Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Utility approached by Liberty developer seeking sewer service on Meridian

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By KEVIN NEVERS

The developer of a proposed mid-sized residential subdivision off Meridian Road and north of U.S. Highway 6 in Liberty Township has broached the possibility of seeking sanitary sewer service from the Town of Chesterton.

So Utility Superintendent Dave Ryan reported to the Utility Service Board at its meeting Monday night.

Nothing has been decided, nothing has even been seriously discussed yet, Ryan emphasized. At this point the developer is merely casting about for another option, after--Ryan said--becoming “disgruntled” with the direction and progress of talks with the Damon Run Conservancy District, which provides sewer service to a number of subdivisions off Meridian Road.

“There’s nothing specific right now,” Ryan said. “We have no idea if we have the capacity.”

Member John Schnadenberg, for his part, counseled heedfulness. “We still have a lot of areas in town that could still be developed,” he said. “So we’ve got to be cautious.”

Several years ago, the Utility installed a sanitary sewer main down Meridian Road to service the Fox Chase Farms subdivision, following the failure of its septic system. Grinder pumps in each of the Fox Chase Farms residences flow sewage to the main, which runs to a lift station built as part of the Ind. 49 utility corridor project. Much of the cost of that project was paid through grants and none of it was borne by the Utility or by its rate-payers.

Ryan told members that he doesn’t know exactly where the proposed subdivision would be built but it would be close to Fox Chase Farms.

Missing Force Main

In other business, Ryan reported that a portion of the six-inch force main discharging from the Barrington Bridge lift station still hasn’t been located.

That’s a problem, because that force main would serve the 64-unit residential planned unit development which John Nekus is seeking to build on a heavily wooded 11-acre property located immediately behind--west of--the Chesterton Post Office.

Ruan has been consulting with several locating services and the possibility has been discussed of using ground-penetrating radar. On Oct. 22, he added, he and Nekus met on the property, with Nekus agreeing to arrange for a contractor to clear “a big portion of the brush in the woods.”

“Hopefully,” Ryan said, “that will provide us with easier access.”

The force main was installed in 1978.

Hotel Sewer Allocation

Meanwhile, members voted unanimously to grant a sanitary sewer allocation for a proposed double-hotel project at Coffee Creek Center, located immediately north of the Speedway gas station and Culver’s restaurant.

Amerilodge of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is proposing to build a Holiday Inn Express and a Fairfield Inn & Suites. The Holiday Inn would feature 90 rooms in four stories; the Fairfield, 87 rooms in three stories. The complex would be accessed via Matson Street and Blackwell Lane.

Making the request for the allocation was Amerilodge’s local attorney, Greg Babcock. Ryan told the Service Board that the wastewater treatment plant has sufficient capacity to treat the hotel sewage. He added that the two lift stations which will be flowing the sewage--the KAT and the Dickinson Road facilities--were specifically “built to handle that kind of flow.”

The Advisory Plan Commission will hold a public hearing on the primary plat for the two hotels at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19.

October in Review

In October, Chesterton used 44.75 percent of its 3,668,000 gallon per day (gpd) allotment of the wastewater treatment plant; Porter, 48.97 percent of its 851,000 gpd allotment; the Indian Boundary Conservancy District, 49.92 percent of its 81,000 gpd allotment; and the plant as a whole, 46.26 percent of its capacity.

There were no bypasses of sewage into the Little Calumet River last month, which saw 3.65 inches of rain.

Also in October, the Utility ran a deficit of $161,714.49 and in the year-to-date is running a surplus of $441,530.31.

Rate Review Meeting

The Service Board will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19, at the wastewater treatment plant.

The purpose of the meeting: to discuss the biennial rate review study being prepared by London Witte Group.

 

 

Posted 1/20/2018

 
 
 
 

 

 

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