There was a large turnout at the November public meeting of the Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) Land Use and Zoning Committee meeting held on the 27th at Northminster Presbyterian Church. More that 60 were in attendance. For the first time in this reporters history, an IMPD officer was present, in case the meeting got rowdy. It is not clear who called IMPD, but it was not the BRVA. The meeting was quite orderly. There were four items on the agenda (bold below).

Tom gave historical perspective on development in the Village over the years. He spoke on many topics over 20 minutes, but one of his points was that a study was done by the city years ago that suggested that Broad Ripple needed 1600 more residents to remain viable. Tom stated that the needed number of units should be increased as many new businesses have opened since then. The currently-under-construction residential projects will not yet meet even the original goal.

The project is to change the legal covenants on the property to allow for a drive-thru coffee chain out-building to be built in the south east corner of the parking lot.

This was the third time this project has come before the committee. After hearing of changes to the Airbnb policies and other details about the property, the committee voted to support this petition.

4. 6200 College and Carrollton Avenues, Tim Ochs with Ice Miller Legal Counsel regarding rezoning the properties of 6201, 6207, 6211, 6215 College and 6202, 6214, 6216, 6220 Carrollton for mixed use, commercial and residential. Hearing before the Metropolitan Development Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals has been continued.

This was the second time this project has come before the committee, and it was stated that there will be at least one more appearance in the future. The Item 4 portion of the meeting ran over one hour, until further comments were halted.

The developers made many significant changes to the design based on comments at the October meeting. To recap the project, this is the entire south half of the block bounded by College, Carrollton, 62nd Street and Broad Ripple Avenue. Eight properties in the area would be razed (including the New Paradigm Church) to make was for a new 70-foot tall, 5-story building. There would be 164 apartments, a courtyard, two parking levels, 15,000+ sq. ft. of commercial space. One controversial element is the vacation of the alley from 62nd Street to the Vogue parking lot. This version of the design added a new alley to replace it that would run from College, just south of the Lincolnshire Apartments, eastward into the Vogue lot. To address the blank wall on Carrollton, a retail/commercial element was added to the Carrollton side of the building, and the 5th floor was stepped back to make this face appear from the street-level as four stories. To address the building reaching to the sidewalks, a 10-foot setback was introduced to all faces, allowing for larger sidewalks and landscaping.

Many neighbors spoke in opposition to the project. Just a few complaints were; Imposing, blank walls facing their homes; Unattractive garage entrance; Vacation of the alley; Height of the building; Too little parking, meaning it will spill out in to the neighborhood; Too much parking, because the new generations can use the Red Line and other new transportation options; Balconies looming over their homes.

The final discussions included trying to find a way to leave the existing alley open. The developer said this would mean adding height to the building. It was also mentioned that the College Avenue, 62nd Street, and Carrollton Avenue faces of the building should be scaled and designed to fit in better with those areas. The developer stated that many changes were proposed at this meeting, but in reality only one, maybe two, could realistically be done. The next meeting of the committee is in January, but the developer asked if there was a way to meet in December. There was no resolution of this at the meeting.

The next public meeting (as of this publication date) of the BRVA Land Use and Development committee is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, starting at 6pm in the basement of Northminster Presbyterian Church, 1660 Kessler Boulevard. The Gazette will publish a December date if one is scheduled.4