HANCOCK COUNTY — There are a lot of large buildings coming to the Mt. Comfort area, and those developments are going to need a lot of concrete.
So much so that a company is putting a temporary concrete plant off Mt. Comfort Road to more readily supply all of its projects in the area.
Greenfield-based Irving Materials, Inc., or IMI, plans to bring the ready-mix plant to an almost 10-acre parcel off the west side of the road north of Indianapolis Regional Airport.
The plant comes amid the plans over the past couple years for dozens of large buildings for logistics and warehousing uses in and around the Mt. Comfort Corridor.
“The whole driving factor behind this is because of the workload that is going on in that particular area,” Calvin Kingery of IMI told the Hancock County Board of Zoning Appeals earlier this year.
Despite having concrete plants in Greenfield, Fortville and Indianapolis, IMI wouldn’t be able to handle all of the construction needs slated over the next two to three years in the Mt. Comfort area without one closer by, Kingery said.
“We’ve got plants to both the east and the west that can accommodate our normal needs,” Kingery said. “There is a plethora of warehouse buildings that is just somewhat, the best way to say it — out of control — and this is a short-term solution.”
Pouring a large slab on the Mt. Comfort Corridor using IMI’s existing locations may take 25 to 30 trucks, Kingery said, while a closer plant could get by using just eight heading back and forth.
The county board of zoning appeals voted 4-0 to grant a special exception for the temporary concrete plant on the industrially zoned, undeveloped site.
“It doesn’t necessarily look like the county’s going to slow down any,” said board member Byron Holden of all of the developments coming to the Mt. Comfort area.
The vote came despite an unfavorable position from Mike Dale, executive director of the Hancock County Area Plan Commission.
“In general terms, I’d have to say that a concrete mixing facility at this location is not consistent with the long-range planning that’s going on in this corridor,” Dale said.
The board granted the special exception for five years. IMI can submit an extension request, as long as it’s at least six months before the exception expires.
Kingery said the plant’s operating hours will be mostly dawn to dusk, but come summer could include early-morning pours starting at 1 or 2 a.m., depending on area construction needs.
The plant will also have buffering, landscaping and screening.
Vehicles will travel through the plant using a loop with a separate entrance and exit. That’s for safety, Kingery said, but will also diminish beeps from trucks backing up.
Multiple houses are located to the north of the site. IMI’s petition drew no remonstrance.
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“There is a plethora of warehouse buildings that is just somewhat, the best way to say it — out of control — and this is a short-term solution.”
Calvin Kingery
Irving Materials, Inc.
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