The Whitestown Plan Commission took its first step in approvals for a new business park.

Monday night the commission voted unanimously, 4-0 with members Josh Westrich and Jason Lawson not in attendance, to allow the concept plan for the business park to proceed. The park must still gain approvals for primary plat and construction before any building can take place on the 158 acres on the west side of Ind. 267 across from Perry Boulevard.

Jerry Kittle, of Innovative Engineering and Consulting, said Exeter Property Group hopes to develop the property.

“We are looking to construct two buildings,” Kittle said. “The one will be about 700,000 square feet with capabilities of expanding to 1 million, and the other staying at around 700,000.”

Kittle said the project has been proposed several times before, including when the area was under the jurisdiction of Boone County.

“The economics of those times did not allow the project to move forward,” he said.

Kittle said if the project is approved, they hope to start con­truction in spring 2015.

“The site will be served by Whitestown utilities,” he said. “This is industrial, warehouse, distribution site facilities since it is already zoned (light industrial).”

Kittle said they are working with the Indiana Department of Transportation on gaining permits for the entrances and access lanes.

“We propose one entrance to be right in/right out,” he said. “The other two drives would be full cuts at this time, and that is not what exists today. It’s a right in/ right out now.”

Kittle said they are doing a full traffic study.

“In 2011, we had the same stumbling block with the entrances,” he said. “Before we could do anything this time, we wanted to meet with INDOT to get that taken care of. We’re starting over from scratch even though entrances do exist out there.”

One of the recommendations staff made was to extend all utilities to the far west portion of the property.

“We plan on taking that sewer as far back as we can, but it’s not deep enough to go to the western edge of the property,” Kittle said. “It will go far enough to take on this development. If there’s development to the west, you may have to do a pump station later. We can’t pave everything and do everything just because that’s the desire. We can only do what is out there.”

Commission Chairman Clinton Bohm asked Kevin Shea, Exeter Property Group investment principal, what type of businesses they see coming to the site.

“These will be modern bulk warehouses,” Shea said. “They’ll be designed for tall racks, lots of trucks, and the distr ibution of goods. Who knows what those businesses will be, but I would imagine companies like those that are in the area with potential for growth. These buildings have to be fairly generic in layouts because we don’t know who is coming.”
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