Contractor wants fill dirt for Tipton County site for expected transmission plant

TIPTON - A contractor seeking a bid to do site work for a possible Getrag transmission plant in Tipton County is looking for fill dirt to build up the location.

Although no official announcement has been made by officials with the German company on where it will locate the $560 million plant - which could employ up to 1,200 people - behind-the-scenes work continues.

Getrag Corporate Group and the Tipton County Economic Development Foundation filed a site plan for review with the county planning department last week.

The company is expected to produce dual clutch transmissions through a joint agreement with Chrysler.

The Tipton County Plan Commission is scheduled to consider the site plan for approval at its 7 p.m. meeting April 19.

Kip Bergman, owner of a family farm east of the proposed plant, which sits on the northeast corner of the intersection of Ind. 28 and U.S. 31, received a call Tuesday from an Evansville company wanting to purchase dirt for the property.

Bergman said the Evansville company said it needed up to 400,000 cubic yards of dirt to increase the height of the plant location by four feet.

On Wednesday the company called Bergman a second time and said there was a revised plan that called for the site to only be raised two feet, cutting the amount of fill dirt needed to 200,000 cubic yards.

"They were going to create a 10-acre lake on my property," Bergman said. "I told them no."

He said the Evansville company told him the architectural firm Harley Ellis and Devereau of Southfield, Mich., who developed the site plan, intended to award a contract for the site work on April 25, with work to begin on May 14.

"If I wanted to sell them the dirt, I would have them strip off the topsoil and set it off to the side," Bergman said. "I don't want a 10-acre lake."

Bergman said the price offered ranged from 50 cents to $1 per cubic yard.

Bergman said he has also been approached recently about selling 20 acres of his farm - a section that borders the property where the plant would be located - to the county by Tipton County Commissioner Tom Dolezal.

Dolezal said he couldn't comment due to confidentiality requirements with the prospect.

"I told them I was not interested in selling," Bergman said. "If this plant goes in, it will ruin my farming operation."

Bill Keir, executive director of the Tipton Economic Development Commission, said the foundation has options to purchase approximately 228 acres for the proposed plant.

Keir said, to his knowledge, the options didn't include any provisions for site work to be done other than environmental testing and soil borings.

"We have not purchased any property," Keir said.

Keir said the TCEDF was not seeking more land.

"We are waiting to see what the prospect needs," he said. "At one time, we were considering purchasing a strip of land from the Bergmans."

Keir said the TCEDF has not made a recent offer to purchase land from the Bergmans.

Keir said he was unaware of the recent offer to purchase fill dirt.

"They had better make an announcement and buy some land," Keir said of the prospect.

At the same meeting, the Tipton Plan Commission will consider the rezoning of 40 acres requested by the EDF and the property owner, the Johnson family.

The rezoning request is for the vacant farmland and two houses from suburban residence and agricultural to industrial. The rezoning was requested by James D. Ashley and Warren Baird. Both men serve on the Tipton County Economic Development Commission board and Ashley is a member of the Plan Commission.

Ashley and Baird signed the rezoning request of the 188 acres to industrial use in December. At that meeting, Ashley voted in favor of the rezoning despite concerns that he was a member of the EDC raised by at least one area resident.