By Joseph S. Pete, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Greenwood gobbled up new commercial development along State Road 135 for years, until Center Grove residents started serious discussions of incorporation or a merger with the city or Bargersville this summer.
So Mayor Charles Henderson proposed a moratorium on annexations in White River Township until residents decided what the future of the unincorporated area will be.
The city plans to change course after discussions failed and Bargersville went ahead with a proposal to annex 3.53 square miles of land to its north. Greenwood is looking at how to annex at least 300 acres out of the 2,253 acres that Bargersville wants to absorb between its northern boundary and Stones Crossing Road.
Early this year, before the proposed moratorium, both Greenwood and Bargersville declared plans to annex property east of State Road 135 and south of Stones Crossing Road.
Greenwood agreed to provide utility services to the planned Village of Lone Pine Farms subdivision on the southeast corner of State Road 135 and Smokey Row Road, which abuts land that's prime for commercial development.
Both the city and town have sewer lift stations that could serve the proposed subdivision on either side of State Road 135 between Stones Crossing and Smokey Row roads.
Henderson had proposed a moratorium on any annexations until it was sorted out whether Center Grove would incorporate, merge with Greenwood and/or Bargersville, or do nothing.
Then a property owner came to the city, so Henderson instructed planning staff to see how and if his property could be annexed, he said.
Felson Bowman, who owns a 300-acre site, said Bargersville offers him nothing more than a higher tax bill.
"I get no services from them," he said. "They don't even have a street department. I don't want to be annexed at all, but at least Greenwood is a city. I vigorously oppose being annexed by Bargersville."
He doesn't want to belong to either Greenwood or Bargersville but said he might not have a choice.
"The consultant told us they had more than 50 percent consent, and that there was nothing we could do about it," he said. "It didn't matter that we had objections."
Greenwood has installed a sewer line through Bowman's property, so being incorporated into the city would make more sense, he said.
Henderson said he didn't know how or if the city could carve out the property from Bargersville's planned annexation area but hopes to sit down with town officials after a court injunction to discuss boundaries.
Earlier discussions came to nothing, and a Bargersville Town Council member stopped returning his calls, Henderson said.
After a survey showed some residents weren't interested, Greenwood tabled plans earlier this year to annex that property as part of a 2-square-mile expansion of its southwest border to include the planned Village of Lone Pine Farms subdivision.
The city still intends to expand its boundary to the southwest by about 2 square miles but had hoped to work things out with Bargersville, Henderson said.
Greenwood is in the process of installing sewer service to the proposed subdivision, which should be finished later this year, city director of operations Norm Gabehart said.
The city expects to spend about $8 million from sewer fees on a new sewer lift station between Stones Crossing Road and Smokey Row Road east of State Road 135.
Once complete, the new lift station could serve property as far south as Whiteland Road, Gabehart said.
Developer Glenn Brizendine built a lift station for Bargersville's sewer utility almost parallel to Greenwood's west of State Road 135 near the railroad tracks, Gabehart said.
Bargersville wasn't fully aware of what utility services Greenwood offered to the Village of Lone Pine Farms subdivision, consultant Mike Shaver said.
The town would be willing to reconsider the annexation of that area, Shaver said. Town officials have no intention of walking away from investments the town made in expanding utilities to the rest of the annexation area, he said.