By Gus Pearcy
At its April 22 meeting, the Brownsburg Town Council voted down a voluntary annexation request at 3575 N. Ind. 267, known as the Musselman planned unit development by M/I Homes. Then the council rejected the rezoning request.
After a 45 minute citizen’s comment period, most of which was negative to the Musselman PUD, the council voted 2-3 to annex the land. The failure of the ordinance meant that the council could not approve the rezoning.
Instead, council member Jeff Gracey made a motion to deny the zoning change, which effectively killed the entire project including the land swap for a town land that would have added parking to the B&O trailhead on South Green Street.
The proposed 57 acre development would have had 140 units, consisting of townhomes and single-family homes.
Jodi Dickey, development department director, said the PUD plan could not return for a year unless the developers significantly changed the proposal.
Next, the council approved and adopted a zoning change for Lacy Farms from planned development (PD) and commercial (C2) to highway commercial (HC) and industrial (I2) to allow development of an industrial park with a commercial component at the intersection of Ronald Reagan Parkway and Connector Road.
Scannell Properties is building two spec buildings that will be 500,000 square feet each. It is a $25 million investment with a potential to create 275 jobs at an average wage of $19.19 per hour.
The developer has not named a tenant for either building. The development is also expected to include some commercial outlots. The project has already secured a 10-year tax abatement. Several citizens spoke out against the industrial zoning of I2, but the I1 zoning wasn’t sufficient for the size of the buildings.
Council president Travis Tschaenn told the audience that this type of project is exactly what Ronald Reagan Parkway was built for, as he voted to approve.
