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http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...41434232838.txt

Signs to shed light on North End projects

A sign by the Michigan City Redevelopment Commission promotes the Elston Grove Streetscape Project. Provided
By Tim Moran
Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — The Redevelopment Commission agreed Monday to provide up to $5,000 to fund eight signs notifying the public of three major projects developing on the North End.

First Ward Councilman Richard Murphy, along with consultant Julie Wozniak and Tim Haas of Haas and Associates, presented the idea of constructing the 4-by-8 signs representing the work being done on the Michigan Boulevard Beautification, Trail Creek Corridor and Elston grove projects.

“It’s a low-cost, high-impact solution,” Murphy said. “We saw an opportunity to create a buzz within the community.”

Murphy hopes to have the signs in place by Memorial Day, but the official locations will not be known until the end of the week.

Possibilities discussed at Monday’s night’s Redevelopment Commission meeting were on the eastbound side of U.S. 12, just west of Wabash Street, as well as a few near Washington Park.

“We’re open to feedback in terms of the potential locations,” Murphy said.

The cost per sign will be somewhere between $400 and $420.

Wozniak notified commission members that the signs will last only throughout the length of the actual projects.

“After that, the projects will speak for themselves,” Murphy added.

Following approval of funding for the signs, Haas notified the commission he expects the estimated bid date of the Elston Grove project to be sometime in early July, with a contract awarded later that month.

In other business, the commission:

• Formally added the Warren Building to its acquisition list.

Commission Attorney Michael Bergeson said this is “just the next step in the process, but we’d like to keep moving.”

City council members unanimously approved the commission to continue negotiations with the building’s owner, with plans to then sell it to Artspace, a non-profit group based out of Minneapolis. Artspace would then turn the building into an artist colony that would house about 30 artists.

• Responded to a question presented during the public-comment session of the meeting as to whether the commission is pursuing a Lake Avenue extension project.

“The Redevelopment Commission is not pursuing this project at this time,” City Planner John Pugh said. “That would be a Board of Works project.”