The Lebanon City Council approved a massive annexation of land Monday night, as part of ongoing plans to create a large industrial district.
All told, the city brought roughly 5,200 acres of land within city boundaries. The area will be used as part of the state’s proposed 7,000 tech and research district.
The move met with strong opposition from residents, who continued to speak out against the project.
Brian Daggy, a Boone County resident, said he’s worried the state might back out of the project and leave Lebanon with an empty plot of land if they can’t attract the companies they want.
“If no industry comes forward in the next six months or year, or if the project doesn’t develop the way they want it to because of the fact that we’re entering a period of higher interest rates, it appears we have a recession coming,” he said.
David Rosenberg, Chief Operating Officer with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, says the kinds of corporations the state is trying to attract won’t back out because of a recession.
“These are multi-billion dollar corporations – a short-term recession is not scaring them off in terms of making that investment,” he said.
The state has identified Lebanon as an area with long-term water availability concerns, with early plans to pipe water in from Tippecanoe County.
City Councilor Morris Jones asked the state whether there was any danger that the city would be left on the hook to pay for water utilities for the massive project.
Rosenberg said there was not.
“It is the full intention of the state, and why the state is at the table – to bring our resources to bear, to make sure the long-term generational water solution and wastewater solution is here not only for LEAP and Lebanon but also the entire central Indiana area,” he said.
The ordinance passed 5-1.
