By MARGARET L. WILLIS

Residents who have expressed interest in controlling development of the northwest corner of Rt 20 and St. Rd. 149 and surrounding areas are continuing in their meetings, the Burns Harbor Town Council was told Wednesday.

Many attended the recent Plan Commission meeting where the plans to create a “town center” were discussed. “The conversation continues,” said resident and developer Cliff Fleming.

Jeff Freeze, another resident interested in the concept, said he appreciates the town considering the possibility of planning a town center and he looks forward to working on the issue. “Zoning changes will probably be needed,” he said.

Fleming, who said he has a lot of experience in the area of planning such development, warned the town not to wait too long. “Don’t miss the opportunity that Merrillville missed,” he said.

Soon-to-be resident Marcella Prado was relieved to discover that delays in building permits for the condo she is buying into have been solved. Delays in permits have been resolved with the contractor and Prado should be able to provide needed information to her mortgage company beginning today.

Extra costs incurred by Prado, for storage of her belongings and other problems the delays have caused are issues she must take up with her contractor, Coker & Davis, council members said.

“I sympathize and I know there are issues, but we as a council are not involved,” said McGee.

Jack Pasternac, owner of the Rainbow Community property, was gaveled down when he tried to contest citations issued for building code violations with the council.

“Those are legal issues and we cannot discuss them here,” said McGee.

Town attorney Robert Welsh said the council could not become involved in discussing pending legal matters. “There can be no public conversations,” he said. “The building commissioner found violations and has issued citations. It’s a legal process”

Additional restrictions of fireworks may not be necessary in town, Price told the council. He had patrols in each neighborhood to enforce the fireworks limits and found residents mainly compliant. The fire department had zero calls for fireworks problems, Arney added.

Town Garage Sale

A Town Garage Sale has been set for August 11 and 12. Residents can coordinate their garage sale to take advantage of the additional traffic.

The council will begin 2008 budget workshops in August. The first meeting is tentatively set for Monday, July 30. Ironically, the state Department of Local Government Finance has yet to certify the budget for 2007. “They hope to have tax bills out by mid-August,” Clerk-treasurer Jane Jordan reported.

Jordan told council members that a small portion of the tax draw had been distributed. The town received $50,000, which “has already been spent,” Jordan said.

The idea that the town would pay any percentage of their TIF funds to the county was not one given much discussion by the council.

County Auditor Jim Kopp has asked municipalities to pay back 1.1 percent of their TIF funds to pay for staff to process TIF parcels in his office.

“I’ve not seen any other [municipalities] approve it,” said Poparad.

Jordan said she sees TIF tracking as “part of the auditor’s job,” not something the town should have to pay additional funds for.

An examination of the Moneypenny property showed no obvious sources of hazardous waste or other potentially major problem, Building Commissioner Randall Lopez told the council.

Lopez reported his office two certificates of occupancy, made 16 inspections and issued 12 violations tickets and one stop work order in the month of June.

Arney was instructed by the council to continue pursuing fire hydrant maintenance with the Indiana American Water Company. The town pays a monthly fee for the maintenance, but IAWC has so far not produced any record of inspections or maintenance .

Town Attorney Robert Welsh is also still awaiting word from IAWC on whether or not they will cooperate with the town on shutting off water service to those who do not pay their sewer bills. It previously took over a year to get IAWC to sign-off on an agreement to take over ownership of the water lines the town had installed.

The council and department heads extended thanks to volunteers Paulene Poparad and Dawn Ruge for gardening around town complex.

Posted 7/12/2007