Chesterton Tribune

 

 

BH TIF board eager to break ground on gateway park

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By LILY REX

The Burns Harbor Redevelopment Commission discussed breaking ground on a “gateway park” for Food Truck Square at its meeting Wednesday night.

Kannerblue consultant Tina Rongers reported that Global Engineering wants to pause operations at the four-acre Westport Road site until the commission hears back on a number of pending or in-progress grant applications. The site will be a gateway park to Food Truck Square when completed.

Rongers is waiting specifically for a response to an application for a $250,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Tourism Management. She also hopes to begin applications for two more grants. The forms for those two have not been made public yet, but Rongers said she expects them this month or February. “When they do hit the street, we’ll be ready,” she said. Meanwhile, Global Engineering is hesitant to continue design plans when the budget and resulting plans may change so soon.

Rongers clarified that the grants are expected to fund planned special features, including a pavilion and fire pits, and RDC Secretary Toni Biancardi asked why construction can’t begin on the site’s infrastructure. She is in favor of talking with Global about getting the groundwork in place and adding the special features later because waiting could push design engineering back three months. Member Kevin Tracy agreed with Biancardi. “We want ground broken this year,” he said.

Rongers will continue talks with Global about the project but said that it may be best to defer to them on timing and design. Either way, she says they will want to know more about the timeline for the grants. With RDC Vice-President Nick Loving and member Eric Hull absent, the commission took no official action due to lack of a quorum.

Other Business

In other business, Biancardi reported that Ronald Stone will replace Brandon Kroft as the non-voting Duneland School Board liaison to the RDC.

There are no major updates on the Marquette Greenway. Rongers reported that SEH has had its environmental crew plotting for phases one and two of the design for the last four to six weeks. They have not released all of their data yet, but they will have proposed alignment changes to present at a later date.

 

 

Posted 1/19/2018

 
 
 
 

 

 

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