MUNCIE – What could kill the Mounds Lake reservoir proposal?
It's a question that many opponents of the plan would like answered — and this week the man who is spearheading the plan answered it.
The proposal to build a miles-long, two-county reservoir stretching from Anderson to Yorktown would be sunk if town councils in Daleville or Yorktown fail to join their Chesterfield counterparts in joining a new Mounds Lake Commission, Rob Sparks told The Star Press.
Sparks, executive director of Anderson's Corporation for Economic Development and the driving force behind the reservoir project, was asked by The Star Press at Tuesday night's forum at Yorktown High School: If one of the three towns opts out, would the project be dead?
"The proposed ordinance needs all four units," Sparks said, adding a clarification: "The commission as proposed needs Anderson, Chesterfield, Daleville, Yorktown."
The phrase "as proposed" could give developers of the $400-million project the opportunity to change the makeup of the commission that would oversee the project. It's happened before.
In May, after some Delaware County officials had expressed opposition to the proposal and scheduled a public forum at the county fairgrounds, the officials received an agreement revised from an earlier proposal. The new one noted that Anderson and the towns were "leading the process" and that emphasized that county officials could join the commission "if and when they wish."