Redevelopment Commission adds New Member

(posted July 23)

The Speedway Redevelopment Commission added a sixth member at its July 21st meeting to serve as a non-voting advisor as required by the recently passed House Enrolled Act 1001. School Board member Terry Reed was appointed to the position by the School Board. Reed will be able to attend all commission meetings but will not be paid or receive expenses.

During the public comment session, Redevelopment Authority Member Ernest Williams, who did not identify himself as a member of the authority, talked about the importance of progress and the pain of change that accompanies it.
"The Motor Speedway is not about racing, it is about entertainment. And that it is the paradigm that we in Speedway need to change. We need to think about entertainment."

"I think we have to give the track an opportunity to be remodeled. And if we don't, it will fall into the same thing that all of the rest of Speedway businesses have fallen into."

The Redevelopment Authority will own the relocated 16th Street that will require taking out Hoosier Penn Oil in Speedway Industrial Park.

Despite Williams' statement that "You cannot entice people who want to be entertained with the facilities of ten years ago, 20 years ago, fifty years ago years", Speedway resident Carol Gaddis commended the IMS, saying "The Indianapolis Motor Speedway owners do a great job of keeping up their property. They renew, they modernize, they beautify, the do everything they can to make the speedway an inviting place to be."

Gaddis went on to shout "I'm a 100% totally behind every word, every paragraph, every sentence, every period, every comma, every addition to your original documents that you have in front of you."

Speedway Redevelopment Commissioner Ron Fisher did not respond to Jo Ellen Dotlich's questioning about his October 15, 2007 comments about the expense of putting two boilers in 1201 Main Street. She contends his comment gave the impression of ownership of 1201 Main Street.

Dotlich said that Gaddis might feel differently if her property was on the acquisition list.

The commission reversed councilor Jeff Hartman's request that Executive Director Scott Harris contact all tenants concerning acquisitions and appraisals in the 16th Street relocation. Gutting said the commission could not deal directly with tenants or it could be consider an impairment to the lease between the land owner and tenant.

Harris said that he had been in contact with Brian Johnson of Hoosier Penn Oil on July 11 and July 21 and he understands why Johnson is frustrated due to the lack of information. He said the commission can only give information that is out in the public domain. The appraisals have not been completed. President Vince Noblet and Ron Fisher have had previous contacts with Hoosier Penn Oil.

Harris also said that he had spoken with Johnson that day and that Johnson was "very frustrated" with the owners of Speedway Industrial Park because they have failed to adequately communicate with him.

Dotlich tried to refute Harris but her comments were quashed.

On July 22, Mr. Johnson denied Harris' comment about his frustration with SIP, saying "No, it is not accurate."

The 16th Street road design and engineering is 95 percent complete and will move to its final stages. Noblet said that in looking at the Georgetown Road closing, "We are looking at different options and we definitely want public input." The SRC plans to have meetings on Main Street and in the neighborhoods, and an information board will be posted in the library. Harris clarified on July 22 that Noblet's statements were in reference to the linear park design and not new options for Georgetown Road. The public has not been involved with the development of the linear park, and Harris earlier said the IMS has already rejected some proposals.

Noblet also discussed tax abatements saying "We are not looking at giving tax abatement away to potential people coming to this area without significant development." He also indicated the redevelopment is for the town of Speedway, not for a specific stakeholder, although it does make it easier for the major stakeholders to make investments.

Fisher requested to meet with ADT about reviving the security video camera system. ADT was the only vendor that submitted a response to the commission's RFP. The 22 camera project came in at $798,000 and an additional $480,516 was bid to add the ability for a wireless link to police cars.

The SRC has never made a formal vote to accept the bid, it has been under review and evaluation for financing.

Fisher said they need to build the system piece by piece and not use tax payer dollars. He said they could piggyback off the IMS camera system that was funded by a homeland security grant. Fisher said the 22 cameras are necessary because the town has 13 entry points.

Town Councilor Lu Hillmer said she knew of a firm that might want to submit a proposal.