Senator Miller’s SB 177 passed the Senate on a vote of 33 – 17. It caught my attention when I saw a Facebook group joined by friends of mine of distinctly opposing political views. The Indianapolis Star has an opinion piece opposing the bill.
I’ll confess to only having a vague idea of what is going on with this one, but it looks like it gives the Metropolitan Development Commission the power to review decisions made by the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission. According to the Indianapolis Star:
Currently, the commission deals from strength in setting limits to demolition and disfigurement of distinctive properties. Its decisions have to be appealed to the city prosecutor and the courts, essentially on narrow legal grounds. Under Senate Bill 177, rank could be pulled. Besides halving the current four-year terms, it would make rulings appealable to the body above the Historic Preservation Commission, the Metropolitan Development Commission. Originally, even worse, it was to be the City-County Council. Either way, members would be watching over their shoulders.
The proposal to weaken the commission does not reflect its overall record, which is collaborative and results in rare rejections. Rather, it stems from two incidents, one involving windows in an Irvington house and the other a historic church in Cumberland threatened with demolition for commercial development.
It’s one of those deals where I have to kind of scratch my head and wonder why the state is getting so deeply involved in local matters.
Cronyism. One of Pat Miller’s friends was prevented from changing out her historic windows in Irvington, and lost her appeal. She went to Miller to interfere. There’s also some controversy about an historic church that a developer friend of Miller’s wants to tear down. Unfortunately what this means is that the historic plans for all historic neighborhoods can be undermined by determined developers with deep pockets, which basically means the long-term end of historic properties.
Hopefully it’ll die in the House, then.
You have to admit though, this is classic Indianapolis thinking. Too many around here bought heavily into the Urban Renewal concept back in the day. Passed the feelings down to their heirs. I hope this law never sees the light of day.
Please see the January 23rd editorial in the IBJ:
“Legislators Should Stick to the Basics and Go Home”
We like the Indiana General Assembly’s no-nonsense approach to this year’s short legislative session—at least it looks good on the surface.
Bills that would write property tax caps into the state constitution flew through both the House and Senate, clearing the way for a voter referendum on the matter this November. This is a no-brainer for legislators and Gov. Mitch Daniels, who can all crow about watching out for taxpayers’ interests while relying on taxpayers themselves to settle the matter.
If the caps become permanent and lead to chronically underfunded local governments, the voters will have only themselves to blame.
To legislators’ credit, they’ve also made headway on a few of the local government reform measures that could help those governmental bodies run more efficiently.
For example, a bill that would allow voters to decide whether to eliminate township trustees and township boards passed the House and is being considered by the Senate.
More far-reaching reform efforts—such as eliminating township government altogether—aren’t likely to go anywhere in this session. It’s an election year, after all. Lawmakers want to end the session on time—or early—and without delving into controversial issues. They have no stomach for a topic that would upset their political allies back home.
But that desire to wrap up business early and head for the hills doesn’t mean there aren’t bills being heard that are unnecessarily taking up legislators’ time.
Once again, there’s a bill designed to amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. The Legislature approved such a measure in 2005, but it had to pass again in 2007 or 2008 to go before voters as a ballot measure. That didn’t happen, but this year, Sen. Carlin Yoder is starting the debate anew. His bill was approved on the committee level Jan. 20 and is expected to win support from the Republican-controlled Senate.
We hope this unnecessary, divisive measure fails in the House, and we’re disappointed some legislators are consumed by an issue that some of the state’s largest employers have spoken out against in the past.
Other, more obscure bills are equally unnecessary. Senate Bill 177, for example, would politicize the process now used to govern development in Indianapolis historic districts. It would allow the City-County Council to control the makeup of the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission, which approves or denies projects in the districts, and would give the council authority to overrule the commission’s decisions. The process has worked relatively well for more than 20 years, doesn’t need fixing, and isn’t worth legislators’ time.
Daniels stuck to the basics in his Jan. 19 State of the State speech. Legislators should do the same, finish necessary business, and return to their districts.•
Per Feb 11 IBJ: