Lebanon, Indiana City Council Meeting 2/26/24

Good evening everyone welcome to the February 26th 11 city council meeting our first order of business will be the pledge allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for

All all right move on to the roll call Members mam KK clo please Mike King Kade Pres Campbell here Sandra Jason nowski excused thank you Dick Robertson here John copelan excused sier messenger here Robert Hawkins here thanks okay and I know since we’re doing our annual Finance report we don’t have the minutes

We’ll get those in our next meeting uh so with that would take would uh ask for consent from the council take the agenda out of order consent yes sir okay we want a new business in first item up here um will be related to project Lighthouse so Molly Whitehead with the

Oh Claire I apologize CLA with the Boon EDC um we have resolution 202 24-8 and 09 related to project Lighthouse I’ll turn over to CLA good evening everyone Claire jelus with the boom County Economic Development Corporation our organization serves as your Economic Development arm and we kind of assist you all and the

Private entity throughout the public hearing process and incentive negotiations so the resolution in front of you is a recommendation for the city council to consider both a 5-year re and personal property tax abatement for Gorton Seafood Gorton is a seafood manufacturer and distributor that has partnered with us Cold Storage to build

Another facility on their property that’s in the existing Lebanon Business Park this will be a separate facility approximately 100,000 square ft so with this project we anticipate 163 full-time positions around $28 an hour and over an $89 million capital investment for the project I want to introduce Chelsea coat the VP

Of Human Resources with Gorton to give you a quick overview of the company thank you for having me my name is Chelsea Cody I’m the VP of HR at Gorton Seafoods and I’m going to tell you a little bit more about about the company today and a little bit more about the

Project um so Gorton is one of the oldest companies in the country we were founded in 1849 we have a long and successful history of innovation we’re the Frozen Seafood leader in North America there’s been lots of business Evolution and change throughout the years we are currently um 100% owned by

Noui and have been since 2001 they are Japanese company and we have over 470 employees and we’ve always believed that our strength comes from our employees just a few highlights from our history um we are like I said we are founded in 1849 um in oops sorry um so in 1868 we pioneered

Salt dried codfish the packing method for that in 1905 we joined uh with John Pew and Slade Gorton joined to G form Gorton’s Pew Fisheries in 1952 we came up with the fish stick um so as you guys know today the fish stick was invented in 1956 we opened our Goron Seafood

Center in gler Massachusetts that’s our production facility that still stands today um in 1975 the fisherman makes his television debut so I’m sure you guys have seen that um in 2008 we partnered with the New England Aquarium to drive sustainable sourcing practices and in 20123 we came out with our most recent

Innovation of uh air fried fillet and shrimp and we’re cele celebrating our 175th um anniversary this year uh so a little bit about our employees and our location so the majority of our employees are located in Gloucester Massachusetts um 309 of those employees work within our production facilities so that includes uh

Production maintenance and the management there uh we have about a 100 employees in our headquarters which is located right across the street from our production facility uh we also have um 18 R&D and QA employees which are in a third building on that campus and then

We have a plant out in Cleveland Ohio which has 36 employees and then we have seven uh field sales employees throughout the United States and two employees in Canada um so I want to talk a little bit about the Gorton’s way and our trusted catch program so the Gorton’s way is our

Mission statement um and our mission is to spread the goodness of the Sea by making Quality Seafood accessible to everybody and earning trust because we value Integrity passion collaboration curiosity and Agility and that led us to our trusted catch program which is really our CSR program and so our CSR

Program has four focuses right now which are ocean and fishery Health carbon footprint and reduction eco-friendly packaging and social responsibility so a little bit more about the project um so the project is we’re hoping to construct a 115,000 foot facility com um that’ be adjacent to the US Cold Storage

Warehouse um the goal is to install three frozen seafood processing lines um and it would be and with a variety of different packaging um options so this is a partnership with us colds um we have had a 40 plus year partnership with us us colds and the um the plan is to really

Have both Gorton and US Cold grow together with our facility being concurrent to 100,000 foot expansion for us cold um and the anticipated as Claire mentioned the anticipated investment is 89 million so this is a quick aerial view so on the left you can see where it

Would be located in Lebanon and on the right um you see the different facilities so the gray is the current US Cold Storage the Orange is the expansion of the US Cold warehouse and the blue is the proposed gance facility and side and as far as job creation goes our

Plan is to um hire 163 employees um we’re hoping to offer an attractive 4-day uh 10-hour work schedule with competitive benefits on top of that and the average wage rate would be about $26 um and just a little bit on the um equipment and infrastructure so you know

Would be installing um package or processing equipment similar to what we have in our production facility in Gloucester um we would be installing thermal fluid heaters Hydraulics things like that um in mitigation Technologies we would be using fire exhaust oxidation systems CO2 transcritical Refrigeration um and also other

Ergonomic and uh systems for worker safety and so quickly about the timeline so we’re hoping to start production in March 2024 um that would be construction of the building which would um take about a year and then in March 2025 we would start equipment installation that would

Go on for several months um and then equipment and infrastructure commissioning would be between July and September of 2025 with the first production line starting in September of 2025 a second line up and running hopefully uh January 2026 and the third production line would start in July of 2026

Um so as far as community outreach uh being a good partner is something that uh is in our DNA at Gordon um it’s one of our it’s in our mission statement and it’s something that we take very seriously we have many avenues that we give back to our organization and our

Community the first um so I’ve pointed out a few of our bigger Investments over the last couple of years so the first one is a Gordon’s Cancer Center which was um a donation that that we made to a local hospital so that people in the community could get services in their in

Their Community instead of Drive having to drive to Boston to do that um the second one is we made a donation to building a new capan YMCA capan is a group of communities on the cape and Peninsula and glester included um so this was a huge project and it’s

Been a huge um boost for the community um and it’s been you know I personally go there and it’s a great facility we also have the soyf Free Library which is just a renovation project of the current Library um this is the public library and they’re currently they broke

Around last week um and they are renovating that and the goal is to really bring technology into communities that might not have it and then just a little bit about our community outreach and volunteerism so here’s just our team doing a um a bunch of volunteer events throughout the

Throughout the year so we’ve got people going to Farms where they donate food to food banks food pantries you know duning grass planting street sweeping all those type of things and then supporting local businesses is always something that’s important to us as well so here’s just

Two quick examples one is we do a foodie tour for new hires where we um meet with so a local person brings people around to different restaurants um the other example is our Flagship which is a newsletter that gets put out um quarterly that we send to employees in

Retire di es we was a local printer for that um and I would never change from them because they have bailed me out of several tight deadlines and then last we have our gift matching program so this is a program where all our employees if they um are

Eligible to receive a dollar for dooll match up to $5,000 for any donations that they make to nonprofit organizations so any um employee can has access to this and here’s just a couple of those um organizations that we have met match donations for for the last year and lastly you know our employees

Are engaged with our community we are an organization that has hired multiple Generations over the years um most of our employees we have a long tenured I’m considered a baby in the organization and I’ve been there for almost 16 years um you know we have employees who stand

Up for veterans rights we have people who have voted for you know safer crosswalks and of that is um you know because we’re a big Community partner and we want to make sure that we bring that to Lebanon as well any questions thank Chelsea any questions for Chelsea from the

Council no just want to welcome you to Le thank you we’re excited to be here so thanks so much uh Claire anything else she wanted to close on or nothing else any questions for CLA from the council okay do you mind reading uh resolution 202 24-8 please sure resolution 202 24-8 resolution of

The common Council of the city of Lebanon Indiana regarding certain real property tax abatement deductions for Gordon’s Inc whereas pursuant to Indiana code the common Council has the right and opportunity to Abate the payment of real property taxes for Real Estate located within an area declared by the

Council to be an economic revitalization area and to debate the payment of personal property taxes within an economic revitalization area pursuant to the act the council may find a particular area within the jurisdiction of the city is an economic revitalization area and may by adoption of a resolution declare such area to be

An economic revitalization area uh the council adopted resolution 0803 the declaratory resolution on May 12 2008 pursuant to the ACT declaring the area whose boundaries are located within the corporate boundaries of the city comprising 38 or so Acres within the Lebanon Business Park which is more particularly described in the exhibits to the

Resolution uh an economic revitalization area in which property owners making an application to the city pursuant to the ACT subsequently approved by this Council pursuant to the ACT may receive real property tax abatement and or personal property tax abatement pursuant to the act the council after following all applicable procedures of the ACT

Took final action confirming the flator resolution on May 27th 2008 thereby establishing an economic revitalization area Gordon zc has filed with this Council a statement of benefits real estate improvements attached to the resolution and made a part hereof which describ the proposed P project to be installed by

The applicant in order to receive real property tax abatement for the project and the project includes the construction of approximately 100,000 ft² facility owned and operated by by Gorton and the installation of new manufacturing logistical distribution and inform information technology equipment consisting of warehouse and distribution equipment in the facility

Which will be utilized by Gordon with within its manufacturing operations uh this Council has reviewed the statement and the area will be of public utility and will be to the benefit and Welfare of the citizens and taxpayers of the city now therefore be it resolved and adopted by the common Council of the

City of Lebanon Indiana as follows section one the proposed project will be located in the area which has been confirmed as an economic revitalization area pursuant to the ACT based upon the information in the statement this Council makes the following findings the estimate of 34 m647 as the cost of the Improvement

Being constructed is reasonable for projects of that nature the estimate of hiring 163 employees who will be deployed can reasonably be expected to result from the proposed project the estimate of 9,784 695 for the aggregate annual salaries of those individuals who will be employed can be reasonably expected to result

From the proposed project the other benefits about which information has been presented to this Council are benefits that can be reasonably expected to result from the proposed project the totality of benefits is sufficient to justify the granting of person personal property tax batement to the applicant through the deduction provided by the

ACT statement submitted by the applicant are approved real property tax deductions for the project are hereby approved the period for real property tax deductions under the act for the project shall be 5 Years From the date each item of real property is first assessed and shall be at 50% each year

Pursuant to the act the council shall cause to be filed a certified copy of the resolution with the Boon County auditor this this resolution shall be in full force and effect immediately upon its adoption thank you res been read discussion from councel Sir any public comment concerning resolution 20248 seeing none would entertain

Further discussion or motion I make a motion we approve resolution 2024 d0 motion to motion to approve and a second from Keith all fair say I I I those poos that is approved all right resolution 20249 resolution 20249 resolution of the common Council of the city of Lebanon Indiana regarding

Certain certain personal property tax abatement deductions for Gordon sink whereas pursuant to the act the city of Lebanon by through the common Council has the right and opportunity to Abate the payment of real property taxes for Real Estate located with an in an area declared by the council to be an

Economic revitalization ation area and to Abate the payment of personal property taxes within that economic revitalization area pursuant to the act the council may find that a particular area within the jurisdiction of the city is an economic revitalization area and may by adoption of a resolution declare such area to be an economic

Revitalization area the council adopted its resolution 0803 on May 12 2008 pursuant to the ACT declaring the area whose boundaries are located within the corporate boundaries of the city comprising 38 or so Acres Within the Lebanon Business Park more particularly described and shown within the resolution an economic revitalization

Area pursuant to the ACT and subsequently approved to pursuant to the ACT that real property tax abatement and or personal property tax abatement uh is acceptable within the area the council after following all applicable procedures of the ACT took final action confirming the decator resolution on May 27 2008 thereby establishing an economic

Revitalization area Gordon zc has fed with this Council a statement of benefits personal property attached to the resolution which describes the proposed project to be installed by Gordon in order to receive personal property tax abatement for the project the project includes installation of new manufacturing logistical distribution and information technology equipment

Consisting of manufacturing production line equipment and systems in the applicants manufacturing facility to be constructed and located in the area which will be used Us by the applicant in the manufacturing operations in the area this Council has reviewed the statement and the Improvement of the area will be

Of public utility and will be to the benefit and the welfare of the citizens and taxpayers of the city now therefore be it resolved and adopted by the common Council of the city of Lebanon Indiana as follows the proposed project will be located in an area which has been

Confirmed as an economic revitalization area pursuant to the ACT based upon the information in the statement this Council makes the following findings the estimate of 54,675 as the cost of new manufacturing equipment to be installed is reasonable for projects of that nature the estimate of hiring of 163 New individuals who

Will be employed can be reasonably expected to result from the project the estimate of 9,784 695 for the AGG aggregate annual salaries of those individuals who will be employed can be reasonably expected to result from the project the other benefits about which information has been presented this Council are benefits

That can be reasonably expected to result from the proposed project the totality of benefits is sufficient to justify the granting of personal property tax abatement to the applicant through the deduction provided by the act the statement submitted by the applicant is approved personal property tax deductions for the project are

Hereby approved the period for personal property tax deductions under the act for the project shall be 5 Years From the date of each item of personal property is first assessed and 50% from each year forward pursuant to the act the council shall cause to be filed a certified copy of this resolution with

Boon County auditor this resolution shall be in full force and effect immediately upon its adoption thank you very much resolution been read any discussion comments questions from Council no sir okay any public comment concerning resolution resolution 20249 okay saying none we entertain a motion I’ll make a motion we approve resolution 202

24-9 motion to approve is our second second from Rob all in favor say I I this post that is approved all right thank you Council uh than you Claire uh just want to say to Chelsea and the Gordon’s team watching at home I’m sure um just clarify it’s Lebanon right you

You want you wouldn’t want us to call your glou Glouster right you know so right it go go both ways um but don’t worry you’ll learn it’s okay um but I have one comment U to the Boon EDC and for Claire has brought to my attention

Today that she’s taken a position at her hometown in Westfield Economic Development so she’s going to be leaving here very soon I just want to say I’ve had a pleasure it’s been a pleasure working with you for the last two plus years and you’ve done a fantastic job so

Great job you’re going be hard to replace all right I’m gon to finish my comment here Mike appreciate you saying that about CLA that that we could have gotten into that um but I just want to say on behalf of the city want to welcome you guys uh we are excited to

Have you as part of Lebanon um as a a person that you know as a young kid I got a lot of fish sticks right and most of them were usually Gorton so U excited to have you guys and uh um you know I’m

Sure my kids will get them too so it’ be pretty exciting that you know that is a great product it’s a great American brand going to be made here right here in Lebanon so appreciate the partnership appreciate the investment and uh looking forward to our continued success together so thank you

Guys all right uh I’m going to do another quick easy one before we dive into some other stuff so I’m going to move to item e if that’s okay with Council resol resolution 20247 um city court to adopt the Odyssey court system I think we have judge Cruz

In the audience tonight uh judge if you want to come up real quick and say why we need to have this resolution for us good evening um as part of trying to get the city court going again um I had to uh come up with a case management system uh

And uh Odyssey is the one that the Indiana Supreme Court has um implemented in every County court in the state and several City and town courts also use it I know uh Carmel City Court uh zionville Town Court uh Elwood City Court um they all use the Odyssey case management

System um and uh when I was was at the judge orientation on the 31st of January and 1st of February got to uh get some information and met the uh two people that are at the state level with the Supreme Court uh that handle implementation of uh the case Odyssey

Case management system uh and of course there’s nothing simple when it comes to getting it done in in government so this is my first real taste of it they they sent me an email saying all right you’re City needs to pass a resolution saying that the city adopts this uh case

Management system uh the big reason I believe is that there’s the uh expectation from the Supreme Court that uh the city will maintain sufficient I intellectual Information Technology it there’s too many it and IPS and I get a little confused sometimes but um Information Technology systems we’re

We’re responsible for the cost of the hardware uh the software like I’ve said before is free but the the actual Hardware that we have uh has to be uh sufficient that’s one big reason for um this resolution to come before uh the council um I’m in support of it we we

Need one uh the the hardware we’d have to have regardless uh the software uh if we don’t go with this we’d have to find something and pay for it and just makes a lot of sense to go with this so um that was the first real step to getting

Odyssey uh implemented I I did find out also that um we’ll be the first Court who is starting from scratch with Odyssey pretty much every other well not just pretty much every every other court that they have done this with has already had some sort of case management

System other than Odyssey and so they switched um and so we’re going to be starting from scratch and um I don’t think it’s going to be too much different than uh any other County uh or City or town court uh other than starting from scratch so um they also

Like I was saying part of the process in getting the um C they call the CMS uh implemented is they actually have to come physically come here and inspect our Uh current uh it systems Hardware uh you know mic microphones whatever um cables wiring make sure it’s up to Snuff

For their system and so um I don’t want to say that there’s absolutely no cost associated with getting the court going but as far as the Software System that’s that’s that’s for free thank you judge any questions for judge on this again you said my favorite word here free so again it’s a

Kind of a formality we have to adop this resolution to make sure we say hey we’re in um then they’ll help us kind of get it all and also they provide support for you if we need help with it things like that too which is certainly and there

There was a onewe training uh for judge staff um it might just be me for the actual judge staff uh clerk staff’s going to have to know how to operate it because of course there’s money coming and going and they need to know how to operate the Odyssey system as well um I

I haven’t seen the back end of it I’ve seen it from the front end as a lawyer and and I I shoot searching for the information online is really easy real smooth and so I imagine the backend uh kind of things might be hopefully just as

Simple uh with that can you uh read resolution 20247 please resolution number 20247 a proposal for a general resolution for the city court to adopt the Statewide case management system called Odyssey Statewide Court management system called Odyssey is being offered to the city of Lebanon Indiana city court at no cost division

Of State Court Administration signed a state contract in 2007 with Tyler Technologies purchasing the rights to use a oy for all judicial staff in Indiana the division has been deploying Odyssey to the trial courts and City and town courts since 2007 in addition to the fact the division of State Court

Administration has paid the initial licensing cost for the Odyssey software the division of state state court administration will pay the yearly software maintenance and support costs and the town will not incur any yearly licensing costs to use the software the division of State Court Administration will pay for the training of the judge

And Court staff while the city currently pays for the maintenance and support for the current C court case management system software with the implementation of Odyssey this cost will be eliminated Odyssey offers our citizens access to non-confidential course Court case information at no cost over the internet

At my case.in.gov now therefore it be it resolved by the common Council of the city of Lebanon Indiana meeting in regular session as follows the city council hereby approves and supports the implementation of the Statewide Odyssey case management system for the city of Lebanon Indiana city court and finds

That the implementation of Odyssey is in the best interest of our city this resolution shall be in full full shall be in effect from and after its passage by the city council thank you resolution has been read any discussion comments no sir any Public public comment okay would entertain a motion then concerning

Resolution 20247 make a motion we approve resolution 20247 second motion at second all in favor say I I those opposed all right you got yourself a court system thank you just mention um also next step is um uh Mike uh Tanya and me will have to send a letter of understanding technically

Addressed to Chief Justice Loretta rush but I’m sure um one of her staff at at the state level will get that basically just saying that we we want to be brought in so um I I don’t know do I do I need to draft that re revise it

Who um we can figure that out City attorney or was that already there was a letter that was there’s a template yes right so we’ll we’ll take care of that yeah all right so we’re good awesome thank you thank you thank you judge okay uh go back to our normally uh scheduled

Meeting then back to Old business um first item up is ordinance 2024-25 development ordinance and zoning map uh update this is on second reading Ben evening Council I’m going to be hopefully extremely brief tonight and just give you a quick recap where we’ve where we’ve been uh updating the unified

Development ordinance and zoning map we’ve been working on this for a little over a year at this point and uh introduced it to you all about a month ago and wanted to give you a full month to review the information we gave you because it’s a pretty pretty hefty

Document to go through uh so we wanted to do that after the first first reading a month ago and so now we are back in front of you for the second reading tonight of the ordinance uh this would be adopting a new unified development ordinance in zoning map to replace our

Existing one uh we do feel like this is going to be a document that’s going to be very helpful for us moving forward uh from an enforcement perspective and also it’s very user friendly uh and so that’s that’s going to be good all the way around and we’ve definitely cleaned up a

Lot of things that uh were challenges for us previously so we’re excited to present this to you um wanted to just do that quick introduction our our Consulting team is here in case there’s any specific questions you had for them uh so they’re available for those with

That I’ll just open up to any questions uh comments from from anyone and move forward from there you did make some adjustments on Landscaping yes yes we did definitely clean that up where we had um I know uh a couple of occasions where we had landscape plans where it looks like a

National forest out there so we did clean that up and streamline that so uh it’s it’s not so onerous um in terms of implementing the landscape requirements oh man question I spent three days scanning through the whole thing I didn’t um and I might have just

Glazed right over it uh uh parking lot lighting uh I think I mentioned to you before that was a concern uh because of the uh uh Breakman facility that we here there’s no Lighting in the parking lot in the front or the back you know and I

Think that’s a really big problem for for residents and and stuff like that um of course you know me I always have a thing about parking to an apartment facilities and so forth and you know when you got one parking lot for one one

Unit and a and a a single unit or single bedroom unit and and uh you know they always end up with two people and you always end up with two vehicles and you know you end up you end up with uh to me not enough parking and apartment building

Facilities uh because we only allow for like one space or maybe one and a half space and then there’s like there’s like no spacing for for uh non- occupants visitors parking or something like that and in those and how how do we treat that I mean it just seems like

That those are things that we ought to be considering and you know being a guy you know I I kind of look after apartment building for a friend of mine and we we have that same issue all the time and dealing with one unit with one

Parking spot and there ends up with two people in there and both person has a car and we got to deal with that you know yeah I think what what we you know what the ordinance requires is the average so in the case where you have one apartment where you have two people

Each with a car you may have one apartment where they have no car only one car so that’s why a lot of time what the ordinance requirements are typically the average 1 and a half 1.75 something like that so that’s and I think depending on where the apartments are

Located May determine how many cars you have too because maybe apartment’s downtown maybe there’s not as many cars versus something that’s out along the interstate so um so those those requirements are based on the averages so on a in a one-bedroom the average is typically one and a half Cars per unit

Because some might have two some might have one some might have none some might have three you never know um so that that’s that’s what the stand are and of course in any time where we’re looking at these with a specific project we we can always look at that with them and

Decide whether more or less is needed um that’s that’s why we review all the projects to decide I I’ve always been trying to figure out what that uh one and a half parking spaces what does that what’s that equivalent to one two small compacts or yeah you know I just maybe a

Motorcycle for the second person okay I just Tred to figure that one out yeah the other thing that uh uh that uh always gets me and and I know that we have um uh it seems like and I I say this all the time when it comes to subdivisions

And so forth you know our our we we’ve narrowed our streets down uh there’s and we end up with parking on both sides and then you end up with with one lane of traffic to drive down through the it seems like through the through the development and uh and then our setbacks

From the uh sidewalk to the home and pickup trucks seem to be so big and they take over the whole parking lot they take over the sidewalk and people could never walk on a sidewalk they’re walking in the street and uh it gets difficult sometimes to drive through the

Street when there’s parking on both sides and it’s like that it’s like we’re putting everything in here so close and it’s like what why don’t we spread out a little bit you know and give people more space I know I I know I know you tell me all the time

People people don’t want that but I’m just telling you pe the people that do want space don’t want to be that close to their neighbor and and uh we we make these subdivisions so tight that it’s like it’s it’s so difficult for people to come and visit you know you you got a

Two-car two two-car garage and two drives there and you’re lucky if you get two cars maybe four and you cover up to parking spot but there’s no place out front to park because everybody’s celebrating a holiday on the same day you know so I I don’t know it just seems

Like we need to have need to think about spreading things out a little bit I think the I would say I think something to think about the two right is you shouldn’t necessarily build your street infrastructure to your busiest day right because the problem is is when

It’s not that busiest day and there aren’t cars parked in the streets right you get a super wide Road and I will tell you if I get I mean other than trash the most complaints I get about in my office are people driving too fast in neighborhoods and and and that’s

Something to think about right and and and having the two car the parking on both sides of the street part of that is a visual indicator that says hey you’re in a residential area you need to slow down right and even if you said hey if

Posted it’s 30 and you can be the best driver in the world and follow all the rules but you have a super wide Road that’s straight you there’s just a subconscious natural inclination to drrive faster right so so so that’s I think that’s some of the thoughts behind

Of of of the narrowing of the roads the parking on the streets because it’s just it’s just it makes it s it’s it’s a better situation to have to make someone drive slower than to have a situation where you’ve built it so big that people drive a as fast as they want

Because that that puts more people in Jeopardy and that’s something that’s it’s a certainly a shift in philosophy that we’ve had um but I mean you drive through I mean like I think Anderson Lane’s a great example of of a road that was built too big right that’s supposed

To be 30 miles hour on that road like if you can drive 30 miles an hour on that road it’s it’s you’re you’re struggling because you’re just like what am I doing right you feel like you’re on a major Interstate there it’s so wide so it’s

Just I think it’s it’s a shift in mentality and design focus and I think that’s that’s I think you’re seeing that um here as part of this discussion right um you know they always say you know look at you know parking lots on you know Black Friday is supposed to be the

Biggest shopping day of the year right but you go to a lot of our shops our Walmart places like that even on Black Friday right there was more parking spots than cars right so what are we building it to right so even if on the busiest shopping day of the year half of

The parking lot’s empty you’ve got too many parking spots right which means that there’s other uses for for that land that could be you know other shops right other housing other retail right so it’s it’s about being making sure you have enough space but you also aren’t wasting space either right that’s

Something I think that’s something we have to think about from a land use standpoint from a city perspective and that’s I think what this is trying to get out with kind of the way we structured it with flexibility based on density not as NE necessarily based on

Like structured x amount by y amount by Z amount you know what I mean so well as as a tradeoff I would I would trade The Narrow Street for The Wider lot and and the home is a little farther apart from each other so everybody has

More room out front and set back a little farther off the street so that way people don’t have to walk in the street being you got sidewalks on both sides because it we see and we can’t control but it also goes to housing affordability then too right that’s a

Topic of discussion we’ve been having a lot as well right I mean you start making the Lots bigger right that just drives press the house up too right and so we’re constantly hearing the cost of you know housing now right and so um you know the I mean it costs the same to

Build the same size house would regardless of what the lot size is right so I think that’s the challenge we have and I think that’s that’s we’re trying to find that balance and and and frankly we’re trying to I think some of this is just recognizing that the the market and

The home builders they know the market better than we do right I think the the Fatal flaw of our previous Udo was that you we put in all of our rules and our you know here here’s how it’s going to be right and then the Great Recession

Happened and then came on the other side of it and what the what the market wanted was very different then right and so I think this is a idea between this Udo to try to make it a little more I want say flexible but a little more

Reactive to what the market is right and you know if we have a lot of demand for more Town Homes right it has the ability to do it right if we have more demand it shift back towards those bigger Lots right there’s a flexibility to do that

Right so all that’s kind of it’s put more in the developer hands versus the city trying to dictate and and you know put a put a round Peg and a square hole too yeah and I think we need to be in a position where we’re looking where’s that custom home development going you

Know I I don’t somewhere down the line we need those custom developed homes in an area because I I’m just telling you yeah I I from from talking to to uh some uh Representatives that not they don’t work there now but people used to work at Liles okay and so forth and you

Know and the people are telling me that they won’t live here because we don’t have the custom home that they’re looking for and I said you know where is the custom home going in Lebanon that we could keep those people here you know I I think the good thing about the way the

Udio is written now is it provides for creativity and some flexibility there too so that it’s not always a race to the bottom to try to get the most affordable thing what it what it allows for as a developer to look at that market and say

Okay I can provide some of those upper end residential lots but that’s not going to help me make enough money to make this development work my Executives aren’t going to prove it I also need to be able to provide other product types in the same neighborhood that maybe get

Absorbed faster so that we can kind of basically offset some of those that are going to be slower slower building so that’s what this Udo does it allows somebody to say okay we’re going to take this 100 acres and we’re going to we’re going to create an area for this product

Type and for this product type and for this product type and they can do that without having to go through the Pud process and create a new set of standards they can do that in the existing Udo so that allows us then to work with them to say okay how you know

In this 100 acres we want to see multiple product types let’s figure out how they work together so that we can get some of those larger lot custom home type things and also have some other products that maybe maybe there’s some people at Lily that can’t afford a

Million dollar home but but they want to live in that same neighborhood so we have the ability to have multiple product types um at the same time then we we uh we allow flexibility on the front house setback but not necessarily on the garage setback so if they want to

Put a house that’s 10 foot off the front property and that’s great but the garage is still going to have a setback to allow two cars to park in the driveway so again I know cars are getting bigger and bigger that’s not going to change

Anytime soon so by the time we decide at 22 ft’s enough then all of a sudden somebody’s going to come out with a 24t long SUV so um so that’s just something that we’re just going to have to keep tracking the market of those things and making sure we’re not kind of yeah

Putting oursel in a corner if you will I can’t see why a guy wants a a a uh a super cab pickup truck with an extra bed and a and and a 18inch Trier hitch on the back and he wants to park it in front of the garage you know because it

Covers up everything but anyway I I it was a nice nice document found it very easy to read and understand so I liked it yeah I think the other thing is is while we’ve spent a lot of time drafting this we’re going to recognize that there are some things that we

Missed or some things that are even massaging over the next 6 8 12 months um so I I would expect that we’re probably going to be back in front of you at times you know we discovered something doesn’t work the way we wanted it to and

So we’re have to make some changes but uh this document I think puts us in a good place moving forward and something we can work with and something we work off of any more questions for Ben I’m reading uh ordinance 20242 please ordinance number 2024 d02 an

Ordinance of the common Council of the city of Lebanon Boon County Indiana repealing the unified development ordinance and zoning map and adopting the updated unified development ordinance of the city of Lebanon Indiana whereas the city of Lebanon common Council adopted the current unified development ordinance and zoning map by ordinance number

07-16 on December 10th 2007 the city of leban advisory plan commission initiated and prepared a proposal to repeal ordinance 07-16 and replace the text of the United unified development ordinance including all amendments in the zoning map with an updated unified development ordinance and zoning map pursuant to Indiana code the commission conducted

The required public hearing on the proposal on the 16th day of January 2024 to repeal and replace unified development ordinance and zoning map as required by law pursuant to Indiana code the commission after paying reasonable regard to the comprehensive plan the current conditions and character of the current structures and uses in each

District the most desirable use for which land in each district is adapted and conservation of property values throughout the jurisdiction and the responsible development and growth of the community determined its favorable recomend recommendation on the 16th day of January 2024 by 8 to Zer vote and thereafter certified its recommendation

To this legislative body the common Council of the city of Lebanon Indiana on the 17th day of January 2024 in pursuant to Indiana code the common Council of the city of Lebanon Indiana has considered the proposed unified development ordinance and zoning map along with a recommendation of the

City of Lebanon advisory plan commission and now repeals ordinance number 0716 and adopts the proposed unified development ordinance and zoning map and approves this ordinance as Hereafter set out now therefore be it ordained by the common Council of the city of Lebanon Bo County Indiana meeting in regular session as follows Council ordinance

Number 07-16 unified development ordinance as amended including the official zoning map Incorporated therein as amended and all other ordinances or parts of ordinances in Conflict here with are hereby repealed the unified develop development ordinance as set forth in the attached exhibit a including in the official zoning map attached here to as

Exhibit B and all material that is incorporated within UniFi development ordinance by reference are hereby adopted as title 15 of leban Indiana code by ordinances as amended upon its acceptance the commission is hereby authorized to print and file two copies of the unified development ordinance in the office of

The city of Lebanon clerk Treasurer to keep on file for public inspection this ordinance shall be in full force and effect upon its passage by the common Council all ordinances or parts thereof in conflict herewith or hereby repealed any portion of the ordinance later to be found void or

Invalid shall not affect the remaining portions of this ordinance thank you very much all right any final uh discussion from Council on ordinance 20242 no sir any public comment concer this ordinance okay would entertain a motion make motion approve ordinance 2024 we have motion to approve is there

A second second from Keith all in favor say I I those post all right that concludes what I have for old business is from Council okay uh back to new business then we’ve already checked most of these off but uh item D is left uh food and beverage requests concerning Stone eater

Bike park Kevin thank you very much let me uh get you guys make sure we’re connected here it’s earlier let me all right thank you very much uh appreciate you listening to this tonight um and I guess I want to start off by you know giving you an update of where

Things are uh with the park project and and really just want to thank everybody here and on behalf of the parks department the engineering department uh Department of Public Works uh the national inter Scholastic Cycling Association Nika uh the poror nation uh who your mountain bike Association uh

Bicycle Indiana just a few of our part partners that are working with us on the project and we’re all working to deliver this and all working to deliver this on budget but um we’ve had some struggles I guess since last summer trying to bring this in on budget um but we are still

Excited about delivering the park we’re excited about delivering a worldclass cycling destination uh for our community uh for the bicycle community at at a larger scale um we’re excited about partnership with nikah and the fact that they have actually already named uh Stone eater bike park as a site for the

Last race of their 20 uh 24 season uh which should be the weekend of October 25th keep in mind they do have an alternate location if we’re not able to deliver uh but we’re doing all we can to to make sure that we can deliver that uh

Park uh for them for our citizens for everybody for the nearly uh 20,000 visitors that um you know the E experts that have designed the park are forecasting uh based off of similar parks and and those kind of visitation rates that they see um so we’re excited

We’ve done a lot to date uh Mass earth work is complete uh fortification of the um the landfill cap the groundwater monitoring system uh perimeter fencing uh Trail marking is all in place uh I want to thank the parks department staff and the DPW staff for some of the trail

Clearing that we’ve already done uh Partnerships with Boon County Solid Waste for supplying dumpsters for us so a lot is happening and we’re doing all we can uh to try to bring this in um as coste effective as we possibly can um we have pump tracks USA under contract this

Is a worldclass uh cycling Sports contractor that has built Olympic venues and World Cup venues all over the world and they’re excited about the partnership and the opportunity to to work on Stone eater however we have struggled to get our site infrastructure package under contract uh as you might be aware and a

Lot of these things come through Board of works so you don’t always hear all these updates we’ve bid at three different times uh We’ve bid it in different formats different package configurations trying to get more aggressive pricing trying to get more competition uh unfortunately though at

The end of the day we’ve we’ve really only had one uh bitter uh show interest in this project uh and uh it’s it’s Milestone corporation which is a great company uh I don’t want to take anything away from them we would love to do business with them um but they submitted

A bid on o on January 22nd again the third round of bidding at a little over 1.4 million uh we’ve been negotiating uh and value engineering with them trying to get that price down uh we’re now down to 91,5 $90 in that contract so um you know

We’ve we’ve put in a lot of effort to to get us here um why don’t I share let me share what the uh the what the budget currently looks like um so we we talked about the project budget of 1.9 million that was really based off of funds available when we we started

Going into construction and that’s what um you know what was what came before this body uh but those funds were made up of $500,000 in American Rescue plan money um grant money uh another $750,000 uh from the ready 1.0 uh program the ready program the initial program again grant money and then uh

There was there was match money that came out of our sanitation fund again the sanitation fund was money that was originally set up to operate the U the landfill so there’s been no general fund Appropriations there’s been no tax increases to build this park we’ve really tried to do this this entirely

With the the funds we have and the grant funding we’ve been chasing and so that total to about that 1.9 million that you’ve heard us talk about we’ve spent some money since 2021 2020 on various things minor things um you know engineering fees uh Environmental Studies things of that nature um we’re

Down now to about 1 .2 million that is that is left in the uh the coffers if you will to build the project the M Stone bid uh the bid that I mentioned at 1.4 million is listed there uh we have no longer any additional earth work that

Is all done uh but we’ve got an indot uh entry to build that has to be built to indot standard so was very little uh value engineering we could do there but we were able to do a little bit and drop that number from 252,000 down to 210

Uh the entry drive and the first 25 parking spaces went from 722 to 59 530 the remaining 33 spaces to build us uh our total parking lot we dropped about 10,000 off that from 57 down to 47 uh we’ve been sourcing um crushed aggregate for Hall Roads or or excuse me

Maintenance roads really for the parks department to maintain which will also double as Trail connection connections as well but primarily these are roads that are used for the operation of the park and then crush concr concrete sourcing that will be set up for the pump tracks USA team to build the park

So uh again we’ve uh dropped both of those those crushed aggregate numbers from 244 for the agregate roads down to 147 the biggest cut there is actually the limit elimination of one of these um maintenance roads and then there’s been a lot of negotiations with different suppliers and different holders of this

Crush concrete to get that number down from 423 to 750 um what is not in the park you know we’ve bid this out but we’ve not seen really competitive pricing so in the interest of delivering a park that the public can can use we’ve eliminated the um the electric uh components to the

Park so these are more components that would be set up for maintenance purposes um well for maintenance purposes it’s primarily mowing so that’s not really electric for that but primarily for a vent staging is what the electric was for uh We’ve cut out the water uh

$330,000 cut out of there and that was really to provide uh for a bike wash station uh and also some maintenance of future um Future Park improvements that would require some some watering on a regular basis uh storm sewer we’ve we’ve worked with our designers to redesign

That and get that pricing this is also in the Milestone bid down from 382 to 277 um that’s really about all we can cut you know we’re still have the trail packages that are in their entirety um that’s that 343,000 roughly of Trail contraction um items we’ve also eliminated the

Maintenance building um unfortunately uh we had hoped to build a pole barn out there to store some maintenance equipment uh but that will have to be um hauled to the site with you know with the trailers and stuff that we use to to haul mowing equipment and things around

To park works on a daily basis as it is so that’s where the where the project stands you there’s a few other miscellaneous things there um we’re eliminating some Landscaping we’re eliminating some of the uh split rail fencing that is that we feel is really not necessary uh but we’re holding some

Items on the remaining design contracts and remaining environmental permitting and signage which is really uh yet to be resolved uh what that puts us into is a situation where I mentioned at the top we we had the 1.2 million roughly uh so minimizing the scope of the project we’re down to about

1.4 um $220,000 over budget is where we’re at if we were to add in a 10% contingency of $133,000 just for the construction related items that I listed above we’re at about $350,000 over budget um we think we can possibly reduce contingencies uh there is an opportunity to possibly eliminate

Those 3 parking spaces although that’s only a $47,000 savings it probably better for us to go ahead and build our parking lot to its full extent you know so we’re in this range of2 200 to $350,000 short and and that’s why I’m I’m here tonight is is really to ask you

To for a food and beverage um appropriation from your budgeted lines of $300,000 and I want to say I think what I’m asking for is a not to to exceed number uh because we are still actively looking for additional uh funding sources we are we working with philanthropic organizations and

Foundations around the state uh to try to raise more money we’re working with potential corporate Partners we’ve already seen a a donation from Lily um of of building materials to the site uh Boulders that were delivered um we’re hoping there’s a continued partnership with them as well and um but we’re

Looking at trying to get the park moving forward as I mentioned we have art money American Rescue plan money and ready money in the project those monies have to go through procurement by the end of the year so you might say why don’t we shell things and and look at rebidding

It uh we’re kind of out of time we need to get the project under contract we need to get the project started so that we can take advantage of that that um 1.25 million that is that has been already awarded to to the project through through grant funding so like I

Said I think it’s a $300,000 it is a $300,000 ask I think it’s not to exceed hopefully we’re able to increase those Fund Raising efforts to to take that uh that number lower uh we got a CVB grant for a couple years ago that we’ve still not received and we’re trying to

Understand why we can’t collect that from them um they owe us roughly $775,000 that would not that’s not included in these numbers that would defay that cost even further but for right now what I’m really asking is is is for your continued support you’ve always supported the project but um

We’re asking for another $300,000 from food and beverage not to exceed again we hope that number is I’ve shown you here where that number can easily be down to in the 200s range and with with additional donations with even the food and beverage or excuse me the CVB Grant

Um we can get that number down under 200 and hopefully we can continue to do so but as I said I really need to get the project procurement behind us get it under construction so that we can uh fulfill our grant requirements and uh move the project forward in

2024 so with that being said I’m happy to answer more questions but respectfully I am asking for a not to exceed food and beverage Grant of $300,000 um yeah I just want to make a comment before we jump into discussion um you know the the construction industry is very challenging right now

Just from a timeline standpoint um this is not for lack of trying I mean we have tried this you know five three different ways B it three different times I mean we’ve brainstormed on different ways to try to deliver this um you know we’ve

Cut off a lot I mean this is pretty bare this is kind of bare bones yeah where do we want to be um and I think it’s I think it’s a it’s a testament to Kevin’s passion on this that I mean this is really the first time we’ve asked for

This amount of money and and we’ve frankly we’ve not been trying to do we’ve been trying to avoid this discussion right we’ve been trying to deliver this through grants through fundraising and I think we were that close right I mean we really were that close I mean in the grand scheme of

Things in a you call a $2 million Park essentially um you know missing it by 10% from a funding is is not bad right so if we can deliver the this $2 million park for $300,000 out of a food and beverage fund um which we didn’t spend

All of last year by the way too we have yeah coincidentally there was um there was $300,000 left in the food and beverage line last year um but we and we thought about possibly asking for that at the you know late in the year but we

Said no let me let me try to bid it one more time I think I’ve got some options got some ideas that can get this down and we have gotten it down but you know the mayor’s right there’s just there’s an incredible amount of capital in the uh construction industry right now

That’s um and there’s um there’s still coming out of covid issues with trades issues with with contractor availability that we’re we’re still struggling with that I think are also playing into this factor it’s just an incredibly um well it’s it’s a market really for the contractors right now they’re they’re

They don’t need the work they’re busy and um and I we’re seeing that where we were literally calling contractors begging them to bid on the project and we could only get what is the largest Road contractor in the state to entertain any options here and that’s quite frankly is because they are active

Partners uh with the city they are building our Ford Ice Road Project they’re building all the leap District road projects they’re building all the pavement work and curb work for uh for the Lily site so Milestone is is very much entrenched in the community right

Now and wants to continue to be a good community partner uh but that’s that’s where we’re at and again I appreciate that you um saying it’s not for a lack of trying it’s it’s really not um there was roughly 1.6 million in your your Fund in food and beverage so we’re not

Putting that into a Jeopardy situation where you wouldn’t be able to fund needs as they came forward and again uh there’s $500,000 in that budget line this year uh so we would be asking for 300,000 but 300,000 was what was was the number that was not bent in

2023 and I’ll also make just one more Point too um a lot of these foundations or companies that want to make you know contributions gifts things like that if we can show them hey we’re under contract and they can be kind of the final money in the door that that they

Like that situation right so I think showing that hey we’re under contract this is you know we’ve broken ground it’s it’s it’s going to be built um that’s a stronger argument to make to them say Hey you know your your F your final gift puts us over the top or it

Puts your name on the maintenance building or you know whatever we want to say I we’ve already have these conversations about how do we once we can really cut a ribbon on the project or once we can ground break on the project with the trail contractor in May

You know can we make that event really a an event that can also look at fundraising and get people excited that the project is is we’ve been under construction but actually having Trails being under construction we’re excited about that you know then having nikah uh

And all those kids here in the fall for that weekend uh is another great opportunity where hopefully that’s where we’re cutting the ribbon surrounded by you know hundreds of kids getting ready to ride the the course and the first competition and again hoping hoping that that uh Fosters additional um additional

Donations additional Partnerships um because the the the project is not uh the project is definitely phased and not just from the cuts that we’ve made in the last year but we always knew there would be future phases to the the project so we’re hoping that that those future phases would come from corporate

Partnerships and not from not from any City money in the future but uh for right now we’re just trying to get a park open uh with Trails for for the kids for our our youth for our families uh and uh be able to open the park and have those first events and really

Hopefully create some Buzz around this that we can continue the momentum well I know you’ve done everything you can those costs so I’m in favor of supporting that with a $300,000 donation thank you we even asked Mr conate if he’d come out of retirement and run a p for us to try to

Save some money we thought about it we did we had the conversation about it not not sure that’s the most responsible thing for us to do but uh again it’s just a testament to we’ve tried everything we can so do it I have a question yeah what about all

That money when you spoke to us a couple years ago about all these people going to donate money where’s all that at uh I you know some of those biggest donations that we were hope hopeful to get obviously didn’t materialize you know we at one point we had a corporate Partnership of

$250,000 that would have put us past this this issue uh but they they backed out as Co started and um it’s not been for a lack of trying I think I’ve contacted them six times what happen what’s that CO’s over so What I I know I know CO’s over and we’ve

Reached out to them saying CO’s over the bicycle industry has responded in fact the bicycle industry really thrived in in through covid although it was it’s an odd story right that a lot of people were trying to buy bicycles but the bicycle industry really couldn’t deliver bicycles uh because they couldn’t get

Raw materials they needed but um but yeah we’ve reached out to them on multiple occasions and and they’ve not came back to the table we had partner we had local Healthcare Partnerships that also walked away uh and again we’ve we’ve reached out to them and they’ve

Not come back to the table uh those two items right there and alone would have would have bridged this Gap that we thought we had but um but it’s it’s not there uh I wish it was doesn’t mean it doesn’t mean it won’t come back you know doesn’t mean it

Won’t come back so if we can continue to move forward then see how the uh how that is moving forward mhm you know and and and the uh you know the people that are coming and using yeah and that’s where I think getting getting the park open is the key

Right I mean and I think we like said we’ve we’ve we’ve cut all of the fat off this right this is as lean as it can be and I think that’s to I think at some level that’s the value of this is if we can get the park open right and then

Once it’s opening and running people are seeing the impact of it then that’s kind of maybe when we we have some more momentum with it right and that’s where we can have the discussions of adding the maintenance barn or you know adding the the skills areas and and adding

Those other features that we want to see you know you know big picture vision of the park right but but let’s do the basic blocking tackling and get the trails delivered that we can host events you know and it’s I I I guess it’s worth pointing out too like this this wasn’t a

Budget that we blew that I came up with in my own mind you know we um we tested this budget we brought in general contractors to test it we brought in RL Turner and had them price everything out and the $1.9 million budget that we set

Was based off of their budgeting and a value engineering exercise that we went through through with them to trim fat off the project so we really thought we had good numbers uh going into this nearly gosh is over a year ago that we probably wrapped up our our funding

Requests and and put the project forth and and even then we you know we decided we did not want to go with a construction manager um delivery method because we thought that would cost us additional money that we didn’t have so we try we b b basically tried to

Self-manage the construction projects uh in house to to save money so um I think just more reflection more of just the general or the the construction industry as a whole right now right there’s a lot of work out there it it it takes it’s like our price to do it and it’s just

Hard to I a lot of people said hey it’s a it’s a sellers market for the uh for the contractor industry right now they can they can name their price and and that’s what I think we’re really struggling with and the amount of contractors we that we saw strike

Interest and then the Final prices they submitted as well but I have one other question what it how are you going to um I guess man or once you start the the bicycling how do the all the people just going to run it how you what are we going to fund

That from how we can fun the operation of the park uh through through our Park through our parks department system um yeah we we’ve spent a lot of time actually working with that with that staff and working with John and also talking with people that operate other

Parks uh you know I’ve talked about this before but one of the the biggest examples that we go to is the Griffin bike park in terot it’s a vgo county park system um the park system is uh twice the acreage of this and probably has four times the amount of trails it’s

It’s managed with one full-time person uh and um and he’s supplemented with with labor from time to time but there’s only one full-time person and I would say that I think as as we continue to grow our Park system that um you know the park system operation will need to grow as as

Well so I mean I would anticipate that um that we would be able to with with natural expansions of the park system staff be able to continue managing this operation and others you know there’s a lot of Park projects that that uh were running right now from the the

Additional trails at abar Longley the fishing perod abar Longley uh redoing uh pickle ball courts um gosh just to name a few um uh frisbee golf uh other Trail systems all there’s a lot of of additional parks and I I think that’s important right that we continue as a

City to grow our Park system and our Park offerings as the city grows I think that’s just something we have to do to to be competitive oh I quite one question Kevin you you you just mentioned that the pickle ball court and the fishing pier and stuff like that what uh what’s

The plans to fund those those projects this year because the pickleball courts I know know have been a real real iore for two years yep we we’re working on getting a designer on board to so we can get some accurate um estimates on what the Reconstruction of the pickle ball

Courts will cost but you’re right the pickle ball court project does not have a funding source as it sits today um the uh American Rescue plan money is funding Trail expansions and the fishing uh the fishing pier project with the park system so is it it’s also funding the

Frisbee golf uh system as well um and there may be other smaller projects on the American Rescue plan money but several of those projects are coming out of that are we still working for on the pickle ball court absolutely yep we’re we’re currently intervie come up with a

Number design firms that can help us um put together plans and specifications uh for bidding of that and um and primarily though first though they have to put together estimates for us so that we can start talking about uh what that funding system uh looks like okay so I don’t

Have a good answer for how that’s funded yet but uh definitely we’ve seen an explosion uh in pickle ball over the last couple years and it’s and we’ve redone our courts once but I think we’re to a point now where the court the underlying Court surface needs to be

Reconstructed it’s it’s out lived its useful life and um we’re seeing a lot of those cracks continue to radiate through even the new Surface that was put down about two years ago so Kevin I want to thank you I know you’ve put your heart and soul into this

Project you guys have worked so hard and looked under every single Rock to try to find everything you can possibly do but I just worry we’re already going to be at $2.1 million for this park and this is just phase one Bare Bones I mean to

Me I don’t want to put out a park that we’re going to need to do a bunch of work to and how much money are we going to be putting in in Phase 2 and phase three I think we went from a $250 to $300,000 park now we’re at $2.1 million

I know the scale is changed and the amount of amenities is going to change but I have a hard time giving our food and beverage money from our taxpayers when I I really don’t think the majority of kids are going to be able their parents are not going to take them out

There on their bikes all the time yes we are going to bring people in to ride their bikes but but I feel like that amount of money could make a bigger difference in another area of the park system I mean I was at the parks

With my girls today and I mean the park was completely full The Pickle bar pickle ball courts were full and that amount of money is a lot of money and I it it’s really hard for me to set aside that money for it I it’s nothing against

You I know you’ve worked really hard but I just I have to I have say you’re not offending me these are the decisions that you guys have to make as as this body and uh I I I I am here to execute projects for you and uh if the decision

Is not to continue forth with what we have um well we’ve already fortified our landfill we’ve protected that asset we’ve installed monitoring systems and a lot of that is stuff that was never thought we would have to do when we started the project so those those improvements that some

$800,000 worth of improvements we’ve already made are all there and those are valuable and those aren’t throwaway um you know so I I I don’t envy you you have to make these decisions and there are a lot of Park needs and there are a lot of Park projects and important

Worthwhile projects um and and that’s what you have to decide is is where are those priorities and and I’ll help help you execute whatever those priorities are well we’ve already gone too far I mean we are we are on the we’re on the 20 yard line we’ve spent what 800 and

I think it was 840 we’ve spent today rough since had to be done because we had to cap it and we had to put the water system in there so regardless that would have had to been done part of that was really just more of what was the um

Morally correct thing to do with the landfill yeah so so there’s when we started talking about this like years ago right there were two issues one was what do we do with the old landfill how we make sure it’s safe and not leeching water off right and then two how do we

Build a park on top of it right so there’s always been two projects really and one is the fortification one is the environmentally responsible things to do with with an asset that was closed prior to regulation and to be honest has a lot of risk associated with it and the state

It was in when it closed in the 80s was in pretty rough shape um so we spent about $550,000 hauling in dirt to perfect that cap um the groundwater monitoring system was I I’m going off of for memory now but I want to say1 to $120,000 we probably spent another

$100,000 in environmental Consulting getting us through the permitting process um you know so that’s that’s where the bulk of that $800,000 really really came from there other things have been minor you know the park design uh contracts um you know other miscellaneous things I I’ve sent you

I’ve sent the whole group the entire list of all expenses since 2020 so you can see that there’s everything in there from those large items to Donuts that we bought for the open house the first day so we we’ve tried to keep track of everything what were you say I’m sorry forget

Okay I again I know what it was we are so far along we’re on the 20 yard line you know we’re first and you know 10 I mean we have to keep going you know it’s fourth quarter and t s to your point too I mean about about this being in phased

I still I still think it’s an asset to deliver it right I mean Memorial Park where when the city that became a city park that wasn’t in its final form right we’ve we’ve added things over the years is just the natural progression of of Park systems right so I think that’s

Natural I think that’s part of it right and so um you know if it if we just do phase one and and that’s how it just stays going forward like you know that’s not necessarily a bad thing either right but if we see a great response to it

Right and there’s more need for it right then we can add on the things if there’s a community support for it right I think that’s it’s our job to gauge right what is the community support right you know when we did the pickle ball courts you

Know I I wanted to keep one tennis court and just do four pickle ball courts and John me correctly made the right decision said hey let’s just do it all pickle ball courts right and and it’s and it’s used way more than it ever was

Before so um that is our job as this you know city council mayor and department heads right to respond to the community of what they want to see and so you know we’ll put this out there we’ll you know we’ll be able to have you know we have

Different ways to collect data on you know how many Vis visitors do we get um and then we can make those decisions of like you know is it worth it right and to do a phase two or phase three right but if this just stays at Phase One

Forever one we’ve at least cleaned up a a a a liability from the land landfill standpoint and two we’ve at least delivered a a pretty you know uh a great opportunity to kind of go out and enjoy nature right in a very kind of passive natural natural space um you know on

Your bike or or running you for cross country right so we’ve at least done that and then if it’s not what people want then it’s always there and you know we don’t necessar have to invest in in the future either right so that’s a decision we can all make kind of going

Forward so that’s all I would say to your your point about being phased so I know this was uh started before I came on the council um my only question is and at one point you guys had talked about and I’m so curious is how are we

Going to get people there that Mom and Dad aren’t going to drive them how do we get the the the I’m all for a park where you’re going to have kids going out there and having a blast and and riding on these trails and things but how are

They going to get there yeah no it’s a it’s a valid question we get that a lot you know and and it’s not that we aren’t we aren’t exploring ways to get the trail connections out there um you know in in the next I would say 24 months we

Will see uh Trails uh extended West from 39 uh along 300 to the new interchange and out to 52 um we have talked with property owners between um 300 North and the golf course uh on how we could connect those Trails uh to build off off offline trails from

Those Road segments we’ve even had those conversations with indot about potential State projects that would add a trail to us52 especially given the fact that we’re making an an investment in a park system on that uh on that Corridor so it’s it’s not that we aren’t thinking

About those things uh but I would say and and I think Sierra mentioned this uh you’re right um kids aren’t going to ride out there I think you are depending on a lot of a lot of use coming from from the city but also from the region

Um you know and a lot of those usage statistics that we’re talking about the the you know sort of scaling down from what they see at Griffin um to a a potential $20,000 20,000 visitors per year and you know Griffin bike park is also even even worse situated from terot

Uh it is way outside of town uh I don’t imagine anyone ever rides their bicycle all the way out there um it’s really what the the ride the Riding community is loading their bikes up and driving out there and using it um or you’re you’re driving from other areas I

Personally have driven to Griffin on a number of occasions to ride um you know and there’s a lot of also studies that we could also site about the mountain biking community and the economic development impact that that makes in the community because you know mountain bikers for the most part aren’t kids on

Bikes uh that’s important that we that we reach kids on bikes but for the most part M mountain bikers are uh you know uh gentlemen in their mid-40s that have lot of disposable income that will come into your city and uh use your park facility have dinner afterwards or

Dinner before and and that’s why we think it’s also appropriate that we talk about a food and beverage request because the food and beverage impacts to to hotels and restaurants um are significant and to be honest that’s why we have a CVB Grant of $100,000 already CVB grants if you’re not aware are

Funded entirely from inkeeper taxes and what the CVB will tell you is we give money based on the ability to put heads and beds uh and and so I think that’s a testament to what we’re trying to build is that the CVB sees the opportunity that they can they can receive a benefit

From a $100,000 investment for people coming into the city so hey they they approved a they they approve it they did approve it and it was a it was a $100,000 Grant to be funded over four years or $225,000 a year we’ve only received one of those

Payments so where that’s where I’m going with this is that that was approved in 21 so 21 22 23 24 we should be wrapping up that um that donation cycle and we’re asking them to go ahead and give us the rest of the money so we can further defray these

Costs I I’d like to make this this comment because I’ve been to Griffin Park okay and um talk to people that were there and Griffin Park is way out in the country and it’s it’s yeah it’s it’s not the easiest place to find and uh uh and the people I talk to were

People that basically loaded up their kids and drove them out there and they’re out there riding just like you took your boys out riding and you know I I this being out there is something that uh I think will be good for the community I think as far as a draw goes

It’ll be good for the community as far as getting the parents together to take take the time to take the kids out there and spend the day with them on the trail and and that’s a good thing and uh Trails eventually in time to get there are something that’s just going to

Happen it’s just not going to happen right away but as the roads structure changes and the more things we look at putting trails along roads sooner or later they’re going to get there and uh that’s the thing that we the first step is let’s get the park open let’s get it going

Um I I am I am I thrilled for a lot of uh money to to to go to there make that happen with all the things that John needs in the park otherwise you know I could use money like that there somewhere else but you know I I I I’m

Kind of like Mike you know where they’re this Clos to the goal line that we ought to take one more step and try to get over that edge and okay and let’s get it going see what happens and in two years or three years whatever we

Look at it again and see if there’s anything available that needs needs to happen we can’t do something every year but every couple years or three years we ought to be able to make some improvement to that area to make it what we exactly wanted at the very end what

Weos is a self-sufficient Standalone park it would not we would not have to build phases 2 or three right in the future we could but there’s it would be a standalone Park there’s also you know um other conversations that the partners I haven’t even mentioned um Midwest dvo

A Youth Development cycling league in zionville wants to use the park for training Maran University wants to use the park for training the hooer mountain bike Association wants to partner with with us to help maintain the park uh with with volunteer Labor uh working hand inand with the parks department

Staff so those are all things that that we’ve talked about um Sundance Mountain Bike clinics wants to hold clinics in the area uh so we’ve partnered with with them and uh and uh and ways to help program the park um you know it’s also like loading into your car and driving

To say Eagle Creek and hiking trails you’re going to be able to walk and hike and run on these Trails as well even if you aren’t a cyclist we’ve also talked with um Western Boon schools and Lebanon Community Schools about uh using the site for cross country

Running we’re trying to do all we can to see that impact uh established with the park and and see more than just cyclists out there using it I just want to make one more Point too um with that ready 1.0 money right so we have a $750,000 grant to build this park

That money is not transferable right so if we don’t want to move forward with Sony your bike park building that Park in the future if we ever choose to do it will cost that much more money because we don’t have that $750,000 Grant right so there’s also an opportunity cost if

If we don’t build it now we lose that $750,000 as well so something else to think about um in the overall discussion for thoughts make a motion we approve $300,000 to finish the park from food beverage fund bage fund we have a motion for $300,000 on the food and beverage

Fund for stoning your bike park is there a second not that’s not to exceed not to exceed 300,000 make a motion that we 00,000 for the park not to exceed $300,000 from the food and beverage fund motion is there a second second from Rob all in favor say I I

Those post I that is approved thank you Council again thank you all right uh that concludes what I have for new business is there anything from Council uh just a uh comment what announcements announcements yeah discussion yeah quana’s pancake supper is coming up April the 11th so be sure

And get your pancake upar tickets and I I have some if you need some thank you Mike any other announcements or discussion okay uh would a motion concerning the claims motion pay the claims there a second second from Keith all in favor say I I I those opposed claims are

Approved and would entertain a motion to adjourn make a motion we adjourned motion adjourn is our second second from Keith all in favor say I I I those oppos all right our next city council meeting will be Monday March 11th at 7:15 p.m. we are adjourned have a great evening