By PAULENE POPARAD

“We’ve been here for six, seven years opposing this, through different councils, all the time and money wasted,” Mike Smolios told the Porter Redevelopment Commission during a public hearing Tuesday.

He was one of four remonstrators who voiced their concerns about the proposed $1.9 million Porter Brickyard hike/bike trail during a meeting co-sponsored by the Indiana Department of Transportation, which is using federal dollars to fund 80 percent of the cost.

No one spoke in favor of the 8 foot-wide asphalt trail stretching 2.86 miles from the Calumet Trail north of U.S. 12 to Lincoln Street and Wagner Road in downtown Porter three blocks from the Prairie Duneland Trail in Chesterton. The Brickyard Trail is slated for a 2009 bid-letting.

Questions asked by residents during the hearing will be addressed in a final design summary report due out in three to six months, according to INDOT hearing examiner Rickie Clark. Local project manager Matt Keiser of The Duneland Group did answer questions for individual residents following the formal comment portion of the meeting.

The Brickyard Trail’s current route takes it past Smolios’ house on Howe Road between U.S. 20 and Mineral Springs Road. In that area Howe would be widened 4 feet on each side and the road restriped marking the bike trail on the south side of pavement.

Three of four remonstrators live on Howe Road. They said the Brickyard Trail would invade their privacy, could prove to be a money pit, and would commit money to a project benefiting only a few when the town needs dollars elsewhere.

Smolios said his home recently was burglarized and he felt the quiet area would be subject to people who could size up their belongings unnoticed posing as bicyclists. He also asked who would absorb the loss if his property value plummets after the trail is built. “The town? I don’t think so.”

He continued, “If this goes over budget...who’s going to absorb the cost? The taxpayers of Porter?” While a bike trail isn’t a bad idea, said Smolios, having its grant money go to town police and fire services instead would benefit the entire community. He also questioned the estimated $200,000 cost for construction inspections.

Smolios said if Howe Road neighbors want to get an attorney, to what legal entity should they address their concerns? When Clark later was asked if a lawsuit could stop the bike trail he replied, “Certainly that would impact development of the project. That could bring a delay for sure.”

The trail has been on the drawing board since 2000 with a 2005 groundbreaking once eyed. Despite nearly $2 million in federal grants awarded, deciding on a final trail route residents would accept has been a stumbling block.

Barring litigation, Clark said the fact the project made it this far indicates it now has a full head of steam. “It’s not if it’s happening but when.”

That doesn’t sit well with Walt Muncie of Howe Road. “Fifty people signed a petition they don’t want this bike trail. Two people want it. People don’t want 100 people walking past their house every day.” He also said a planned tunnel under U.S. 20 near Howe Road (a second would be under U.S. 12) will be an attractive nuisance where children could be kidnapped. “God knows what will happen there.”

Tim Kaurich said he has two young children and opposes encouraging people into his very quiet neighborhood. He, too, felt the isolated tunnel could become a hang-out and be ripe for graffiti like that he said plagues sections of the Prairie Duneland Trail.

Clark later said the Brickyard Trail tunnel would be lit and while not necessarily live video cameras, some form of security could be looked at.

"There’s got to be a different way,” Kaurich said of the final Brickyard Trail route, which now won’t directly connect to the Prairie Duneland Trail as originally planned. “It’s changed so many times. Is this going to be the final, final decision?” asked Kaurich.

Keiser told the audience of 12 persons that the current trail plans are not final and their comments could change the design. Additional comments are being accepted until Oct. 1. According to Clark, “Right now is a milestone for this project. This is the time to put everything on the table.”

Muncie, who spoke several times, predicted the remonstrators’ comments will be ignored. “Why even bother us coming here wasting our gas and time? You’ll put (the trail) in anyway.” Keiser said all comments will be given equal weight.

Ryan Crist of Springview Drive asked why the Brickyard leg along Beam Street between Mineral Springs and Wagner Road can’t go on the south side instead of the north. The south would cross fewer homeowners’ properties and avoid both a lift station and the Porter municipal complex that houses Street and Fire Departments, he said.

Proponents note Yost Elementary School on the north side of Beam would be served directly if the trail is built on that side.

Crist asked who would maintain the trail and pick up trash, and he said the asphalt surface could cause drainage problems near it, the latter a concern shared by Kaurich.

After the meeting Redevelopment Commission member Dave Babcock said, “I think there were some good points brought up.” Member Trevan Fowler was absent.

Posted 9/17/2008