By KEVIN NEVERS

The Chesterton Redevelopment Commission has amended the economic development plan which specifies which capital projects the commission may undertake in the town’s tax increment financing (TIF) district.

It has done so, however, over the objections of a local developer.

At its meeting Monday evening, the commission voted 5-0 to adopt an amendment to that plan which essentially does three things:

•It retains the four projects authorized under the original plan enacted in 2000, when the TIF district was established: the extension of Dickinson Road, the construction of a non-grade interchange at the intersection of Ind. 49 and Indian Boundary Road, the construction of a new fire station east of Ind. 49, and the development of a Coffee Creek greenway.

•It adds a fifth project: the redevelopment “of all major entryways and links to” the TIF district “including, but not limited to,” C.R. 1100N, Porter Ave., Indian Boundary Road, Calumet Road, and C.R. 100E.

•And it expands the brief of the Coffee Creek greenway project: “Improvement of the Coffee Creek greenway, pedestrian and biking trails, and park and recreation improvements.”

An amendment of the plan became necessary after the commission realized that it had appropriated $400,000 this year for projects which—with one exception—were not formally designated by the plan: $125,000 for the widening of C.R. 1100N, $130,000 for the re-paving of Porter Ave., $75,000 for engineering studies, and $70,000 for contingency.

Under Indiana Code, TIF funds may only be spent on projects “pre-approved” by the economic development plan for the TIF district.

(There was discussion, prior to the first appropriation, in January, of $200,000, of using at least a part of the $75,000 earmarked for engineering studies to conduct a feasibility study of the Dickinson Road extension.)

Though amending the plan was a matter of some urgency—the commission had claims to pay for the C.R. 1100N widening—President David Canright, managing editor of the Chesterton Tribune, did suggest that in any case it’s probably a good idea now and then to take a look at the plan and update it as appropriate. “As the town grows,” he said, “revenues come in for the TIF fund, it’s in order for us to review the plan.”

One person who apparently reviewed the plan and found it not to his liking is Tom Roberts, former owner of the old Jewel/Osco building and strip mall and developer of the Pumpkin Patch planned unit development on Indian Boundary Road. At a public hearing prior to the vote, Roberts spoke of a $250,000 to $300,000 loss of TIF monies to the district—apparently referring to the $400,000 in appropriations this year—because the projects funded by those monies “are not creating any revenue for that district.”

“These TIF funds should and must be used to increase the tax base of this district,” Roberts insisted. What sorts of projects would increase the tax base of the district, he did not explain.

Roberts did say that over a 10-year period the three businesses which have located in the Pumpkin Patch—Applebee’s Neighbor Grill & Bar, Advanced Auto, and City Savings Bank—could generate as much as $750,000 in tax revenues.

Roberts also objected to the fact that three members of the Town Council—President Mike Bannon, R-5th, Sharon Darnell, D-4th, and Dave Cincoski, R-3rd—have seats on the commission. “I think it’s unfair to put elected officials on this board,” he said.

As it happens, the commission’s very first use of TIF funds for any project was its appropriation of $23,500 in 2003 for the purchase and installation of a loop detection system for the traffic signal which Roberts installed at the intersection of Indian Boundary Road and Sand Creek Drive North as part of the Pumpkin Patch PUD.

One other person who spoke during the public hearing was Jeff Trout, a member of the Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals. Trout urged the commission to be mindful, when thinking of the Dickinson Road extension, to remember the southern part of it in Coffee Creek Center.

Later in the meeting, Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakowski informed the commission that at present the TIF fund totals $641,566.48, following its draw for the first half of the year: $125,867.65. Bannon reminded his colleagues that $400,000 of that sum is already encumbered.

Posted 7/26/2005