By PAULENE POPARAD

The Porter Redevelopment Commission has approved purchase of five parcels of land needed to build the planned Orchard Pedestrian Way hike/bike trail from Woodlawn Avenue along Waverly Road to U.S. 20.

But a major hurdle --- how to get the trail over Interstate 94 --- still remains unresolved.

Voting unanimously Tuesday the commission acquired a 20-foot-wide strip adjacent to the existing streets that will become public right-of-way in which the 8-foot-wide trail will be built from approximately Arrowhead Trail on the north side of Woodlawn where the public sidewalk ends to U.S. 20 at the Waverly intersection.

Approved for payment, which was negotiated by agent Oak Hill Partners, was $1,667 for Mary Ray; $3,709 for Audrey Wampler; $1,949 for Liudas Ancerys and Irena Ancerys; $1,400 for First Developers of Indiana Inc.; and $33,335 for Patricia Sutherland with frontage on both Woodlawn and Waverly.

The $42,060 total cost is within the $50,000 set aside for land acquisition for the initially $1.2 million project being partially funded with a previously awarded $850,000 grant and a recently awarded $100,000 grant.

The latter will help fund construction of a bridge over the Little Calumet River and a pedestrian walkway on the north side of Hawthorne Park. Town officials and the trail’s engineering firm are negotiating with Indiana Department of Transportation employees over whether Porter can modify the existing I-94 bridge on Waverly for the hike/bike trail or whether a new freestanding bridge that could cost about $500,000 would be required by INDOT.

Redevelopment secretary/treasurer Paul Childress said Tuesday, “Doing up to 94, we can complete that now.” This portion of the project is in the design phase, he noted.

The original federal grant stipulated that the trail would cross U.S. 20. Childress owns Splash Down Dunes Water Park on the east side of Waverly just north of U.S. 20 and a large tract on the west side of Waverly across from the water park. He said he has committed to building a trail along his property on either side of the street compatible with the town’s trail.

Because Childress doesn’t own the parcels immediately at the Waverly/U.S. 20 intersection, cooperation with those owners would be needed to build the trail at either location to his property, Childress added.

In related news, the Redevelopment Commission by consensus approved spending $1,950 with Landmark Archeological and Environmental Services Inc. to conduct studies needed for the planned $2.4 million Porter Brickyard hike/bike trail on the town’s west side.

Posted 6/28/2006