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[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=54065.42

Co. Committee To Look At Intermodal
Officials to start advisory task force to ensure ‘transparent’ process in development.

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

LA PORTE - An advisory task force is being created to help county officials evaluate prospective developers and sites for an intermodal freight terminal in La Porte County.

County Commission President Barbara Huston said in a press release Friday the commissioners are developing an "orderly and fair process" that would involve public input. The task force will have 15 to 20 members.

The convergence of rail lines, coupled with closeness to major interstate highways, has positioned La Porte County as a prime location for a facility that could create jobs and boost economic development. It would serve as a place where cargo is transferred between trucks and trains.

Two railroad companies are said to be eying locations here, but are saying little publicly about their plans. Some property owners have said they have been approached by a real estate company that has been buying options on farmland in southern La Porte County.

"We will put a very public, transparent process in place to evaluate developers and sites before we ever give approvals to anyone," Huston said.

Huston said the county has received multiple inquiries from real estate firms, venture capital groups, railroads and real estate investment trusts interested in prospective county locations. She said county attorney Shaw Friedman and county economic development coordinator Matt Reardon will coordinate contacts and issue a request of interest to identify serious proposals.

Her own preference is to use the Kingsbury Industrial Park as the site of the intermodal facility, but she and the other commissioners are open to all possibilities, she said.

[JHeath]

Did they really think that there would be 10,000 trucks A DAY coming through? That was beyond unrealistic...thank goodness that's been cleared up. Maybe now the naysayers will allow us to have positive growth for once.

http://www.heraldargus.com/archives/ha/display.php?id=386009

Logistics summit ‘eye-opening’ for some officials
09/27/2007, 11:12 am
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Donovan Estridge
1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13865

destridge@heraldargus.com

INDIANAPOLIS -- Local leaders attended the Fifth annual Indiana Logistics Summit Tuesday and Wednesday in an effort to gain insight into a possible rail intermodal facility in La Porte County, and most said they left enlightened.

“It’s been eye-opening to say the least,” La Porte County Council President Jerry Cooley told The La Porte County Herald-Argus Wednesday. “I guess from our view in the county we have always looked and tried to make everything about our county. With this, here, we see the global effect of what it will do to our jobs and our future.”

What officials learned was that the need for intermodal facilities throughout the country is tied to things like the expansion of the Panama Canal and the increasing cost of transporting goods across the country.

Experts at the conference testified that upwards of 20 new intermodal facilities need to be built in order to better facilitate the transport of goods throughout the country. With its proximity to Chicago and location at the intersection of several highways and rail lines, La PorteCounty is a prime location for one of those facilities.

“When they mentioned 20 more intermodals in the country and (La Porte County) being near the interstate and mainstream rail line, it was eye-opening,” Cooley said.

Contributing to the need for more intermodals, said Tim Mathews, senior vice president of marketing and sales for transportation giant J.B. Hunt, is his company’s decision to switch away from long-haul trucking and towards more intermodal trucking.

However, Robert Girardot, director of business development for CSX Intermodal, said intermodal facilities should only be located in areas where there is ample public and private support for such a project, as well as the necessary existing infrastructure.

David Christian, co-chair of the county’s Intermodal Task Force, said such information would be important to the task force as it evaluates possible intermodal proposals.

“There is some information out there we need to gather as a task force and also there are challenges the task force needs to decipher,” Christian told The Herald-Argus. “Anytime I can come down here and learn about something such as intermodal (development) it is always worthwhile.”

‘The right numbers’

In addition to the big picture, local leaders were also schooled in the hard numbers associated with an intermodal facility.

While some residents opposed to an intermodal have previously warned that such a facility could attract more than 10,000 trucks a day, Girardot said the number would likely be closer to 10,000 trucks per year, an estimate that surprised some local leaders.

“We have been hearing far greater numbers: 10,000 trucks a day,” Christian said. “The numbers we heard today brings it down to 250 a day. There is some information out there we need to gather as a task force.”

Still, that number wasn’t enough to convince Renee Applegarth, a member of the intermodal opposition group Stop Intermodals/Save Our County (SISOC), who declared that such estimates were purely theoretical.

“The reality of a proposed intermodal facility that is as big or bigger than O’Hare Airport is that it is carving the community,” Applegarth said. “Currently we don’t have the infrastructure; it would be a disaster. But if you add the infrastructure to meet and serve this O’Hare-size facility they are talking about, that further carves the community and eats up more farmland.”

Applegarth was pleased, however, with the number of county officials that elected to attend the summit.

“I am very pleased to see all here,” Applegarth said. “This is what I want my community leaders to be doing. I don’t want to sit back and have someone tell me what I should know. It gives me a great hope that the politicians and the people that are involved in the decision-making process have been willing to talk about it. They have approached me and shook my hand and offered to talk about it. I can’t ask for more than that.”

Officials and task-force members all promised to bring the information gained at the summit back to the residents of La Porte County. Cooley even suggested bringing some of the summit’s speakers to the county.

“I think this is a great opportunity to start talking about it,” he said.