A truck wash and repair business is planned in the 11000 block of East U.S. 50 in Seymour. This is on the northeast corner of the intersection of U.S. 50 and U.S. 31.
Courtesy of FPBH Inc.
Plans are underway for a truck wash and repair business near the intersection of two federal highways on the far east side of Seymour.
Bernie Hauersperger with local engineering firm FPBH Inc. spoke on behalf of the owners of Westfield-based ADI Inc., Mandeep Toor and Gurpreet Pandher, who want to put the business on 8.3 acres of the 42 acres the company owns in the 11000 block of East U.S. 50. This is on the northeast corner of the intersection of U.S. 50 and U.S. 31.
During the recent Seymour Plan Commission meeting, their request to rezone was approved 8-0. Hauersperger also serves on the plan commission, so he abstained from the vote. President Jeri Wells and new member Kendra Zumhingst were absent.
The request moves on to the Seymour Common Council with a favorable recommendation. The council will vote on the first reading of an ordinance related to the matter during its next meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at city hall.
Hauersperger said the project would include a 100-by-100-foot building with two truck wash bays and two truck repair bays. There also will be a building that will include restrooms for truck drivers and 14 parking spaces for truckers to use.
“This is at the corner of two major U.S. highways. It just makes a lot of sense next to Interstate 65,” Hauersperger said. “This is a good place for trucks to utilize and get back out on the highway.”
He said he submitted the plans to the Indiana Department of Transportation a few weeks ago and is waiting for a reply. INDOT would be involved with entrances and exits for the business being along U.S. 31 and U.S. 50.
“This area had a weigh station in it back in the early days,” Hauersperger said, referring to property to the north along U.S. 31. “Trucks have always been part of this property.”
According to the property card on the Jackson County GIS map, ADI bought the property for $855,000 on Dec. 9, 2021.
“We just want to bring a friendly business to Seymour,” Toor said. “I’m also a trucker, done businesses in the past, lived in Maryland, got a good experience there. … (The new business) is right in front of the same intersection, same light where the TA truck stop is, so the route has been used for truckers, and then 31 is also used for the truckers, so I think it will bring a good business, a good opportunity for a lot of people here in the Seymour area.”
Toor said his past business ventures include owning a liquor store and a Shell gas station, and he has his own company, Freight Hunter Transportation Inc.
“Every 10 or so years, I like to try something different, a different twist in my life. It’s the itch,” he said.
He also said he plans to move to Seymour with his family.
Local trucking company owner Aaron Bode was at the meeting requesting a land use variance for his business. He said in his younger days, there were truck washes in Jackson County. But now, the closest ones are south of Louisville, Kentucky, and in Whiteland.
“My opinion is if you’ve got good workers and train them right and do an excellent job, I’m telling you it is needed in this area. There’s a big need for it,” he said.
“I do have experience with the business before, and it will be a really great opportunity for a lot of the college students and high school students that want to work part time,” Toor said. “They are young, they are active and it will be a great opportunity in this area.”
Toor said the remainder of their property would remain agricultural use.
Two residents who live north of the property shared their concerns about the proposal.
Aliethia Keith said she was born and raised in Seymour and her husband is from Brownstown, and they bought their house on Colvin Court 30 years ago.
“My husband and I have taken a lot of time and really done everything to our house and our yard to make it our retirement haven,” she said. “We’re getting up there in age. Where they are putting this (business), that’ll cause more traffic on County Avenue. The noise pollution and the pollution from the trucks will be a huge problem coming over to us because it’s not that far. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump across that field.”
She said they moved to a rural area to be out away from the city.
“For them to come in and put this in, I think, is a problem,” Keith said. “I have read about truck washes, and they do cause ground pollution. … I don’t think the good people of Mutton Creek would want something that could cause ground pollution to pollute the lake.”
Hauersperger said all of the drainage from the truck wash will go to the sanitary sewer, so nothing will go into the stormwater system.
“We will have the drainage, a detention pond. It’s called best management practices to make sure nothing, no contaminants come off the site,” he said.
Keith also said she is concerned this business will bring their property value down, and with school bus stops in the area and increased truck traffic, that could be a safety issue.
Kimberly Melton Hillenburg lives on County Avenue and said she’s concerned about the entrance and exit along U.S. 31. She said she has lived in the area her whole life.
“That’s a very bad spot,” she said. “From personally living on 31 across the street from my mom for almost 30 years, when people leave that junction, they fly. They are trying to get their speed up immediately, and it’s worse than ever. You’re going to put a semitrailer and truck (business) in that area, it’s just going to be bad.”
She said there have been several wrecks at U.S. 31 and County Avenue, including some resulting in deaths. She said she would prefer the main entrance and exit be along U.S. 50.
Keith said when there are wrecks at the U.S. 50 and U.S. 31 junction, traffic cuts through County Avenue to bypass the area, resulting in more traffic.
“I have complained about the traffic on our road,” Hillenburg said. “Our road is a bypass from 50 to 31. The speed limit, I think, is 45. I’ve got to tell you, they fly through there. It’s a bypass for so many people.”
Hauersperger said if there’s a traffic issue in the area of the business, he’s pretty confident INDOT would investigate to see if there is a problem with speed.
“It’s probably about time that needs to be decreased in between the county road and U.S. 50,” he said.
Hauersperger said INDOT also will have to approve setback standards for both entrances and exits.
“That’s why it’s back as far as it is right now,” he said. “That’s as close as they want it to U.S. 50. It’s got an extra few hundred feet.”
He also said a nearby treeline will block a lot of the sound from impacting people living in the area, and Toor said the business will have plenty of lights to make it look better and be safer.
If the rezone request is approved, ADI will move forward with a replat.
“Seymour needs to grow, and it’s the area that finally gets to grow,” Hauersperger said.
At a glance
What: Seymour Common Council meeting
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: Seymour City Hall, 301-309 N. Chestnut St., Seymour
Who: Meeting is open to the public and press