Intermodal facility being explored |
Intermodal facility being explored |
Aug 20 2007, 01:01 PM
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#1
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Spends WAY too much time at CBTL Group: Admin Posts: 16,425 Joined: 8-December 06 From: Michigan City, IN Member No.: 2 |
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=54065.42
QUOTE 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. |
Aug 24 2007, 11:57 AM
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#2
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Really Comfortable Group: Moderator Posts: 2,315 Joined: 10-February 07 From: Michigan City Member No.: 43 |
The issue with Kingsbury is the potential for expolsives buried underground. I wouldn't want anyone that I know to be operating the bulldozer that hits a grenade, and I'm sure others here may feel the same.
Plus, from a business standpoint, isn't it more fiscally responsible to build, or rebuild, on property you already own? |
Aug 24 2007, 06:18 PM
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#3
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 5 Joined: 21-August 07 Member No.: 538 |
The issue with Kingsbury is the potential for expolsives buried underground. I wouldn't want anyone that I know to be operating the bulldozer that hits a grenade, and I'm sure others here may feel the same. Plus, from a business standpoint, isn't it more fiscally responsible to build, or rebuild, on property you already own? Am I to understand the Kingsbury plant was an explosives plant? Which closed when? I really don't know. In any event, we mustn't dramatize or sensationalize the "potential" of explosives being buried underground. If Kingsbury is indeed a brownfield, it should be dealt with as such and remedied accordingly. There are protocols for converting brownfields back to profitable use, and browfields offer new business ventures many tax abatements and the such. So, there is a profit incentive for business interests to consider brownfields over undeveloped properties with no improvements yet done to them. If however, CSX owns property that they have been leasing to farmers all these years, then these farmers are not stakeholders that have would have legal standing. |
Aug 25 2007, 07:01 AM
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#4
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Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 459 Joined: 4-April 07 Member No.: 182 |
I really don't know. In any event, we mustn't dramatize or sensationalize the "potential" of explosives being buried underground. What?! No dramtization or sensationalization??? If you look at the video clips of the NIMBY meeting in Union Mills, that was about all you got. The pro-common sense & growth crowd will have to fight fire with fire. Do I know for certain that there are tons of unexploded ordinance buried there. No, of course not. Growing up outside LaPorte meant I heard many storied (legends). But the point is, the NIMBY crowd has cast CSX in a negative light by accusing them of not bothering to investigate the KOP site. No one has made the counterpoint that they are just as likely to have investigated it and found it doesn't meet their needs. Put simply, mean reversion is a bitch. -Vitaliy Katsenelson
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