Porter County commissioners seal partnership with Chesterton

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Updated: March 23, 2012 8:19AM

VALPARAISO — Two-thirds of the Porter County Board of Commissioners gave their blessings to a partnership with the town of Chesterton for an extended utility corridor along Indiana 49 at a cost to the county of not more than $900,000.

Commissioners gave their approval at Tuesday’s meeting, after Chesterton Town Councilman Jeff Trout presented the plans, initially discussed in early November at a joint meeting of the commissioners and the Porter County Council. Commissioner Carole Knoblock, D-South, voted against the measure.

Trout will take the proposal before the council on March 27 since the agreement will need its approval as well; a public hearing is expected to be held then, too.

“I think it’s the kind of thing the county should be looking at, helping the municipalities,” said Commission President John Evans, R-North, adding the county assisted in a similar manner for a drainage project in Kouts.

The proposal, if approved, would not include the new Porter Regional Hospital at Indiana 49 and U.S. 6, which will be served by the Damon Run Conservancy.

Trout told commissioners that the town started pursing a regional utility corridor almost four years ago, in anticipation of the new hospital and the growth it would bring to the area.

The town is moving forward with a $2 million sewer project for its own needs, though that project would be expanded by 400 acres if the county agrees to move forward.

The project calls for water, sewer and optic fiber line expansion. Water would be provided by Indiana American Water Co.; the southern border of the corridor would be around County Road 900N.

“Development is going to come” because of the hospital, Trout said, adding it will benefit all of the communities in the area. “We’re here to partner with the county to make sure those things happen.”

Chesterton is already seeing an assisted living facility and a medical facility from St. Anthony because of the new hospital, Trout said, adding the two projects, scheduled to be complete by summer, will bring 180 jobs.

“These are real jobs, good-paying jobs,” he said.

The town needs a response from the county soon, Trout said, so it can move forward with bids for the project, regardless of whether the county joins in.