If you still doubt that the future of Anderson lies to the south, you’re either living in the past or smoking something really potent.

The most recent piece of news — that a 60-acre expanse off Interstate 69 near Exit 22 could be the site of new development — further cements the already concrete case that Anderson’s lifeblood is flowing up and down Interstate 69.

Tower Investments LLC asked the Anderson Plan Commission on June 24 to rezone and plat the acreage, stuck between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the interstate. Wisely, the Plan Commission agreed.

The land, annexed into Anderson in 1998, could be used for many purposes. According to a conceptual drawing, it would contain a business park, with retail, hotels and a medical center of an undisclosed type. (Tower officials say it wouldn’t be a general hospital.) Or it could contain a movie theater and restaurants. Or perhaps a bit of all the above.

It’s all good, because Anderson and Madison County need retail, food and entertainment venues to improve the nearby selections for local folks and to draw outsiders. The jobs couldn’t hurt either.

Tower officials plan to begin some work, such as utility connection, this year. However, building construction probably won’t start until the spring of 2009, and the business park wouldn’t be finished until 2012 at the earliest.

Between now and then, the landscape along I-69 through Madison County will undergo, no doubt, many changes. Most will be positive, bringing jobs, commerce and attractions.

Think of I-69 through the county just a few short years ago. There was no Flagship center for business development, no Nestlé plant, no Hoosier Park casino.

The development plans unveiled by Tower officials to the city planners last week make the future clear: Along I-69, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.