The Whiteland Town Council said yes Wednesday night to a controversial annexation and rezoning request that would enable a massive 334-acre logistics park.
The town council will need to vote on it one more time before the project moves forward.
About 50 residents — half as many who gathered at a recent Whiteland Plan Commission meeting on the topic — came out to witness the council’s first vote. The plan commission gave it a favorable recommendation despite pleas from nearby residents not to.
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A proposal to annex a 184-acre property owned jointly by Zella Haveman, Eighth Generation and O’Brien Properties into Whiteland passed 4-1 on first reading, with council member Laura Fleury voting against it. The council must vote on the annexation one more time, at a second special meeting set for 7 p.m. Sept. 30.
At that meeting, the council will also vote on a fiscal plan for the annexation, and the rezoning of a 156-acre property owned by Bright Farms. The Bright Farms rezoning request is being voted on separately because the property is already part of Whiteland.
Boundaries for the project 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, but the request would rezone the area to I-1, light industrial.
The proposals, if approved, would enable an estimated $325 to $350 million investment in Whiteland, said Bob Mohr, founder and chairman of Mohr Capital, a Dallas, Texas-based development firm. Mohr, who grew up in Indianapolis, said he is glad to bring a project of this scale to a community just south of his hometown.
The Whiteland Logistics Park would include about 11 industrial buildings, ranging in size from 111,000 square feet to 1.3 million square feet, several retail businesses and a hotel. Mohr also plans to create a new road through the development which will connect Whiteland Road, Graham Road and Tracy Road via an extension of Bob Glidden Blvd, according to the master plan.
The development’s anchor is a Cooper Tire warehouse, which is relocating to Whiteland from Franklin for lack of area to expand its building footprint, city and town officials said. The warehouse is under construction at the intersection of Whiteland and Graham Roads.
The development is planned in two phases, with five buildings on the 184-acre property closest to I-65 to be constructed as speculative buildings, said Gary Horn, chief investment officer for Mohr. Buildings on the Bright Farms property would be developed later, potentially as buildings designed to suit a specific business’s needs, he said.
Land for the retail and hospitality components have not been acquired, but the company plans to file an additional annexation and rezoning request in the coming days for that part of the project, Horn said.
Mohr officials said they are taking neighbor concerns about the size of the development into consideration. Mohr’s architecture firm for the project, Indianapolis-based American Structurepoint, revised the master plan after the widely attended plan commission meeting where residents spoke out about the project.
“Our objective is to listen and try to address their needs as best we can. If someone lives across the street from a planned development there’s not a lot I can do, but I will put in a buffer,” Horn said.
Instead of a 1 million-square-foot building off Tracy Road, the plan now calls for three smaller buildings ranging in size from 179,000 square feet and 348,000 square feet, as well as a 12-foot-tall wall, trees and a drainage pond that will together provide a 200- to 300-foot setback from the road.
But neighbors are still opposed to the development, saying it is too much, too fast for the small town of 4,400.
Nine individuals Wednesday night shared their concerns with the council, most of them property owners who live in unincorporated Johnson County, near the proposed development.
“When I bought my house in 2009, I knew there was a chance for residential growth to the south of me and I was all for that. I’m not for a concrete wall in my front yard, basically,” said Todd Hendrickson, who lives across Tracy Road from the proposed development.
Town Manager Norm Gabehart and others with the town argue the comprehensive plan calls for this land to be zoned for residential only if other proposals for development are not submitted prior to 2031. With 700 homes platted and more land available, Gabehart said the proposed use of the properties in question will not hinder future housing development.
Several speakers asked the town to pause the development and update the comprehensive plan before allowing this development to move forward.
“The town’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinances are very old. My suggestion is to use some of your new tax revenues to put a halt on this, get your ordinances in place and your standards updated, to allow development to be in a consistent and responsible manner,” said Mary Atkins, a civil engineer who also lives near the proposed development.
Speakers also questioned whether this type of development is the right thing for the town. They had hoped the council would put a stop to the development in favor of one that could bring higher-wage jobs to the community.
Under the industrial classification, the developer could bring the following types of businesses to Whiteland: research and development, packaging, assembly, manufacturing, indoor storage, warehousing and distribution. Currently, all but one of the proposed buildings are speculative, with no tenants in mind. Horn said the buildings will be marketed to any company looking for a presence on the southside of Indianapolis that fits within the zoning classification.
Right now, the southside market is leaning toward bulk industrial developments populated with warehouses, Horn said. Businesses of this type are more likely to move to Whiteland than research and development or low-rise office spaces, but higher-wage jobs are not completely out of reach, he said.
Other unknowns, such as increased traffic, prompted Fleury to vote “no” to the annexation, she said.
“There are a lot of things that I would like to see worked out if possible before I could support yes … (I would like) for traffic to be studied. Traffic is already so huge here. Things like that need to be considered. I don’t think it’s a bad idea, I just think that right now I’m not comfortable voting yes,” she said.
Though other town council members voted yes to the project, council member Scot Ford wanted neighbors to know the town is listening to their concerns.
“The comments have not fallen on deaf ears here. I’ve taken numerous notes and other people are as well,” Ford said before responding to specific concerns that were raised.
He added that nearby residents would also see more traffic if Bright Farms became 400 homes instead of four industrial buildings. The development would improve, not hurt, public safety in the area, and would bring in new tax dollars for community amenities and schools, he said.
