By Ann Marie Shambaugh
A Tom Wood Toyota dealership hopes to soon be coming to town, but the Zionsville Plan Commission put the plans on hold for a month at its March 20 meeting to allow time to gather more information about the project.
Plans call for a 35,193-square-foot building with an associated hard surface area for vehicle display and parking on 9.8 acres at 6408 Crane Drive, south of Cracker Barrel and just east of I-65.
Paul Kite, who spoke on behalf of petitioner John Wood of Zionswood, LLC, said that the project could include removing CR E 650 S west of Abby Lane, which would require approval from Boone County commissioners. Currently, that part of the road is only used to access a telecommunications equipment center, and the dealership would provide access to the center once built. The vacated road would be filled in with grass, Kite said.
“The right-of-way would then be released to the owners to the south and Zionswood to the north,” Kite said. “We’d be willing to deed that north portion of the byway to the adjoining neighbors so that there would be no traffic behind those neighbors.”
Three residents who live near the proposed dealership raised concerns about excessive noise, floodplain issues and light pollution. Kite responded that employees will use handheld radios for communication rather than a speaker system, that the site does not fall within a floodplain and that plans call for new LED lighting technology, which is designed to limit spillover.
Tom Wood Director of Administrative Services Kevin Cauble said that the lighting system, which would include activation sensors on light poles, could be beneficial to neighbors.
“If someone comes across our property, it’s going to light up,” he said. “Nobody’s going to come (near) your home without everybody knowing what’s going on.”
Commissioners also raised a few points of their own. Larry Jones questioned why one set of plans showed a “22-acre parking lot” on the property to the east of the proposed dealership. Kite said that Zionswood also owns 18 acres to the east that are planned to be developed as another dealership in the future. That land would likely include a privately-maintained road providing access to the Toyota dealership.
With the planning department’s staff report being incomplete because Zionswood submitted its latest version of plans only four and five days before the meeting, commissioners decided to delay a vote to give the town more time to review the plans and developers more time to define long-term plans.
“Most people are much more happy to know at least the general outline of what’s coming,” Jones said. “If we get commitments made up front, it clears up issues down the line.”
