By PAULENE POPARAD

Given one more bite at the GK Development apple, remonstrators spit out a second round of opposition Wednesday to GK’s plans for a 351,419 square-foot retail mall that the Chesterton Advisory Plan Commission subsequently voted 5-2 not to endorse.

Promised architectural innovations from anchor retailers Target and Kohl’s haven’t materialized, said opponent James Oates. “The unfortunate aspect of this is, they have offered us nothing. We don’t see anything new. This is nothing more than the same big-box plan that’s down the road.”

Not so, said GK architect Wayne Marth. The Target and Kohl’s stores proposed here are highly upgraded with extensive landscaping and building step-backs up to 20 feet for visual interest; similar stores have been well-received by citizens where they have been built, he added.

Then build it somewhere else like Illinois where GK’s based, said Sean McCleod during public comment.

He told commission members, “You should be very careful about what you decide tonight about the (GK) development. It’s a bad location. Why should they come here and destroy the land? I hope you make good choices. If you don’t, you’ll be at fault for doing this development.”

Comment last night was intended to be restricted to new information GK consultants presented, but the public hearing was closed before GK’s traffic engineer Kamyar Fattahi of TEC and the town’s traffic consultant Gary Fisk of DLZ made their presentations. Few specifics regarding traffic were presented at the initial Feb. 22 GK public hearing that lasted nearly five hours and drew almost 300 people despite the fact traffic was a major concern for many.

Last night’s business was dispatched in about 90 minutes and 117 people including town staff were present. GK’s request for approval of its planned-unit development or PUD on 40 acres at the southeast corner of Indiana 49 and County Road 1100N now moves to the Town Council for final consideration.

Margaret Willis strongly objected to not having the traffic discussion prior to closing public comment. Commission President George Stone said essentially the same traffic plan proposed for some time was being discussed with an update.

“Traffic tops the people’s concerns about this development,” said Willis and if past history is any indicator, the Indiana Department of Transportation is very slow to react when traffic modifications are needed, and safety upgrades can take years. “We have to wait for three or four or five fatalities at any one place before any changes are made.”

Willis also said the GK plan “flies in the face of our Comprehensive Plan and I urge you deny this request for rezoning and the PUD.”

Fisk said initial traffic planning for the mall began in January, 2005 with an expanded traffic-impact analysis completed in December; a worst-case 376,000 square-foot mall and the preferred peak-weekday volume were used for planning purposes. The study area was bounded by 1100N, Dickinson Road, Rail Road/Kelle Drive and County Road 100E.

He said the 22,000 vehicles per day associated with the mall includes vehicles already there; a more realistic number is 12,000 new trips or 6,000 vehicles. While some have called for pedestrian access across Indiana 49 to the mall, Fisk discouraged it and suggested Rail Road under Indiana 49 as an alternative.

GK local attorney Greg Babcock said developers have agreed to last month’s request that they move a planned hike/bike trail on the west side of their detention area to its east side to take advantage of the adjacent Coffee Creek watershed. He also said drop-off zones for buses have been added as suggested.

Traffic changes outlined

Fisk outlined GK’s proposed upgrades to be made at its cost on 1100N east of Indiana 49; no changes are planned for Dickinson Road. Included among the upgrades are a new traffic signal at the mall entrance at Pioneer Trail; added travel and turn lanes on 1100N;, and an additional lane on Pioneer Trail.

Thornier were needed traffic upgrades on 1100N west of Indiana 49 for which GK has pledged $50,000 for an added travel lane. The town has acknowledged traffic on South Calumet Road at The Triangle with 1100N and 100E already is a problem and engineering proposals are being sought to develop a solution.

Fisk said consultants suggested reducing the incline on 1100N west of Indiana 49 and installing a concrete median on 1100N between Calumet and 100E. Traffic on Calumet would be right-in, right-out only at 1100N which would gain a westbound travel lane, and there is the potential for a new traffic signal at 1100N and 100E.

Fisk said predictions that people wanting to turn into the mall would be trapped across Indiana 49 and that the Pioneer Trail intersection is too close to Indiana 49 to stack waiting vehicles both are unfounded because of the changes proposed. At this time dual left turn lanes at 1100N for southbound Indiana 49 traffic are not warranted but could be reviewed at a later time, he noted.

Representatives of both WiseWay and Family Express, businesses located on Pioneer Trail north of 1100N, have expressed concern for how the GK traffic changes would impact them.

Fattahi said GK’s plan would have the enhancements of eliminating the current semi-truck traffic generated by Priority Refrigeration Services that would be demolished to make way for the mall; important lane additions and reconfigurations; the new signal at Pioneer Trail; and coordination with that signal, those on Indiana 49 and a possible new signal on 1100N at 100E.

More traffic, other concerns

Several speakers including Marjory Crawford and George Manning said during the continued public hearing that Indiana 49 should be the Gateway to the Dunes and a greenway, not a shopper’s paradise. It’s the gateway to Chesterton’s downtown, too, said Manning, so the public should be involved. He also didn’t want Dickinson Road to become another Indian Boundary Road.

Several times Stone as commission president attempted to steer the comments, often punctuated by applause, back to the GK proposal.

Joan Carpenter asked about GK’s signage and Target’s community involvement programs, touted last month by its company spokesman. Marth said the signs would be tasteful, internally illuminated and the main monument sign at the northwest corner has been reduced in size to 180 square feet with an approximately 65 square-foot sign at Rail Road. Individual stores would have individual signs.

Babcock said information about Target’s community-based programs was submitted. Philip Farese, executive director of Porter County Aging and Community Services Inc., said the needs for senior citizens in town will double in 10 years and he suggested GK, Target and Kohl’s jointly fund renovation of the old WiseWay store on Broadway or other suitable building as a senior/youth center and urged the commission to consider requiring the petitioner to do so.

Roy Phillips cited noise and environmental pollution from the mall and said traffic congestion on Indiana 49 now due to construction would be magnified by mall construction. He said Chesterton should do what it can to avoid sprawl.

Linda Klaiber agreed traffic presently is a nightmare on Indiana 49. “When you turn left at the Toll Road you say a Hail Mary and an Our Father that you can make it without getting hit.”

Mark Snyder expressed concern over GK traffic being shunted off onto side roads unable to handle it, and he called for sustainable development. “There should be more than a strip of concrete.” Laura DeSousa, too, asked how side streets like Meridian Road would be affected. “People will bypass the (Indiana 49) bypass.” She called for a true economic impact study and asked what would happen to vacant big-box stores.

DeSousa also presented additional petitions against the mall. Later she said Wednesday’s signatures numbered about 200 in addition to the approximately 300 previously turned it; those numbers were not independently verified.

Tom Slenczka asked the commission what provisions GK is making for its sanitary needs in light of the fact the Chesterton sewage treatment plant recently bypassed partially treated sewage following heavy rains. He also inquired about water pressure because “this is a very nice place to live, at least it used to be.”

Kathy Haburjak said traffic safety hasn’t been adequately addressed and regarding the mall architecture generally, “Our town is more deserving of something better.”

The ability of the stormwater drainage system proposed by GK to do its job was questioned by Debbie Scurlock in light of the fact the native plants would take two or three years to mature yet the development would be done in 12 to 18 months. She also said a ditch on the south side of 1100N needs attention now without GK’s runoff. Having 40 acres of impervious surface is no Gateway to the Dunes, she added.

Brian Neilson of JFNew, a GK consultant, said aspects of the stormwater system apart from the native plants would be in place and a longer establishment period doesn’t mean no plants; he restated that 100 percent pollutant removal would occur for the marjority of storms in this area.

Regarding the Indiana 49 gateway comments, Marth said, “I don’t know that we can be solely the gateway to the dunes land.” He offered to plant additional trees along Indiana 49.

The commission was in receipt Wednesday of a letter from the Coffee Creek Watershed Conservancy that abuts the GK parcel to the east. According to conservancy executive Steve Barker, “CCWC stands in strong opposition toward the proposed development on the basis it does not support the best interests of the community nor the environment.”

Barker said the creek is already in an impaired state. “The proposed development and its limitations will take matters from a presently ‘worse’ condition to ‘bad’.” While not opposed to development, he added, the GK plan is not creatively done. He suggested reducing building and parking-lot densities, increasing green space and reconfiguring the “big boxes” to daylight the view of Coffee Creek.

Posted 3/23/2006