Mohr Capital’s requested rezone of the 154.5-acre Bright Farms property will once again be up for the Whiteland Town Council’s approval, six months after the council hit pause on it in late September.
The Whiteland Plan Commission voted 5-0 Tuesday to forward a favorable recommendation to the town council with conditions. The conditions, which stemmed from concerns of residents who live in the area, will be addressed before the town council votes on the proposal Tuesday.
If approved, Mohr will add to its industrial park off Whiteland Road near Interstate 65. The town council has already granted Mohr 233.9 acres of land alongside the interstate for future development.
Mohr Capital initially planned to invest up to $350 million in the industrial park, which would include 11 warehouses ranging in size from 111,000 square feet to 1.3 million square feet. The town said that could change as plans are still being finalized.
Conditions include making sure there are adequate buffers between the industrial park adjacent to Tracy Road and nearby houses. Mohr will also have to address concerns about the potential for light pollution, noise and truck traffic on Tracy Road, and may have to conduct a traffic study if the town council requests it.
Several Whiteland residents spoke against the project again Tuesday night. Matt Stephenson shared concerns about the town’s ability to handle the population increase the proposed developments would bring.
“I’m glad to see the town is developing, but when talking about long-term residential uses, it’s intended that development projects not be approved unless the county believes it can absorb the additional residential demand in a reasonable time,” Stephenson said.
The uptick in industrial development and warehouses in Whiteland is not what Whiteland residents are looking for, said Heather Stone, another Whiteland resident.
“With all this development, they’re not thinking about people who moved out here for a country feel,” Stone said. “We’re not moving out here to have trucks and businesses destroy our country feel. It’s a constant thing — the noise and the light.”
Mohr Capital broke ground on an about 827,000-square-foot industrial lot Tuesday, and will break ground on an additional lot — this one more than 1 million square feet — in less than two months, according to a Mohr Capital news release.
Both those lots are part of the same logistics park that, if approved, the Bright Farms property would be part of.
