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.