KIB Awards Tree Planting Grant to Clermont

(posted Dec 12)

Walt Miller of the Clermont Community Development Committee announced to the four members present at its Dec 9 meeting that Keep Indianapolis Beautiful awarded a tree planting grant to Clermont. The committee applied for a grant to plant 50-60 trees.

The trees will be planted on public and private land. He indicated a tree would look good at one of the committee member's yards.

Miller said that a KIB representative would be out December 17 to explain the tree program, and to see where and how many trees could be planted.

Committee member Bernie Denning said that he would like to invite people to the 9 am meeting.

Miller said he was not sure if it would be a good idea to have people following around because of the little information that is available now. Miller and the KIB representative plan to drive the town to examine tree locations.

Denning encourage Miller to discuss the issue at the upcoming council meeting or post it at the town hall to let people know what is going on, because the tree planting is "actually going on."

Miller sees the tree planting as the first step to forming partnerships to carry out the rest of the committee's goals. He identified the town council, Indianapolis Department of Public Works and Department of Metropolitan Development as critical partners to achieve more sidewalks, gateways, murals and main street landscaping. Miller thought it would be best to form teams to carry out the plans.

Bill Roop wanted to know if the revitalization could get off the ground without council support. Roop, a Clermont resident and a former developer, said it is important to have council support.

Denning said some of the town board members were elected by "default" since they ran unopposed. He thinks the committee should survey the town's residents to gather input about the committee's plans, and not rely just on the committee's ideas. Denning said the committee and the town should look into what businesses consider to be important aspects when looking to locate in town. He thinks that would have solved some of the issues over the height of the Speedway gas station's sign. The committee opposed the sign's height despite council approval.

Roop said that commitments from developers need to be up front before the site plan is approved.

Denning said his wife was curious why more people did not protest the Speedway Gas Station's 40 foot sign on Raceway Road and US 136. Denning said his wife expected people to say "Forty foot sign, are you crazy?" because it makes the town look more like 38th Street than a small town of 1,500 residents.

Miller said that most people would agree the 40 foot sign is not needed.

Denning said his wife's point was that nobody attended because "nobody knew about it."

He talked about the inconvenience of gathering information as the reason people don't attend. "How involved do I want to get into it if I don't even know what is going on about it to figure out what is going on."

Miller thinks the council approved the sign because they were afraid "Speedway would walk away" if the sign was denied.

Denning recommended creating a website to educate residents. Denning said the website could link to other websites, like the Lions' Club and O'Reilly Raceway Park. He thinks the website would inform people from outside of town of local events.

Roop said a website is a good idea but does not know if it will encourage more people to attend. He thought there would be more enthusiasm for the project if more of the town's general population knew about it.

Roop said it is more than just resistance from the council about the revitalization plans "It is a separate dynamic that I saw at that meeting (Nov. 13 town council meeting). It is just not the board. It is the citizens in the room. At first I thought they were very backward, but then I started thinking. For many years, these people are out sweeping streets and putting up decorations themselves with no help. Then the committee shows up with the ideas. They can't understand these ideas. It is beyond them. They feel threatened and probably insulted."

Denning said that even some residents see Ball State as an outsider to Clermont. Ball State College of Architecture designed the revitalization plans. Denning said "most people love improvements" until it is time to pay higher property taxes. Roop said it will take time to implement the plan, but council support is important to carry it out. He said to build shopping centers you have to have some agreement with local government. "Often we would work with city government where you really had to shove it down everybody's throat. They didn't want it."

The committee will meet January 13 at the Clermont Christian Church at 7 pm.