The Fishers City Council has put the Heart and Soul Church rezoning request on hold for at least 30 days to give city staff more time to review the proposal.

“Heart and Soul Church project is going to be delayed 30 days to allow city staff to do more research before we take action,” Council President John DeLucia announced at the start of Monday night’s meeting.

DeLucia did not say after the meeting what research the city is conducting. However, residents near the site raised traffic concerns during the Plan Commission public hearing earlier this month, and the city is expected to complete a traffic study of the area before the Council votes.

The Plan Commission fell one vote short of sending a favorable recommendation to the Council at its October meeting.  This resulted in a no recommendation to the Council

The church wants to rezone 18.66 acres at 11616 E. 126th St. from the Lake Meadows planned unit development and R5 Residential to a new Heart and Soul Community Campus PUD. A PUD is a custom zoning district with rules written for a single development. The new zoning would allow a place of worship, outdoor recreation and small-scale commercial uses.

Eleven people spoke at the public hearing, four in favor and seven opposed. A petition from residents of the Whispering Woods neighborhood was included in the meeting materials.

This is not the first church proposal along 126th Street to draw neighborhood pushback. In 2017, iTown Church first eyed property at 126th Street and Brooks School Road, near the Gray Eagle neighborhood, but after residents organized against it, church leaders shifted their plans to farmland at 136th Street and Brooks School Road. Neighbors at the time cited congestion at the already busy 126th and Brooks School intersection.

In other business Monday:

— The Council gave final approval to the 2027 budget, unchanged from the version presented in September. The $224 million spending plan is about 10% larger than the $203.6 million budget approved for 2026. Much of that growth is in Public Works, up 21%, where capital spending on wastewater infrastructure more than doubles following the city’s acquisition of HSE Utilities. Outside Public Works, the budget closely resembles this year’s. For city employees, the budget funds a 3% across-the-board raise and adds $1,000 to the city’s match for 457 retirement plans, the public-sector counterpart to a 401(k), bringing the annual match to $4,000 per employee.

— During Community Comment, a downtown resident said homeless individuals have been leaving messes in the area, and there is confusion over who is responsible for cleaning them up. She also questioned how the city is responding to a growing number of people without homes downtown. Mayor Scott Fadness said the transient population is increasing and the city will make sure messes are cleaned up. He said help will be offered to people experiencing homelessness, but those who refuse help will be held accountable for their actions.

— Firefighters Robert Mayfield and Greg Morlen were honored for 20 years of service with the Fishers Fire Department.