By KEVIN NEVERS
The owners of three parcels of land in Liberty Township, totaling
approximately 85 acres and located on either side of Ind. 49 and south of the
Indiana Toll Road, have petitioned the Chesterton Town Council for
annexation.
At their meeting Monday night, members voted 3-0 to enter into a
pre-annexation agreement with the property owners. Members Dave Cincoski,
R-3rd, and Sharon Darnell, D-4th, were not in attendance.
The parcels in question:
•Slightly more than four acres, located east of Ind. 49, west of North
Calumet Ave., and contiguous with the 75 acres annexed last year for
development by I-80 LLC, owned by Richard and Nancy Baulos.
•Slightly more than four acres, located west of Ind. 49, south of C.R. 950N,
and contiguous with the Indiana Toll Road, owned by Irvin and Dorothy Pope.
•And around 77 acres, located immediately west of the Popes’ parcel, owned by
the Irvin Pope and Dorothy Pope Irrevocable Trust.
Attorney Cliff Fleming, representing the petitioners, told the Chesterton
Tribune that his clients have “no specific plan at this point in time” for
developing the property. “They just want to be part of the town.”
Under the terms of the pre-annexation agreement, the petitioners must pay the
expenses of H.J. Umbaugh & Associates for the preparation of a fiscal plan,
in essence a calculation of the cost of the town’s providing municipal
services to the annexation area. The petitioners must also pay the legal and
professional expenses incurred by the town in the annexation process.
This would be the second trans-Toll Road annexation and a somewhat larger one
than the first, when in July 2007 the town annexed 77 acres south of the Toll
Road and east of Ind. 49, for a planned unit development (PUD) which Bob
Rossman of I-80 LLC has dubbed Coffee Creek Crossing. According to the fiscal
plan prepared by Umbaugh, the total annual estimated cost of providing
municipal services to the annexation area will be $277,486 plus additional
equipment purchases totaling $68,231. The Plan Commission has not yet
authorized any uses for the approximately 51 acres of commercial area in the
PUD but there has been loose talk of a Wal-Mart.
Last year the town also annexed 39 acres along 1050N in Crocker, immediately
west of Abercrombie Woods. The owners, Larry and Christine Wright, are
developing a PUD called Springdale, with 94 residential units in a mix of
single-family and paired-patio homes, with commercial uses on the west edge
of the project. According to the fiscal plan prepared by Umbaugh, the total
annual cost of providing municipal services to the annexation area will total
$45,558.
The town annexed 132 acres as well in 2007, formerly known as the Olson Farm,
located at the terminus of East Porter Ave., east of Friday Road (C.R. 250E).
The owners, Vlad and Eric Gastevich, are developing a PUD called Sand Creek
Farms, with 362 single-family homes. According to the fiscal plan prepared by
Umbaugh, the total annual cost of providing municipal services to the
annexation area will total $428,108, plus additional equipment purchases
totaling at least $228,000.
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Posted 7/15/2008
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