The Hamilton County Council held a regular meeting Aug. 8 at the Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center in Noblesville. It approved a resolution to continue moving forward with the public safety raining facility to be built at River Road and 160th Street in Noblesville, where a smaller-scale training facility exists.

The new facility, the cost of which has not been determined, is set to have approximately 20,000 square feet of classroom space for fire and police training areas; a four-story fire training burn tower; SWAT training area; outdoor firing range; and EMA training area.

According to Hamilton County Councilmember Tim Griffin, although the building site is in Noblesville, Westfield owns the area and has offered to donate the land. However, an agreement on the land has yet to be finalized.

“We don’t have everything worked out regarding final budgeting for the project,” Griffin said. “We’re pretty far into the designs, so we have a grasp of what that looks like. The construction company is coming up with final budgets on the build out that will be there.”

Hamilton County Councilmember Mark Hall asked if approval of the resolution should be paused because a deal with Westfield has not been worked out. Zachary Klutz with Taft Law, who represents the county, said he believes there is still time to finalize an agreement because there is still time before entering into a definitive financial agreement.

Klutz said the project is subject to two public hearings, including the one conducted during the Aug. 7 meeting, and one at the next county council meeting Sept. 4. No members of the public spoke at the recent meeting.

“In addition to property taxes, it is contemplated that (tax increment financing) revenues from the 96th Street-U.S. 421 allocation area will also be part of the financing of this project,” Klutz said.

At its meeting Aug. 5, the Carmel City Council unanimously consented to using the TIF revenue. TIF captures tax revenue generated through redevelopment in a designated area to help pay for related infrastructure improvements or other permitted projects.

The next Hamilton County Council meeting is set for 7 p.m. Sept. 4.