The following is an article in Omblogsman, a blog series by Jim Rawlinson, Regulatory and Permitting Ombudsman at Develop Indy, a business unit of the Indy Chamber.
Hello readers! Friendly neighborhood Ombudsman here! In this edition, we are getting away from thrilling looks at zoning classifications, exciting dives into HVAC hood specifications, and adventures into site plan requirements to focus on a whole different side of economic development: inclusive growth.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The biggest topic on the minds of economic development professionals in Indianapolis in the last year has, unsurprisingly, been tech. But the other topic, possibly the more important for all of us in the long-term, is inclusive growth.
In 2017, the Indy Chamber took part in a study by the Brookings Institute looking at how we, along with a handful of other cities, are growing. It brought up a number of startling statistics, and the reality is that Indianapolis, like most of the country, has a growing inequity problem. Simply put: people in poverty in Indianapolis have a harder time getting out of poverty. Although there are many highly successful pockets of wealth around the city, there are also many with shocking levels of poverty.
The Indy Chamber is focused on inclusive growth and improving opportunities for our citizens that are impoverished to move up the economic ladder. Community and neighborhood development are as important as they’ve ever been, and 2018 is a year when they will be the focus of not only the City of Indianapolis, but our broader economic development efforts as well. Addressing inequity and poverty are central to providing a great quality of life here in Indianapolis. Community development is economic development.
Make Your Personal Impact on Community Development
How can you get involved? When my wife and I bought our first house in Little Flower on the east side, one of the first things we did was join the local neighborhood association and become board members. My best advice if you want to get to know your neighbors and make your community a better place, start there. Find out who your neighborhood group is go to a meeting. If you don’t have a neighborhood group, start one!
A great event to start with is Keep Indianapolis Beautiful’s “Great Indy Clean Up”, which is in April. You can sign up here. If you have more questions about who your neighborhood group is or how you start one, go talk to the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center.
Maybe neighborhood groups aren’t your thing. If you don’t have the time to commit to one, another way to become active is to get to know your local Community Development Corporation and get involved with them. There are many CDCs all around Indianapolis doing fantastic work in the trenches and they all need your support, whether it’s operational or financial. Hold on to your hats, I’m going to drop some names here but it’s only because they all do tremendous work and deserve recognition:
Near-East Side
NEAR (Near East Area Renewal)
Englewood CDC
John H Boner Center
Promise Zone
Irvington Development Organization
Community Alliance of the Far Eastside (CAFÉ
South East Neighborhood Development (SEND)
West Side
West Indy CDC
Westside CDC
International Marketplace Coalition
North Side
Near North CDC
Mapleton Fall Creek CDC
King Park CDC
Midtown
Broad Ripple Village Association
Martindale Brightwood CDC
Riley Area Development Corp
If you have more questions about what CDCs do or how to get involved with what they are doing, check Local Initiatives Support Coalition (LISC). They provide financial and technical support to all of these groups and more.
I almost hesitated to make that list because there are endless amounts of people doing fantastic work in their communities all around this City who deserve credit and your support. These are just a handful that I’ve worked with. The important thing to keep in mind is that the Indy Chamber, Develop Indy, these CDCs, even the City of Indianapolis can make this a priority but we can’t do this alone. If we want to make our communities better, it starts with all of us.
The following is an article in Omblogsman, a blog series by Jim Rawlinson, Regulatory and Permitting Ombudsman at Develop Indy, a business unit of the Indy Chamber.
Friendly neighborhood Ombuds-man here! I work every day with businesses large and small to help them through the permitting process. Some days I’m advising a small business on a kitchen remodel, others I’m working with engineers constructing skyscrapers downtown to help coordinate and keep their projects on schedule. Over the last couple of years I’ve seen it all, well maybe not all, but a lot. Today I’ll try to impart some honest, straight up pro tips that you can choose to use as they apply to you.
PRO TIPS:
Many existing signs are grandfathered under code. When you tear them down you have just re-started the permitting process. Most times you are actually allowed to update or reface a sign, avoiding the permit/variance process. Always check with the City before you take anything down. To go a step further, sometimes even if your contractor says they will handle permitting it’s a good idea to double check. They will be pulling the permit but once the sign goes up it is your problem if it’s not in compliance. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to follow your contractor’s permit application here: http://permitsandcases.indy.gov/citizenAccess/
CHECK YOUR ZONING BEFORE DOING ANYTHING.
I’ve mentioned this in previous blogs but that’s only because it’s so vital and such a common mistake. We’ve developed a tool in conjunction with Open Counter that allows you to check the zoning of an address or find other places where your use is permitted: (https://indianapolis.zoningcheck.com/ ), and if you want to find out more about the permits required and the costs associated, check out Open Counter (https://indianapolis.opencounter.com/ ). Trust me, you’d rather address a zoning issue ahead of time than have to deal with it when you are ready open and wait a couple of months to get (or, even worse, not get) a variance approval. This can quite literally kill or seriously damage a project. Which brings us to…
“YOU NEED A VARIANCE” DOESN’T MEAN “NO” (OR “YES”)
Redevelopment of a property can be complicated and you may be required to seek a variance to be permitted to do what you want with the space. Many people hear “you need a variance” as “you can’t do that”. It’s important to know that this process actually exists is to allow you to do what you want to do when reasonable. There is a process and cost associated with it but depending on the scope of your project it’s very possible to get a variance approved and go along your way. It’s also important to note, though, that it can be expensive (minimum of about $2500) and take 30-60 days. And you aren’t guaranteed to get what you want. It is possible to get through a variance process yourself as a business owner but, unless you’ve been through it, I would highly recommend hiring a code consultant. They’re well paid but if you really need them they usually worth every penny.
City Staff are interested in helping you get your business open as quickly as possible. Generally they are willing to work with you to find a way to yes if they can. Call me or the city and ask if you can go through your project ahead of time with staff. They can raise any red flags on your plans that you may have missed. It’s a lot easier to adjust some plans on paper than it is to do it in the middle of your construction.
Just, do it. Besides avoiding fines and stop work orders when you get caught, if something goes wrong it protects you, the business, from a lot of headaches trying to fix it.
CHECK WITH THE PROS.
One of my biggest surprises when I started at the Indy Chamber was the amount of free services we offer businesses. The Develop Indy team is here to help with real estate searches, exploring incentives, and working with City Administration to get you open as fast as possible. The Entrepreneur Services team offers free one on one coaching, financing and many other services!
The following is an article in Omblogsman, a blog series by Jim Rawlinson, Regulatory and Permitting Ombudsman at Develop Indy, a business unit of the Indy Chamber.
To recap: I am Jim Rawlinson, the Regulatory and Permitting Ombudsman at the Indy Chamber. I’m on the Develop Indy team, contracted with the City of Indianapolis to help businesses and individuals interact with the City administration quickly and easily. I’m here to help connect you to resources you need at the city, advise on anything permitting, zoning, etc. related, and help un-stick your sticky situations. For this edition of Omblogsman, I thought we might want to sit down with Director Jason Larrison at the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services.
The following is an article in Omblogsman, a blog series by Jim Rawlinson, Regulatory and Permitting Ombudsman at Develop Indy, a business unit of the Indy Chamber.