State asks Lebanon to annex another 5,000 acres

Nov. 18—Editor's note: This story has been corrected to indicate that the Lebanon Plan Commission will meet Monday.

Indiana Economic Development Corp. has asked the City of Lebanon to annex another 5,225 acres as part of an historic industrial development. And the city is scrambling to develop a new zoning classification for that land.

LEAP Lebanon will be a high-tech industrial park on land north and northwest of the city. LEAP, which stand for Limitless Exploration-Advanced Pace, would be the largest economic development project in Indiana history.

IEDC officials are simultaneously courting multiple high-tech industry giants for the development district but have named none after the announcement that Eli Lilly Co. would build a $2.1 billion campus to house a pharmaceutical manufacturing operation north of Lebanon.

The city council in July annexed LEAP Lebanon's first 1,396 acres. Lilly will occupy 600 acres of that and is anticipated to begin construction next year.

Now the state and 43 property owners of about 122 parcels have petitioned the city for a voluntary annexation of 5,225 acres. The state has the land under contract with the current owners and will buy as the land is needed by companies that want to build here. Several landowners elected not to sell and will not be forced from their homes.

The IEDC reported to the city in June that it had about 6,000 acres under contract. The second annexation would bring at total 6,621 acres into the city. It's clear the state is still negotiating for more land, but Lebanon Planning Director Ben Bontrager said this week that the two areas together probably represent the bulk of project for now.

Boone County Commissioners have hired a frim to create a Planned Unit Development district for the area with the help of local officials and residents. The Boone County Preservation Group, a grassroots organization represented by attorney Michael Andreoli, has been particularly involved in developing the PUD, which is expected to be complete in early 2023. The BCPG wants to save farmland and Boone County's rural homes and way of life.

Mayor Matthew Gentry has said the city will adopt the county's PUD.

But the PUD is incomplete and the first annexation was zoned general industrial, with some exclusions. Land south of the Big 4 Trail would be zoned the same, which is the closest zoning classification the city has for high-tech manufacturing. But that classification really isn't fitting, Bontrager said.

Bontrager once worked for the IEDC and has done previous work with the PUD developers. The "LEAP Development Plan District" zoning classification will be included in the PUD next year. So Bontrager and city officials are scurrying to get the classification in place in city code before the second annexation occurs.

Land north of the Big 4 Trial would be zoned single family residential. That could change to something more specific when a company applies to build there, Bontrager said.

The City Plan Commission will consider the request for recommendation to the city council during a meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in the Lebanon Municipal Building, 401 S. Meridian St. The Plan Commission will learn about the request and make a recommendation to the city council.

The Lebanon City Council will further discuss possible annexation and hear from the public on the topic at 7 p.m. Nov. 28 but is not expected to make a decision at that time, Bontrager said.

The council is expected to make a decision at its 7 p.m. Dec. 12 meeting.

Lebanon attorney Kent Frandsen represents property owners and the IEDC and wrote in the request that the second area for annexation: generally encompasses land west of Interstate 65; land on both the east and west sides of U.S. Highway 52; and land on both the north and south sides of Ind. 32 west of the current municipal boundaries of Lebanon.

The annexation area extends in sports westerly as far as C.R. 500 W.; northerly almost to C.R. 400 N.; easterly to I-65 at the northern end and just east of C.R. 200 W. on the southern and; and southerly about a half mile south of C.R. 50 S. on the southern end.

They city planning department in the municipal building has maps of land that is included and excluded from the proposal.

See the complete proposal with maps online at www.reporter.net.