Surge Industrial Pleasant View wants a piece of the Pleasant View industrial boom.

On Tuesday at the Shelby County Plan Commission meeting, Chris King defended his proposal from a bevy of area residents and emergency medical services personnel that service Moral Township.

Surge Industrial Pleasant View was created in June by Mike Runnebohm and Chris King of Runnebohm Construction. The company’s plan is to create shovel ready industrial sites.

Despite at least five projects currently underway in the Moral Township area including a large-scale Five Below distribution center, the 302 acres Surge Industrial wants to develop is currently zoned for agricultural use.

Tuesday’s request was to rezone the property to I1 zoning (low intensity industrial) to allow the project to get off the ground.

Pleasant View residents, fed up with the industrial growth in the area, asked many questions Tuesday night in a meeting that approached nearly four hours in length.

The typical questions included flooding in the area, increased traffic on roadways and noise pollution associated with industrial expansion.

Moral Township Fire Chief Aaron Lathrop insisted growth in the area needs to be tempered until emergency medical services can be upgraded.

“A F350 truck is all we have allotted for that property,” said Lathrop, who attended the meeting virtually.

The department does not have a ladder truck that can reach the top of the Five Below distribution center, according to Lathrop.

In the general area, Blue-Star Redimix, HIS Constructors, Central Crane, Brookfield Sand & Gravel, and Browning Investments have industrial-related projects ongoing.

“The crisis is we are really short staffed,” said Lathrop. “We’ve had more calls this year than we’ve ever had.

“We need growth in the township fire department to handle these structures.”

Funding is limited to expand the township fire department, both with equipment and personnel.

King followed the public input session with answers to many of the questions. He countered that the project is only in its initial stages and the rezone approval would allow Surge Industrial to develop more concrete plans that would have to be approved at a future Plan Commission meeting that would allow for public input.

“This is master planning,” said King. “We are looking at all the infrastructure needs.”

When asked if there were specific businesses with deals in place with Surge Industrial, King said, “There are no specific businesses planned. The goal is to create something Shelby County can be proud of.”

The rezone application was approved 6-1.  

The next Shelby County Plan Commission meeting is Nov. 23.