Ten inches: that’s the height at which grass is officially considered tall grass under Chesterton Town Code.

Any less than 10 inches and it’s just grass that hasn’t been cut for a few weeks.

Building Commissioner Dave Novak made that point at Monday night’s meeting of the Town Council, after noting that his office has been getting a lot of tall-grass complaints from folks.

“We’ve been taking out the ruler and measuring,” Novak said. “But in most cases it’s not even close.”

There’s been a lot of rain lately, which makes the grass not only grow faster but harder to get around to cutting.

“Give people a chance to cut it” before you decide to drop a dime, Novak asked.

In other business, Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg announced that the paving season is about to begin, probably right after Memorial Day.

Most of the paving projects this season will be small-bore ones, with the emphasis on side streets.

But there will be one which may cause businesses and motorists a bit of headache: the Downtown.

In February the Redevelopment Commission approved the use of up to $200,000 in TIF moneys to pave the following:

•Broadway from South Calumet Road to Fourth Street.

•Second Street from Broadway to West Indiana Ave.

•And Third Street from Broadway to West Indiana Ave.

The Downtown paving will be done in June, Schnadenberg told the Chesterton Tribune after the meeting. The first side streets to paved will be in the Crocker area: Joliet Street from Ind. 149 to Tower Street and Tower Street from Joliet Street to 1050N.

“We’re moving forward,” Schnadenberg said.

In related business, and on Schnadenberg’s recommendation, members voted 5-0 to award this season’s asphalt contract to low bidder Rieth-Riley Construction Company Inc. of Gary, whose numbers edged out Walsh & Kelly’s in all categories.

Meanwhile, members voted 5-0 to take under advisement the four bids for the Fifth Street sidewalk project:

•Chicago Concrete and Construction Company of Orland Park, Ill.: $70,843.75.

•Gariup Construction Company Inc. of Gary: $81,160.

•Rieth-Riley: $82,790.25.

•Ryan Construction of Merrillville: $104,278.50.

This is the second time the council has advertised bids for the project. The first time members voted unanimously to reject the bids, after discovering that the low bidder—Chicago Concrete and Construction—had not submitted a financial disclosure form.

The specs provide for the construction of a sidewalk on the west side of Fifth Street from 1100N to Hunters Court. A total of $85,000 in CEDIT moneys has been earmarked for the project.

Town Engineer Mark O’Dell, for his part, gave members an update on a number of outstanding sewer projects:

•The re-lining of the Porter Ave. 18-inch gravity main between South Calumet Road and Sixth Street—partially funded with an earmark secured by U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st—is still 30 to 60 days out, as the low bidder, a Detroit, Mich., contractor, negotiates the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers paperwork.

•The replacement of the Dickinson Road sanitary force main between South Calumet Road and Fifth Street is almost ready to go out to bid.

Look for work to begin on that project later this summer.

One half of that main, more or less, was replaced two years ago when it was discovered that for reasons still unknown the iron pipe had failed years before it should have.

•Work will also begin soonish on a collapsed sewer line in the Morningside subdivision, O’Dell added.

Posted 5/25/2010