It looks like the
Culver’s is a go.
At its meeting
Monday night, the Chesterton Town Council voted 5-0 to approve an amendment
to the planned unit development ordinance governing the First Addition to
Coffee Creek Center, 5-0 to suspend the rules, then 5-0 to approve that
amendment on final reading.
At issue: Culver’s
wanted a larger monument sign than permitted by the PUD--8’ 4’’ in height by
6’ 3’’ in width--directional signage which also displays other wording, and
oversize menu boards for the drive-through.
At its February
meeting, the Advisory Plan Commission voted 6-1 to endorse the PUD
amendments.
The Culver’s--part
of the Smith Family Hospitality’s Illinois franchise--will be built north of
the Speedway gas station at Coffee Creek Center, on Gateway Blvd. north of
the Hilton Garden Inn and across from the Indiana Toll Road plaza. In
addition to a drive-through, the restaurant will have outdoor seating and
feature the franchise’s new beige-brick exterior.
The Culver’s could
open in late summer.
Sign Ordinance
Revised
In other business,
members voted 5-0 to approve on first reading a thorough-going revision of
the Sign Ordinance--in the works for months--5-0 to suspend the rules, then
5-0 to approve the revision on final reading.
Among other things,
definitions in the ordinance have been clarified; language pertaining to
dynamic signs--those which flash or have electronic displays--added;
restrictions on freestanding, monument, and specialty signs updated; and
various confusions eliminated.
Under the revised
ordinance, a single business would be allowed a gross amount of signage--the
specific amount determined by the zoning district and kind of building--to
be distributed on the front, side, or roof, as the business sees fit.
No more distinction
is made, either, between signage regulations for business and industrial
districts. This “one-size-fits all” approach to B and I zones, as Associate
Town Attorney Chuck Parkinson called it, may be the biggest change in the
revised ordinance.
And the maximum
height for freestanding signs now depends on how far back from the road a
business is, Parkinson added. The further a business is from the street, the
higher the sign may be.
Taste of India
Meanwhile, members
voted 5-0 to reject the petition of the Taste of India restaurant at 418
Roberts Road for a temporary directional sign on public right-of-way on
Indian Boundary Road.
The restaurant’s
proprietor told the council that customers are having a hard time finding
the business.
But members--who
permitted the erection of a temporary sign on Indian Boundary Road last
summer, for 90 days--were unwilling to do so again.
Instead, they urged
the proprietor either to make an arrangement with the owner of another
business located on Indian Boundary Road or to seek the assistance of the
Duneland Chamber of Commerce.
Composting
Agreement
Members voted 5-0
to re-new the town’s annual agreement with the Porter County Recycling and
Waste Reduction District, under which the PCRWRD uses its equipment to turn
the compost at the town’s site in Crocker.
Farewell and
Congratulations
to Heather Ennis
Members Jim Ton,
R-1st, and Jeff Trout both took a moment at the end of the meeting to
congratulate Duneland Chamber of Commerce President Heather Ennis on her
appointment as president and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Forum, the
region’s economic-development driver.
“Heather has done a
terrific job with the Chamber and their gain is our loss,” Ton said.
“I personally think
it will help the Town of Chesterton to have Heather working regionally,”
Trout added.
Ennis will assume
her responsibilities early next month.