Gary wants to be part of Little Cal conservancy district
By Michelle L. QUinn Post-Tribune correspondent February 8, 2012 9:50AM
Updated: March 11, 2012 8:19AM
GARY — The city wants a seat at the table if State Rep. Ed Soliday’s Little Calumet River maintenance bill goes forward.
Common Council President Kyle Allen Jr. reminded the council during its Tuesday night meeting that there was a homegrown solution on the table last summer in the form of the Calumet Burns Conservancy District, but the municipalities’ concerns over how much they dump into the tributaries versus how much they would have to pay appeared to kill the effort.
Under Soliday’s bill, everyone living in the watershed will end up paying a $45 flat rate regardless of where they are in proximity to it.
The conservancy proposal created by Lake County Surveyor George Van Til, on the other hand, would levy a $40 fee for the first year in order to get River Basin projects done, and then a $20 per year going forward for the basin’s maintenance. The fees would then generate $3 million per year for the maintenance.
“We had a tiered proposal for less money; now, you’re going to have to pay more for the service,” Allen said. “When it’s our idea, nobody wants anything to do with it.”
Further, the district would be led by elected members from within the watershed; the Conservancy District calls for nine elected members, eight of whom live in different parts of the watershed and one at-large member. Because Gary has the most land in the watershed at 26,000 parcels, it would have two elected members. Allen hopes Soliday’s bill will afford the same consideration.
“I know the governor’s appointments would have to pass certain criteria, such as having a background in engineering, architecture, or construction, but I just want us to have a seat at the table,” he said.
Allen said he spoke with State Sen. Earline Rogers over the weekend, and she told him Soliday’s bill passed out of the House 84-10.
In other business, the council tabled an ordinance granting the Gary/Chicago International Airport a vacation of a public way that would modify development-zone boundaries and give the city more land because it hasn’t heard a presentation from Airport Interim Director Steve Landry on the particulars. The council agreed to throw the ordinance back to the Planning Committee to give Landry the opportunity to present the plan.
The Airport Authority will modify its development-zone boundaries and give the excess land over to the city. The city’s Redevelopment Commission will then absorb the land and put it in the tax increment financing (TIF) district devoted to the $163 million Kirk Yard expansion by Canadian National Railroad.
That new development zone will be used to collect TIF funds and put back into improving Clark Road and other infrastructure projects.
The land that the part of Kirk Yard that lies within the Airport’s development zone is of no benefit to the airport because railroads aren’t taxed on their real property, but on personal property instead. Funds generated by the project would be used to pay debt service on Economic Development Revenue Bonds issued by the city.
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