Mayor Tom DeBaun’s plan to redevelop Shelbyville’s downtown now has support from the county.
Voting unanimously 7-0, the Shelby County Council approved the mayor’s request for support and pledged to spend up to $4.5 million in casino revenues on the city’s Downtown Redevelopment Plan.
The item was not on the county council’s written agenda for its Tuesday meeting.
Actually spending the money, the council stipulated, will only happen if Shelbyville wins the state’s Stellar Communities designation.
“We’re a finalist in the Stellar competition,” DeBaun told the county council.
Begun in 2010, the Stellar Community program is an effort involving three state agencies to get local communities to invest in quality of life improvements in order to attract residents and business investments.
The Stellar program is managed by the lieutenant governor’s office. Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb visited Shelbyville just last week.
Shelbyville is competing with Warsaw and Rushville for the Stellar designation. Winning the title could open the door to possibly millions of dollars in outside funding for the downtown project.
The city has to submit its downtown plan to the Stellar program committee by July 1. The committee, which picks the winner, will be in town for a site visit July 26.
The Shelbyville Common Council voted unanimously, 5-0 Monday to spend $13.8 million by way of a bond issue on the downtown plan if the city wins the Stellar designation. Council members Rob Nolley (R - 3rd Ward) and Brad Ridgeway (R - 4th Ward) were absent.
At the Shelby County Council meeting Tuesday, President Tony Titus (R - At Large) said the county’s commitment is not a bond issue. The money will come from casino revenues.
He said the downtown proposal needs a pledge of support from the county to win the Stellar designation.
“To show we’re serious,” Titus said.
With the two council votes, the financial commitment by the city and the county to the Shelbyville Downtown Redevelopment Plan totals $18.3 million.
A written estimate by the city’s consultant on the project, Ken Remenschneider, puts the total cost at $19,330,825.
That $19.3 million total is without the originally proposed underground parking garage, which DeBaun has eliminated from the plan, but does not include the cost of surface parking options which DeBaun has said the city would pursue.
Two other elements of the downtown plan – $11.8 million for a proposed multigenerational center on the current Major Hospital site and brownstone townhomes across the street from it – would be privately funded.