Warehouse proposal resurfaces with changes

GREENFIELD – Planning authorities narrowly approved measures for a project now involving one building spanning nearly 840,000 square feet planned for a business park on the city’s north side.

The site consists of over 63 acres north of I-70, south of CR 300N and east of Franklin Street. It’s on the west side of Progress Park – also home to a BWI plant and Elanco Animal Health’s headquarters until it completes its planned move to Indianapolis.

The Peterson Company, an Indianapolis developer, is building the structure for Indianapolis-based Shear Property Group. Last year, the companies were planning two buildings about 400,000 square feet each. A wetland on the site would have rendered much of one side of one of the buildings unusable, however, so now plans call for one building spanning about 836,594 square feet. While envisioned for distribution purposes, the development is currently speculative and without any end users yet identified.

This week the Greenfield Plan Commission approved a development plan and plats for the project 5-4, with Becky Riley, Jeff McClarnon, Chris Cooper, Jason Koch and Mike Terry voting in favor and Paulette Richardson, Kristi Baker, Gary McDaniel and David Spencer voting against. The commission also approved a modification allowing the building to be 51 feet tall 7-2, with Riley, Cooper, Baker, McClarnon, Richardson, Terry and Koch voting in favor and Spencer and McDaniel voting against.

Koch told the Daily Reporter he approached his decision of support from a technical standpoint.

“The question was – is it zoned properly for that use, is it an allowed use and does it meet all our technical requirements – which all three of those answers were yes,” he said. “For me that was the pure-and-simple of it.”

During the meeting, McDaniel pointed to the surge of large buildings designed for distribution purposes in western Hancock County in recent years and wondered why more are needed in Greenfield.

“We don’t have enough warehouse space at Mt. Comfort?” he said.

Larry Siegler of The Peterson Company said Shear Property Group would be better at answering that question, as it’s the driving force behind the project and will own the building. No Shear representatives attended the meeting, but the company told the Daily Reporter in an email that it believes the building “will provide significant job creation opportunities for Greenfield and will increase tax revenue over time through the increase in assessed value for the building as well as personal property for whatever occupant will ultimately install in the building.”

Greenfield planning director Joanie Fitzwater noted at the meeting that another company is looking at two potential sites in the city for a distribution building as well.

“I believe they think there is room for more in the market,” she said.

Due to the development’s speculative nature, Siegler could not answer how much employees working in the building would be expected to earn. Plan commission member Richardson said she hopes whichever employer does occupy the building pays workers enough to be able to live in the area.

When an end user or users are secured, they will need to provide information to the city so it can determine whether parking is adequate. Plans currently include over 460 parking spaces and 230 truck trailer spaces. Siegler said that many may not be needed, adding those figures were built into the plans to meet city requirements and maintain flexibility.

Plans also call for 84 truck docks, with the possibility of over 100 more. Loading and delivery areas will be on the east and west sides of the building.

The city plans to use taxes generated by the business park to extend Opportunity Parkway from where it currently terminates on the Shear site’s east edge and bring the road west and north to CR 300N, where a secondary access is intended for the property.

Several residences border the site’s west side. Richardson asked Siegler if he would want to live next to the kind of development he was proposing.

“Sure, absolutely,” he replied.

Mounding will be required along the site’s western boundary and drainage ponds are planned on much of the west side as well. Trees also line much of the border.

Two residents spoke at the plan commission meeting, expressing concerns on matters including drainage, line of sight from windows on the top of the building, fire protection, noise and light, as well as requests for a 10-foot mound between properties and to prohibit semitractor-trailers from entering the site off CR 300N out of a concern for backups clogging the future traffic circle coming to the intersection with Franklin Street.

Siegler said a series of ponds will be connected via piping and that the site will drain from west to east, away from the residences. The drainage plan is designed to withstand a 500-year flood, he continued, and will need to be approved by the Hancock County Surveyor’s Office.

He said he could not guarantee a 10-foot mound but will do as much mounding as possible while ensuring it won’t be too steep to mow, adding evergreen trees will top the mound. The windows at the tops of the buildings won’t be able to be accessed in a way that provides a line of sight to residences, Siegler said, but instead serve a sole purpose of letting natural light into the structure.

A photometric plan submitted to the city demonstrates no light pollution on nearby homes, according to a report prepared by the city’s planning office. Siegler said lights will be designed to shine down and back onto the property. Noise wouldn’t exceed that of normal truck traffic, he continued, adding the site has the potential to be a 24/7 operation.

Eight fire hydrants will surround the building and the structure will have a fire pump inside. The property will be looped with a 16-inch private water line, which Koch, also the city’s engineer, said would be one of the biggest in the city and provide plenty of pressure.

Koch said he doesn’t think the city would be able to mandate how semitractor-trailers access the property. He noted the project will include a deceleration lane off eastbound CR 300N that vehicles will enter before turning right into the site, freeing up space for through-traffic on the road. He anticipates most traffic heading to the property would use Opportunity Parkway due to it being in better condition and the path of least resistance. Koch added he expects most of the CR 300N access’ use would likely come from employees who live to the west.

A study was provided to the city indicating the building wouldn’t cast a shadow on the residences to the west, but that was for a 46-foot-tall structure, before the 51-foot modification was considered. Bill Butz, an engineer working on the project, expressed confidence the extra height wouldn’t have a significant impact.