Plan to build large warehouse could cause damaging floods, Franklin Township residents say

Brian Zoeller calls his 16-acre property in Franklin Township paradise, but he said the possibility of a huge industrial warehouse just to the east could make it paradise lost.

Zoeller and his wife, Julie, live along Buck Creek, a winding waterway at the southeastern edge of Marion County. What are now fields of corn and soybeans stretching out beyond the creek have become the focus of a neighborhood fight against new development in the area prone to floods.

The controversy started about a year and a half ago, when residents banded together to turn back plans for a proposed wastewater treatment plant to serve properties in adjacent Shelby County.

“We fought that and won and thought we were good," Zoeller said, "but then we got notice about a 1 million square foot warehouse.”

Beyond the potential flooding hazards, residents are concerned the proposed warehouse will affect wildlife habitat, increase heavy truck traffic and mar the natural views of the southernmost portion of Indianapolis’s Greenways plan. Indy Greenways are trail systems throughout Marion County that let hikers and bikers enjoy natural areas. The master plan for Indy Greenways shows a trail that would eventually stretch from Fort Benjamin Harrison State park in Lawrence all the way down to Buck Creek by the Zoellers' property.

The warehouse, proposed by Becknell Industrial, is a speculative development meaning it’s conceptual in nature and plans may change as the zoning and permitting process continue. Blair Carmosino, Becknell's development manager, said the proposal adheres to all state, local and federal regulations.

“We’re going above and beyond on this site,” Carmosino said.

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Developers are looking for opportunities to fit with the community for industrial projects, Carmosino said. The current land is designated for agriculture, but Becknell’s proposal for industrial zoning fits within the comprehensive plan for Marion County, he said.

The new tax revenues from the project "is sorely needed down there,” Carmosino said.

Becknell is petitioning to rezone about 199 acres of farmland into light industrial, according to documents filed with Marion County’s Metropolitan Development Commission. The 50-foot high, nearly 1.2 million square foot building will be surrounded by more than 730 standard parking spaces, along with nearly 250 truck docks and another 370 trailer parking spots.

The warehouse will be built where Buck Creek flows southward just east of a known floodway. While the building will not sit on the floodway, it will sit on a portion of a floodplain, Carmosino said. Floodways channel floodwaters from adjacent lands. Floodplains are flat areas adjacent to a water body.

“We’ve elected not to impact the floodway, but will build on the fringe in the floodplain,” Carmosino said. “FEMA guidelines and rules say the floodplain can be filled, but you have to provide a compensatory storage offset.”

Four detention ponds are proposed at the site to alleviate addition runoff that could contribute to flooding.

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Zoeller and Racher contend the Federal Emergency Management Agency maps Becknell relied on are outdated and the floodway may be larger than current projects show.

Excessive rainfall also is expected to increase in Indiana, according to a Purdue University climate report.

“By mid-century, Indiana will see about 6 percent to 8 percent more rainfall than it averaged in the recent past, depending on the scenario,” the report says.

FEMA Director Deanne Criswell even cast doubt on the agency’s current flood risk assessment maps following the flooding in Jackson, Mississippi. In an interview with CNN, Criswell said “our flood maps don't take into account excessive rain that comes in … when you have that amount of rain per hour, that's what our flood maps don't necessarily take into consideration.”

The proposed warehouse takes up only a tiny percentage of the 46,000-acre watershed, Carmosino said, and it would be impossible for the site to dump enough water to impact the creek in a negative manner.

Carmosino also defended the FEMA maps, saying they are used to calculate flood insurance and the studies going into the maps are rigorous. Flood maps may, on occasion, not predict what’s going to happen in a floodplain, he said, but to call them inaccurate is not right.

The Becknell manager said an existing log jam on Buck Creek is causing some of the flooding issues, but the state has no mechanism to maintain those kinds of problems.

Still, Zoeller points to a recent Five Below warehouse built a stone’s throw away from the proposed Becknell warehouse. The Five Below site sits in Shelby County, but the developer built a swale that carries excess runoff across the county line into Marion County and eventually into Buck Creek.

While Zoeller carries flood insurance, he said he’s worried about his neighbors in Franklin Township and nearby Acton who may not be able to afford the expensive coverage. He hopes his fight against excess waters coming into Buck Creek, and potentially flooding yards, saves those private properties from damages.

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Zoeller said he is not opposed to something being built in the fields; he just hopes the developers will build responsibly.

“This is not a typical ‘Not In My Backyard’ situation,” Zoeller said. “There is too much development north of us causing problems and climate change, according to many, is why we’re seeing an increase of water in the last decade. The land has to be built responsibly.”

Zoeller and residents have proposed the developer consider cutting the height in half, to 25 feet tall and reducing the overall footprint of impervious surface so potential flooding can be avoided. He said Becknell has not accommodated those requests.

Carmosino said the proposed 50 feet height limit is within the zoning requirements the company is petition for and that restricting operating hours would limit the market for any potential companies looking to buy or lease the building.

“I can sympathize with them; they’ve been out there forever. But this has been identified as industrial land and we thought this (concept) was well used,” Carmosino said. “We sat down and listened to the remonstrators, but we feel some requests are not reasonable. They’re not in line with development standards. I’m not convinced they studied existing requirements.”

When the comprehensive plan for Marion was developed, Zoeller said the giant warehouses with huge paved parking areas didn’t exist.

“They should not be putting these things next to residential areas. They’re not light industrial,” Zoeller said. “There’s too much water here, and now you’re asking Buck Creek to do more than it was ever intended to do. It’s supposed to be a creek.”

A public Metropolitan Development Commission hearing is set for Wednesday, Sept. 21, where staff has recommended approval of the rezoning petition for the speculative warehouse design. County documents say Becknell successfully showed the cause of flooding was the log jam, though Zoeller and nearby residents contend past development to the north and the Five Below warehouse site are to blame.

“I really can’t imagine this quaint little creek getting 16 feet higher and flooding everything in its path,” Zoeller said. “The flood we had in 2016 wasn’t even a 100- or 500-year flood. It was just a big weather system that sat over us and the creek got to 16 feet. If we ever get one of those, it’s going to be a disaster, especially with this warehouse.”

Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at karl.schneider@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @karlstartswithk

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.