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Speedway redevelopment commission approves Sixteenth and Lyndhurst TIF allocation area
Summary
The Speedway Redevelopment Commission on Feb. 18 approved a resolution establishing the Sixteenth and Lyndhurst tax increment financing (TIF) allocation area, a 4-0 vote that the commission says would capture future incremental tax revenue to fund about $25 million in capital projects over 20+ years with minimal impact on existing taxpayers.
The Speedway Redevelopment Commission voted 4-0 on Feb. 18 to adopt a resolution establishing the Sixteenth and Lyndhurst tax increment financing (TIF) allocation area.
The resolution creates a new TIF allocation area that the commission expects could support roughly $25 million in capital improvements — streets, sidewalks, curb and gutter work and property acquisition money — over the next 20-plus years while having a “very nominal” effect on current taxpayers, according to the commission’s tax impact memo.
Town Manager Grant Kleinhens, speaking on behalf of the redevelopment commission, said the allocation area covers Leonard Park, the former town hall parcel, the fire station, the street department and commercial parcels along Sixteenth Street on both sides toward Main Street. “It does connect to the Main Street TIF, but it’s a new TIF. I misspoke,” Kleinhens said. He told the commission the tax-impact memorandum prepared by London Witte Group estimates the net new tax increment at about $30,000 and projects a tax-rate increase of 0.0015, which the memo indicates would reduce levies for other entities by about $6,000.
The plan documents submitted to the commission show the TIF would capture increment — the increase in assessed value after the allocation area’s creation — not existing base tax revenues. Kleinhens emphasized that residential property owners would not automatically lose taxes to the commission: “We’re not creating this different district that means we’re gonna take your property… It just means that if you decide to do something to your property, I.E. convert it into an office or a restaurant or whatever, we can then capture those dollars to assist them and assist that area to improve,” he said.
Commission discussion touched on ownership and parceling. Kleinhens noted parts of Lyndhurst and other right-of-way are owned by the City of Indianapolis Department of Public Works and that Leonard Park and the former town hall parcel are currently on one parcel owned by the water department; the commission said they included the whole parcel rather than pursue a parcel adjustment. Commissioners said inclusion of the park and public parcels leaves open the option of reinvesting any surplus back into park improvements or other infrastructure if redevelopment generates increment.
The resolution passed by voice vote with no recorded individual member votes; the clerk recorded the outcome as “passes 4 0.” The resolution is recorded as the commission’s first resolution of 2025 (listed in the meeting as “2025 01”).
What happens next: The allocation area creates the legal mechanism to capture future incremental property taxes and place them in a redevelopment fund for eligible projects identified in the plan. The commission and town staff did not specify any particular property acquisitions or construction contracts at the Feb. 18 meeting; the memorandum lists capital projects in broad categories and an overall funding estimate of about $25 million.
