Impact of Carmel’s growth on residents
Carmel’s development is being celebrated as a success. But some older residents of the city in Hamilton County feel displaced.
Dwight Adams, [email protected]
The Fishers Plan Commission approved a proposal for a controversial Meijer grocery store on the east side at a meeting Wednesday, also giving a brief history of local NIMBY-ism.
By a vote of 7 to 0 (with two absentees), the commission recommended to the City Council approval for a 7,400-square-foot store and gas station at the corner of Southeastern Parkway and Cyntheanne Road.
The store has faced opposition from residents, particularly in Whelchel Springs, who say it is too big for the neighborhood and would draw traffic to an area already congested by the nearby Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate & Junior High School.
Seven people spoke against the project at the meeting and two said the area desperately needed a grocery store. Meijer has added green space and sidewalks to its plan since its initial presentation and said it plans to add parking for the nearby Schoolhouse 7 cafe.
Opposition to development is sometimes referred to as the “Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY) attitude, and it has occurred frequently in fast-growing communities like Fishers.
Read more NIMBY cases in the Indianapolis area
But developer Corby Thompson said the site for the grocery store had long been zoned as commercial in anticipation of expected residential development.
Thompson noted that when he was involved in the opening of the Marsh grocery store at 116th Street and Allisonville Road in 1984 and later a Kroger at 116th Street and Olio Road, neighbors also opposed those stores before they were deemed essential. Later, a Kroger opened on Allisonsville across from Marsh, giving residents two grocery stores at one intersection until Marsh went out of business and closed all of its stores. Kroger built a new store at the Marsh site last year and closed its old location.
“People near Allisonville (Road) then said they could just keep driving to Castleton” to buy groceries, he said. “I think near Olio Road they said they could keep driving to Pendleton Pike.”
Thompson added that the construction of the Whelchel Springs development had already faced opposition from local residents.
Longtime city councilor and commission member Pete Peterson, who lives near Whelchel Springs, said he remembers the protests.
“I can’t tell you how many calls I got from neighbors before a single house was built and how many negative things the people of Whelchel Springs would bring to the area,” Peterson said. “It’s a normal thing. I understand that.”
Peterson said the grocery store site is “zoned commercial and intended for commercial use.”
“If an area is zoned a certain way, we can’t change it without the consent of the property owner,” he said. “I can’t get anything done without there being complaints about traffic. But that’s what’s going to happen in a growing community.”
City Councilwoman and Commissioner Selina Stoller, who represents Fishers west of I-69, said grocery stores typically experience high demand.
“If I told the residents of Sunblest (on 116th Street, near Allisonville Road) that they had to drive to Castleton to buy groceries, I would have been given a death sentence,” Stoller said. “A grocery store is one of the biggest demands placed on me.”
She told critics, “You may not like having grocery stores nearby now, but (later) you will appreciate having those grocery stores so close.”
The plan will now be presented to the city council.
Where a new Meijer is planned in Fishers
Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email [email protected] and follow on X/Þjórsárdalur and Facebook.
