There were around 36 in attendance at the February 22, 2022, public meeting of the Broad Ripple Village Association [BRVA] Land Use and Development meeting that was held in the basement of Northminster Presbyterian Church.

There were two items on the agenda, in bold below. Both were for information only as neither had filed yet with the Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD).

This request was for the property that had been Three Sisters Restaurant, before being razed in 2020. The plan is to build a private, walled parking lot with about 13 spaces for use by the podcast company Audiochuck, which is moving from 6507 Carrollton Avenue to the G-Bloc building diagonally across Guilford from this lot. Audiochuck currently has 25 employees and is growing to 40 and needs more parking to remain in Broad Ripple. To make the new lot a desirable amenity for the Village, the designers added shade trees, picnic tables, benches, and bike racks around the public perimeter. According to the petitioner, the only reason this proposal needs approval is because of the recently introduced Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District that covers from Guilford to the west. New restrictions are now in place concerning parking lots within the district.

The Land Use committee stated objections to adding a surface parking lot to the Village. The petitioner will come before the committee again after filing the variance with the DMD to request a vote to support this plan.

This was the second appearance before the committee. Minor changes have been made to the design of the building planned to fill the Kroger site. One change was to ask for MU-2 zoning, instead of C-S. This required the developer to lower the building height from 85 to 80 feet. There were still committee members stating that this structure is too large for the site that is along a secondary road like Guilford.

The petitioner showed the results of shadow studies that were generated. These show the shadows that would be cast by the new structure onto existing surrounding buildings during various times of the year.

The petitioner also said that it has requested that the City of Indianapolis allow the project to not use the alley for parking garage access. This change was desired by both the petitioner and the BRVA committee. Trash dumpster collection would remain in the alley.

There was a lengthy, and somewhat heated, discussion about the building size and how that relates to city ordinances and the Envision Broad Ripple plan.

The petitioner briefly mentioned purchasing the OPT/Passwater building to use for parking, but that subject was interrupted.

The petitioners are planning to file with the city around the time that this issue of Broad Ripple Random Ripplings is published. A vote will be taken by the BRVA committee at a future meeting.

The next public meeting of the committee is scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, 2022, at 6pm, at Northminster Presbyterian Church.