ANDERSON — After more than five hours of debate and discussion Thursday, the Anderson City Council agreed to introduce an ordinance to create a Mounds Lake Commission on a 7-2 vote.
Councilmen Anthony "Ty" Bibbs, D-at large, and Ollie Dixon, D-District 4, voted against the introduction.
In order to address some concerns raised by them, the council agreed to amend the ordinance to say that if the commission determines at some point that the project is viable, the council, and presumably other affected local units of government will have an opportunity to determine if they want to move forward, according to Tim Lanane, the council's attorney.
That revised language will be presented at the council's next regular meeting on June 11 when the ordinance will receive a second reading, said Council President Donna Davis.
Anderson is the first local government to consider the creation of a commission comprised of elected officials who will oversee the next phase of study.
If the City Council approves the ordinance on third reading -- which may not occur until August -- the attention of both supporters and opponents of the project would focus on the towns of Chesterfield, Daleville and Yorktown.
Rob Sparks, who is spearheading efforts to building the reservoir, said in response to a question that the project would fail if any of those communities do not vote to form the commission.
More than 300 people crowded into City Hall, with the overflow going into the auditorium, as the debate began on whether to create a Mounds Lake commission.
City Council members heard passionate advocates on both sides present their cases.
Sparks said the commission is necessary to get some of the answers people have about the project.
"This project is large in scope, $440 million. I think a project as large as this is needs to have the oversight of elected leaders," Sparks said.
He said proponents are moving in incremental steps in a feasibility process that will take years to complete.
Moving forward with a phase three study overseen by the commission is the only way to get answers that many people have about the reservoir proposal, he said.
"There is no guarantee this project will ever be permitted and built," Sparks said. The cost of completing the next part of the study has been estimated at $28 million.
Opponents, on the other hand, took issue with many of the preliminary conclusions reached by DLZ, an engineering and architectural consulting firm.
Opponents led by the Heart of the River Coalition said enough evidence already exists to suggest that a reservoir will never be permitted.
Their supporters included engineers, geologists and other experts with experience evaluating these kinds of projects.
"We are committed to opposing this project for as long as it takes, said Sheryl Myers, spokeswoman for the coalition.
The Mounds Lake Reservoir project burst into public consciousness in March 2013, but it was conceived three years earlier by Ricker Oil Co. President and CEO Quinn Ricker as part of a Leadership Academy of Madison County exercise.
Sparks, who was part of that class, consulted with an engineering firm and determined the idea was worthy of further study.
Not only would a reservoir help meet the future water needs of the growing Indianapolis metropolitan area, he and others argued, it would be transformational from an economic development and recreational standpoint that would make Anderson a destination.
As with any large construction projects there would be huge disruptions.
A 2,500-foot-long, 50-foot-earth dam would be built just east of East Lynn and 18th streets in Anderson, backing water up seven miles into Delaware County to around County Road 300 South and South High Banks Road.
According to preliminary estimates, at least 400 homes and hundreds of thousands of square feet would be flooded by the 2,100-acre lake. In addition, utilities would have to be relocated and various landfills dotting the area that would be inundated cleaned up.
Mounds Lake would control billion of gallons of water in central Indiana, and help relieve the impact of floods and drought through a 400-square-mile area of the White River's watershed, Sparks and other supporters said.
Opposition to the $450 million project began almost immediately.
Residents in Anderson's Irondale neighborhood quickly lambasted the idea because so many homes would be affected.
And environmental advocates expressed concern about the impact on Mounds State Park and wildlife habitat, and technical details of the proposal.