Sheridan jumps on the eminent domain train

By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com

Sheridan is hoping to form a combined and coterminous governmental unit with Adams Township, in part to block Westfield from annexing land into its borders for potential development.

Now, Sheridan is using eminent domain to take land from its own citizens for potential development.

Chef Karen LLC, 415 S. Main St., Sheridan, is a catering business owned by Karyn Howell Kissling. The business provides catering service, frozen meals, and mobile event food services.

Karen and husband Jim Kissling bought a small 0.2-acre lot behind the commercial kitchen facility in Sheridan, hoping to both grow her business and potentially open an additional location for Jim’s business, AutoFarm Mobility.

Chef Karen LLC was the recipient of a Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis Elevate Grant for developing the property. That grant is now in jeopardy because of Sheridan’s attempt to acquire the land.

The land the Kisslings purchased had been vacant for approximately two decades.

Three weeks after their purchase, the Kisslings were notified that the Town of Sheridan was beginning the process of acquiring the land for parking.

Kissling has a court date to fight the taking of his land on May 23.

Kissling told The Reporter the town made an initial offer to purchase the land at 15 percent below the amount he and Karen had just paid for it, with no allowance for the investment they had already made for building materials to erect a new structure on the lot.

“They haven’t officially condemned it, but they have officially filed a lawsuit against me to push this to an eminent domain situation,” Jim Kissling said.

Chef Karen has a large social media following. The Kisslings have posted about their situation and the response has been very supportive.

“The town sentiment is people just don’t understand,” Kissling said, “Maybe we’re just sharing one side of it, but we’ve not had one person say, ‘Well, we think the town really should do this.’ Maybe they wouldn’t because we’re biased, but I would actually like to know who thinks this is a good idea and why. I’m really struggling because no one has come out and said, ‘We need more parking and this is better served than having companies grow or relocate.’ I know Sheridan’s going to grow and I know it’s going to need parking, but we’re not there right now. We’re just not.”

Kissling noted that the multiple empty storefronts in downtown Sheridan make it hard to believe their lot is needed for parking.

Kissling told The Reporter his sole advocate on the town council was Daniel Bragg. However, Bragg was asked to recuse himself from voting on this because Kissling’s business advertised with Bragg’s sports media company after Wilson Farm Market declined to do so while fighting its own eminent domain battle against the Indiana Department of Transportation.

Readers of this newspaper may also recall the City of Noblesville’s use of eminent domain for the Pleasant Street project, as well as the pushback city officials received from both individual landowners along the path of that project and from the community at large when land was taken and businesses forced to close. In Noblesville’s case, there were impact studies, traffic studies, and public hearings.

Kissling told The Reporter nothing like that appears to have happened in Sheridan. He asked repeatedly for documentation showing the need for more parking that was urgent enough to eminent domain his land. One example he gave was a request for a parking study or some other justification for the necessity of taking this lot only months after he purchased it and the town provided none.

“I’ll probably spend a lot of money and lose it eventually because eminent domain is pretty freakin’ strong, but what feels wrong is that it hasn’t been done in the public eye at all,” Kissling said. “There’s no parking study. There’s no public comment. They have managed to really control the dialogue to being nothing.”

The town was originally represented by the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, commonly known as “Taft.” The Reporter’s attempts to reach both Sheridan Town Councilmembers and Taft were unsuccessful. This newspaper has learned that after our inquiries, the town has now hired new legal representation for this case.