343 acres of land have been rezoned from agricultural to light industrial.
(Devan Ridgway)
Ellettsville citizens are concerned a new technology park could cause disruptions. A lack of transparency around the project is also said to be a problem.
Gerald Johnston lives across the street from the tech park’s proposed location. When he moved into his house nine years ago, only an empty field faced his property.
“I like peace and quiet,” he said. “I thought we were going to have some here, but it's changing pretty quickly…we bought a place in the country, well, what we thought was country.”
Gerald Johnston has lived in his home, which faces the plot of land where the tech park could be built, for nine years now. (Devan Ridgway)
Kehe, a food retail distribution center, was built a few years ago in the field across from his house about a half mile away. Johnston can hear alarms from that center, annoying him and his wife. He and neighbors are afraid a tech park will produce even more noise, light pollution and traffic.
“I don't know how they'll support the traffic on Starnes Road down to Reeves and out to Flatwoods,” he said. “It's really not designed for semi traffic.”
William Ellis, who is on the Ellettsville Town Council, said the land for the tech park already has been annexed into city limits. Officials also recently approved rezoning the 343 acres. The land was labeled as agricultural, where only farming could occur. Now that the land has been rezoned as light industrial, it allows buildings related to manufacturing and technology.
Johnston is concerned with the lack of information Ellettsville has released about the project. He’s attended one town council meeting, and plans to attend them regularly. Merriam Webster defines a tech park as a place where “companies have offices and laboratories and do work involving science and technology.” The concept is open to interpretation.
“A tech park, what’s that mean?,” Johnston said. “What’s the definition of a tech park?”
Scott Reynolds created the site harp (Hoosier Alliance for Reasonable Planning) Indiana. The site provides documents and videos about the project so people can stay informed, as well as contacts for Ellettsville officials. Reynolds also outlines concerns about the pace of the annexation and rezoning process.
Scott Reynolds created the site harp Indiana to provide more information on the project for citizens. (Isabella Vesperini)
“There was really very little information that was being shared, and very little information that was being made available by the people who are proposing to develop this property,” Reynolds said.
Ellis said he is aware of citizen concerns about the lack of information available on the project but he isn’t worried about the lack of transparency from developer Greg Bowlen. Bowlen did not respond to requests for comment.
“I can understand any companies not wanting to say who they are, what exactly they want to build, because there's competition for this,” he said. “What they don't want to happen is the competition to pull the rug out from under them or build something similar.”
William Ellis, who is on the Ellettsville Town Council, said he's not concerned about how little information he knows so far about the tech park. (Isabella Vesperini)
When it comes to noise concerns, Ellis said features of the park can be negotiated under the town’s Unified Development Ordinance, which among other things aims to improve aesthetics.
“If there's going to be a lot of noise, we need this done to minimize that. If there's going to be pollution, we're going to need this testing for that,” he said. “So, that's when we'll actually get into the nuts and bolts of what it is and how to manage it.”
The project is somewhat related to the Envision Ellettsville Plan, which outlines goals to further develop and grow the town, which the tech park could potentially contribute to. However, the plan doesn't involve anything related to annexation; the land for the tech park was annexed earlier this year.
“We needed more light industrial, but that area wasn't in Ellettsville to begin with,” he said.
Scott Reynolds, organizer of the harp website, obtained this map through a public records request. The areas covered with yellow stripes are where a tech park could be developed. The tech park would be located behind Harman Farms, which is located right off State Road 46. (Town of Ellettsville)
Ellis said he would not want the tech park to impact Harman Farm negatively; it’s a mixed-used development that will have homes and shops.
“If what is going in there would impact that, why would we approve it?” he said. “That would be counterproductive. So, it's going to have to be something that complements that [Harman Farm] and complements that expansion with the town's goals.”
Ellis thinks this tech park could be good for business in Ellettsville. It has the potential to increase tax revenue, so residents might pay less in taxes. New jobs could also become available.
“We know that superconductors are a growing business, and we want to be part of that,” he said. “Whether we do it or not, the growth is going to happen. And so, the question to be asked is, ‘do you want this to go into another municipality and for them to reap the benefits of the jobs and tax relief, or do you want to reap the jobs and tax relief?’ And overall, I'd say most Ellettsville residents want to do that.”
Reynolds and Johnston are both worried about the loss of farmland.
Recently, a sign saying 'Public Hearing Notice' was put out to notify people that something would be coming there soon. (Devan Ridgway)
“Once you put something like this in, whatever it looks like, you're not going back to farmland,” Reynolds said. “Farmland is valuable. There's value to open space, there's value to the heritage of the community, and I think we should be thinking carefully about that.”
Depending on how disruptive the development is, Johnston said he’d consider moving.
“If they start throwing white box buildings up, I'll have a 12-foot wall built all the way down right away with a gate,” he said. “I thought we'd retire here and raise grandkids and garden. But if they build out to here, I'm probably going to look for another place.”
