About 100 residents of Whiteland and nearby unincorporated Johnson County gathered Tuesday at a Whiteland Plan Commission meeting to speak out against the annexation and rezoning of 340 acres of agricultural and residential property to form a logistics park.
Despite the public outcry, the plan commission unanimously approved the annexation to a chorus of boos from the audience.
Given the size of the crowd and the town’s small meeting room — made even smaller by social distancing guidelines — residents sat or stood outside in the parking lot at Whiteland Town Hall, while the plan commission meeting played on loudspeakers. Those closest to the front had a partially unobstructed view of the meeting through open windows.
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About 25 residents spoke out against the annexation Tuesday evening. All residents who wanted to speak had the opportunity, but were limited to two to five minutes, per the commission’s rules.
Plans for project
The annexation area encompasses two properties — a 156-acre property owned by Bright Farms, and a 184-acre property owned jointly by Zella Haveman, Eighth Generation and O’Brien Properties. Its boundaries include Tracy Road to the north, Whiteland Road to the south, Interstate 65 to the east and County Road 200 East to the west. This area is currently farmland, with a few residential properties.
Dallas, Texas-based developer Mohr Captial is proposing a logistics park with 5.7 million square feet of warehouse space across 10 buildings, expandable by up to 6.7 million square feet, according to the project’s master plan. Three of the buildings in the development will be near or in excess of 1 million square feet, with an additional building just shy of it.
At the front of the property, along Whiteland Road, sandwiched between a truck repair shop and existing residences, more than 23,000 square feet of retail space across four buildings and a 22,000-square-foot hotel are proposed.
Mohr is also the developer behind the new 996,000-square-foot Cooper Tire facility on another property just south of this proposed development. The project is considered the first phase of the larger logistics complex the developer is planning.
Mohr facilitated Cooper Tire’s move to Whiteland from Franklin after the local business executives said they were unable to find a large enough space in Franklin, according to Whiteland and Franklin officials. Mohr also built the Franklin industrial complex that Cooper is relocating from, and several other developments in the Indianapolis-area.
Mohr is on track to build about 1.5 buildings a year, with 800,000- and 600,000-square-foot buildings going up first, said Matt Price, Mohr’s attorney for the project. The speed of construction will depend on the market and is expected to unfold over the next five years, he said.
Pride and progress
Residents expressed anger and fear over what the logistics park might do to the small-town lifestyle they cherish.
“The pursuit of my happiness is being able to drive (around) here and see wild turkeys on the road outside of town … stop by Whiteland Orchard and get some apples,” said Jerry Fields. “This is what differentiates Whiteland from Carmel, where you are sitting on a concrete jungle. This is what we want. This is why we moved down here. The last thing I want to do it look out my back window and see a 40-foot concrete wall.”
The change is so concerning that Shay Denham is considering moving to avoid a development she predicts will lower her quality of life and property value.
“I am being put in a position where I have to feel like I need to sell now before they break ground and get my family of four out of here,” Denham said. “I still have two in elementary and two in high school. I have to uproot their entire lives and the only home they have ever known.”
A resounding concern is that the development is too much, too fast for the town of 4,400 people.
Debra Wood, who lives 10 feet from Whiteland Exchange and 100 feet from Cooper Tire, said the developments that are already underway in town has been taxing on the roads and her family.
“There is a million-square-foot building at Cooper Tire and in my backyard. Whiteland Road cannot take this,” Wood said. “I’m not opposed to progress in Whiteland, but from my house to the middle of that road is 46 feet.”
Some also expressed disappointment in the town’s leadership, and questioned whether this is the type of growth Whiteland should be seeking.
Joe Van Deman, a resident who owns a trucking company, cautioned that these types of facilities might not be a good investment for the community due to the low wages and low density of workers per square foot. He said the town should strive for better than what Mohr is offering.
“If we want Whiteland to be a community that is truly moving forward, as is proposed on the logo for Whiteland, we need to be looking for high-wage jobs. Distribution centers, warehousing and trucking facilities are not going to provide that,” Van Deman said.
Price, Mohr’s attorney, fired back at Van Deman, saying Whiteland shouldn’t “look down their nose” at $30,000 jobs. Mohr is committed to being a “good neighbor,” he said.
Developer gives some
Mohr has already agreed to several concessions for residents, including limiting the types of businesses that may move into the development and adding landscaping buffers that are beyond what the town’s zoning ordinances require, Price said.
Building use will be limited to the following: light industrial assembly and production, warehouse or distribution facilities, wholesale facilities, conference centers, data procession or call centers, office uses and government facilities. The goal is to attract “household name” businesses to the buildings, said Price, who listed off big names that have been attracted to their Indianapolis-area developments.
Still, speakers asked the commission to see past the dollar signs of the expected $300 million real property investment, and $75 million personal property investment to how it may impact residents.
“Is this what our town really wants? Judging by the number of people out here that this town (commission) works for, I don’t think it is,” said Nicholas Cannon-Mason.
Because the proposal on the agenda focused solely on the annexation and a rezoning of the property to industrial from agricultural, the commission did not ask for any concessions from the developer before forwarding the proposal to the Whiteland Town Council with a favorable recommendation.
Next, the town council will consider the annexation and rezoning at 7 p.m. Sept. 16, and vote on the proposal at 7 p.m. Sept. 30.
Mohr plans to pursue tax breaks for the development, plans show.
