Members of the public as well as city officials and employees and other community leaders packed the Marion City Council chambers Tuesday night, leaving only standing room after the meeting started.
The council's Development Committee members, joined by several other council members, met to hear from the public on a proposed project that would develop 164 acres at Interstate 69 and Ind. 18 into a multipurpose arena, a tournament center, a medical office and housing in the project's first phase.
The citizens who took to the podium voiced a combination of positive and negative opinions. City officials and some of the people behind the project also spoke at length, responding to comments from the public and questions from council members.
The full city council has already voted to move forward with authorizing the city to issue up to $60 million in tax increment financing (TIF) revenue bonds to help a company called 18/69 Land Development LLC finance the project. Before the bond deal is final, though, the full council must hold a public hearing and vote in favor of the deal at least once more.
That public hearing and second vote are expected to be on the agenda for the full council's next meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 3. The Marion Redevelopment Commission also has a public hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. Feb. 3.
People who spoke in favor of the development project on Tuesday focused on the positives that could come out of it and the lack of risk to the city. They included Bill Heller, Don Harker, Grant County native and Fishers Assistant Director of Redevelopment Shelby Bowen, former Marion Development Director Lisa Dominisse and Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Julie Cline.
Attorney Richard Starkey, a partner in the Indianapolis office of the national law and lobbying firm Barnes & Thornburg, re-explained that the bonds would be payable only from TIF revenue, a type of special property tax, generated by the new development at I-69 and Ind. 18. That means the developer would not benefit from TIF revenue if the development does not come to fruition, Starkey said.
"The city's never on the hook," he said.
Jacob Polsley, a principal in two companies that would be involved with the housing portion of the I-69/Ind. 18 project, also invited council members to see the companies' past work.
"You can come and see many of my project," he said. "That really is the only way to get to know me."
Lisa Dominisse, who served as city development director until this month, said the city's development team also followed its due-diligence process and added layers to that process when looking into the companies behind the I-69/Ind. 18 proposal.
That included making site visits to their past projects and obtaining information about their assets, real estate and intellectual property, Dominisse said. The city also requested three years of audited financials and tax returns that were "immediately sent to us, no questions asked."
Members of the public who spoke out against the project Tuesday focused on the people behind it.
The project has been pitched in public meetings and a press conference by James F. O'Connor and Polsley.
O'Connor is a health care executive from Philadelphia, currently president of a Pennsylvania brain trauma facility called Delaware Valley Residential Care. O'Connor and his partner James A. Cook, a health care executive who chairs Delaware Valley and Residential Care, are behind 18/69 Land Development, which would own the 164 acres. They are also behind Marion Sports and Entertainment Group LLC, which would own the arena and tournament center and a hockey team that would call the arena home.
Polsley, now of Noblesville, reiterated Tuesday night that he is a Marion native and Marion High School grad whose parents still live in Marion and whose brother is a Marion police officer. His professional connection with the development project is as a principal in Whitmore Development LLC and EquiTeam LLC, the latter of which also operates under the name Eden Religious Facilities. The two companies would serve as developer and construction manager for the proposed rental housing complex, dubbed Bailey Park Marion.
Longtime businessman and philanthropist Jim Sutter contrasted O'Connor's and Polsley's companies against Marion's Dollar General distribution center and the shopping center anchored by TJMaxx and Meijer, two projects that benefitted from TIF revenue bonds issued by the city.
"There is a difference between those prospects and the one that we're looking at now," Sutter said. "We know who those people were. They sold stock."
The page of a promotional booklet that was distributed to council members and available Tuesday describes O'Connor's and Cook's past projects but does not name the "successful healthcare businesses," "multiply [sic] healthcare facilities" or "hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities" that it states O'Connor has been involved with or the "large nursing home group" that it says Cook chaired.
O'Connor said Thursday that he would send a resume to the Chronicle-Tribune but had yet to do so as of Tuesday night. He and Polsley also declined comment after Tuesday's meeting. O'Connor said they would be creating a website to disseminate information instead of speaking with the press any further.
Sutter likened the people behind the I-69/Ind. 18 project to those behind Veriana, Earthbound RV and Michael An's Global Investment Consulting. Those companies benefitted from TIF revenue bonds issued by the city but their projects were ultimately unsuccessful. At least one of the bonds issued for their projects, the $2.5 million bond for An to revamp the old YMCA building, has since been refinanced by the city under terms that relieved An's company of its financial obligation to the loan, bond documents show.
"We don't know anything about them," Sutter said of the latest developers. "I am scared to death."
Lynn Johnson questioned the structure of the bonds that I8/69 Land Development is requesting and urged council members to do their due diligence by researching the details of the bond deal. Dave Spurgeon questioned why facts of the developers' past efforts, including O'Connor's and Cook's experience owning a hockey team that court records show is currently going through a bankruptcy filing, were not brought to light until published in the newspaper.
Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold took to the podium to comment not on the companies involved in the I-69/Ind. 18 project but the community involved, he said.
He reflected on successes in that area, like the Dollar General distribution center and Love's truck stop, that resulted from city officials and community members taking a chance on a project. He also said the city has learned from projects that failed.
Seybold encouraged council members to do their due diligence but also to keep in mind the lack of risk for the city with 18/69 Land Development project.
"They're being very transparent on anything and everything they're asked," he said. "Mr. O'Connor and Jacob Polsley deserve our support."