Interesting Take at the Plan Commission

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I attended the Culver Plan Commission with a client Tuesday night. I was a little surprised to be called out in front of my client regarding another project, but so these things go.

Some Background: Last month I appeared for the Secondary Plan Review for the PUD (Planned Unit Development) needed for construction of The Paddocks. The project is one of the signature pieces in Culver’s Stellar Strategic Investment Plan and had been before the Plan Commission multiple times. It passed with one dissenting vote. I wondered about that vote, but never questioned it. It was their right to vote against the project. If they had expressed their objections before the vote, I could have provided a rebuttal to their objections, but after the vote it was a moot point.

Tuesday, that commissioner chose to elaborate on their no vote. To paraphrase, their objection was that all ordinances should be treated equal and since the Town had adopted a Complete Streets ordinance, and The Paddocks had agreed to provide a trail connection through The Paddocks property, the developer should have been required to exhaust all options to continue the trail through the adjacent property. The Developer should also be held to a higher standard due to the Tax Abatement awarded to The Paddocks.

A few things bothered me about that, but again, it was water under the bridge so I did not attempt to address it at that meeting. This is my venue to vent though, so here are my thoughts:

  1. I was disappointed that this was brought up after the fact when I was there with a client for another project. I thought that was inappropriate as it put me in an undeserved negative light when the project I was there for had nothing to do with The Paddocks.
  2. Complete Streets aside, this has not been a standard applied in the past. The last PUD developer was asked to provide trail access and as with The Paddocks, they provided access up to their property line. The adjacent property owner was not amenable to a trail through their property, so that was left to be addressed in the future… similar to what was done with The Paddocks. In that case, that development was not even required to provide the future Right-of-Way that was called out in the Comprehensive Plan because adjacent property owners were not supportive. The Paddocks PUD was required to dedicate additional Right-of-Way that wasn’t part of the Comprehensive Plan or part of the current project. The Town will be setting a high bar to hurdle if they choose to start requiring developers to purchase or negotiate rights to additional property outside the initial development.
  3. The Paddocks PUD did receive some matching funds and a tax abatement from the Town, but this was done because incentives were required to get the housing that the Town had made a goal. This also allowed the Town to receive matching funds from the Regional Cities Initiative (RCI) and qualify for the IHCDA LIHTC program. These were very public negotiations. Making one sided changes to those agreements will make developers leery of working with the Town. On a side note, to my knowledge, this is the only RCI funded project where that funding is given to the Town through the Developer. In the awards of which I have knowledge, the RCI funding went to the Developer.
  4. Originally, and in all the Stellar discussion, this property was to connect to the Town via the revitalization of the Jefferson Street corridor. That was to be the “Complete Streets” connection. It was not until later that a request came for a connection to Cass Street. The Paddocks did agree to provide a trail connection to Cass Street, but was required to do so now despite some objections, one of which was the lack of a connection through adjacent properties. The preference would have been to provide the connection at a later date when it would have connected to Academy Road. Connecting to Cass Street was also an option, but it would have made more sense to wait until the Town had worked out a route with adjacent property owners.

As I have said many times in the past, I respect the volunteers that serve on public boards and commissions. They take more slings and arrows than ever gets balanced out with accolades. That doesn’t alleviate their responsibility to know all the facts. In this case, some of the commentary was counter to things previously negotiated with the Town Council and the Plan Commission’s own Technical Review Committee. Speaking from the table at the front of the room gives their voice additional weight. That needs to be used judiciously.

Obviously this commissioner’s take differs from mine. Fortunately for me, the project and the Town, his position wasn’t shared by the other commissioners.

Fat Cow

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Fat Cow

At the April meeting of the Culver Redevelopment Commission, an audience member repeatedly referred to the Commission as the Town Council’s “Fat Cow”. I assume this was a bastardization of “Kill the Fatted Calf” from
 the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). I found several references here similar to this: The allusion to the New Testament story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) in which the forgiving father ordered his best calf to be killed in order to provide a feast to celebrate the return of his wayward son. Fatted is an archaic form of the verb fat meaning ‘make or become fat’. Nowadays we use the forms fatten or fattened. – Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

Grandpa Murphy

Due to my Grandpa Murphy and my good friend Bobbie Ruhnow, I’m quite fond of idioms and colloquialisms which I use often… much to the chagrin of some of my nieces and nephews who look at me like I’m crazy. My grandfather often shortened/modified his use of colloquialisms too, so I got the “Fat Cow” reference, though I didn’t agree with the sentiment. The reference was used as a pejorative, implying that the Town Council was unreasonably taking advantage of the funds held by the Redevelopment Commission. I disagree with that assessment for several reasons:

  1. First and foremost, the Redevelopment Commission members are appointed by the Town Council. The Town Council members are the duly elected representatives of the citizens. They answer to their constituents. As such, the Town Council should be, using another colloquialism, the pointy end of the spear, setting the direction for the Town. The underlying commissions and boards are made up of members appointed to follow the directions given by the Town Council. If the citizens don’t like the direction the Town Council is going, then they can voice that by electing new council members. Commission and board members are appointed because the council members can’t do everything or take the time to go into depth on issues like the commissions and boards can. But in general, they are there to support the Town Council, not defy it. They serve at the pleasure of the Council.
  2. The money that the Redevelopment Commission has is captured tax dollars from the TIF Districts. The TIF Districts were specifically created for this purpose. A TIF district essentially reallocates funds from property taxes to encourage investment within the district. Any increased tax revenues collected as a result of an increase in property values then go into the TIF fund and can be used by the Town for a wide range of purposes to promote development. These are not new tax funds or separate tax funds from what would have been collected on the affected properties. The funds are being used for the purpose intended.
  3. The funds collected by Redevelopment Commission from the TIF Districts can be returned or redirected back to the underlying taxing bodies, but this would not change the amounts collected from taxpayers. But why would the Redevelopment Commission not use the tools (dollars) they receive? I would argue that the Redevelopment Commissioners are not doing their job if they cannot properly use these funds to benefit the districts as intended. And going back to #1 above, the Town Council should reevaluate their appointments if the commission members can’t support projects that the Town Council has designated as important to our community when they fit within TIF spending guidelines.
  4. Our Town Council has done an above average job of soliciting citizen input over the past few years. The projects currently being pursued are ones that have come from community input in our Comprehensive Plan in 2014 and two outreaches used to complete our two Strategic Investment Plans used in our Stellar Community application in 2016 and our successful Stellar Community designation in 2017. These projects came from community input and our Stellar Community designation has allowed these projects to move forward with funds heavily leveraged from State agencies.

Culver’s Town Council has given the Redevelopment Commission much more autonomy than is seen in most communities. They are allowed their own separate agenda and often push back on Council initiatives. Once again though, they serve at the pleasure of the Council, so Culver’s Council has chosen to accept that autonomy, rather than replacing them with more complacent individuals.

Also somewhat unique to Culver is the interaction allowed to the public. Within limits, the public is allowed to comment and question throughout the Town Council meeting rather than just at the designated “Citizen Input” on the agenda. This new tradition has translated down through the boards and commissions. This is not something often seen in other communities and is likely behind the increased public attendance at meetings and public involvement in Town projects. Citizens may not always agree with the Town’s direction nor always able to sway the direction of the Town, but they cannot say they were not heard.

So it’s fine for citizens to voice their displeasure with the direction of the Council or any of the boards or commissions. It’s part of our local government system. Though a better understanding of the process, the chain of command and how we got here on projects would allow them to make better arguments. An educated debate carries more weight than random heckling.

Damore Amphitheater

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Always nice to see our projects make the paper! The Damore Amphitheater made the front page of the Culver Citizen on May 9th. Check out our name on the dedication plaque when you’re there taking your selfie!

Rights Should Outweigh Expediency

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There was an interesting conversation at the end of Culver’s April Plan Commission meeting. Some commission members were expressing their frustration at the time and expensive necessary to move buildings that have been deemed unsafe through the court proceedings. They wanted to explore ways to expedite this process.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses… against unreasonable searches and seizures…
No Person shall be… deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law…

The discussion revolved around the County-wide Unsafe Building Committee which was formed last year. The committee was formed with the intent of streamlining the process. The committee requested a judge cede jurisdiction to them and expedite the process of condemning property.

Note: This is what I heard at this Plan Commission meeting and others. I have no direct knowledge of how these cases have proceeded.

In most of these cases, the judge hearing the case had granted the property owner time to obtain an attorney, time to present their case and time to make improvements recommended by the committee. At times the judge had sided with the property owner on allowing them to make improvements in lieu of condemnation and reduced the extent of the improvements required.

Listening to this from the outside, I felt the goal of getting the property cleaned up or condemned is worth pursuing, but not at the expense of proper representation and property rights. Not to disparage the current committee, but I don’t think bureaucracy is a suitable substitute for an elected judge. The current committee may be knowledgeable in property rights, but there’s no guarantee that this would always be the case. It’s also unclear what the route to appeal is if the judge cedes authority to the committee. Since the complaints aired by the Plan Commission had to do with the length of process, I am concerned that the rights to due process could be hindered.

It will be interesting to see how this moves forward. I am concerned that this is a case of needing to be careful what you wish for… I don’t know that we want these powers to be unchecked. Thus my choice of title for this post, “Rights should outweigh Expediency…”

Congratulations to Jim Clevenger

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Congratulations Jim! I’ve worked with you as Culver’s Town Attorney, Marshall County’s Attorney and briefly as MCEDC’s Attorney. I’ve always known you to be cautious and ethical, working to keep his clients out of trouble. No surprise that you were on the State’s Ethics Commission, though I didn’t know about it until seeing this award upon your exit from the Commission. 14 years! Way to go!

Best wishes for your next endeavor. Thanks for your years working to keep the State on the straight and narrow. Please keep up the good work and apply those principles here too!