By PAULENE POPARAD

Rejected in its 2006 attempt to locate a 499-foot FM radio transmission tower in Porter near State Road 49, Chicago-based station WBEZ Alliance Inc. goes before the town’s Plan Commission on Wednesday seeking a rezoning to build a 595-foot tower at the former Andershock’s Fruitland.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the town hall, 303 Franklin St. The WBEZ petition is a preliminary hearing only; a public hearing will be set and the commission will make a recommendation to the Town Council for final action.

The 20-acre Andershock site is at the southwest corner of Tremont Road and U.S. 20. It has sat shuttered for about three years. Andershock’s is east of Lake Erie Land’s Munson Place light-industrial subdivision, which but for the Porter County Visitor Center is undeveloped.

Andershock’s is zoned Business-3 along the highway frontage and Residential-1 to the south. WBEZ wants to rezone the parcel to Industrial-1 for the radio tower but would exclude some I-1 uses like fuel sales, truck stops and freight terminals.

The tower would be built in the center of the parcel with one lot each above and below it for future development. There are three existing road cuts into the site but they may be moved if future tenants require it. Sanitary sewers are at Munson Place and WBEZ would be responsible for upgrading that lift station and possibly the Cardinal Court lift station depending on how much sewage capacity future tenants might require.

Upgrading lift stations is of keen interest to the town, which is under an agreed order with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to improve and modernize its sewer collection system as soon as possible.

WBEZ lawyers and the town attorney have been in discussion over WBEZ’s lawsuit filed last year asking a Porter Superior Court to overturn the town Board of Zoning Appeals original Sept. 20, 2006 denial of the tower request.

The property eyed at that time was 10.5 acres owned by Aqua-Land Communications off a frontage road at the southwest corner of State Road 49 and U.S. 20; Aqua-Land’s wooded, wetlands parcel is zoned R-1 and WBEZ was seeking a use variance. Two smaller cellular towers are located on the Aqua-Land site, but neighbors residing primarily to the south remonstrated against the radio tower and presented a petition in opposition.

Between the Aqua-Land parcel and Andershock’s to the west, the Indiana State Police have a nearly 500-foot radio tower at the southeast quadrant of State Road 49 and U.S. 20.

As part of its 2006 petition, WBEZ offered to provide a WiFi system for free Internet access for Porter residents and a Webcam installed on the tower providing views of weather conditions around town if the use variance were granted.

A motion to approve that variance was made but failed with a subsequent motion to deny passing 3-1. Concerns about devaluing adjacent properties and that there were better uses for the Aqua-Land site than a radio tower were cited by BZA members voting no.

Also on the Plan Commission’s Wednesday agenda is continued discussion regarding The Trails of Porter, a proposed 190-home subdivision on 63 acres in what is known as the Iron Triangle on the east side of South Mineral Springs Road at the east terminus of Old Porter Road.

The acreage is bounded by two railroads, a fact that’s hampered its previous development attempts because the town has wanted a second access point in addition to Mineral Springs as proposed. Developers B&R Development counter that the railroads will not grant a new at-grade crossing, and that a tunnel or bridge is cost prohibitive. However, B&R is offering to add two turn lanes at the Old Porter/Mineral Springs intersection.

The Plan Commission conducted a special meeting Nov. 29 to discuss a traffic study prepared for The Trails. A public hearing on the petition was conducted Nov. 14.

Some commission members have said that, in addition to their concerns about traffic back-ups --- especially when CSX trains blocks the adjacent railroad tracks --- 190 homes is too dense for the site. Developers maintain their density is the same as the Porter Cove subdivision on Pearson Road, and that under its current multi-family zoning classification The Trails could be built with up to 600 housing units.

The Porter BZA, also scheduled to meet Wednesday, was canceled due to a lack of business. The BZA has met only twice this year.]

Posted 12/18/2007