The proposed Beverly Shores/Pines transit development district is just one public hearing away from being granted the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority’s blessing.
The district would capture the increase in sales and property tax revenue within its 165.3 acres to fund sewer construction along U.S. 12 in the two towns.
Although the train station is in Beverly Shores, the town council there agreed to let The Pines not only join in but get most of the acreage in the proposed district. There would be 34.4 acres in Beverly Shores and 130.9 in The Pines.
The sewer line would be extended west from Michigan City, and The Pines is between Beverly Shores and Michigan City.
“I’m here to thank you for hearing this, for highlighting this,” Beverly Shores Town Council President Geof Benson said. “It is an amazing opportunity for the future.”
Benson referred to the vast AmeriPlex complex in Crown Point where the RDA’s offices are and where Thursday’s public hearing took place. “None of this would have happened if everything was still on septic,” he said.
Major commercial developments along U.S. 12 in northeast Porter County aren’t likely to happen if they have to rely on septic systems.
John Macklin, the other person who spoke at Thursday’s public hearing, said he has about two acres at the far west end of the proposed district. “It’s a little triangle of property,” he said. Macklin argued for its inclusion in the district.
He also asked if the town municipal complex could be included in the district so money generated from the district could be used for future work at the municipal complex. A transit development district functions much like a tax increment financing district but with the addition of capturing the increased amount of income tax generated within the district.
RDA Director of Economic Development AJ Bytnar said transit development districts – a new creation just for Northwest Indiana – “bring a unique set of economic development tools.”
The districts are established within a half-mile radius of a train station, a total of 320 acres, although the one for Beverly Shores and The Pines is about half that size. Each can be increased one time, for a radius of one square mile around the station, or 640 acres, Bytnar explained.
“Transit-oriented development is different in every community,” consultant Aaron Kowalski of MKSK said.
“We’re not taking properties. We’re not cooperating with a developer or a Realtor,” he said.
“The money that is spent in Beverly Shores will be reinvested in Beverly Shores, the same with The Pines,” Kowalski said.
Both town councils approved the boundaries. “Everybody, I think, is pretty happy with the boundaries. We revised it,” he said.
The proposed boundaries now go to a second RDA public hearing, on June 12. Following that, the State Budget Committee will meet to give it final approval.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
