Sheridan aims to manage growth with reorganization, but questions remain

Hamilton County’s rapid growth shows no signs of slowing down as development races up the U.S. 31 corridor.

But in small communities in the northern part of the county, like Sheridan, some residents say the growth is encroaching on their rural way of life.

In response, the town of Sheridan and Adams Township are looking to merge—a move that would give Sheridan planning and zoning control over an area that is currently unincorporated and is the jurisdiction of county planners. Along with that control, though, would come responsibility for additional police and fire services and maintenance of 100 miles of rural roads. Some county officials question whether Sheridan has the resources to meet those responsibilities.

Sheridan covers about 2 square miles at the intersection of state roads 38 and 47, while Adams Township comprises 48 square miles—from the county lines on its northern and western borders, east to U.S. 31 and south to 216th Street.

Sheridan and Adams Township leaders have spent the past nine months working on the merger.

“We want to remain an agricultural community with growth that we want to be smart growth,” Adams Township Trustee Michelle Junkins said.

The Sheridan Town Council and the Adams Township Advisory Board unanimously approved the consolidation on June 18.

Now, the decision is in voters’ hands. If residents approve the merger on Nov. 5, it will go into effect on Jan. 1.

Along with planning and zoning control, the plan will protect Sheridan Community Schools from becoming overcrowded, prevent another city or town from annexing parts of Adams Township, and maintain Sheridan’s historic identity as a small agricultural community, plan proponents say.

“What Westfield, Noblesville [and] Carmel have all done is wonderful,” Sheridan Town Council President Silas DeVaney III said. “It’s a great place to visit. We just don’t want to live there.”

Sheridan could become the third Indiana community to approve a government reorganization following Yorktown (2013) and Zionsville (2010 and 2014). Several other efforts have been rejected or were terminated before reaching voters. The Legislature in 2006 passed the Government Modernization Act, which gave local government units authority to consolidate by referendum.

Under the reorganization, Sheridan’s borders would extend to cover the entirety of Adams Township. The town’s population would increase from about 3,100 to 5,200, and the five-member Sheridan Town Council would expand to seven members.

The Adams Township trustee’s duties, such as assistance with utility payments, maintenance of cemeteries and burials for those who cannot afford them, would be handled by Junkins in a new role with the town of Sheridan.

The expanded town would have two taxing districts. Land inside Sheridan’s current town boundaries would be the “town zone.” What is now the rest of Adams Township would be the “rural zone.”

According to reorganization documents, the town’s property tax would increase in 2026 about 8 cents per $100 of net assessed value (about $160 a year for a house with a $200,000 net assessed value) to cover additional road maintenance costs. Each of the two zones would see a different increase: The town-zone rate would increase from $2.8268 to $2.9070, while the rural-zone rate would go from $1.8487 to $1.9289.

The property tax increase would generate nearly $319,000 in additional annual revenue for Sheridan, according to a fiscal analysis performed by Indianapolis-based LWG CPAs & Advisors.

Hamilton County projects 2026 revenue reductions of $221,683 in gasoline taxes, $40,000 in local income taxes (both of which would go to Sheridan instead) and $8,076 in property taxes. Future years could cost the county $70,000 in annual local income tax revenue, according to Oscar Gutierrez, a financial consultant for Hamilton County and president of Carmel-based Bondry Consulting.

Growth concerns

Sheridan officials weren’t sure how residents would react to a tax increase, said Todd Burtron, a consultant for the town of Sheridan.

“I thought maybe the first night that we shared it, it wasn’t going to go well,” he said. “But I think the community is stepping up, as this is a cost for us to control our destiny.”

DeVaney approached his fellow Town Council members two years ago with the consolidation idea. Those efforts have accelerated in the past nine months, particularly after Hamilton County began work last year on a $65 million regional utility district along U.S. 31.

The Hamilton County Regional Utility District initially will be limited to areas east and west of U.S. 31 between 236th and 276th streets. The Indiana National Guard is constructing an armory at U.S. 31 and 276th Street.

But eventually, the district operated by Hamilton County Utilities will likely have a service area bounded by 216th Street to the south, Devaney Road to the east, 296th Street to the north and Six Points Road to the west.

That economic development effort coincides with the Indiana Department of Transportation’s ongoing plan to make U.S. 31 a free-flowing highway from Indianapolis to South Bend by eliminating stoplights and building interchanges at key intersections.

Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt said Sheridan’s reorganization could delay some development along the regional utility district, “but we’re in this for the long haul.”

The prospect of large housing developments around the utility district gave people pause in Sheridan and Adams Township. DeVaney said Hamilton County could manage commercial and industrial growth along the U.S. 31 corridor, but he wants Sheridan to have say over residential development.

“We wanted to be able to have the residents of our community be able to dictate their future,” he said.

Development proposals

A planned workforce housing development near U.S. 31 on the east side of Adams Township has become a source of contention among county, Sheridan and township officials. Hamilton County purchased 66 acres between 236th and 246th streets, west of Dunbar Road, for the project.

County Commissioner Christine Altman compared the proposed development to the Village of West Clay in Carmel, with a mix of single-family houses, town houses and apartments.

However, she told IBJ, the housing would be less expensive and the development would be targeted to teachers, first responders and county employees who work in Hamilton County but cannot afford to live there.

While Hamilton County owns the land, zoning jurisdiction would shift from the county’s plan commission to Sheridan if voters approve the reorganization.

“We’re not going to force anything down anyone’s throat. I mean, that’s not the intent,” Altman said.

Junkins said the development is a flash point because “we’ve got people that don’t live in Sheridan that’s making decisions on what’s being placed here.”

“Would they want it in their backyard?” she said.

Sheridan officials also pointed to Westfield’s effort to annex 133 acres in Adams Township at the northwest corner of U.S. 31 and 216th Street as a reason to reorganize.

“There’s a strong sentiment of, ‘This is our community, and we want to have the ability to control what happens to it,’” Burtron said.

Indianapolis-based Shear Property Group owns the Adams Township property and a 60-acre parcel on the south side of 216th Street in Westfield Washington Township. The company plans to build an industrial or high-tech business development at the site. Shear Property Group requested the annexation, which the Westfield City Council last discussed in January and has yet to vote on.

Westfield Mayor Scott Willis said the city will not allow any residential development on Shear’s property in Adams Township “because that wouldn’t be fair to Sheridan.” He added that there is no truth to rumors that Westfield plans to annex additional land along U.S. 31.

“We are not the reason they should be consolidating their government, because we have no plans to annex up there,” he said. “I can tell you that I have zero plans. I’ve made zero calls. We’ve spent zero time thinking about annexation up the U.S. 31 corridor, and so anything other than that is just flat out incorrect.”

Incomplete plan?

Hamilton County officials say they do not oppose Sheridan’s reorganization. But they worry that the plan is incomplete.

Gutierrez cited a report by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance that highlighted public safety and road maintenance as areas not sufficiently addressed in Sheridan’s fiscal analysis of its plan.

“We are simply saying that their math is not accounting for all of the costs that it will take to run the unincorporated areas” the county currently controls, he said.

In a letter sent to reorganization committee members on June 18, Hamilton County Commissioners Altman, Heirbrandt and Steve Dillinger, Sheriff Dennis Quackenbush and Highway Director Brad Davis wrote that they believe the tax rates Sheridan and Adams Township are projecting would not keep up with infrastructure and public safety needs.

They predicted that the result would be a reduction in services provided or higher-than-projected tax increases.

They say at least $2.5 million in infrastructure and public safety costs were not included in the town’s proposal. That includes $1.9 million in road funding, including snow removal, and $599,000 to $774,000 in public safety funding.

The plan Sheridan and Adams Township officials approved does not include an interlocal agreement that would keep Hamilton County in charge of road maintenance, and county and town officials say they don’t expect one to be reached. Both sides attributed communication breakdowns to the lack of an agreement.

That means Sheridan would be responsible for services currently provided by the county in Adams Township, such as road maintenance and snow removal on the township’s 100 miles of roadways.

Davis said he is concerned about the town’s capacity to handle road improvements, bridge maintenance and snow removal.

“Why they want to vote themselves a tax increase to have less service is beyond me,” he said. “From a roads standpoint, it doesn’t make any sense to me.”

DeVaney said town directors are making lists of the equipment they would need if voters approve the reorganization. The town could use private contractors for snow removal to get the town through its first winter. He said farmers and residents typically plow roads on their own.

“Being an ag community, the town may not own the equipment to get the job done,” he said. “But the residents can get some of that done because that’s what they’ve been doing.”

County officials also say reorganization would result in the loss of $23 million in federal funding that Hamilton County won for four major road projects in Adams Township. The county has committed to a local match of about $16 million for the projects.

The federal funding would return to the Indiana Department of Transportation to be redistributed to other communities if the road projects do not go forward.

“We feel like we’ve been pretty successful in getting money for improvements up in Adams Township,” Davis said. “Those [federal funds] are in jeopardy now.”

DeVaney said the four projects, including one that would extend Lamong Road from State Road 38 to 246th Street, are not priorities for a reorganized Sheridan.

“We haven’t had Lamong Road north of 236th ever, so do we need it?” he said. “We don’t need it. It would be nice, but that’s not a priority.”

Public safety concerns

County officials worry, too, about the Sheridan Police Department’s capacity to patrol the 48 square miles of Adams Township. Currently, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office covers the township.

Chief Deputy John Lowes told IBJ the Sheriff’s Office sometimes also provides assistance within Sheridan town limits due to staffing shortages at the Sheridan Police Department.

“I’m concerned that they’re not going to be able to cover 24/7, and then they’re expanding that area,” Lowes said. “I just feel like they’re not prepared for that.”

Burtron said Sheridan will increase police staffing, and he is confident the town can provide the same level of service in the rural zone that the area has received from the Sheriff’s Office.

“More often than not, Sheridan police officers are the closest responding units to calls for service,” Burtron said. “We’re confident the level of service will remain at the same [level] or perhaps even better.”

DeVaney said he is most concerned about fire protection because the town does not own a ladder truck that could reach the tops of tall buildings that could be built in the utility district along U.S. 31. New ladder trucks can cost nearly $2 million and take 36 to 48 months to arrive after being ordered.

“With any extra funds that we have, it’s going to go towards fire protection,” he said.

Surrounding communities have provided fire assistance to Sheridan in the past, but DeVaney said the town needs to develop a plan to acquire a ladder truck.

“They can build a six-story building in 20 months, but I can’t have a truck to put a fire out in it for four years,” he said. “The roads are the roads. We’ll figure the roads out. The policing, we can figure that out. Fire protection is probably one of my top concerns.”•

Correction: This story has been corrected from the original version that ran in print. Todd Burtron is a consultant for the town of Sheridan. He is not serving as a legal consultant. IBJ will run a correction in the July 12 issue of IBJ. See more corrections here.