Greensburg water talks stall, threatening development

Commercial and residential development near the Honda Motor Co. car assembly plant at Greensburg has been thrown into limbo because of a dispute over who will control water lines in the development area.

Decatur County Rural Water Corp., the water district that serves the development area, relies on water supplied by the city of Greensburg and needs additional supply to support new development.

But Greensburg won’t supply the additional water if it can’t control the revenue generated by new water customers. The city between Indianapolis and Cincinnati ended talks with the water district Monday and said it will supply no more water to the rural water district than required under a 1995 agreement, according to the Greensburg Daily News.

The rural water district wants the additional hook-ups in order to generate revenue to pay off its debt, its attorney, John Watson, told IBJ.

The $550 million Honda plant, which is slated to open in fall 2008, is not affected by the dispute. The rural water corporation agreed to supply water to the site until December this year; by then, the city is expected to have extended its own line to the plant.

Since announcing the plant in June, the state has viewed the Greensburg area as a magnet for development ranging from housing to auto parts plants. Local developers have blasted the city and water district for holding up hotels and other projects.

Panattoni Development Co. LLC wants to launch a 425-acre industrial park near the Honda plant. The Sacramento, Calif., developer built a warehouse in Plainfield that was leased to Epson America Inc. in 2005, and has started construction on a 143,000-square-foot office building at City Center Drive and Pennsylvania Street in Carmel.