Chesterton Tribune

 

 

County RDC seeking $15,000 to partner with Valpo on Airport TIF

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By JEFF SCHULTZ

Members of the Porter County Redevelopment Commission Thursday said they are interested in working with the city of Valparaiso on a TIF zone around Porter County Regional Airport, but they lack funding to pay for a $38,000 zoning study the city wants.

The airport is at the northeast corner of U.S. 30 and Ind. 49 adjacent to Valparaiso. The City recently annexed land east of Ind. 49 near the airport to bring utilities to the new Pratt Industries plant.

RDC attorney Gregg Sobkowski said he contacted Valparaiso Economic Development Director Patrick Lyp on behest of the commission to move forward with the discussion. Sobkowski said Lyp told him that the area would require unified zoning codes between the city and the county.

RDC President Ric Frataccia said the commission could ask the County Council if $15,000 is available for the County to share in the cost of hiring a consultant for a zoning study.

The commission currently has no funding mechanism, but could receive funds from the abatement agreement between the county and Porter Regional Hospital. The agreement stipulates the hospital must annually give the county 10 percent of taxes abated for purposes of economic development.

RDC financial advisor Dan Botich said the hospital has yet to be billed on what it owes as he and the County Auditor’s Office are still figuring the correct amount of abatement. Since this is the third year of abatement, the hospital owes two years of economic development funds. Botich said he expects the minimum amount to be over $150,000.

The County Council however has not yet made the RDC the recipient of the funds. RDC member and County Councilman Jim Polarek said he will bring the matter up at the next Council meeting for discussion.

Duneland matters

Also on Thursday, non-voting RDC member and advisor Ralph Ayres informed the board of the agreement between the Burns Harbor Redevelopment Commission and the Duneland School Corporation to share in the tax revenues from the existing Burns Harbor TIF district.

Ayres is also a non-voting member of the Burns Harbor RDC and President of the Duneland School Board. He said the school district could get as much $135,000 annually from the TIF over the next ten years.

A copy of the agreement can be seen on Burn Harbor’s town website, he said, and the County RDC may want to reference it when considering working with local school districts.

“Just an FYI. I thought it would be good for the order to share with you what’s going on,” Ayres said.

RDC member Dave Burrus wondered if other town RDCs are taking notice of the County RDC’s effort to partner with schools.

Meanwhile, Liberty Twp. resident Tim Cole from the floor said that if the TIF zone proposed for Liberty Township is revisited it is important for the RDC members to take note that redevelopment zones would have to be the length of U.S. 6. “The utilities are there. It has to be U.S. 6,” he said.

Cole added that if development ever comes to that area, and it’s likely it will, the County has to find some way to find a north-south connection besides Ind. 49 as the traffic congestion around U.S. 6 and Ind. 49 would be hazardous.

“That has to come sooner or later,” Cole said.

Porter County officials have proposed extending Willowcreek Road in Portage to U.S. 30 as another north-south route.

“Well stated. We feel the same way,” Frataccia said.

Lastly, Cole pointed to the previous discussion about the $15,000 the RDC wants to put up for partnership with Valparaiso. The better way, he said, is to get rid of the “big brother, little brother” type of deals and in order for it to be an equal partnership, it all should be split fairly so one body does not have power over the other, he said.

Kouts wants to collaborate

At the start of the meeting, representatives from the Town of Kouts Jay Birky and Tim Jones said they are hoping to act on the County RDC’s offer to help with future projects, now that the new county park about a mile north of the town could attract new development.

The town was awarded a $200,000 challenge grant from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority last year to extend its infrastructure north.

Birky said the town hopes to see a mix of residential and industrial with the potential expansion and the town’s water treatment plant has the capacity to sustain it.

 

Posted 10/17/2014

 
 

 

 

 

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