MOORESVILLE — In recent months, officials with the Mooresville Redevelopment Commission (RDC), Morgan County and other entities have been discussing a western truck route near Mooresville.
During the RDC’s July 2 meeting, members of the public took an opportunity to ask the commission questions about the proposed route.
Duane Harris said he lives in the area that could be impacted by the construction of the route and noted that he’s not necessarily in favor or against the project.
“For me, I’m not against progress,” Harris said. “But I just need to know what’s going to happen so I can plan to do what I want to do — because I don’t want to, you know, put a home up … or get denied a building permit … or someone come in and say, ‘Well you shouldn’t have built this here because (the western truck route) was happening.’”
He said he wants to know what’s next for the project.
Mooresville RDC administrator Chelsey Manns said the commission has worked with the county in recent years on the western truck route.
“It was a much smaller scope at the time,” Manns said. “It was, ‘How do we move traffic from State Road 42 to (Ind.) 67?’”
She noted that the RDC commissioned a study in 2025 with Banning Engineering, which she said was a “very high level” look at the proposed project.
Currently, the Morgan County Redevelopment Commission is in the process of creating a tax increment finance (TIF) district on land where the Google data center east of Monrovia is currently being built.
Funds from that TIF, Manns noted, would help pay for construction of the truck route.
“There is no route decided,” Manns said. “We’re still in the process of creating that TIF.”
She went on to add that the scope of the project has changed now that the county is looking to TIF the Google data center.
“The scope has changed drastically from what the $17,000 (study) began, which was (Ind.) 42 to (Ind.) 67,” Manns said. “And now it is, if you go to the county and look at their much more updated graphics, point A is (I-)70 and (Ind.) 39, point B is (Ind.) 67.
“Nobody has any idea of what that route is going to look like. We haven’t got any funding yet to pay for it. Creating the TIF is the first step, and then that will be the mechanism to help fund a study which will design it.”
Harris asked what the chance of the route being a completely new roadway.
“That’s a possibility,” Manns responded.
In other business
- The commission approved a TIF management agreement with Baker Tilly.
- It approved a $12,500 contact with Mason Private Locating to investigate where utilities are located along a portion of the Main in Motion project.
According to Manns, Banning Engineering received the quotes for the work and recommended the RDC select Mason.
The next regular meeting of the Mooresville Redevelopment Commission is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6, at the Mooresville Government Center, 4 E. Harrison St.
