When you stick a shovel in the ground, you never know what you’re gonna
find.
LGS Plumbing Inc., the general contractor for the Ind. 49 utility corridor
project, has found 250 cubic yards of “farm trash.”
So Chesterton Town Engineer Mark O’Dell reported at Monday’s special meeting
of the Redevelopment Commission.
LGS will need to remove the debris before proceeding with the work—which in
any event has stopped until the weather clears and the site dries up
some—and that removal will cost the town. It’s unclear at this point how
much, O’Dell said, but probably somewhere in the range of $18,000 to
$30,000.
A change order, in other words, is necessary, O’Dell told members. Two were
possible: removal by the ton or—more open-ended—removal by the hour. O’Dell
recommended the per-ton option, at a cost of $87.38 per, and members voted
5-0 to authorize the change order.
“We’re in good shape for the change order,” Town Attorney Chuck Lukmann
said. “We really don’t like change orders. But this was not anticipated and
it’s been the only one.”
Member Paul Tharp wanted to know whether removal of the debris would be
likely to delay the project. O’Dell said no. “The project is not behind at
all. We’re still on schedule” for a June completion.
New TIF District
In other business, and by votes of 5-0, the commission took the steps
necessary to “carve out” 157.4 acres—the property purchased by Urschel
Laboratories Inc.—from the current tax increment financing district in place
at Coffee Creek Center.
As Lukmann has explained, the property in question is already in an
established TIF district but that district is due to expire in about 18
years, while the financing mechanism which is making it possible for Urschel
Laboratories to re-locate to Coffee Creek Center will have a lifetime of 20
years, beginning after completion of the facility.
On Monday, members adopted two resolutions: the first doing the actual
carve-out, the second designating those 157.4 acres a new “economic
allocation area,” as it’s technically called.
The commission also voted 5-0 to hold a public hearing on the newly
designated TIF district at 6 p.m. Monday, March 11.
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