Crown Hill Neighbors
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BACKGROUND TIMELINE
Timeline source: Kathleen Dobie, NUVO, Inc., Saga of a (proposed) cemetery sale, January 10, 2007.
Crown Hill has known for many years that it needed to take action to supplement the Care Fund that provides for maintenance of the cemetery and grave sites. Launching the Crown Hill Funeral Home in 1993 was a direct outgrowth of efforts to supplement the endowment with the proceeds from this for-profit enterprise. When profits didn't match the Care Fund's needs, Crown Hill looked to other sources for income.
| Early 2005 | A Crown Hill board member approaches the Indy Parks Foundation to ask whether it has interest in purchasing 70 acres of the cemetery's land that curve north along Michigan Road to 42nd Street and over to Clarendon Road. After a presentation by Keith Norwalk, president and CEO of Crown Hill, the Indy Parks and Foundation board engages to raise $3 million — the pre-appraisal price. |
| April 2005 | Cindy Porteous, executive director of the Indianapolis Parks Foundation, is “disappointed to say the least” when Norwalk informed her that Crown Hill decided to put the land on the open market. Norwalk recalls that the foundation was out of the picture only after it was clear that it couldn't make a viable offer. |
| December 2005 | Crown Hill accepts Brenwick Development's $5 million offer. |
| March 2006 | Brenwick withdraws its offer. The presence of wetlands is revealed. Crown Hill is very receptive to the possibility of an offer from the Central Indiana Land Trust, Inc. Soon after an initial conversation, CILTI is informed that an offer must be proffered within three weeks and finds itself unable to raise funds that quickly. |
| July 2006 | Crown Hill accepts a $5.6 million offer from Mann Properties. |
| September 2006 | Mann files a petition for a zoning change from the current zoning to permit mixed commercial and residential development. |
| January 17, 2007 | Meeting of the Metropolitan Development Commission to hear Mann Properties' petition for rezoning at 1 p.m. in the Public Assembly Room on the second floor of the City-County Building at 200 E. Washington St. Hearing postponed to February 21, 2007. |
| Update February 6, 2007 |
Crown Hill Cemetery receives $15 million dollars for the Crown Hill Care Fund from Gibraltar Remembrance Service in exchange for cemetery and funeral home management services. |
Timeline source: Kathleen Dobie, NUVO, Inc., Saga of a (proposed) cemetery sale, January 10, 2007.
Alliance of Crown Hill Neighbors; P. O. Box 88770; Indianapolis, Ind. 46208 crownhillneighbors@hotmail.com