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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMayor Joe Hogsett’s plan to create an additional professional sports development area in downtown Indianapolis was introduced to the City-County Council on Monday with two additional council sponsors—and questions over the committee assignment for the proposal.
The proposed taxing district is part of Hogsett’s attempt to create a funding mechanism to support an undisclosed ownership group’s application for a Major League Soccer expansion team in Indianapolis. The measure calls for the approval of a map that specifies more than 120 non-contiguous addresses throughout the downtown area that would be incorporated into the PSDA, which would provide funding for a soccer stadium to be developed on land adjacent to the Downtown Heliport on the east side of downtown.
In December, the council, by a 23-1 vote, approved a different PSDA at the former Diamond Chain site on the west side of downtown to support a proposed soccer stadium development by the owners of the Indy Eleven soccer team. That project is already under development by Indianapolis-based Keystone Group, whose owner, Ersal Ozdemir, also co-owns the Indy Eleven, which plays in the second-tier USL Championship league.
The mayor’s plan, if successful, would essentially doom the Indy Eleven stadium project—and the team’s goal of eventually playing in the MLS—because the state has authorized approval of only one PSDA application.
When the previous PSDA plan was approved by the City-County Council, the proposal first was heard by the Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee. In a written statement issued before Monday’s council meeting, Keystone Group called Council President Vop Osili’s decision to assign the proposal to the Rules and Public Policy Committee, an “unprecedented decision to deny the City-County Council’s Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee an opportunity to fairly judge” the tax-district proposal.
Osili, who chairs the Rules and Public Policy Committee and sponsored the mayor’s proposal, said Monday that he made a last-minute decision to sponsor the measure in order for it to be introduced. Councilor Kristin Jones, a Democrat representing the area who would typically be called on to sponsor such a measure, said earlier this month that she wouldn’t sponsor the proposal and was aware of a councilor who would.
In explaining the committee assignment, Osili said public hearings are required by state law to give a 10-day notice to make Indianapolis residents aware of the hearing. The next scheduled Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee meeting, on May 20, would have come too soon to meet the 10-day criteria, he said.
Democratic City-County Councilor Jesse Brown also questioned the committee switch. In a newsletter to constituents, he expressed skepticism about the proposal being assigned to a different committee solely due to the 10-day notice requirement.
“I was personally told by others that it was being moved to Rules because it was contentious, not because of the timing,” he wrote.
The proposal gained two additional Democratic sponsors prior to Monday’s introduction, which involved a reading from the council clerk and no discussion. Council Vice President Ali Brown and Councilor Ron Gibson attached their names to the proposal. Brown is also a member of the 11-member Rules and Public Policy Committee.
Gibson told IBJ after the meeting that he supports the measure because of the funding gap cited by Hogsett administration officials for ending negotiations with the Indy Eleven and because of the former burial ground that exists below the Eleven Park site.
Osili did not directly answer a question about the support he expects the proposal to receive from the council.
“Let’s get the public input first, let’s have that opportunity,” Osili said. “And then I think I could probably tell you more, based on what we’re hearing from the public.”
If the Rules and Public Policy Committee rejects the proposal, the measure will still receive a vote at the next full council meeting on June 3. Instead of being recommended for approval, it would include a caveat that it is recommended for denial.
Councilors will hear public comment and vote on the proposal at the next meeting of the Rules and Public Policy Committee on Tuesday, May 28, at 5:30 p.m.
If the proposal gets council approval, it would return to the Metropolitan Development Commission for another vote.
In order to create the district, city officials said the legislative process must be complete and the proposal ready to submit to the state by June 30.
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Hogsett is an idiot.
Wouldn’t it seem a better idea for Hogsett to clean up downtown, figure out a plan to remove the homeless and drug addicts from the streets, hire more teams to mow and pick up trash across the city, and fix the streets?
We have a NFL and NBA team, a fantastic minor league baseball team and hockey team and are the headquarters for the NCAA. Doesn’t seem we’re missing out on sports enough to toss Indy Eleven Eleven to the curb?
There are much bigger priorities, like our infrastructure, that need focus. This is silly.
Oh, and an amazing WNBA team. We should support Indy Eleven and stop this nonsense.
not related to the soccer stadium but seriously what happened to regular mowing and litter removal? This city used to be so clean, it is disgusting now. Go take a quick drive down Madison Ave or any street around downtown, trash everywhere and the weeds and grass are very high and cracking through the sidewalk.
That’s why the new taxing district enabled by the State was established.
Hey Corey P.! On which of the “any streets around downtown” are you seeing all this trash? Are you a resident of downtown? Perhaps, someone who commutes into the area solely for work? Or, maybe someone who just occasionally comes into DT for to enjoy one of the many great restaurants, sporting or cultural events? As a resident of downtown, someone who sees it literally EVERY day, I’m always curious when people express such negative observations what their actual connection to the city is. Also, have you ever traveled to, oh, ANY other major city and NOT seen the things you speak of? Do you think that these issues are unique to Indianapolis?
It’s also odd that they chose Madison Ave as their example when Madison Ave is not Downtown.
I live just outside downtown, I’m downtown and around downtown almost every day. I’m not talking negatively about downtown or saying it’s unsafe because I think that’s suburban nonsense. I’m specifically talking about the decline in cleanliness over the last decade. Madison leads directly in and out of downtown and the grass and weeds are out of control. There are mattresses, tires and all other sorts of trash as well. I do not think these issues are unique to Indianapolis but that doesn’t mean it should be normalized. Thanks for your kind and snark filled comment.
Many who comment on this site think that perpetually criticizing and insulting the city makes them a good citizen rather than promoting and speaking positively about it – To the point where you actually wonder why they live here.
Some will say it is constructive criticism but for most it is just negativity and anger. For those, my guess is that attitude permeates much of their life.
So you insinuate these issues don’t exist, and then state they aren’t unique to Indy. Which is it? Why does his observation impact you so much?
“decline in cleanliness” is really a worthless anecdotal display of concern. are you on the record saying downtown was cleaner in 2013? according to what data? your own eyes? and what exactly is the mayor and city-county council supposed to do about tires and mattresses that you aren’t doing yourself?
So much ego is involved here, the likely endgame is nothing gets done.
Keystone group had no path to moving Indy Eleven to MLS. In the end that team is playing in a league that will not have a long term future. They rushed in to get support from an outside investor once it was clear the city had no faith in their long term plan. They were several pegs down the ladder for an expansion team and we are only a candidate now because MLS can squeeze them out of Indy.
In the long term, it has to be stated that MLS is only going to grow in popularity and relevance. If Indy can get this done and become one of the 32 cities with a team, it needs to do what it can to make it happen.
Agreed. But why not put the MLS team on a river front property that’s already slated to be a soccer stadium?
Not familiar with the proposal. Just curious and would like to see the river front activated.
Because the riverfront site is a cemetery that was built over with industrial uses more than a century ago, long before the current requirements to honor burial sites. Now that the buildings are gone, the bare dirt is again a cemetery, and state law requires that it be treated essentially as an archaeological dig.
There won’t be a stadium on the site in the next 5-10 years under any circumstances, unless current laws are changed.
The cemetery is a non-issue. They will pull those bodies up and move them to Crown Hill in 3 months. They move cemeteries all the time. Recently FedEx moved a larger cemetery to Concordia on the Southside. I don’t know why everyone thinks this cemetery is such an issue.
People seem to ignore the fact that Keystone wanted more City dollars than the City was willing to commit for a minor league team. So Hogsett sought an alternative that provides the potential for a MLS team.
Tim: anyone who says the cemetery is a non-issue….is insensitive, ignorant, or both. Legal or ethical concerns will likely delay meaningful construction on that site for years.
The location of a potential soccer stadium is only part of the issue here. It was clear months ago that the 11 group couldn’t meet the 20% ($240-260 million) net worth threshold. And lest anyone be misled by the slight-of-hand tactics of the last two weeks:
You can line up multiple wealthy new investors and trot them into public view. Until and unless any of them commit with funds, their net worth is….meaningless.
All of the negative points about Greenlawn Cemetery are somewhat laughable. If it were ‘undevelopable’ ’ then why did the city give the go ahead before Keystone spent $26 million dollars to clear it? Secondly, after a PORTION of the leveled property was a cemetery it was a 20,000 seat baseball park. Soon afterward it was a traction terminal (interurban depot) then Diamond Chain. Those controversial gravesites were massively disturbed 125 years ago, multiple times before Keystone got in the game.
Finally, the current site being discussed has more ‘questions’ than the southwest site,..including too small. One of the sad ironies about ‘development’ in Indianapolis’ history is the philosophy.
Great architectural buildings have been unceremoniously victims of the wrecking ball to make room for ‘new development’ instead of building adjacent. The flatiron K of P building at Penn and Mass in 1967 is a good example. 15% of downtown was destroyed to build Circle Center Mall which will be REDESTROYED for a bunch of 5 story buildings. The Diamond Chain site made sense. This latest location of a ‘tear down’ does not. It is clear that people calling the shots on development never took a class in urban development. Insanity!