Indianapolis Nora residents get second chance after opposing Keystone Crossing project

Keystone's Alexander project proposed two phases. The first phase, which was submitted to the city late last year, included a pair of two-story buildings that would house retail, office and restaurant space.

The City-County Council approved a proposal Monday that opens the door for a previously denied rezoning proposal to move forward. Leading the effort was City-County Councilor Colleen Fanning, who said she was bringing the proposal on behalf of residents in her district.

At issue is a heavily wooded parcel of land near the northwest corner of Keystone Avenue and 86th Street in Indianapolis's Nora neighborhood. Keystone Realty Group's petition to rezone the 13-acre plot was denied by the Metropolitan Development Commission in October. At the time, residents of the neighborhood said they opposed any development on the site.

After learning that Keystone would then abandon its "Alexander plan" and instead move forward with a much heavier previously approved development plan, Nora community groups approached Councilor Fanning. At the time there was nothing to be done, Fanning told the Council, but a "significant error" in the version of the proposal that was certified late last year allowed for the rarely used call down process.

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"What we’re voting on is not an approval of any project. It’s allowing Nora Community Council to continue to negotiate for a better development," said Fanning. 

The measure was passed 20-2 with three abstentions. Nora Community Council and Keystone now have until April 9 to come to an agreement on the current development plan and any commitments that would be included in it. If the negotiations are successful and an agreement is reached, it will require a two-thirds vote from the City County Council to pass. Otherwise, the development commission's original ruling will be upheld.

Residents have fought for years to stop development on the site, concerned about a "domino-effect" of commercial development that could creep into the residential area.

Neighborhood groups also fear that development of the site will serve to make one of the city's worst intersections even more dangerous. However, the groups reconsidered after learning that the property owner, Keystone Realty Group, intended to develop the site based on existing zoning, which allows for a big box store and a large parking lot.

The current zoning on the corner of 86th and Keystone provides for a big box store and a large parking lot, and would eliminate many if not most of the trees currently growing there.

"I think we all made a mistake because we did not understand the negative consequences" of opposing Keystone's Alexander plan, said Ruth Hayes, president of the Nora-Northside Community Council, who attended Monday's meeting. That proposal, according to Hayes, would have a much smaller footprint on the area.

The Metropolitan Development Commission denied the petition from Keystone to rezone the site for multiple use in October. That decision was upheld by a unanimous vote during the November City-County Council meeting.

According to Fanning, a clerical error has opened the door for the call down process.

One group continues to question the legality of the process. On March 9, a lawyer representing some residents of the Driftwood Hills neighborhood and the Indiana Forest Alliance, a statewide group dedicated to protecting forests, submitted a letter to Councilor Fanning claiming that her attempt at a call down process falls outside of Indiana statutes and MDC Rules. 

The letter says that the error does not appear to change the facts or circumstances of the original petition, and therefore fails to warrant reopening the MDC decision by the Council. It also questions whether any project built under the current zoning plan would be able to fulfill the necessary commitments, like replacing any trees that are to be removed.

Keith Holdsworth, a planning administrator for the city, told IndyStar that Keystone would not have to seek new zoning approval to build on the site, although the company would have to get approval on a detailed site plan before pulling permits.

Emily Hopkins covers the environment for IndyStar. Contact them at (317) 444-6409 or emily.hopkins@indystar.com. Follow them on Twitter: @_thetextfiles.

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

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