Planning commission backs rezoning for 40-acre commercial site near State Road 2, with written commitments

The St. Joseph County Area Planning Commission voted 6–1 on Nov. 19 to send a rezoning request for roughly 40 acres at the southeast corner of State Road 2 and Strawberry Road to the county council with a favorable recommendation, provided the petitioner agrees to staff-recommended written commitments.

Sean Klein, area plan commission staff, told the commission the petitioner, Echo Dev LLC, seeks to change the parcel from A (Agricultural) to C (Commercial) to allow a hotel, travel plaza and a fast-food restaurant. Klein said staff supports rezoning in concept but urged conditions: prohibit commercial operation until the State Road 2/Strawberry interchange design is finalized and municipal sewer and water are available to the site. "Staff recommends that this rezoning be sent to the county council with a favorable recommendation" subject to those commitments, Klein said.

Attorney Steven Studer, representing the property owner and developer, said recent and planned industrial investment in the nearby Indiana Enterprise Center (IEC) creates demand for services such as fuel, food and lodging. Studer described commitments and funding for the interchange and utilities that he said reduce the risk of premature development: Amazon has committed $7 million, the state $31 million and the county $12 million toward the roughly $50 million interchange, and a community enhancement agreement includes about $114 million to extend sanitary sewer and water to the area. Studer said the developer is willing to sign up for municipal utilities when they are available but argued the commission should not require waiting until all construction is completed before the developer begins work. "We will connect. We will abandon our septic and sewer. We will connect," Studer said.

Residents and several commissioners pressed the petitioner and staff on groundwater and public‑health risks if underground fuel storage or intensive commercial development were allowed before adequate protections. Dan Caruso, a New Carlisle resident, urged rejection of the travel‑plaza component and warned of contamination risk to local wells: "Bottom line for me is that does not belong there." Other speakers cited a 2018 Peerless Midwest water report describing parts of the Kankakee/Valparaiso aquifer system as highly susceptible to contamination and asked the commission to weigh that study in its recommendation.

Klein and staff told commissioners municipal utilities were expected to be extended toward the Amazon site by May 2025 and said the final interchange design should be finished by the end of 2025 with construction targeted for 2027. Staff and the county engineer had also raised concerns about high water table, soils and drainage that could make commercial septic infeasible.

After debate, Commissioner Tom England moved and Dr. Lauck seconded a motion to send APC 3049‑24 to the county council with a favorable recommendation subject to staff’s written commitments (prohibiting commercial operation until interchange design is finalized and sewer/water service is available, and requiring commercial development to connect to municipal utilities when available). The commission approved the motion 6 to 1 (Mister Mattsett opposed).

The county council will consider the petition and any additional conditions or permits required by the health department, county engineering and state agencies; rezoning is not a site plan approval and any specific building, stormwater and health permits will be reviewed later in commercial plan review.