A Center Grove area business is buying land to prepare for when Interstate 69 is built and cuts through their current property.
McCarty Mulch & Stone, at 100 Bluffdale Drive, is expecting to lose some of their property, possibly including their offices and warehouse space, when I-69 is built along State Road 37.
Before that happens, the business is buying about 44 acres of land just north of their location, where they will be able to relocate their operations, owner Josh McCarty said. This week, the county commissioners approved rezoning that land from agricultural to industrial.
McCarty wanted to make sure to keep the business that has been in his family for 24 years. In meetings with engineers for the Indiana Department of Transportation this spring, McCarty said he was told that land on his property that borders State Road 37 would be needed for the construction of I-69, and that his buildings could need to be torn down.
Exactly how much land will be needed isn’t yet known, but on maps the state has created McCarty Mulch is marked for relocation, he said.
He learned the property north of his business was for sale, and decided buying it made sense since that will allow him to keep his business there, McCarty said.
That is good news for McCarty, who originally expected he would need to move his business to another location, he said.
A timeline hasn’t been set for when McCarty would begin work on the new property. He said he intends to remodel and re-use a house and several barns. But work will likely wait until the construction of I-69 is closer, he said. The state will likely also need some of the new property for the interstate as well, though McCarty doesn’t know yet how much that will be, he said.
His hope is that he will also be able to expand the size of his property from the current 15 acres they are currently on, he said.
The county’s comprehensive plan calls for light industrial businesses on the west side of State Road 37 in the northwest part of the county, a category McCarty’s business would fit in, planning director David Hittle said. McCarty is a member of the Johnson County Council. The county council doesn’t have a say in property rezoning. That decision is made by the plan commission and Johnson County Board of Commissioners, Hittle said.
To protect underground water in the area, the rezoning prohibits the property from operating a business related to motor vehicle service, trucks stops or machine tool and die shops, which otherwise would normally be allowed at a light industrial site, Hittle said.
