PENDLETON — Pendleton unanimously approved a $3.2 million incentive package for a new athletic center to be built at Falls Pointe Business Park.
Klipsch-Card Athletic Facilities is planning a $14 million, more than 115,000-square-foot complex that will house a large workout facility, eight indoor tennis courts, a gymnastics center and a wellness center operated by Community Hospital Anderson, among other amenities.
“I promise you this will be a one-of-a-kind in the United States, and it will put Pendleton on the map,” Andy Card, co-president and co-CEO, told the council during the July 12 meeting.
The Pendleton Redevelopment Commission gave a favorable recommendation to the incentive package during its meeting in late June. The package includes 25 acres of land in the business park, $1 million in cash for construction costs, and another $1.45 million paid in 180 monthly installments of about $8,000.
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Chad Wolfe, council vice president and redevelopment commission president, said the incentive package he and town manager Tim McClintick developed with Klipsch-Card helped land a great new business in town that will contribute to growth, infrastructure and historic preservation.
“We’ve got some skin in the game,” Wolfe said during the meeting, noting that Klipsch-Card has “a lot of skin in the game.”
Council members, a former town council member and at least one local business owner expressed excitement with the project, which will be called Community Sports and Wellness.
“I think this is really going to set the tone for the industrial park,” Councilwoman Jessica Smith said.
“This could be a game-changer,” Council President Bob Jones said.
Mike Klipsch, the other co-president and co-CEO, previously said the company wants to start construction on the facility in September and be open by spring.
On July 12, Card said this what’s been proposed so far is just Phase 1. That outdoor outdoor facilities would be added, and talks with other businesses are in the works.
Not everyone at the meeting wholeheartedly embraced the development.
Longtime resident Helen Reske expressed concern about the facility’s impact on existing businesses, wondering how businesses such as coffee shop or clothing store might be impacted if similar products are available at the center.
She also expressed concern about not knowing everything Klipsch-Card will do in the future.
“I just don’t want to lose what we’ve got,” she said.
Card responded that it’s the company’s goal — as it is with its other facilites, Pacers Athletic Center at Grand Park in Westfield and Finch Creek Fieldhouse in Noblesville — to build a quality building that draws people to town and benefits everyone.
He said he doubts the business will take from existing businesses; he said the greater challenge likely will be keeping up with increased demand for goods and services.
Town council members said the property tax from the 25 acres on the tax rolls will more than pay for the incentives, stimulate local business and pave the way for more development on the west side of town near Interstate 69.
Council members said there is still work to be done with Klipsch-Card, and that the town will have a say in what goes on at the site, and the developer won’t be able to turn around and sell off unused parts of the property to others.
Wolfe said the town will be able to funnel tax revenues from new development near the interstate to protect and enhance the historic parts of the downtown area, which is a priority of town leadership.
Annexation conflict
The town council approved a request for annexation by three property owners in Foster Branch Woods subdivision, one of whom is councilman Wolfe.
Wolfe currently lives in Pendleton, and wouldn’t be able to remain on the council if he were to move into the Foster Branch Woods home without annexation.
Several people from the community showed up at the meeting to oppose the annexation, citing the appearance of cronyism and a lack of transparency.
Wolfe abstained from the vote, Councilman Chet Babb voted against it, while the other three — Jessica Bastin, Jones and Smith —voted for it.
Bastin, Jones, Smith and town attorney Alex Intermill said the town is obligated to act on so-called supervoluntary annexations, where 100 percent of the property owners in the annexation area want the annexation.
There are requirements those property owners must meet, which they did in this case, and to turn down a request must be legally justifiable, Intermill said. Intermill and the majority said they couldn’t see such justification here.
Jones acknowledged the annexation request wasn’t on the printed agenda of the meeting where it was first discussed, creating the appearance to some of a lack of transparency. This was a function of how the town sets its agendas, he said, sending them out on the Friday before Thursday meetings, while still allowing items to be added in the days prior to the meeting.
Some in the crowd also said it wasn’t evident early on during public discussion of the annexation ordinance that Wolfe was one of the property owners involved, making it appear, as at least one person called it, “shady.”
According to discussions that took place at the meeting, there is a long and contentious history within the subdivision regarding annexation.
Comprehensive plan
The town council approved the town’s new comprehensive plan.
Assistant Planning Director Rachel Christenson spearheaded the update of the plan, which at an earlier meeting she said “really is a roadmap to our future.”
The last comprehensive plan was created in 2006, and this one has been in the works since February 2017.
There was research, visioning sessions with public input sessions and committee meetings throughout that time, to update the plan.
One of the biggest differences this time around, Christenson said previously, is that the document is accessible to the layperson.
Also new in this iteration of the plan are goals for parks and recreation, arts and culture, and communications.