opened as Fishers' civic and government center in 1992. The complex is home to the Fishers City Hall, the police and fire department headquarters buildings, the Fishers Post Office, the Hamilton County Convention and Visitor's Bureau, and the Fishers Chamber of Commerce. Eventually, a library and an office of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles were added. This is still the center of government in Fishers. 21st century The 2000 census reported the population of Fishers at almost 38,000. With the town's affordable homes, growing economy, and proximity to Indianapolis and Interstate 69, the growth in Fishers was tremendous. In 2003 the town of Fishers requested a special census from the U.S. Census Bureau to accurately measure the rapid population growth since 2000. This census would put the town's population at 52,390, a 38 percent increase from the 2000 census. Since then much of the government's resources have been devoted to building parks, maintaining roads, and managing the rapid growth of the town. In 2005, after a controversy over alleged mismanagement, Conner Prairie formally split from Earlham College, becoming an independent corporation. In January 2009, the Geist United Opposition conceded a four-year legal battle with Fishers over the involuntary annexation of the contiguous, unincorporated area around Geist Reservoir. This allowed Fishers to annex and incorporate this area of 2,200 homes on January 2, 2010, and to begin taxing it in 2011. This increased Fishers' population by about 5,500, making the town the eighth-largest community in Indiana. In 2012, Fishers constructed a multipurpose trail in the downtown district and an amphitheater in the Thomas A. Weaver Municipal Complex. That November, the town announced the details of a major development project in the heart of downtown. The $33 million pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use development on the north side of 116th Street, just west of Municipal Drive, broke ground in mid-2013 and was scheduled to be completed in 2015. City controversy In 1998, a referendum to change Fishers from a town to a city was rejected by 75% of the town's voters. In 2008, a group named CityYes began collecting petition signatures for a voter referendum on the question of whether or not to become a city. The town appointed a 44-member citizen study committee to review the benefits and drawbacks of a change of government type. In December 2010, the Fishers Town Council approved two referendum questions: whether or not to become a traditional