The house being
built for John Deal at 1840 S. 11th St.--immediately across the street from
Chesterton High School--is nearly finished, and he’s hoping to get an
occupancy permit for it soon.
The problem: under
Town Standards a sidewalk must be built in front of all new construction,
and Deal’s frontage totals 858 feet, which would be a lot of expensive
sidewalk.
Which is why Deal
asked his builder, Steiner Homes, to appear before the Chesterton Town
Council at its last meeting to request a waiver from the Town Standard, on
the ground that the sidewalk would serve his house only.
Members made it
absolutely plain at the time, however, that they oppose such a waiver, and
that in their view granting it would betray homeowners of the future who
will build and live south of Deal’s house in what is now unincorporated
Liberty Township.
That response
apparently came as a surprise to Deal, who at Monday night’s council meeting
told members that he was under the impression--an impression given to him by
his Steiner guy--that a waiver would be no big deal at all.
“I still feel that
this would only serve my house,” Deal said, then added that his property is
located well south of the intersection of South 11th Street and 1100N, that
there’s no crosswalk in front of his house, and that he personally wouldn’t
want to see CHS students jaywalking to get to the other side of the street.
“It feels like a dead-end kind of sidewalk.”
President Sharon
Darnell, D-4th, indicated that the fault here, if fault there is, is the
Steiner guy’s. “That’s a problem you have with your builder,” she said. “To
think it’s just a waltz and you could get it taken care of.”
Member Jim Ton,
R-1st, on the other hand, suggested that what seems to be a dead-end
sidewalk now will be an essential neighborhood link in an unforeseen future.
“There’s no way years ago we would know there would be a high school there.
Or Growing Kids. Or an orthodontist. I don’t think there’s any way we can
mortgage the future. There will be Town of Chesterton further down Meridian
Road at some point, and we can’t have a gap in the sidewalk.”
“Nobody’s talking
about a crosswalk now,” Ton added. “But nobody was talking about a high
school either. I don’t have a crystal ball but I’m sure there will be a
crosswalk one day at 1050N.”
Deal, interested at
the moment chiefly in getting his occupancy permit, wondered whether he
could pour 90 feet of sidewalk now, from the north edge of his property to
the driveway, and then pour the rest later.
Members expressed
interest in this compromise but Associate Town Attorney Julie Paulson and
Member Jennifer Fisher, I-5th--herself an attorney--both expressed concern
about its enforceability. “My concern is the time frame,” Paulson said. If
Deal fails to pour the remaining stretch of sidewalk and then sells his
house, how would the town force the new homeowner to do it?
In the end members
voted unanimously to reject Deal’s petition for a sidewalk waiver, then
voted unanimously to continue the matter at their next meeting, to explore
other options for getting the whole of the sidewalk built without unduly
burdening Deal.
Vacation
In other business,
members voted unanimously to grant Tammy Symmes’ petition for the vacation
of a platted but unimproved portion of Union Ave. south of and adjacent to
her property at 723 S. Jackson Blvd.
Symmes told the
council that she has a one-car driveway but three teenagers who drive, and
that she would like to have a parking area on the south side of her home.
At a public hearing
which preceded the vote, no one spoke in favor of the petition and no one in
opposition.
Town Engineer Mark
O’Dell noted that Symmes and her neighbor to the south will each acquire
ownership of 33 feet of the former public right-of-way, on either side of
the center line of platted Union Ave. Each will also have responsibility to
pay property taxes on that 33-foot sliver.
Riverfront
Designation
Meanwhile, Town
Manager Bernie Doyle announced that Carlos Chavez, owner of the former
Sweeney Todd’s and of the new Mexican taco restaurant now in the same
location on South Calumet Road, is seeking a Riverfront District designation
to allow him to apply for an alcohol license from the Indiana Alcohol and
Tobacco Commission.
A riverfront
designation allows the granting of alcohol licenses to eateries located
within a specified distance of a riverfront--in this case, Coffee
Creek--without respect to quota limits.
Chavez can serve up
to 25 people at his restaurant and appears to be doing pretty good business
right now but would like to build it further with the help of an alcohol
license.
“I see no red
flags,” Doyle told the council. “I see no reason why he can’t apply for the
license.”
Members accordingly
voted unanimously to grant the Riverfront District designation.