New Restaurants, Crosswalks, and Construction Schedules
And a book suggestion too!
Summer is in full tilt at the Smith household. With only a week left until our oldest heads to Kindergarten (!), we’re soaking up every bit of July we can.
Before we jump in, here are a few miscellaneous updates that I wanted to share:
We updated the residential facade grant program. If you live within a historic district in Noblesville, check this out!
The Mayor and I had the opportunity to meet with former United States Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams. He touched on so many important topics — growing up in rural America, leading in difficult situations, and the lost art of knowing your neighbors (one of the many reasons why I love calling Old Town home!!). He also recommended a book I already have ordered. You should read it too: “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community”
A few weeks ago, the Hamilton County Firefighters Local 4416 broke ground on a memorial near the County Judicial Center. When built, it will include a metal beam from the World Trade Center, a sculpture of a grieving firefighter, and tribute benches along the White River. Click here to see the design.
Without further ado, here’s the latest happening in the 9th largest1 city in the State of Indiana:
1. Bier Brewery breaks ground.
After some infrastructure delays, Bier Brewery is moving forward! Located on 4 acres of land (on South 10th Street near the Chicken), this location will offer:
1.5 acre Biergarten & woods
Dog Park
Kids Playground
Community work space
Pizza & wings
Bike parking & access to the Allisonville Rd. Trail
As I hear more about timelines, I’ll make sure to share those here!
2. Infrastructure & road resurfacing projects remain moving.
As you drive around Noblesville (or any other city in central Indiana), you’re bound to see detours and orange cones. A bulk of this work is a result of our decision as a city to invest in our infrastructure alongside our partners at Hamilton County and INDOT.
Over the past few months, these are the projects I’ve been most frequently asked about. Click the link following for the latest on each!
INDOT/City Project: Roundabouts at SR-32/SR-38 and SR-32/River Road
City/County Project: Pleasant Street
City Project: Nickel Plate Trail
County Project: 146th Street & Allisonville
INDOT/City Project: Roundabout at SR-38/Whitcomb Ridge/Oakmont
Each one of the new projects above incorporate or are near a major trail in Noblesville. Trails for cyclists and pedestrians used to be amenities — now they are expectations, both from residents and businesses looking to relocate throughout the country.
While it’s not terribly exciting, resurfacing roads is important — and exciting when it’s your street! This year, in coordination with funding from the Community Crossings grant, we’re able to resurface:
Boden Road from Greenfield to SR-38
Morse Pointe subdivision
Old Town south of Cherry Street and east of 10th Street
Pebble Brook / Pinehurst Village (alternate depending on bid)
Prairie Crossing Woods and Greens
Union Chapel Road from Greenfield Avenue to Town & Country Boulevard
Town & Country Boulevard from Union Chapel Road to Mercantile Boulevard
The west portion of Chapel Woods subdivision
If it seems like a lot of infrastructure work, it is! Click here2 for a primer on why it may seem like we’re doing so many projects at once.
How does Noblesville decide which roads are up for resurfacing?
Every two years, the Engineering Department drives and rates all streets within the City and gives each a 1-10 rating based on a national Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system. This, along with our current and projected funding, are used to create a city asset management plan. In the “off year”, the department re-rates all streets that are in the lower scores. They then group the lower rated streets by work area, perform an estimate, and determine the best way to piece together these work areas for a several year program. As each area is completed, they can update the plan, and roll into the next group.
3. A new restaurant is coming to the square!
9th Street Bistro recently announced the location of their second restaurant concept, The Ramen Shop, coming to the square early 2024. Haven’t checked out their ramen yet? Click below to see what’s in store!
4. Crosswalk design makes cities safer.
As Noblesville grows, development will play a key role in building the vision the City sets for its future. Each month, I try to share some of the examples of new development I've seen that I believe we should look to as inspiration down the road.
I saw this “before and after” graphic on LinkedIn and thought about the powerful visual. As more people live, work and play downtown Noblesville, it will be important for the City, County, and INDOT to incorporate design like this to balance vehicular traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians all using the same space.
5. Check out Eric Doden.
On the 4th of July, Declan and I walked in the Noblesville parade with Eric Doden. He’s the candidate for governor that I’m supporting.
The big reasons? His plans to revitalize aging buildings in communities throughout Indiana like Noblesville and implement zero-cost adoption caught my eye.
Before you go, a few trending stories:
Here are a few stories you may have missed on Noblesville over the past month:
The Current: Pleasant Street project remains on schedule
The Times: Donate Blood at the Hamilton County 4-H Fair
IBJ: Split-level roundabout planned at 146th/Hazel Dell in Noblesville
The Reporter: Noblesville’s Fueled for School secures $10K donation to help eliminate student hunger
Noblesville is growing — and quickly. In 2021, the IndyStar shared an article that listed Noblesville as the 10th largest city in Indiana. Since then, we’ve eclipsed Lafayette as the 9th largest. We have a bit to go until we get close to Hammond at 77k.
Noblesville is a bit unique since we have a compact downtown core, older infrastructure, and more intersecting stakeholders as the county seat than any other city in Hamilton County. Within a four-mile radius, we have four state roads and many county assets that have had projects planned for many years but were funded (sometimes by outside entities) for similar periods.
In some cases, if we forgo funding due to scheduling reasons, we either go to the back of the line (kicking the project out even further) or sacrifice the funding altogether (meaning the financial burden for the project would then fall onto Noblesville taxpayers if the necessary project couldn’t get funded again).
As an example, the County has had the 146th St. & Allisonville project in the works for many years. The upgraded roundabouts for the SR-32/38 intersection was announced in 2018 and programmed for last summer and this summer. The Pleasant Street project has also been a need for decades, but didn't move forward until 2020. While we do our best to avoid overlap, at times these three project timelines do overlap, especially with a shortened construction season like we have in Indiana due to weather and school schedules.