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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.

[Southsider2k12]

http://heraldargus.com/archives/ha/display.php?id=387648

Task force receives offer from unlikely source
10/24/2007, 10:58 am
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Donovan Estridge, 1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13865, destridge@heraldargus.com

Intermodal opposition group proposes fuding trip to Elwood, Ill.

LA PORTE COUNTY -- Taxpayers in La Porte County could be off the hook for as much as $5,000 if the county’s intermodal task force decides to accept an invitation from an unlikely source

Ty Murray, co-chairman of the intermodal opposition group Stop Intermodals/Save Our County (SISOC), offered Tuesday to have his group pick up the tab to transport the task force’s 21-members to Elwood, Ill., to tour the CenterPoint intermodal facility. The task force last week requested from the county a budget of $97,000, including $5,000 to fund the trip, an amount that came under scrutiny Monday by at least one county councilman.

Asked why SISOC was willing to pitch in financially, Murray told The La Porte County Herald-Argus Tuesday that he believed the trip was “viable for the community.”

“If the county is not willing to fund them, then we should help do whatever is needed to help them do what they were originally set to do,” Murray said.

Murray fears the trip, which he believes will be eye-opening for task force members, could be delayed or cancelled if the county doesn’t agree to fund it.

“The task force at the very least has to see what might go in here in the county,” Murray said. “At this point in time there are no funds for a trip to Elwood.”

David Christian, co-chairman of the task force, told The Herald-Argus Tuesday that he had not formally received SISOC’s offer, but that the task force would certainly be willing to consider it.

“It’s definitely worth taking a look at,” Christian said. “You have to remember, it is hard to comment because I haven’t received anything, but we have always said this would be an open and public process.”

If the task force accepts funding from SISOC, Murray said he would like SISOC members to be included in the trip. A formal budget request is not expected to be voted on by the county council until sometime in November.

In the meantime, said Christian, “I plan on having discussions with council and commissioners on this issue.”