The Porter Redevelopment Commission received both good news and bad news at its meeting Tuesday.

President Micheal Genger reported the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority has agreed to consider the town’s application for a $19 million grant as part of $30 million in proposed U.S. 20/Indiana 49 gateway corridor improvements.

The application now goes to an RDA working group for review prior to the full RDA board making a final decision on the grant request. Porter’s project would create a new, iconic entrance near U.S. 20 for the Indiana Dunes State Park in keeping with the goals of the Marquette Plan Phase 2 that the RDA was created in part to fund.

The Porter County Council majority is attempting to withdraw its funding commitment to and membership in the RDA, but at this time the county’s still legally a member and Porter’s grant is being given consideration.

The $19 million pricetag would fund studies and engineering as well as construction over three years including an upgrade of Indiana 49 from U.S. 20 to Interstate 94 to promote pedestrian access; a transit study how best to ferry residents and tourists in the area; and construction of Porter’s 3.95-mile leg from U.S. 12 to Woodlawn Avenue of the proposed Dunes Kankakee hike/bike trail.

Genger has said the projects would spur development/redevelopment along the U.S. 20/Indiana 49 corridor to create jobs and boost tourism.

Porter director of engineering Matt Keiser reported the cost of the planned $2.4 million Porter Brickyard Trail will go up $780,000 more because a new travel lane would have to be built on the north side of U.S. 20 near Howe Road during construction of a tunnel under the four-lane highway.

Keiser said because Michigan-train semis and other heavy loads use U.S. 20, the travel lane would have to be built to rigid specifications even though it would be in place for only two months. A tunnel also will be built under U.S. 12 for the Brickyard Trail but no additional lane is being required there.

The trail, which would begin near the Prairie Duneland Trail in Chesterton and connect with the Calumet Trail in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, has been plagued by repeated delays since planning first began in 2000.

Commission member Jon Granat asked if the $780,000 increase will kill the project. Keiser said it shouldn’t, but it may require design changes.

Years ago the Brickyard Trail was awarded $2 million in federal transportation-enhancement grants and Tuesday the Redevelopment Commission authorized Keiser to apply for $780,000 more; a final decision should be available in two months, he said.

“If we have to pay that out of local money, that would be tough,” commented commission member Al Raffin, who suggested keeping the town’s options open. Member Bruce Snyder proposed applying for federal stimulus dollars as well.

While awaiting word on the TE grant, the commission asked Keiser to revisit using a bridge to cross U.S. 20 similar to that over two-lane Indiana 149 north of County Road 1050N for the Prairie Duneland Trail. There is no significant price difference between a tunnel or bridge at U.S. 20.

Worst-case scenario, Keiser said, the Brickyard Trail initially could be built omitting a way to get across U.S. 20 pending a resolution. The current schedule is for construction bids to be let in October.

Tuesday, Ronald Owen and Dennis Martinson accepted a $42,000 check from the commission for 0.48 acres the town purchased at the southwest corner of U.S. 20 and Howe Road needed for the trail.

The town’s second long-delayed hike/bike trail, the Orchard Pedestrian Way, had a bridge built over the Little Calumet River this spring but the trail itself won’t be built until next year. Snyder asked if the bridge can be used by the public because a barrier there discourages it; Keiser said the bridge is safe and he’ll develop a price estimate to make the bridge approach more accessible.

The commission also voted 5-0 to accept the bridge to close out the project for the Lake Michigan Coastal Program, which contributed $100,000 for its construction.

On another matter, Keiser was asked to work with the property owner of the commercial building at 300 Lincoln St. on cost projections for developing a downtown parking lot that could serve the town hall. The town owns one 40-foot by 110-foot lot adjacent to two vacant lots east of the building, which houses a bead shop, a laundromat and apartments.

The town hall is north of the lots separated by an alley and has few dedicated parking spaces; at times the public parks in the laundromat lot for town meetings. Keiser said the new parking lot could be built of porous pavement as a demonstration project. He estimated only a few parking spaces could be built on the town’s single lot, which is served by a one-lane road.

The meeting concluded with a presentation by Shannon Armstrong, Chicago-based community planning consultant for the Brick Industry Association. Armstrong will be doing an unrelated visual preference survey for the town of Chesterton later this summer.

Armstrong offered her free planning assistance to Porter officials on projects like a U.S. 20 corridor plan or drafting design standards as her association has done for 47 communities in the Midwest including several in Lake and Porter counties.

A component in pedestrian-oriented commercial corridor design, said Armstrong, is quality building materials as well as good access, parking, landscaping, lighting, signage, screening, buffering and security. More and more individual development projects have their own theme and a consistent look throughout, said Armstrong.

Posted 6/24/2009