By KEVIN NEVERS

For years Chesterton officials have wracked their brains trying to figure out a way to attract industry to town, without much success.

One of the problems is quite simply a lack of industrially zoned property. There is one eligible piece, however, at least 100 acres in size and zoned I-1, on the extreme western edge of town sandwiched between Ind. 149 and South Babcock Road, immediately north of Crocker.

That piece is currently occupied by Herr-Voss Roll Center Inc. and Smith Ready Mix. But there’s plenty of more space there, if an industry could only be persuaded to locate there.

And planner and Town Council Member Jeff Trout, R-2nd, thinks that he may know how to make that property more attractive. As he suggested at Thursday’s meeting of the Plan Commission, perhaps the Redevelopment Commission should consider making that property a tax increment financing district. “The industrial zone is sitting there,” he said. “Let’s draw attention to it, kick it up a notch and maybe create some industrial jobs.”

Trout did note that, should the Redevelopment Commission choose to act on his recommendation, time is of the essence, as new legislation had imposed a deadline of July 1 for the establishment of new TIF districts.

Planner George Stone found the suggestion worth pursuing but wondered how exactly a TIF district would make the property more attractive.

TIF revenues could be used to enhance the infrastructure, Trout replied.

Trout did say that the proper forum for discussion of his idea is the Redevelopment Commission but that he wanted to get the ball rolling by broaching the subject on Thursday.

ESC VI (The Highlands)

In other business, planners voted 4-0 to approve the primary plat for the Estates of Sand Creek VI, otherwise known as The Highlands, a 34-unit single-family project on 16.28 acres located west of 250E and south of East Porter Ave.

Planners Fred Owens, Steve Yagelski, and Emerson DeLaney were not in attendance.

Attorney Clyde Compton, representing developer Jim Gierczyk’s Chesterton Development Partners LLC, told the commission that a previously approved primary plat has been revised to reflect the reduction of lots from 57 to 34.

At a public hearing prior to the vote no one spoke in support of the primary plat and no one in opposition.

Planner George Stone, however, did speak prior to the vote. ESC VI, he noted, has been before the commission on and off for years, as the project hung fire while the property in question changed hands and drawings were revised. And whenever there was the opportunity, Stone said, he voted against it. “I have been opposed to this project from its inception because I do not believe gated communities have any place in the Town of Chesterton.”

But, Stone said, were he now to stand on principle, with three planners absent from Thursday’s meeting and a unanimous vote from the remaining ones necessary to approve the primary plat, the project would be delayed another month and yet again. So for the sake of expeditiousness, Stone temporarily placed his opposition in escrow.

“George, thanks for jumping on the grenade,” planner Jeff Trout joked.

Duneland Trails

Planners also voted 4-0 to hold a public hearing at its next meeting, May 15, on the primary plat for Duneland Trails, a 40-lot single-family subdivision on 15.5 acres at the northwest corner of 1050N and 50W (South Fifth Street).

John Hannon of Great Lakes Engineering, representing developer Tom Cahillane, told the commission that the property is zoned R-1; that the right-of-way on 1050N would be widened by 26 feet from the center line and that on 50W by 20 feet from the center line; that five-foot sidewalks would be built along both 1050N and 50W as well as in the interior of the subdivision; that the sanitary sewer system will be tied to the Tanglewood lift station; that the detention pond at the northwest corner would discharge into the Pope O’Conner Ditch; that a speed limit of 20 miles per hour will be posted in the subdivision; that two outlots at the entrance on 50W will be reserved for landscaping; and that the property owners association will be responsible for maintaining the detention pond and the backyard drains.

Members did place a condition on their vote: the primary plat must be revised to include a note to the effect that, while a soil survey has shown that homes in the subdivision may have basements, the six-foot water table means that no basement should be excavated deeper than five or six feet without further investigation. That note would then be duplicated on the final plat.

Continued

By 4-0 votes planners continued at developers’ request two public hearings to their next meeting. The first was on the primary plat of the Springdale planned unit development on 1050N in Crocker, immediately west of Abercrombie Woods. That PUD provides for 94 units, in a mix of single-family and paired-patio homes, with commercial uses on the west edge of the project. Developers: Larry Wright and Don Coker.

The second was on the Sand Creek Farms PUD east of Friday Road at the terminus of East Porter Ave. That PUD provides for 362 single-family homes. Developer: Vlad and Eric Gastevich.

Posted 4/18/2008