimination. Some of the pictures up there are web- based examples of things that we want to prevent just in practical terms our goal for this MCM is to prevent illegal dumping into our storm inlets and eliminating cross connections with wastewater pipes connected into stormwater pipes which would be a bad, would be a very bad thing. The map on the right is the MS4 area that the Town oversees these efforts on. Lantz I’m going to jump in here and interrupt. For anyone who noticed, in the material that was distributed to you earlier, that map was much smaller. Ever since the reorganization first took effect in 2010, the Town has found itself periodically not knowing whether we are a square peg in a round state hole or vice versa so a lot of the state policies and programs really don’t recognize a reorganized entity. So initially when we reorganized, our MS4 boundary area was set as to be coterminous with our corporate limits and then probably eight or so years ago when we reorganized for the second time, we said hey, you know what we look more like a county with smaller areas of development and population centers but then still a lot of undeveloped agricultural land and the counties have the latitude to either make their entire county their MS4 boundary or only those urbanized areas as identified in a decennial census. After some discussions with IDEM, they said yes, we really think you ought to make your whole area your MS4 boundary which we have. Operationally it doesn’t make really that much difference, it’s just kind of what we consider our reportable area. We don’t own pipes, obviously, out in the hinterlands but for anyone who noticed the map change, that’s the reason behind that. Susong MCM 4 Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control. There’s a considerable amount of Stormwater Division staff time dedicated to this MCM. Stormwater permits are issued in advance of building permits and our plan reviews focus both on drainage and erosion control compliance and that’s for both residential and non-residential projects. So next up is Bobby Knox to talk about this MCM in more detail. Knox Good morning. McElderry Morning. Knox So with MCM #4 we do, the Stormwater Department does issue two different permits. The first permit is a permit of 10,000 square feet of disturbance. That’s where our permits start. Anything greater than 10,000 square feet of disturbance up to an acre. Those are typically single-family residential homes or large landscaping projects. The second permit that we issue is anything greater than 1 acre. Those are going to be your large subdivisions, the commercial sites. On these construction sites that we have, we do conduct routine inspections. We try to inspect those 2-3 times or one time every 2-3 weeks. With that we also do respond to complaints within 24 hours. We do inspect those sites through a system called PermiTrack. It’s a web-based system. Along with that, the contractors, the owners, they also submit self-monitoring reports through these, through that inspection program and I will pass this back over to Michael. Susong All right, MCM 5 – Post Construction Stormwater Runoff Control. The purpose of this MCM is to detain stormwater and to clean it. To achieve this requirement, Page 6 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 the best management practices are installed such as ponds, grass lines, swales, swirl chambers and others. Best management practices are referred to as BMP’s. The picture on the left is a dry pond which is somewhat hard to see, however, the stone channels if you look closely you can see the stone channels that tell, kind of gives it away a little bit better. There are maintenance responsibilities that owners need to be aware of and are required to do so that these BMP’s function properly so. And then swirl chambers are essentially large water filters and are the size of a manhole structure. These units are buried in the ground and typically have a lid with the manufacturer name on it that gives that information when you’re up on a site and when you’re out there and you’re actually looking at things so. So up next is Bobby Knox who’ll get to the next MCM. Knox So the next MCM that we have is MCM 6. It’s Municipal Operations Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping. So all Town facilities that meet certain criteria we have to inspect quarterly through our state permit. I would like to note these pictures are web based on the left-hand side. Typically our facilities kind of look like the lower left-hand photo down there. Everything is cleaned, organized, picked up. Fuel containers are installed in fuel cabinets. Open containers are stored in secondary containment to keep from anything getting offsite off the facility. The Stormwater Department we inspect the municipal service building. That includes the Police, the Streets and the Parks Department. We also inspect all Fire Departments, Wastewater and all the passthrough parks that we have. Here on the right-hand side these are our infrastructure. These are our typical inlets that collect water. We do conduct routine inspections on these. We clean these off pre-rain events so this structure that’s in the yard right there we call that a beehive structure that basically collects the water as swales convey it down that collects it and gets it away from the homes and other structures. The picture up here at the top right is a flat, flat grate inlet. We typically see this in the Village as we’ve received drainage complaints of ponding we will drop a structure in the low point and just collect whatever water we can. The bottom right-hand picture you’ll see two inlets beside each other and those are pretty typical of what you guys see being installed right now in the new subdivisions and things like that. So basically as the rain hits the road, the road is crowned in the middle, it flows off to the sides, the curbs take it and direct it to these structures. I would like to note that in the fall time when people are putting out leaves we ask for them to avoid staging, storing those leaves on there because it’s going to rain and block up so we just ask for anybody’s help to keep the leaves and debris off of that. And then we will go on to our other stormwater efforts. So the Stormwater Department also conducts routine sweeping. We try to make two full rounds every year. We also sweep the mains 4-6 times a year and those are our main roads in and out of Town. The only area that we sweep where there’s no curbs present is basically the Village just because everything is so condensed in there. We also, we also create work orders, stormwater projects for existing infrastructure. So the middle picture at the bottom there, that is a project that we had where we had some failing infrastructure. We came in, upgraded it, put it back to current standards. The picture on the right, bottom right-hand side, that was a known area that always flooded. We ended up installing a whole new system in that area and it’s worked just fine ever since. The left-side picture is along the pathway and this area was a constant nuisance with water flowing over the pathway creating a mossy condition in the summertime, icy conditions in the Page 7 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 wintertime so we actually installed a SSD which is a subsurface place pipe that’s in there that basically is corrugated or is a – I can’t think of it – it’s – Susong Perforated. Knox Perforated, thank you Michael. It’s perforated and collects the water and then it takes that water and gets it away from the path so we long longer have an issue there and I will turn it back over to Lance. Lantz Great, thank you Bobby. So, after all that what could possibly be next, right? We’ve got some changes coming this year. We’re going to bring to you in the next couple of months an update to our Stormwater Ordinance and we are also updating our technical standards as this is a reaction to some changes in the state regulations that govern our activities, of course, an Ordinance being the laws that tell people what they have to do, the technical standards being those, that tool chest of how you then can comply with those laws. To wrap things up here, the goals are not just to check a box. We do want clean and abundant fresh water for all. Obviously, we need this water to live, we don’t want to squander this resource locally. We recreated, I always love that picture because we’re seeing more and more people in Eagle Creek, recreating all sorts of things, kayaks, and I’m very excited as I’m learning and hearing that the South Village of Zionsville is embracing this concept so that when that area redevelops we get to reengage with the creek and get to experience this asset we have. Of course, economic development, everybody wants to go where there’s water. They want to make sure they have that available and we aren’t the only organisms that need this – plants, animals, everybody needs fresh water so that brings us to the end. We’re happy to answer any questions or have any dialogue you’d like to have. Since we do have to come before you once a year, if anything ever sounds intriguing, send us an email. We’re always looking for great content. We don’t always know that we can second guess what you might find thrilling and there was a little bit of the presentation that touched on the White River Alliance and there is a, a sort of a child of the White River Alliance called Clear Choices Clean Water and that is a really robust public participation program. Michael touched on it. If you’re on your way out of Town, or out of Town – out of the building this morning there’s a banner on the left side. There’s a little QR code. If you’re at all curious, snap that QR code and you’ll see one of the many pledges that you can take or you can just be educated on I think up to 13 modules right now in stormwater education so. Thank you very much and we’re happy to have any dialogue you’d like to have. Stein I’d say if you’ve lived in Zionsville long enough you recognize the hard work that you guys have done because I remember a day where Lions Park used to be a lake after a week like we just had, the golf course used to be a lake after a week like we just had. What do you do as far as prioritizing project, like the next project? I noticed the path was completely submerged after that heavy rain. I’m assuming that’s on your radar to probably add to the list? Lantz Well, so the golf course flooding and Eagle Creek flooding or, excuse me, Lions Park flooding we’re never going to do anything about those issues because those are within the floodway. They are doing what nature intends it to do. The other Page 8 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 areas where we prioritize projects are where is, where’s property threatened, okay? And most typically what we deal with is called top, top-down flooding, right? It comes down and it inundates us, the water can’t get away fast enough. Who is threatened when that happens? The bottom-up flooding is when that creek slowly rises up, it’s out of its banks, etc. So I had mentioned last year when making this presentation that the Town and through previous Councils had invested well over a million, probably like a million and a half dollars in the Village on a series of stormwater projects that were intended to deal with these, water that couldn’t get away fast enough, and that’s really made a big difference. When you look at little old streets – Bobby mentioned narrow streets, right? There’s a lot going on there. You’d be amazed at now what’s going on underneath those streets just in stormwater management. So that’s how we prioritize – who’s being threatened? Who has the highest likelihood of loss of property? McElderry I have a quick question. First of all, thank you for the presentation. It was really very well done. I can think of one area that is not a flood plain that continually floods that’s in my district and that’s at the corner of Michigan Road and 146th where Appaloosa Crossing is. The water after the last few big rains actually gets out into the roadway and I’m interested in what’s being done – I guess it would be post-construction or maybe during construction – MCM 4 or 5 and also, I do get my share of letters on this – Lantz Yes – McElderry And do I just direct those to Bobby, direct those to Michael? Just wanted to make sure I – Lantz Feel free to send them along to us. When, whenever you have jurisdictions up against each other, right? State Road being a state highway – McElderry Right, right – Lantz And you got new development, that new development is taking care of itself but as much as you design in anticipation of what’s going to happen, sometimes it just doesn’t work – McElderry Yes. Lantz As intended. So, INDOT is aware of this. I know that they’ve been working with the developer to look at solutions but you can always forward those to us. If we don’t, if we’re not the proper entity to directly deal with it, we’ll pass it along to those who are. McElderry So there, there is action being taken to mitigate? Lantz There, I will, I will commit that there is certainly awareness by all parties. McElderry Okay. Lantz Is there an update to anything that’s happening at that corner? Page 9 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 ?? (Inaudible off microphone). Lantz We can follow up, we’ll follow up and let you know . McElderry I’m meeting with the developer tomorrow too so I’ll, I’ll try to find out what he’s planning on doing. Lantz Great. Love the tag team approach. McElderry Thank you so much. Melton Hey Lance, just real quick – just to, I guess just kind of a review for the public, if, if you’re in the rural district of the Town of Zionsville and you’re encompassed in that MCM, that new map that you, you spoke of earlier it’s still a requirement to go to the Surveyor for a county drainage permit in addition to filing with the Town of Zionsville for a construction project, is that correct? Lantz You should always check with the Surveyor’s office. They do govern the regulated drainage systems within the Town of Zionsville and there’s no clear and obvious indicator of that in the field so, they are still locally drainage, the drainage king and queens of our community so always check with the Surveyor’s office if you have any questions and they will tell you yes, you need a permit because you are affecting a legal drain or no, we don’t have any dog in this fight. Melton Fantastic and then you mentioned the wastewater treatment is, is the wastewater treatment plant is required every year to do an MCM like this as well, a report like this or? Lantz No, they have a, they have their own processes. They’re not required to report. We are required to report as the Stormwater Division. Melton Okay. Lantz The Wastewater Division is not required. If you ever want to hear from them, we’re happy to put something together. What the reference to that was that their site, although they are permitted under the same permits and they submit all of their testing, sampling and reports, we still have to go in and take a look at their general operations. While they’re worried about are their effluent being treated and property discharged, we’re just making sure, supporting them in all their actions on their site that they may not be directly related to wastewater, are still in compliance. Melton Okay, great. Well, I’d recommend to any of the Councilors up here take a tour of our wastewater treatment plant and I’d enjoy going back again. I did it several years ago and there’s a lot of great moving parts. I know this is separate from stormwater but indirectly they’re, they’re connected so. But thank you for the report. Appreciate it. Sampson I had a question about – Page 10 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 Lantz Yes – Sampson The, the sweepers. Do we own a few of them? Do we lease them? What? Lantz We own one street sweeper that we rotate staff through so that we can maximize that asset. The previous Council has given us $65,000 in the 2024 budget to supplement that effort by contracting street sweeping so we’re very excited this year that I think you’re going to see more of that activity than you ever have before. Sampson I thought I had heard something about an increase in that so and put me on the field trip for the wastewater. Thanks. Plunkett Thanks Lance. Lantz Okay, thank you. Stehr All right, and I have one more thing on the Administration report. A reminder for, for you and for our constituents that Town Hall is going to be hosting early voting days leading up to the 2024 primary election on May 7th. Essentially when the building becomes a polling place it’s no longer a public building so we can’t carry out our normal business at those times. So on the screen right now is a list of those early voting days. April 27th, April 30th, May 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The 27th and the 4th are Saturdays so they’re not really relevant to this discussion but on the other days, the ones you see listed there – Town Hall will be closed from noon to 4 p.m. and then on election day, May 7th, Town Hall will be closed all day. So our employees who can work from home will do so. That will also free up parking spaces for our early voters at that time. Now the Fire Department does operate in a separate section of the building. They have a separate entrance so they will not be affected, however, the public will not have access to the Fire Department offices at these times. So, any questions about that? That’s pretty self-explanatory I think and the dates are set by the – Stein Not about that but (inaudible) raised the question that during the last election we kicked around or I had caught wind of the idea of limiting the number of signs on our public facilities. We talked about maybe an Ordinance where they limit the number of signs that a candidate can put in because it was, I mean, and I took advantage of it, obviously, as well but it’s – Stehr Yes – Stein It was kind of ridiculous. Was there, has there been any discussion about that? Stehr Well, you know, Jason – Plunkett Yes, I mean, I would say Heather and I have had brief discussions about it. I don’t know how quickly we could turn around an Ordinance for this particular election but we were, we were hoping to get that wrapped up with the Code rewrite and the Ordinance rewrite but that kind of got stalled out at the end of last year so. I don’t know how quickly we could do that and thoughtfully – Page 11 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 Harris Yes, I don’t think we’ll have another meeting except for the night before so it’s probably too late for the primary but we could definitely have one ready to go in the next couple weeks so we could have it in place for the fall. Plunkett Yes. Stehr And would the county Election Board need to be part of that discussion? Harris I don’t think so because it’s limiting the number of signs you would have in the right-of-way and so we already prohibit, I think, in our Zionsville Code of Ordinance signs in the right-of-way but at Town Hall I know people still put them in. I think Lance’s team, prefer probably take them out, as they go but that’s already prohibited so we’ve already got that in place and then at Town Hall I think because it’s a voting site we’ve allowed for people to put signs but I’m sure we could restrict the number like one per candidate or three per candidate or – Plunkett Yes – Harris However many the Council decides on. Plunkett Yes, I mean, I think if there’s any Councilors that have any specific thoughts on that feel free to send those to Heather and we can work on getting that wrapped up for the, for the fall for sure. Stehr Great. That’s all I have. Norris Thank you. Stehr Thank you. Plunkett Thank you. TOWN COUNCIL UPDATE Plunkett All right, up next would be Town Council Updates. Are there any updates from Councilors? McElderry I just have one real quickly – that one of the committees that I sit on, the People for Zionsville for the Aesthetics of Zionsville or PZAZ, is interested in changing their name. They cannot do that without our approval so they are going to be drafting a letter that I will distribute to Heather and to each of you just to explain why they would like to change their name and then we can move forward with the vote if that’s appropriate. Plunkett Any other updates from Councilors? OLD BUSINESS Plunkett Up next is Old Business. No Old Business items. Page 12 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 NEW BUSINESS Consideration of a Resolution Expressing Interest in Purchasing Certain Property valued at Over $25,000 (CR 875 Path RoW Acquisition) Resolution 2024-11 Plunkett Up next would be New Business. We have a Consideration of a Resolution Expressing Interest in Purchasing Certain Property Valued at over $25,000. This is County Road 875, excuse me – Pathway Right-of-Way Acquisition. This is Resolution 2024-11. We have Lance Lantz here, DPW Director, to present. I would point out to Councilors this is a resolution so this is a one-vote decision. Lantz Yes, thank you. Well stated in the summary. We’re developing a pathway project and moving towards the construction contract along the east side of County Road 875 from County Road 400 North, kind of the Rock Bridge area across from Heritage Trail Park all the way down to the pathway that exists along the Cobblestone Lakes subdivision. This will intersect with and serve the Big 4 Rail Trail so it’s a very nice connection. As part of the engineering of this process, we have identified four parcels from whom additional right-of-way is likely going to be needed. We don’t know the values at this point but what we typically do in these projects is we list every potential affected property owner that could be compensated by the Town and those four properties are listed within that resolution and pursuant to the state code referenced in my memo, this body must adopt a resolution with your intent to purchase. Happy to answer any questions. Norris I got a quick one – Lantz Yes? Norris Lance, thank you. This is, somebody actually brought this up to me again this weekend in, in Rock Bridge – Lantz Yes – Norris Where’s this going to tie into at the north specifically? Lantz So – Norris On the north end. Lantz All right, hang with me here. Okay, no maps here right? Norris Yep. Lantz We’re going to have to go road names. There’s a project that will go under construction within the next few weeks which is from Rock Ridge Drive where it lines up with the entrance into the Preserve of Spring Knoll along the south side Page 13 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 of 400 and that will come all the way over to County Road 875. Okay? That’s being built this year. The project we’re talking about now will then offer a complimentary path then going directly south along the east side of 875 to get down to the Big 4 Rail Trail or you can continue on down to the Cobblestone Lakes pathway system that exists. Norris Perfect, awesome That’s a, that’s a great explanation. Thank you. Lantz Great, thanks. Sampson Okay, I’m trying to follow that. So, it ties into when you say the Cobblestone, is it going south of the Rail Trail area? Lantz It will cross the Rail – Sampson So – Lantz It will cross the Big 4. Sampson How do kids get to Trailside? Is there a plan for that? Lantz Okay, bear with me again here, okay? So the Big 4 Rail Trail, right, running at an angle through our community – there’s a couple projects this year that will be built, specifically the one I just mentioned. We’re also building a segment on the west side of County Road 875 – Sampson Okay. Lantz In front of the Town-owned property there. It used to be the Rail Trail gardens, Perkins Landscaping. So, at the, when this project that we’re talking about now is constructed, you will have pathways along both sides of 875 from 400 crossing the Big 4. Now the really exciting part then is the connection to that Big 4. We worked closely with the schools over the last year or so, probably more than that, to get them a stub from the Big 4 directly down to Trailside so there are two smaller pathway projects that will connect to the school as well as the Hampshire subdivision. So there are two little spurs coming south off of the Big 4. One will connect directly to Trailside Elementary and one will connect to the pathway system of Hampshire subdivision. Sampson Great. Thank you. Stein Can you describe for me – so, the properties we’re talking about are owned by homeowners right now. Lantz Yes. Stein How, how does that negotiation process work and who does it? Lantz So, I have done this for the Town in conjunction with legal counsel and very excited to have Mr. Oberlander onboard because this is going to be a much smoother process when I can walk around the corner. So if the valuation is Page 14 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 greater than $25,000, there must be two appraisals conducted on each property and the average of those appraisals becomes the basis for just compensation payable to that property owner by the Town. There is limited latitude allowed for negotiations. The property owner can provide their own appraisal which then can factor into that average. The land value is, is fairly set but there are also cost-to- cure damages and setback damages. When a home begins its life you bring a project and the home is, you know, 80 feet from a roadway right and then you’re bringing this project in, I know we’re talking about a pathway but this is kind of an example – now they are, instead of 80 feet now they’re only 50 feet from the road, right? Well, in addition to the value of the trees, the fence they may have had out there and the land itself, there’s also a little bit of setback damage because when they go to sell that home on the market, it may not be as valuable or as marketable to future buyers. So that delta is also compensated. So, we offer additionally as the basis for just compensation the average of two appraisals. Stein Then what do you do, so we need four properties to make this happen. What happens if somebody refuses? Lantz So we purchase this, this through eminent domain, the right of the municipality to purchase property from private individuals for the public good for a public project. If we are unable to legally come to terms on, on a, on a just compensation then it is filed for condemnation and when that happens the court appoints three appraisers of local knowledge and awareness and those three appraisers work collectively to come up with one value for the property then that becomes, in the eyes of the court, the value of the compensation. We can then deposit that amount with the court and take immediate title and rights to the land and sometimes that litigation draws out and projects are complete before actually those people receive their money. It’s all up to them at that point. They can go – they have the right to a trial. We’ve had some that came close to at trial but I’ve never had one go to trial, but that’s how we, when you have to compel a sale that’s how you do it. Stein That’s where I was going with that. I didn’t want to say the word because I know sometimes it has a horrible connotation to it so. Lantz It is, it has that bad meaning right? It has that connotation but often it’s a great tool because it immediately wipes out the state statutes that limit your ability to negotiate and now you are satisfying a judgment so you have much more latitude in the compensation that you can offer to a property owner. It can be a very good tool for both sides. Stein Sure. McElderry Mr. Lantz, back on March 18th, I believe, the Mayor as part of his update announced that we were going to be reaching out to an engineering firm to talk about a potential roundabout at 875 East and 400 South. Wondering if you can give us an update on that as well do we need to be considering that, considering that we’re talking about trails that would come to and bisect that intersection before we start putting down asphalt. Is there, is there any consideration that needs to be made about the potential of a future roundabout even if it is a little ways off? Page 15 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 Lantz Sure. The investment now is pennies on the dollar that would be lost to a roundabout project. I would not advocate for stalling any project for something that may happen in two or three years. So, yes, we have had communications with an engineering firm to develop not only full design costs and project estimates but an initial investment that would give us a 98% confidence level of future costs so I look forward to updating the Mayor with that because I just had a conversation with them last Friday and however he and you want to advance that project if you want, I’m here to support that but that is ongoing and we had more information as of Friday. McElderry Great, thank you. Plunkett All right, any other questions for Lance? Lantz I’m slowly backing away. Plunkett All right. Again, I would remind Councilors this is a resolution consideration expressing interest to purchase certain property valued at over $25,000. A one- vote resolution. Are there any other questions or comments? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion. Norris I’ll make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-11. Sampson Second. Plunkett We have 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. OTHER MATTERS Plunkett Are there any other matters from Councilors? ADJOURN Plunkett I would make a motion to adjourn. McElderry Second. Plunkett Second from Councilor McElderry. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Page 16 of 17 Zionsville Town Council April 15, 2024 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, May 6, 2024 at 7 p.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 17 of 17