By STU CLAMPITT
In what has become a contentious issue, Hamilton County and the City of Noblesville are still working on the details of transferring ownership of the Logan Street Parking Lot – also called the “Red Lot” – from the city to the county.
On Tuesday evening during the Noblesville Common Council meeting, an agreement was set to be approved by both parties, but that did not occur.
According to a statement by the city released Tuesday afternoon, “The previously discussed agreement was approved by Hamilton County Commissioners yesterday and will be discussed and voted on by the Noblesville Common Council during its meeting at 7 p.m. [Tuesday] at City Hall. If approved, the county will take over the parking lot starting on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022.”
The parking lot transfer is a component of the agreement to build a new parking garage in downtown Noblesville this year, which will be located on the north side of Clinton Street between 8th and 9th streets two blocks north of the Courthouse.
The Hamilton County Commissioners revised the agreement by one line during their Monday meeting, and that change was not seen favorably by Noblesville Common Councilmembers on Tuesday night.
The difference lies in Section II, subsection c, which originally read, “Upon completion of the County Parking Garage, the County and the City agree to negotiate an agreement to allow some of the spaces within the County Parking Garage to be used by the public under such terms as are acceptable to the parties.”
The commissioners added the following line to that subsection: “The Agreement shall provide that the County may subsequently restrict public use of the County Parking Garage if necessary for the safety of the public or to protect the County Parking Garage from damage.”
Because of that line, the agreement approved by the County was not approved by the Common Council. The Noblesville Common Council, after much debate, ultimately decided to approve the original agreement, sans the extra line, and send it back to the Commissioners for either approval or further revision.
Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt was not at the Monday Commissioners’ meeting because he and his family have been out of the country on vacation, so he was unable to speak to the additional line in the agreement. He was, however, able to clarify why the parking lot ownership transfer is even a component of building a new multi-level parking garage.
Heirbrandt told The Reporter the parking lot ownership transfer became part of the development agreement because a county-owned lot needs to be given up for the garage to be built.
“When we were negotiating the development and the city wanted our parking lot on the south side by the river, I made it clear that I wanted an exchange as part of this deal,” Heirbrandt said. “I wanted to make sure we got the lot next to Courtney’s Kitchen, which is now Erika’s Place, as part of that deal.”
County Assistant Attorney Connor Sullivan told The Reporter he and Attorney Mike Howard believed some of the details were still not fully agreed upon, and that they added the line for clarity as well as to ensure the forthcoming agreement about details of public parking in the new parking garage would be one that allowed for quick action in the event of a future safety concern.
“When we were reviewing it on Monday, that was the last addition that Mike Howard and myself felt necessary to put in there,” Sullivan told The Reporter. “The big reason why we put that in there is just in case some kind of issue would come up with public safety, the county would want to have the ability to restrict the use for it. As you know, local government can sometime move slow, and when you get two of them working together, that could potentially make it slow. If there’s a situation that arises, the county would like the ability to act on it and help public safety. That’s our reasoning behind it.”
Sullivan said Noblesville city officials have reached out to tell the County that they “did not agree with that one sentence added … We’ve gone back and forth with them and told them to send us their thoughts on it and we are waiting to hear back from them. That’s where we’re at right now.”
Hamilton County Council candidate Mark Hall was in attendance Wednesday night and told The Reporter he was impressed that Common Council members Darren Peterson and Mark Boice pushed to have the original agreement approved and passed back to the County Commissioners, rather than approving a revised or amended version.
The Common Council voted 6-1 to approve the original version of the agreement, with Peterson voting no.
“There was much discussion as the Commissioners made a last-minute change to the agreement that would restrict the use of the new garage by the taxpayers who paid for the red lot,” Hall said. “To the council’s credit, an amendment to the resolution failed to pass with two council members voting against it and one abstained. Subsequently, to the credit of Councilmembers Boice and Peterson, the council passed the prior (older) resolution that did not include the new restrictions. That resolution now moves back to the Commissioners to see if they accept it. If so, the transfer can occur. If not, the transfer is at risk.”
According to the city, once an agreement is finally reached, “The Red Lot will be used by county employees, jurors, and others doing business at the Hamilton County Judicial Center during normal business hours – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The parking lot will be available for public use during nights, weekends and holidays.”
For more information on downtown parking options, visit bit.ly/2Nne2ew.
You can read the original agreement between the county and the city at this link. This is the version that was passed by the Noblesville Common Council at its Tuesday night meeting, which now heads back to the County Commissioners for further consideration.
To read the version with the added sentence from the Commissioners, click here.