By Brady Extin | The Times-Post
ANDERSON — Several local leaders spoke about the outlook for their communities at the recent State of the County event, organized by the Madison County Chamber of Commerce.
Speakers at the annual gathering, which took place Thursday, Nov. 10, at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino, made a common point: Communities must prioritize infrastructure improvements and be able to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to growth heading their way.
“Our priority, though, is to protect the amenities, and not sacrifice the quality of life just for growth’s sake. Our planning commission, BZA (Board of Zoning Appeals), town council are all in line with that concept,” Pendleton town manager Scott Reske said. “We believe that rapid growth can be nothing more than cancer. If we don’t grow smart, then all you’re going to end up with is crowded streets, and the people who have lived there for years are not going to recognize their own town. We want to keep that in mind when we make those decisions getting ready for that growth.”
For Reske and other civic leaders, it’s not just about being prepared for the growth, but also finding a fiscally responsible way to navigate it.
“We’re going to try and do it without going into debt,” Reske said. “When you look at Fishers, and some of the other towns to the south down (Interstate) 69, they suffered a lot of debt building their infrastructure as the growth happened.”
To make that a reality, he expressed that Pendleton must be out in front of infrastructure projects such as new roads, rather than waiting to make upgrades as the growth is arriving.
“Pendleton already has traffic jams with 4,500 people, so you can imagine what it’s going to be like with 20,000,” Reske said. “We have to be out in front with our infrastructure plans and be ready to have the roads in place as that growth happens.”
While the town is ready, inflation and rising interest rates throughout 2022 have stalled that expected growth in the southern part of the county.
“We thought when we would be standing here a year later that we would be talking about a lot more homes in Pendleton,” Reske said. “We took a pause for six months when I first became town manager to give us time to get ordinances in place to get ready for that growth. We’ve had them in place now for a year, but that growth to the southern part of the county from Indianapolis is coming slower than we anticipated. Last year at this time we had 185 new homes go in, and since then just 105, so you’re starting to see that drop off.”
U.S. Sen. Mike Braun spoke, attributing that inflation to the government reaction to COVID-19, and expressed that it will take some time to get out of the hole the people are in.
“We should have been more careful when we did combat the coronavirus. In a bipartisan way, we probably did more than needed to be done. We were already running trillion-dollar deficits. When you shut down the productive side of the economy, and then you dump all that money in that you borrowed, you’re going to have inflation,” he said. “It took five years to wring it out last time, and now we don’t have the tools to do it this time. We’ll get through it, but we need to at least learn and not do it again when the next crisis comes.”
Not just Pendleton, but other areas of the county are preparing for expected growth and have begun putting plans into place to not only attract new residents, but retain businesses and current residents.
A planned hotel development along Ind. 37, new 72-unit apartment complex in downtown Elwood, new housing developments, and new business such as the city’s first brewery are some of the projects aimed at making that happen in Elwood, according to Mayor Todd Jones.
“Our city is strong, is thriving, and we are witnessing the migration of Hamilton County north, and we are in a great position to capture that opportunity,” he added.
The City of Alexandria and Mayor Todd Naselroad were right in line with the other speakers in stressing the importance of infrastructure improvements to draw in new businesses and prepare for expected growth.
“With the help of our elected officials, the city is on solid financial ground,” Naselroad said. “As mayor I am very excited for what 2023 has to offer and how we will continue to grow Alexandria.”
Countywide master plans to improve roadways and bridges are underway, according to Madison County Commissioner John Richwine, as well as stormwater and wastewater improvements. The county also plans to begin a park system study in the near future, in the hopes establishing a park system in Madison County.
“Hopefully at the end of this we will be able to create our own park system and have a plan for the future that integrates not only county properties but city and town properties,” Richwine said. “It’s something that I think is going to be a great asset to us in the near future.”
In Anderson, updates to water treatment, road improvements, and upgrades to fire and safety equipment have already helped accomplish their goal of drawing in new businesses, according to Mayor Thomas Broderick Jr.
He said the city has brought in nearly $650 million of new business investments during the past six years, which have created about 1,600 jobs throughout the county.
“We continue to have new folks knocking on our door all the time,” he said.
