There is now a real question as to whether Citizens State Bank will open another branch in Fishers.

The Fishers City Council voted Monday night to table a rezoning that would have cleared the way for the financial institution to build a banking center on the north side of 116th Street, just west of Olio Road — sending the proposal back to the administration with no guarantee it returns.

The petition covers a small parcel at 13562 E. 116th St., a lot of less than an acre that was rezoned from residential into the Drive Planning planned unit development by a 9-0 council vote in January 2024. The bank has been working to amend that PUD to allow a single-tenant, owner-occupied banking center of up to 4,500 square feet, capped at 24 feet in height, with fewer than 30 parking spaces and heavy landscaping intended to keep the building at a residential scale.

The bank has already given ground once. When the proposal first came before the council July 20, several members were openly skeptical about drive-through banking at that location, and neighbors in the surrounding subdivisions raised objections. Citizens State Bank removed the drive-through entirely from its revised plan, and the Fishers Advisory Plan Commission responded with a unanimous favorable recommendation on Aug. 5.

That was not enough Monday night.

Council members who spoke voiced serious concerns about eastbound traffic on 116th Street attempting a left turn into the parking lot, given the placement of the median. Traffic engineers who reviewed the site did not foresee a problem with the left turn — but the council was not persuaded. Some members also pressed the bank to drop signage from the building itself.

A motion was made to approve the rezoning with two conditions: removal of the building sign, and a right-in, right-out access restriction that would eliminate left turns into the banking center altogether. Bank officials told the council flatly that those restrictions were unacceptable.

At that point Mayor Scott Fadness suggested the council table the issue and give his staff an opportunity to find a creative solution. The council passed the motion to table unanimously.

The bottom line: there is no certainty the branch will be built at that location.

(Disclosure: Citizens State Bank sponsors the LarryInFishers podcast series.)

In other items before the council Monday night

Two DORAs approved. The council signed off on designated outdoor refreshment areas for two parts of the city — the Nickel Plate District downtown and the Fishers District south of 116th Street (see maps below). Hours of operation are set at 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Inside a DORA, patrons may carry alcoholic beverages purchased from participating establishments in marked, nonbreakable containers within the mapped boundaries. The districts are not official until the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission acts on them.

Buckhaven approved 8-1. The residential development on 131st Street near I-69 won approval over the lone no vote of Councilor Brad DeReamer, who cited concerns about setbacks. The Pulte Homes project, which received its first reading in May, calls for roughly two dozen single-family homes in the $600,000 to $700,000 range near Fishers High School.

Patch Development incentives approved. The council approved an economic development package for Patch Development’s $7.3 million project on Masters Road near the Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport. Patch, currently based in Westfield, has been assembling property in the airport-area business park and plans a flex office building at the site.

New traffic and right-of-way ordinances enacted. The council adopted a set of ordinances that:

• regulate pedestrian occupancy of travel lanes and certain medians;
• require a city permit for booths, tents, canopies, tables, kiosks and other temporary structures placed on public sidewalks, multi-use trails or pedestrian portions of the public right-of-way;
• restrict unauthorized entry into construction zones and interference with traffic movement or traffic-control devices.

Violations are subject to enforcement by the Fishers Police Department and fines through the Ordinance Violations Bureau.