McCannna Regular Monthly Meeting and Work Session - February 23, 2026
McCannna Regular Monthly Meeting and Neighborhood Work Session - February 23, 2026
Kathy Burton, president of McCannna (a nonprofit connecting neighborhoods across Marion County), welcomed attendees and explained the meeting format—a work session allowing neighbors to share experiences and discuss pressing issues. The meeting ran from approximately 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at North United Methodist Church (38th and Meridian), with streaming on Channel 16 and 28. Burton highlighted upcoming events: the April meeting (focused on homelessness initiatives) and reminders that political candidates are welcome to speak.
Federal Updates from Congressman Carson's Office
Andrew Baknica, community outreach coordinator for Rep. Andre Carson, reported $13.8 million in federal appropriations for Indianapolis, including $1.5 billion (likely a misstatement; context suggests $1.5 million) for public health, $4.8 million for community infrastructure across four projects, $4 million for community development across five projects, and $2.7 million for public safety across three projects. He noted the Department of Homeland Security remains unfunded due to ICE policy disputes; TSA employees are working without pay. The Congressman voted against DHS funding until reforms are enacted. Baknica also promoted a Youth Opportunities Fair on March 12 (4–7 p.m. at Ivy Tech) and a "Congress on your Corner" event on February 25 (10 a.m.–noon) at Pike Township Trustee's office. During Q&A, a resident asked how to support the ACA extension bill; Baknica advised calling Senators Young and Banks. Another attendee expressed concern that the mayor is driving data center approvals behind the scenes, undermining democracy. Baknica said the Congressman supports community voices and noted that state incentives often favor developers over residents.
Neighborhood Announcements and Upcoming Hearings
- Pat (Decatur Township) announced a data center hearing before the hearing examiner on Thursday, February 26, at 1:00 p.m. in the City-County Building (Public Assembly Room). Case number: 2025-CAP-CV-R5-6. Letters can be sent to Bryce Patz (B R Y C E dot P A T Z at Indy.gov). Pat emphasized that a variance of use on 132 acres would prevent the community from appealing to the City-County Council, calling the process "the fix is in."
- Jackie (Martindale Brightwood) announced the MDC (Metropolitan Development Commission) hearing for their data center petition on Wednesday, March 4, at 1:00 p.m. after an appeal of the hearing examiner's approval. Jackie noted Councilor Jesse Brown may be able to call down the petition if the district councilor (Ron Gibson) declines.
City Agency Updates from Mayor's Neighborhood Advocate
Dillian Novak, MNA for Area 3 (Perry and Franklin Townships), provided updates:
- Indy Parks: Summer camp registration and jobs open.
- DBNS: New quarterly webinars start Feb 25 (11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.) on accelerated review and permit programs.
- Road Closures: Use roadclosures.gov to see permitted work.
- Animal Shelter: New shelter at Emerson and Raymond opens spring 2026 (animals in March/April, public in May).
- Winter Shelter: Emergency shelter runs through March 31.
- IMPD: New Chief Tanya Terry; Coffee with a Cop on Feb 24 (10:30 a.m., NEST Event Center). Five-year strategic plan released with focus on training and data transparency.
- IndiGo Food in Transit: Free groceries at Carson Transit Center on second Tuesday and fourth Thursday, 3:30–5:00 p.m. (year-round).
- KIB Spring Cleanup: April Saturdays full; program runs through October. The Marion County Public Health Department also offers a tool loan and waste pickup program (call 317-221-5966).
In Q&A, residents asked for a list of current department heads (Novak agreed to send one) and inquired about DBNS webinars being posted. Dana (Marion County Health Department) added that a new building on 38th Street will open in September, featuring two community rooms available for evening meetings. She noted the department is coping with reduced funding for now.
Neighborhoods SOS Program Introduction
Kathy Burton introduced "Neighborhoods SOS" (Sharing Our Strengths), a program where neighborhoods can request countywide support for unresolved issues. The first SOS request concerns the conversion of downtown one-way streets to two-way, asking for better public engagement before final decisions. Forms are available for neighborhoods to submit their own issues.
Data Center Discussion and Moratorium Vote
Extensive discussion centered on two active data center petitions (Decatur Township and Martindale Brightwood). Pat detailed the Decatur Township case: a variance of use on 132 acres zoned I-2, with variances for building height (75 ft vs. 50 ft limit), outdoor storage within 200 ft of protected districts (500 ft required), and parking reductions. Supporters argue job creation (promised ~100 permanent jobs versus thousands from alternative tech park uses), while opponents cite noise from 116 diesel generators (storing 1 million gallons of diesel), lack of an ordinance defining data centers, and a flawed process that avoids council review. The petitioner chose a variance route instead of rezoning to CS (a defined category). The Martindale Brightwood petition is a rezoning to CS and is on appeal.
Kathy Burton noted McCannna formally opposed both petitions. A motion was made and seconded to request a moratorium on all data center petitions until the City-County Council enacts a zoning ordinance. The motion passed by voice vote (no dissent recorded). The moratorium would cover new petitions while the council committee (which held its first meeting) works on regulations. The group emphasized that data centers are a new use requiring standards like other industries (citing precedent from billboard and cell tower ordinances).
Key Outcomes
- Moratorium Vote: McCannna voted to request the City-County Council enact a moratorium on data center petitions until zoning regulations are adopted. The organization will send a letter to all councilors.
- Next Steps for Data Centers: Members were urged to attend the Decatur Township hearing on Feb 26 and the MDC meeting on March 4. Letters of opposition (supporting a moratorium or waiting for an ordinance) should be directed to Bryce Patz at Indy.gov (case number 2025-CAP-CV-R5-6).
- Comprehensive Plan: The DMD declined to present further public meetings, citing a closed comment period and contract end. Residents were advised to monitor the MDC agenda for the plan's hearing and to attend any pre-meeting or public hearing. Concerns were raised about insufficient public access to draft maps and pattern books.
- State Legislation: Members were reminded to track bills (HB 1210, 1301, 1333, etc.) that remove local zoning authority; testimony may be needed in future sessions.
- Next Meeting: March 21 (third Saturday; corrected from "March 24th" in transcript) at North United Methodist Church, 9–11 a.m. The April 18 meeting will feature a panel on homelessness initiatives in Indianapolis.
Meeting Transcript
All right. I want to welcome everybody to McCannna's regular monthly meeting. My name is Kathy Burton, and I'm the current president for McCannna. We are having kind of a work session this morning where the neighborhoods get to talk to each other. That was actually something that we did last year, and it was very well received. And I've had a couple of requests from people to do that more often. And since our speaker for this morning had to reschedule, I thought, well, we'll take advantage of that. And just to talk this morning, just neighbors to neighbors about what we need to do next on several issues that are going on. Before I start though, I want to talk a little bit about what McCannna is for people who are here for the first time or who are watching on Channel 16. McCannna was founded in 1990 as a not-for-profit 501c3. And the purpose of that is to connect neighborhoods from all across the county with each other. And as time has gone on, we've also had the opportunity to work with a couple of our neighbors who are not right inside Marion County, but who touch Marion County's boundaries. And so what we do on the outlying township on our boundaries affects them directly and indirectly. What Marion County is doing, often affects them as well. Either immediately or sometime in the future, they can see development continuing to roll out across the county lines. And so, like I said, we've had an opportunity to work some work with some neighborhoods that are outside of Marion County. As I said, our purpose is to connect neighbors with each other from across the county to share experiences, talk about what's worked and what has not worked, and to lend support to each other. We're going to talk about that a little bit later in the meeting. So that a neighborhood that may not have a strong voice can figure out how to get that strong voice and have and have their neighbors join in supporting them. And then also to share experiences. You know, one neighborhood has gone through a particular issue and has been successful or not so successful. They can talk about what worked and what didn't work and how things how we can guide things from the neighborhood standpoint. We meet once a month on the third Saturday of every month, except in December. We meet at North United Methodist Church, which is at 38th and Meridian. And our meetings are from 9 to 11. They are open to anyone who is interested in community activities, whether they belong to a neighborhood association or not, these are open to the community. At those meetings, we normally have a speaker or speakers that talk about issues that are of interest to neighborhoods, and also to talk about some specific issues that may be going on at the time, which is a lot of what we're going to be doing this morning. If you would like to contact McCana, you can reach me again. My name is Kathy Burton. Sorry, have a little bit of a cold. You can contact me at 317-847-9959, or by email at CB 7801 at AOL.com. Or you can contact us through our Facebook page. Also, I want to remind everyone that our membership dues are $20 per organization per year, and those are due now. So anytime you would like to like open your walls and let go a little bit of your money, you're welcome to send those to us. You can send it by mail to P.O. Box 1082, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46206. Again, those are 20 per year per organization. With that, we are running a little bit behind time this morning, so I want to wind up by thanking the North United Methodist Church for lending us their meeting space. It's centrally located. It is on the bus line so everybody can get to it. And we also want to thank Channel 16 for recording our meetings and airing streaming, whatever the proper term is on channel 16 and then on channel 28. You can also get to them through the IndieGov.org indie.gov website. And so you can watch those meetings anytime you would like to, and that will help keep you engaged, even if you're not able to attend the meetings in person. They've been with us, they've been partners with us for a long, long time, and we appreciate their continued efforts. With that, I want to tell you that our next meeting is March 21st. We are, I'm still working on a speaker. However, thanks to the efforts of Dillian Novak, who is one of the mayor's neighborhood advocates, we were able to get a group of speakers to come and talk about the homeless initiatives that are in Indianapolis. A representative from the city and then also from CHIP, which is the coalition. Help me out, Jim. I can never remember the right acting acronym, but the homeless issue has gotten to be of a bigger, a bigger and bigger concern in in the community about you know how do we assist those people in becoming finding places to live, how can communities deal with the homeless camps that have cropped up in a humanitarian way and was finally able to pull that together for us.
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