By JOSEPH S. PETE, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Outdoor retailer Cabela's won't build a Greenwood store in the immediate future, but it doesn't plan to leave the 102-acre property as an abandoned construction site for years.
The Nebraska-based retailer expects to finish preliminary work at the site, which is now a dirt patch the size of 100 football fields, just off the County Line Road interchange of Interstate 65. As soon as the weather warms, workers will install drainage pipes, smooth out the soil and plant grass.
Because of the construction delay, the project's St. Louis-based construction manager will plant grass to prevent erosion and eliminate dust storms and soil washing into the drainage system.
After the work is complete, construction trailers and equipment will be moved, although some materials might be stored on the site, Cabela's spokesman John Castillo said.
People have complained that they feared the site would become an eyesore, city council member John Gibson said. He's been called and stopped on the street by those concerned with the appearance of Greenwood's gateway from I-65.
"People want to know if there's anything we could do to clean it up," he said. "It's an eyesore. We're talking about beautiful Greenwood when there are pipes laying around in the field out there."
Gibson would like to see the city pass an ordinance that would prevent stalled construction projects from being abandoned. The city could require projects to be completed within a certain time after work starts, he said.
State law would have required Cabela's to take some erosion-control measure, such as laying down straw or peat moss, since excavation already had been done, Indiana Department of Environmental Management spokesman Barry Sneed said.
If a construction project is delayed for more than 15 days, IDEM requires that something be done about an excavated site to prevent dirt from washing into the drainage system or blowing around the site, Sneed said.
Cabela's and S.M. Wilson & Co., Cabela's St. Louis-based construction manager, decided to finish the preliminary site work before having any discussions with IDEM officials.
Cabela's decided to plant grass at the site, given the uncertain length of the delay, Castillo said.
Planting grass should prevent dust storms like the thick cloud that spread over Greenwood's east side two weeks ago, he said.
For several hours, high wind whipped up a dust cloud so thick that a neighbor said it had the consistency of fog. Since the ground froze, dirt storms haven't been an issue.
After the preliminary site work, the property will be left unmaintained until Cabela's decides to move forward with plans to build its 125,000-square-foot store. Grass could grow wild for several years, Castillo said.
"It won't look like a putting green," he said.
Completion of a Candlewood Suites hotel south of the Cabela's site should improve the area's appearance, Greenwood Mayor Charles Henderson said.
Cabela's announced this month that it would indefinitely delay its Greenwood store and put off four other projects that were supposed to open this year because of declining sales and an economic downturn. The Nebraska-based company's stock price has fallen by about $10 a share since October.
Cabela's has no scheduled opening dates for stores that had been planned in Greenwood, Michigan and Colorado.
Henderson said talks with Cabela's officials led him to believe that Cabela's might even move forward with construction next year, if the economy turns around.
"I would almost rather see them wait and open when the economy's good and do well," Henderson said. "I wouldn't want them to open and have business be disappointing."
Castillo said he couldn't speculate on when or if Cabela's would revise its national expansion plans, but he said they would be subject to periodic review.