By PAULENE POPARAD

Because it’s currently zoned for apartments, the 63-acre Iron Triangle parcel in Porter potentially could have nearly 600 living units on it, attorney Karen Tallian told the town of Porter Plan Commission.

Yet commission members said Wednesday the 190 single-family homes Tallian’s client, B&R Development, are proposing is still too dense for the site.

The property, bounded by the Norfolk Southern Railroad on the north, the CSX Railroad on the south and South Mineral Springs Road on the west, has stymied previous development attempts, said town planner Jim Mandon.

That’s why the multi-family zoning was put in place recognizing that a developer would need more density to recoup his costs to pay for the substantial traffic improvements needed for a site landlocked by railroads on two sides, he explained.

Following a public hearing last night, the commission tentatively set Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. as a workshop with B&R Development’s traffic engineer to discuss a traffic study prepared for The Trails of Porter. The subdivision’s petition for a planned unit development (PUD) was tabled until the commission’s Dec. 19 meeting, for which Tallian said a revised traffic proposal might be submitted following the workshop.

Tallian emphasized that at this stage, a final development plan needn’t be presented for the commission to make a recommendation to the Town Council whether the PUD ordinance governing The Trails should be adopted. If approved, final plans and final platting would follow.

Developers Bob Gorgei and Rich Brennan have offered to donate $400,000 or approximately $2,000 for each approved lot on top of Porter’s approximately $1,500 sanitary sewer tap-on fee and an additional $1,500 sewage capacity capital fee, both per lot.

The $400,000 initially was intended to help Porter pay for an overpass over the Norfolk Southern for its planned but unbuilt Porter Brickyard hike/bike trail that will border the subdivision’s southern edge on land B&R Development will donate for it. However, Tallian said at the town’s discretion the $400,000 can be used to upgrade the Porter Avenue sanitary-sewer lift station instead.

The state has put a moratorium on new development served by the station until it is upgraded. Town engineer Hesham Khalil told the commission the upgrade should cost between $600,000 and $800,000. Mandon said Tallian misunderstood town department heads’ request that B&R Development donate money for the lift-station upgrade in addition to the $400,000.

The Trails project engineer Matt Keiser of The Duneland Group said he thought that’s what developers were doing by paying the required $1,500 capital fee, especially since The Trails will have to build its own lift station to pump sewage by a force main under the Norfolk Southern to the Porter Avenue station.

Tallian said the combined $3,000 sewer tap-on/capital fee is steep compared to other communities. Khalil said, “It’s not a comparison of communities. It’s a comparison of conditions of infrastructure.” Mandon said upgrading Porter Avenue’s station will benefit the entire community by allowing other vacant land to be developed.

Tallian said the density The Trails is requesting is not out of line because 100 of the 190 lots would meet the town’s 9,000 square-foot minimum, and because the nearby Porter Cove subdivision has 267 lots on 94 acres.

Public Comments

One person, Jennifer Klug, spoke in favor of the PUD citing the tax base it will add and that it’s about time the Iron Triangle is developed bringing sewer and water to the area. Keiser said both utilities will be sized and located to allow about 25 homes in the Monroe and Vine street areas west of Mineral Springs to connect is they so desire and pay for it.

Five remonstrators spoke. Ira Reich of Mineral Springs Road said his concern was stormwater and what The Trails is going to do about it. “Where’s it going to drain?” Possible flooding after the subdivision is built also was a concern of Bob Fulton of Monroe Street.

Mandon said the town has a stormwater ordinance and The Trails will have to comply. Keiser said the drainage improvements developers make should help other nearby properties as well.

Joann Findley of Monroe Street said they want water and sewers, too, and that flooding and traffic congestion are her fears. “We’re the ones who’ll be stuck with it.” Bob McDonald of Mineral Springs said at 3:50 p.m. recently he counted 50 vehicles backed up to the Old Porter Road S-curve west of Mineral Springs because a train on the CSX tracks was going 20 mph.

“I oppose 190 houses. My goodness, half that would be a good number. I’m not opposed to developing it but not 190 houses,” McDonald told the commission. He also said he didn’t approve of the route of the Brickyard Trail. Keiser, who is the trail’s project manager for the town, said after eight years of delays, what’s proposed now might not be the final route and that’s a town decision, not the developers.

Joe Vargo of Lincoln Street said with the trend toward intermodal shipping, rail traffic on the CSX will increase. He noted if its crossing is blocked or closed, a five-mile detour would face drivers wanting to go to Chesterton High School. Vargo predicted massive congestion on Mineral Springs and suggested building an underpass.

Mandon said in previous talks with other Iron Triangle developers a tunnel at Mineral Springs Road extended north or a new at-grade vehicle crossing near Sexton Street were discussed, both options carrying million-dollar pricetags.

A rating, B rating

Much of the hearing centered on what the impact would be from The Trails traffic having just two subdivision entrances on Mineral Springs north of Old Porter Road. Keiser said they were encouraged by Porter officials not to line up an entrance with Old Porter Road; he also said the developers would install right-turn lanes where necessary.

Keiser noted that the developers’ traffic study showed the level of service of the Mineral Springs/Old Porter three-way intersection would drop from an A to a B, which he described as not significant, but that decrease is expected to happen anyway because of predicted growth in the area as a whole, he added.

Khalil said overall growth might lower the intersection rating over 20 years, but The Trails’ traffic could reduce the efficiency rating in one year. Brennan said they anticipate full build-out in five years.

Commission members Greg Stinson and Ken Timm asked Keiser to explain the difference to motorists between an A and a B rating. Keiser said he did not do the traffic study and would have to yield to that engineer for a Nov. 29 presentation. Khalil said wait time, vehicle stacking and number of trips are factors in an intersection’s rating.

Mandon said the challenging intersection might require signalization or other upgrades.

Regarding other matters, Bell rapped the density as too high and questioned the three detention ponds surrounded by homes. Keiser said 78 of the lots would have water frontage, considered an amenity, on a pond or the wetland park. Bell said he’d like to see a real park in the subdivision, which would be about one mile from Chesterton’s Dogwood Park on 23rd Street.

“Basically our neighbor’s parks are available. I can see young children crossing the railroad tracks (from The Trails) and I hope I’m not around to see it. I couldn’t live with it,” said Bell, referring to a possible accident.

Commission member Sandi Snyder said the proposed mix of ranch, two-story and paired patio homes, the latter near the northern railroad tracks, is too much of a housing mix. “I think they’re ugly. They need to be themed and pretty, attractive.” She also said the $160,000 to $200,000 estimated selling prices are not high-end homes. “I hate to see us get a typical, disjointed, ugly subdivision in the town.”

Absent last night were commission members Paul Childress and Jim Eriksson, and commission attorney Patrick Lyp. Wednesday’s meeting was rescheduled from Nov. 21 due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Posted 11/15/2007