Though it’s unknown where the money would come from, Chesterton Town Council members agreed Monday to explore bringing sidewalks to a stretch of Fifth Street south of 1100N as requested by residents.

Tanglewood residents Tom Browne and Keith Davison, accompanied by their family members, asked the town council to make the 5th Street sidewalks a priority, noting that the project has strong support from the neighborhood.

Davison presented a petition with the signatures from 59 households, all in the Tanglewood subdivision. He said the stretch of road has no posted speed limit and that many drivers speed down the road, making it extremely difficult for children as well as adults to safely walk to school and elsewhere.

“It is a safety issue, “said Browne. He noted that the road already gets a great deal of traffic going to and from Chesterton High School, and that the traffic will likely increase with more development, such as with the Duneland Trails subdivision to be located just to the south.

Browne said the residents have researched the Safe Routes to School program as a possible funding option and have requested funding assistance from U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky. He also suggested possible use of town economic development income tax funds.

Town Engineer Mark O’Dell said that roughly, with all expenses factored in, the sidewalk could cost in the range of $80,000 to $90,000. He offered to draw up a preliminary plan to show residents, noting that the sidewalk could need to go around an existing lift station and possibly require the removal of trees and some landscaping.

Council members seemed to be in agreement that the sidewalk would be a worthwhile project. But council member Jim Ton questioned how Tanglewood was built without the town having first required the sidewalk.

“Now we’re ex post facto trying to come up with funds” that should have been the responsibility of the developer, he said.

Town officials agreed to continue to explore funding options, and Council President Emerson DeLaney urged the residents to do the same.

Council member Sharon Darnell pointed out that the town has annually designated 50 percent of its casino revenue funds for sidewalk projects, but that last year, the state slashed the town’s street department budget unexpectedly by up to $80,000, in turn cutting the amount available for sidewalks.

The town council heard another sidewalk request Monday from 15th Street resident Joe Ramos, who said his walk has been cracked for a long time, but that with the new skate park nearby, he is growing increasingly concerned that someone will get hurt by the deteriorating walk. The town council directed Street Department Commissioner John Schnadenberg to look into this issue.

Also Monday, Mike Sutter, owner of the Tiny Bubbles car wash on Roberts Road, asked the council if there is any way for him to keep a painted mural on the exterior of his business without having to go through the normal town requirements.

Sutter said he has been advised to apply for a sign permit and to seek a variance from the sign rules from the town’s Board of Zoning Appeals. But he said he doesn’t have the time for such a process, noting that his painter has been hired on a temporary basis only and that he would like to get a mural up on another car wash he owns in Westville.

Town Attorney Chuck Lukmann said the BZA could possibly hear the variance request by late August. DeLaney noted that the BZA granted a similar variance for the mural on the Northside Diner.

But Sutter said he would just as well paint over the mural and not bother with the paperwork involved. “I think it’s a bit ridiculous,” he said of the town rules, noting that he put up a mural on his car wash in LaPorte without a problem. “I’m not fooling with it.”

Town council members agreed to Sutter’s request to explore the town rules to see if there is some way he can change the mural so that it doesn’t fall under the sign rules.

Town council members expressed strong frustration with the Verizon company for not yet moving its cables as part of the South Calumet Road construction project.

The town has sent a number of letters and calls to Verizon, but the company has been largely unresponsive, O’Dell said. Crews working on the road redesign project have had to work around the Verizon cables, he said.

Ton commended Comcast for coming out to the site expeditiously, but council member Jeff Trout called Verizon’s non-responsiveness “ridiculous” and said the company is “not being a good neighbor.”

Posted 7/14/2009