PENDLETON — Pendleton Town Council voted on several efforts it has been pursuing for months — including annexations and financing for a health center — during its regular November meeting.
The town council:
• Unanimously approved a bond ordinance for a $3.2 million incentive package for a new health and fitness center in town. The funds will help Klipsch-Card Athletic Facilities build and operate a $14 million Community Sports and Wellness center at Falls Pointe Business Park.
The package was worked out by Klipsch-Card, town manager Tim McClintick and Chad Wolfe, president of the town’s redevelopment commission and vice president of the town council. It calls for a town contribution of 25 acres valued at $750,000. The town also will contribute $1 million toward construction costs and $1.45 million paid in 180 monthly installments of about $8,000.
The land, McClintick said previously, was part of a larger area given to the town free of charge by the Indiana Department of Corrections in 1999. The 25 acres was being farmed and generating $125 per acre per year until it was taken out of the farm contract in anticipation of the Klipsch-Card project.
In the summer, Wolfe called the incentive package a good deal for Pendleton, given that a conservative estimate produced by the town’s accounting firm, Umbaugh, shows the facility will generate more than $275,000 per year in property taxes beginning in 2021. That amount is projected to exceed the cost of financing the incentives, which end in early 2039.
• Unanimously approved three voluntary annexations totaling about 33 acres: more than 14 acres in Foster Branch Woods East and more than 5 acres in Foster Branch Woods West, both residential areas west of Interstate 69; and more than 12 acres along and near West Mercer Lane on the eastern edge of town.
According to the fiscal plans, the areas will generate thousands more in tax dollars per year for the town than it will cost the town to provide services to those areas. In the case of the Foster Branch Woods areas — where there’s a total of 15 homes — fiscal plans show a net cost to the town of more than $2,000 in the first year but a net gain of more than $15,000 per year after that.
During a special meeting Thursday, Oct. 25, town attorney Alex Intermill said annexations such as these have a positive impact on the town, helping pay for things such as the proposed 3 percent raise for town employees in 2019.
• Gave its initial nod to the town’s 2019 salary ordinance, which includes 3 percent raises for employees. A second and final reading is set for the town’s meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13.
• Heard a presentation about an INDOT project in the area of U.S. 36 and State Road 9. “It’s going to be a big project,” council President Bob Jones later said. Jones said a public hearing on the proposals is set for 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, at the Pendleton Community Public Library, 595 E. Water St.
• Heard from Kellie Borgman, co-founder of Friends for Paws, a Pendleton non-profit home/foster-based animal rescue. Jones said the organization wants to build a shed with heating and air conditioning and will be going before the Pendleton Board of Zoning Appeals to do so. The next BZA meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 18 at town hall, 100 W. State St.
