By Sam Elliott

This is the third entry in a Current in Fishers series on the city’s Fishers 2040 comprehensive plan, this week covering the chapter of the plan focusing on housing and neighborhoods.

Richard Block is in just his second year as a Fishers city councilor while also serving as vice president of the plan commission, but he’s lived in the city since 1993 and is pleased with how the administration is looking ahead to the next 25 years.

“I think it was a really longstanding need in the community to have this developed. This was a priority for me when I considered running for office,” Block said. “What we had in place before was really not a very thorough comprehensive plan, and I don’t even know if you could call it a full comprehensive plan. I think what has emerged really is much more proactively thinking about what we want to see from land use to transportation, parks and residential standards. I think that where before Fishers tended to be more reactive to growth, we are now being proactive about what we’d like to see.”

Block served on the land use task force, but was a co-chair on the residential task force thanks in part to his business background as the owner and president of Paragon Realty, LLC.

“And Ronda Shrewsbury Weybright, who was the other co-chair, is in residential multi-family development herself. She brought a good background into it,” Block said. “We had several realtors, we had an architect, an affordable housing advocate, and a student.”

RE/MAX Ability Plus owner Jimmy Dulin, Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects owner John Dierdorf, Century 21 associate broker and realtor Emily Bowman, former Hamilton Co, Area Neighborhood Development Executive Director Nate Lichti, RNC Technology Director of Administration Sharon Reed, City Councilor and Summit Alternatives Investments Account Executive Selina Stoller, and Hamilton Southeastern High School senior Grace Bohlsen.

The task force proposed a series of goals designed to help create enduring areas offering a range of housing choices and well-maintained neighborhoods that retain property value.

Those goals include neighborhoods and communities created with connectivity to key destinations, diverse architecture, sustainability, accessibility and innovation in mind.

To read the full Fishers 2040 plan, visit Fishers2040.com. The city will host a community open house regarding the plan from 6 to 8 p.m. May 5 at Brooks School Road Elementary.