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Where Fishers mayor believes 2017 growth will take place

FISHERS, Ind (WISH) – Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness held a unique state of the city address for what he calls a unique city.

The focus Wednesday may have been on 2017, but it’s 2016’s growth is a talker around town.

“I think it’s going fantastic,” Fishers resident, Bob Turk said. “All the construction that’s going on, all the new buildings.”

“It’s starting to get a little scary with IKEA and what not coming in, and all the new subdivisions that are gearing up,” Fishers resident, Eric Rhiver said.

If last year startled some neighbors, they might want to close their eyes.

“It’ll be a busy year in the city of Fishers,” Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said. “It’ll continue to grow.”

That was the message Mayor Scott Fadness had in his state of the city address. On Wednesday, he spoke in front of a packed Forum Conference Center.

He said more company, and job announcements could come this spring. A lot of road work took place around Interstate 69 last year, in 2017, Mayor Fadness is eyeing Allisonville Road from 96th to 116th Street, and the Giest neighborhoods as well. The city will also break ground on its police station in three months with its garage, and won’t stop there.

“We’re still in the planning phases, but we’ll definitely roll those out to the community, and have a conversation about them when the time is right,” Mayor Fadness said.

As certain projects come to an end, Mayor Fadness knows it’s going to put more cars on the road. How do you address traffic?

He said the answer isn’t necessarily mass transit, instead he wants more city jobs, and so people don’t have to drive as far.

He also wants to embrace ride sharing programs. “Uber, Lyft, self-driving cars, all of these things are very transformational that we want to wait and see what happens with that,” Mayor Fadness said.

Car sharing isn’t the only thing neighbors are waiting to see. As 2016’s projects come to a close, they’re interested to see where else one of the fastest growing communities will turn to next.

“Hopefully, it keeps growing, and it keeps thriving like it seems to be right now,” Turk said.

Another area Mayor Fadness wants to see grow, paths. He’s pushing for a Nickle Plate trail that would replace the Fair Train, and add a path from Noblesville to Fishers.

2017 isn’t all about development. Mayor Fadness wants to expand his mental health initiative after 11 people last year he said committed suicide in Fishers.

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