The future remains uncertain for neighbors of a future commerce park in Franklin.
The neighbors and several city officials have asked Sunbeam Development Corporation to consider a higher mound of dirt to shield Nyberg residents from lights and noises a nearly 550-acre commerce park would bring.
Sunbeam’s vice president of property development Ken Kern said the company would consider making a higher mound but did not commit to doing so during a public hearing on the I-65 South Commerce Park development Monday night.
On the table right now is an annexation of 56 additional acres contiguous to the 491 acres that have already been annexed into the city for the $50 million development along State Road 44, east of I-65. The land is sandwiched between the Nyberg subdivision and land that was recently rezoned to light industrial for Franklin Tech Park.
The additional land would be added to Sunbeam’s plans to develop the land into buildings ranging in size from 500,000 square feet to 1 million square feet, Kern said.
Site plans are still in the works, but an initial plan for 213 acres included four buildings ranging in size from 675,000 square feet to 1.2 million square feet.
The additional land is needed to make a cohesive plan for long-range growth over the next 10 to 15 years at the site. The size of the buildings and how many will be constructed will be determined based on market trends at the time, Kern said.
All the property is needed to make a cohesive development that will be appealing to companies wanting a strategic location on I-65 in central Indiana, he said.
“Sometimes people will say, ‘do you need all that property’ or ‘do you really need all of it now.’ In our way of looking at it, it is better to have it now, under our control, so we know what we are doing and we can put together a long-term plan,” Kern said.
The likely use for the buildings will be distribution and warehouse facilities, as that will fit in well with the shipping and ecommerce focused companies already located along I-65, he said.
The buildings are planned to be built to first-class standards and will likely be built on a speculative basis. As companies move in, Sunbeam would continue to own and maintain the buildings after they are constructed, Kern said.
“Franklin is our new gem. We know it is a growth-oriented city and there is good availability for this type of product,” he said.
The Florida-based company has 40 years of development experience in Indiana, starting in Castleton shortly after the mall was built, Kern said. Since then, the company acquired 1,200 acres in Fishers along Interstate 69 and about 900 acres in Clayton along Interstate 70, Kern said.
In Franklin, Sunbeam agreed to widen the setback between the development and homes to 25 feet, build a five-foot-tall undulating dirt mound, and plant a row of five-foot-tall trees at the property line and on top of the mound, according to city documents.
Sunbeam also agreed to limit entrances to the park to State Road 44 and Jim Black Road and to never create an entrance from Upper Shelbyville Road. An entrance from that road would have run behind the homes in the eastern part of the subdivision, which connects to Upper Shelbyville Road.
Neighbors are grateful for the concessions Sunbeam has already made, but they are asking for more. They say a five-foot-tall mound with young trees is simply not enough protection, especially if the buildings will be 40 feet tall.
Neighbors attended the public hearing Monday.
Melody Miller, whose property is adjacent to the annexation area and whose family has owned a farm in the neighborhood since 1928, is continuing the fight for a higher mound.
The mound and the uncertainty around it is causing neighbors mental anguish. Neighbors are concerned the lives they built there in the past several decades will be shattered, and they will get no peace in their own backyards ever again, Miller said.
She called on the Franklin City Council and Mayor Steve Barnett to hear their pleas and help convince Sunbeam to protect them.
“Mr. Mayor, don’t you think that we, too, are part of Franklin? With $350 million in infrastructure in our backyards, building the 15-foot berm that we are asking for is a drop in the bucket and the right thing to do,” Miller said.
“All we are asking for is 15 (feet) of dirt and trees to help mask your ruination of our tranquil lives. Is that really too much to ask?”
Other neighbors asked Sunbeam to consider laying out the development to minimize harm, by locating buildings as far away from their homes as possible. Final plans will be reviewed later by the Franklin Plan Commission, but that could be years from now.
Jenny Wheldon, who has lived in the neighborhood for just six months, presented herself as evidence the mound would be short on protection.
“I want to point out that I’m five feet tall,” Wheldon said. “This is what they are trying to give us to protect us from the noise and the light pollution. That’s not enough. It needs to be taller and bigger.”
Sunbeam has had hours of discussions about the neighbors’ concerns, Kern said.
At first, Kern said the concessions already offered should provide protection against lights and sounds at the site. Later, after several city officials questioned him on the size of the mound, he said the company would consider providing more protection, without a specific commitment to do so.
At the meeting, Barnett encouraged Sunbeam to go higher than five feet, but didn’t ask for a specific height.
“You might want to think about rethinking that berm,” Barnett said.
Council member Ken Austin, whose daughter lives in the Nyberg subdivision, questioned Kern on the berm to get at the reasons behind the five-foot commitment.
The mound height is standard across their Indiana developments, including those that abut subdivisions, Kern said.
The mound will undulate, meaning some parts of it will be taller than five feet, with the tallest points being about seven feet tall, he said.
Council member Shawn Taylor asked if the berm could be built before any of the buildings, to give the trees time to grow before construction starts.
Kern said it might be possible, but didn’t commit to doing so.
The council did not vote on the annexation and rezone, but will at its Aug. 16 meeting.
