Chesterton is expanding the boundaries of its Tax Increment Financing district as the funds will be used to help finance a number of capital improvement projects.
One of the major initiatives is remodeling Chesterton’s fire station, which will include a two-story, 2,000-square-foot addition along with a reconfiguration of offices and sleeping quarters.
The fire station and Town Hall remodeling are expected to cost around $2.8 million. The town along with a consulting firm is working on a breakdown of projected costs for the Town Hall and fire station portions of the building at 8th Street and Broadway.
Chesterton’s Redevelopment Commission on Monday before the council meeting gave its final approval to the new TIF district boundaries that include 300 new industrial and business parcels.
The district now will go west on Broadway from Calumet Road to 16th Street. Properties south of Broadway would include the new Duneland YMCA Healthy Living Campus being developed on the old Chesterton Middle School site. The new TIF will also stretch south along Calumet Road, north of the U.S. Post Office. North of Broadway, the new district would take in some properties on Woodlawn Avenue and Locust Street before ending at Calumet Road and Indian Boundary Road. Residential properties aren’t included in the TIF area.
TIF districts allow the town to divert a portion of collected property taxes from a parcel to help pay for capital improvement projects. The town of Chesterton has about $10 million available in diverted taxes from its original TIF district that was established in 2000. That district mostly lies east of Calumet Road and is bounded to the north by Indian Boundary Road and the Indiana Toll Road to the south.
The new TIF boundaries allow the town to use funds for the fire station and Councilwoman Erin Collins, D-2nd, said that’s the financial plan.
The Town Council during its meeting Monday touched on two other projects that will involve the use of TIF funds.
Bids were opened for the paving and improvement of two new downtown parking lots in the 100 block of Grant Avenue and Calumet Road, and the 100 block of Indiana Avenue. There were four bidders with Grimmer Construction Inc. of Highland submitting the apparent lowest bid of $1,269,149. A contract will be awarded after all the bids are analyzed.
The Town Council also unanimously approved an offer of $377,500 to buy the property of Duneland Collision at 107 N. 15th St.
If an agreement is reached, the town would use TIF funds to convert the property into a vehicle compound for the street and police departments.
Another possible use of TIF funds would be to make infrastructure improvements around the new Duneland Y being developed at the Chesterton Middle School site.
Councilwoman Jennifer Fisher, I-Dist. 5, acknowledged to the Post-Tribune that there have been some planning discussions between town and Duneland Y officials, but nothing has been settled.
In other business, the council voted 4-1 to re-examine the town’s options concerning its contract for legal services.
The Harris, Welsh & Lukmann firm has been used by the town for at least 40 years. Chuck Lukmann has been the town attorney with other members of the firm attending meetings and doing legal work.
Fisher said that the town’s legal costs had been high last year and there is a need to explore options. She and other council members emphasized that they are satisfied with the legal work performed and hope that Harris, Welsh & Lukmann would be among those interested in a contract with the town.
Councilman James Ton, R-Dist. 1, said he was “not astounded that the bill for 2024 was a little higher.” Ton said that the town called upon the firm to do more legal work than normal. Among the projects the law firm worked on were land acquisition for the Westchester-Liberty Trail and downtown parking lots, the situation concerning a data center proposal and the new police station.
Collins said that for her, the concern was the town paying $362,000 for legal services “was more than we can afford and more than we should be paying.”
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
