INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s plan to build a new soccer-specific stadium downtown passed a major hurdle Monday night.
A new tax district was introduced to the Indianapolis City-County Council to help fund a downtown soccer stadium and help a secret ownership group woo an MLS expansion team.
The new proposal is specifically for a professional sports development area (PSDA). The plan includes more than 120 addresses in the downtown area that would be incorporated into the tax district.
It was first approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission on May 1.
If the proposal is passed, the city said the stadium would be built near a parking lot just west of the Downtown Heliport, but the mayor first needs the support of the council to pull it off.
City-County Council President Vop Osili agreed to put his name on the proposal after it didn’t have a sponsor as of last Friday morning. Since then, Councilor Ron Gibson and Council Vice President Ali Brown added their names to the proposal.
“It came down from the MDC, and doesn’t the public deserve at least the opportunity to hear about it and to hear debate and to participate?” Osili said.
When asked what his vote would be as of Tuesday, Osili said he was undecided.
“I haven’t heard from the public,” Osili said.
Earlier this month, Councilor Kristin Jones refused to support the plan. She represents District 18, which is the home of both soccer stadium proposals.
She’s not alone. Soccer fans and even billion-dollar investors are still asking, "What about Eleven Park?"
The mayor cut ties with that project back in March after saying the project wasn’t financially viable. However, Keystone Group said it is still pursuing the project. The problem is city government can only pick one tax district to send to the state's budget committee by June 30 — the MLS stadium or Eleven Park.
Renderings of Eleven Park
Brian Mowery, the council's minority leader, said his caucus has been left in the dark.
"This is something that I think that transparency is of the utmost importance, and what we have seen so far is that this hasn't been happening, even to the council,” Mowery said. “The news that the Hogsett administration is attempting to walk away from the Indy Eleven Park deal is concerning, and it came as a shock to our caucus. We want to make sure that the city is seen as a city that negotiates and operates in a transparent and good faith way.”
The other catch is the Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee that originally heard the Eleven Park proposal won't hear this new plan. Instead, the Rules and Public Policy Committee will receive the new tax district proposal, of which Osili is chair. Osili said this move is because of state policy, which requires notice of a public hearing at least 10 days prior.
“Up until Friday, there was no sponsor, and we need a 10-day notice for a public hearing, and so the next available one was Rules,” Osili said.
Mowery said his caucus was not made aware of this change.
“Very shocking, Mowery said. "I think it speaks to where we are with this proposal. To know that it doesn’t go before MDC as it did in the past for the first PSDA is seeming like a way just to get it through."
The proposal will be sent to the Rules and Public Policy Committee, where there will be public comment on May 28. The proposal then returns to the full council in June for a vote before going back to the Metropolitan Development Commission for a final vote.
Statement from Mayor Joe Hogsett:
"Tonight, with the introduction of the proposal to create a new soccer-specific stadium site near the downtown heliport, Indianapolis takes the next step in the process by which we can secure a Major League Soccer expansion club for our community. I am grateful for the leadership of President Osili and look forward to continued conversations with City-County Councilors, downtown stakeholders, and our community members over the coming weeks as we build an application that sends a clear message to MLS: Indianapolis is a major league city."
Statement from Keystone Group:
“Indy Eleven and its development team are incredibly disappointed in President Osili's unprecedented decision to deny the City-County Council's Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee an opportunity to fairly judge the out-of-state brokerage proposal that continues to be shrouded in mystery. That same committee supported Eleven Park unanimously in December, and the Mayor’s Office itself has recently confirmed it is the appropriate venue for such a project.
Along with so many in the Indianapolis business community, we remain concerned that these continuing efforts to bend Council rules to the will of the executive branch threatens both the future of Eleven Park and the future of economic development in our state's capital city. It would be our sincere hope that President Osili will commit to his constituents and colleagues that he will respect the Council as an independent branch of government, and not make additional changes clearly aimed at bypassing long-standing protocols for the legislative process.”