By KEVIN NEVERS

Neighbors of the proposed Coffee Creek Crossing strip mall, south of the Indiana Toll Road and east of Ind. 49 in Liberty Township, may not live in the Town of Chesterton, but they would appear to have a stake in whether the mall is developed, if as they fear it would worsen what they say are already untenable drainage conditions in the area.

At its meeting Monday night, the Stormwater Management Board heard from half a dozen neighbors. The board’s best advice to them: at this point the developer of Coffee Creek Crossing, Bob Rossman, has only appeared before the Advisory Plan Commission for concept review, he has not even asked for a preliminary hearing yet on the planned unit development ordinance, and at an absolute minimum a public hearing on the PUD is three months away. That public hearing will be their best opportunity for making their voices heard and their views known.

More: the Stormwater Management Board does not actually have a role either in approving or in endorsing any PUD ordinance, although once it’s enacted and construction has begun the Chesterton MS4 Coordinator and other staffers who work closely with the board will make sure that the developer complies with all construction and post-construction MS4 regulations governing run-off, sediment, and erosion.

Although the neighbors conceded that in approaching the Stormwater Management Board, especially well before Rossman has asked for a preliminary hearing before the Advisory Plan Commission, they may be a bit premature. But their concerns are genuine, they said, and they want them aired right now.

Thus Cheryl McCraw told members that the ground, very simply, is “saturated,” and that the apparent plan for the Coffee Creek Crossing detention pond to drain into Johnson Ditch, a regulated county drain, may only “modestly” help matters.

Or it may make matters far worse, McCraw argued. Running off from the 17 acres of big-box blacktop, she said, will be oil, gasoline, anti-freeze, and other contaminants.

“The site can’t handle this development,” McCraw concluded.

Dale Wingate agreed. Johnson Ditch flows 60 feet within his property, he said, so he has a particular concern about the contaminants which end up there from the Coffee Creek Crossing parking lot. “I see this as a health hazard. Pollutants. Mosquitoes.”

Jeff McCraw, on the other hand, told members that 3.5 of his 10 acres are a designated wetland and when he asked the Army Corps of Engineers for permission to construct a detention pond to manage drainage better, his request was denied.

Stormwater Utility Superintendent Steve Yagelski assured McCraw that Rossman won’t be building any detention pond either without the requisite permit.

Who’s going to take responsibility should run-off from the strip mall damage private property? McCraw pressed.

Well, President Larry Brandt said, “not too many people are going to be raising their hand accepting responsibility.” And the Stormwater Management Board, he added, certainly will not be one of them.

McCraw did thank Brandt for his honesty. But, he said, “I hope you understand that development will change our way of life. . . . It will devastate us.”

Meanwhile, Brenda Dommer wanted to hear more answers about actual drainage. “Every time it rains we have problems,” she said. “I wonder where all this water is going to go. We don’t have the money to fight all you guys that do have the money.”

Yagelski did ask the neighbors when the last time the Porter County Drainage Board has done anything at all to improve or maintain Johnson Ditch.

“1913?” someone from the floor ventured.

“That’s part of the problem,” Yagelski remarked. The ditch needs to be maintained, and that’s the county’s responsibility.

In any event, Brandt urged the neighbors to watch the Chesterton Tribune for an advance story on any appearance by Rossman and his attorney before the Advisory Plan Commission, or otherwise to consult the regular meeting agenda posted on the bulletin board in the meeting room at town hall.

The Advisory Plan Commission meets at 6:30 p.m. the third Thursday of every month, and typically the Tribune publishes an advance story on that meeting a day or two before.

November in Review

In November the Stormwater Utility ran a surplus of $7,878 and in the year-to-date is running a surplus of $120,858.

Posted 12/18/2007