Service Area · Sharpsville, Indiana
Excavation & Demolition in Sharpsville, Indiana
Sharpsville is a quarter square mile of Liberty Township with Broad Creek at its south edge and farmland on every side, about sixteen miles north of our Arcadia shop. The town describes itself as 'simple living.' It also has one of the more interesting little utility setups we work around: the town runs its own water and wastewater system built on setback septic tanks, where the homeowner owns the line from house to tank. When that line fails, or the ditch backs up, or the farm needs a new field entrance, that is us.
About 16 miles north of the shop via SR 19. An easy Liberty Township run.
What we do in Sharpsville
The services this town actually calls for, and the local reason why.
Know your town
The history under Sharpsville and why it matters when we dig.
The county seat that wasn't
E.M. Sharp platted the town in May 1850 on the confident assumption it would become the county seat, complete with a town square reserved for government buildings. The seat went to Tipton instead, and the square became a public park, which is probably the better long-term use. The town incorporated in 1873, voted to hand the incorporation back in 1881, and got on with being a farm town. It is an incorporated town again today, run by the same Town Board that approves your building permit.
A grain-elevator rail town
A four-story, 18,500-bushel grain elevator went up in 1871, and the Nickel Plate Road hauled the harvest out. The depot at Meridian and North streets came down in 1967 and the elevator in 1990, but the silos still stand, and the abandoned rail grade toward Kokomo and Tipton still crosses the ground. Old rail corridors and grain sites make for distinctive digging: compacted grades, buried footings, and fill that surprises people who don't probe first. We probe first.
Three waterways meet at the south edge
Sharpsville is bound on the south by Broad Creek, which connects Mud Creek to the east with the Barr Ditch to the west. Three named waterways converge on one small town's doorstep. On flat Tipton County till, that geography decides how lots drain, and it is why ditch maintenance, tile outlets, and bank work are steady business here.
Sharpsville Permits
Who issues what inside Sharpsville limits, and when the county takes over.
Sharpsville issues its own building and fence permits, $25 for building and $10 for fence, approved at the Town Board meeting on the second Thursday of each month at Town Hall on South Main Street. That means timing matters. You call the Clerk-Treasurer (765-963-2221), get on the agenda, and bring the application with a site plan. We build that monthly cadence into the schedule so it never stalls a job. Demolition permitting isn't publicly documented, so we confirm scope with the Clerk-Treasurer and keep county Planning guidance in view. Driveways onto town streets go through the town's Streets department by phone. County-road drives take the county Highway Department's right-of-way permit. Septic systems permit through the Tipton County Health Department. Note the town's own line on drainage: county drains and tiles are the County Surveyor's territory (765-675-2793), not the town's. We sort the routing before anything is filed.
Town issues building/fence permits approved at monthly Town Board meetings. Demolition issuance is unconfirmed, so county guidance stays listed.
Septic permits: Tipton CountyTipton County Health Dept ↗Building & demolition permits: Tipton CountyCounty Planning Dept: Improvement Location Permits: town involvement unconfirmed; check which office applies before filing ↗Driveway & right-of-way permits: Tipton CountyHighway Dept: right-of-way permit available: county roads; town-maintained streets go through the town office above ↗Drainage & regulated drains: Tipton CountySurveyor's Office & Drainage Board ↗Pond permitting: Tipton CountySurveyor / Drainage Board: pond outlets into regulated drains ↗Stormwater & erosion control: statewide (IDEM)IDEM Construction Stormwater General Permit (CSGP): 1+ acre disturbance, or less within a larger common plan of development ↗Pond permitting: statewide (IDNR)IDNR Division of Water: floodway construction, lake & dam permits ↗Tipton County websiteCounty-level permits & resources ↗Not sure which office has your parcel? The free address checker reports the exact permitting jurisdiction for any Central Indiana address.
Sharpsville FAQs
My septic line backed up. Do I call the town or a contractor?+
Depends which side of the tank the problem is on. Sharpsville's utility pumps the tanks and maintains the line from tank to main, but the line from your house to the tank is yours. If that's the failure, it's excavation work. We dig it, replace it, and put your yard back. If you're not sure which side is bad, we can usually tell you in one visit, and if it turns out to be the town's side, we'll tell you that too.
How long does a building permit take in Sharpsville?+
Plan around the calendar. Permits are approved at the Town Board meeting on the second Thursday of each month, so an application that misses the agenda waits for the next one. The fee is $25 for a building permit, and the Clerk-Treasurer (765-963-2221) gets you on the agenda. We factor the board cycle into project schedules from day one so the machine shows up right after the approval does.
Who fixes the county ditch backing up onto my property?+
Not the town. Sharpsville's own utility page says county drains and tiles aren't theirs to repair. Regulated drains and tiles belong to the Tipton County Surveyor (765-675-2793) and the Drainage Board. What we do is the private side: drainage correction, tile outlet repair, grading that moves water off your ground, and the legwork with the Surveyor's office when a regulated drain is involved.
Can you work along the old rail line or the grain-elevator site?+
Yes. The abandoned Nickel Plate grade toward Kokomo and Tipton and the old elevator ground (silos still standing) are the kind of sites where experience pays. Rail beds are heavily compacted, grain sites hide footings and pits, and neither shows up on a modern utility map. We locate, probe, and quote from what's actually in the ground rather than what the drawing says.
Nearby towns we serve
Ready to break ground in Sharpsville?
Our shop is minutes away in Arcadia. Straight answers, real equipment, done right.