The Fishers City Council had a longer-than-usual meeting Sept. 9, taking about 2 1/2 hours to address some big issues such as reviewing the city’s 2025 budget, establishing a citywide trash service, changing the parameters of the noise ordinance, allowing a new Meijer and expanding the city’s boundaries.
The council approved a first reading of the proposed City of Fishers 2025 budget and held a public hearing, where two people spoke about the $183 million spending plan. One said he would like more emphasis on greenspaces and less on widening or expanding roads. The second stressed the value of neighborhood matching grants, which help fund improvement projects throughout Fishers.
The budget will come back to the council in October.
The council also approved a first reading of a citywide trash service agreement with Republic Services. The 10-year contract would provide weekly trash removal and biweekly recycling pickup for all Fishers residents. Rates for the first year of the contract would be $16.39 per month, increasing slightly each year. The final year, residents would pay $26.89 per month.
The agreement will come back to the council for a second reading and public hearing.
The council gave final approval for a new Meijer at the corner of Southeastern Parkway and Cyntheanne Road, which has been in the works for a while. Updated plans were approved Aug. 7 by the city’s Planned Unit Development Committee and Plan Commission. Those plans call for a 75,000-square-foot grocery store and a gas station. Some neighboring residents have objected, citing increased traffic.
The council also approved a first reading of an ordinance to move forward with the Southeast Fishers Annexation, which will affect an unincorporated part of Hamilton County near the Madison and Hancock county borders. Those areas are, roughly, between Cyntheanne Road and the county line from East 101st Street to East 113th, with some carryover outside those roads.
According to Fishers city officials, there has been a long-held understanding that those areas eventually would be annexed into Fishers. Developers of the Vermillion and Flat Fork neighborhoods agreed during the development process that the properties would fall under a waiver so future owners couldn’t legally object to annexation. The proposed annexation area includes about 950 parcels and about 75 percent of those have waivers attached.
The annexation will come back to the council in November for a public hearing and a second vote.
In other matters, the council postponed approval of an amendment to the city noise ordinance after hearing from some business owners who had concerns about the proposed changes, which would lower the maximum allowed decibel level from 90 to 70. City officials will meet with the business owners to discuss those concerns before coming back to the council.
At the close of the meeting, the council heard comments from a handful of residents who were upset about drag performances during the Sept. 7 Fishers Pride Festival, which was at Holy Family Episcopal Church. Several of them asked the council to consider a law that would restrict drag performances when children are present.
