[Southsider2k12]

http://www.post-trib.com/news/465581,pcplan.article

$18.3M slated for Pine Twp. elementary school

July 12, 2007
BY TOM WYATT Post-Tribune staff writer

VALPARAISO -- Despite concerns about the site and potential traffic hazards, the Porter County Plan Commission on Wednesday gave its blessing to an $18.3 million replacement elementary school in Pine Township.
Part of the Michigan City Area Schools, the elementary school will replace the aging Pine School on County Road 500E just south of U.S. 20.

The new location is at the corner of County Road 1675N and County Line Road on the Porter County side west of Michigan City. Plans call for an 85,000-square-foot facility.

One of the issues involving the new school is the site, which is located on and around wetlands. Seven wetlands line the site, including a 1/10-acre wetland that will be impacted and must pass through a permitting process with the Army Corps of Engineers. "You want to build on a piece of property we're very concerned with," Plan Commission member Bob Harper told MCAS representatives. "This Plan Commission is very concerned with the environment."

Just north of the site, County Line Road intersects with U.S. 20, where no stop light exists. Commissioners and Pine Township Trustee/Assessor Nancy Kolasa said they worry about problems at what they deem to be a dangerous intersection.

Nevertheless, the Plan Commission voted 7-1 to support the development plan and 7-1 to support a rezone of the area from rural residential to institutional. The matter will be heard next month by the Porter County Board of Commissioners.

[Max Main]

It makes sense to ok the plan, then work out the details, which seem minor.

[Southsider2k12]

I wouldn't call redesigning a US highway intersection "minor".

[Max Main]

Not compared to building a whole new school. All they have to do is take a plan off the shelf, survey it out, and do it. There really is no "redesign" involved.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...&TM=31248.1

Buy Finalized For Pine School Land

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - In a split vote, the Michigan City Area Schools board agreed Tuesday night to purchase 62.03 acres for the new Pine Elementary School.

At $6,902 per acre, which brings the total purchase cost to about $428,131, the board will buy the land from the Sisters of the Holy Cross of South Bend, the order of Catholic nuns that sponsors St. Mary's College, South Bend.

The board has been discussing this issue for well over a year with various community members, architects Fanning-Howey Associates and a variety of appraisers and soil engineers.

Board President Jeff Jones, along with board members Nathaniel Gipson, Kathryn Lee and Rick Carlson, voted to make the purchase while Jim Kintzele, Beryle Burgwald and Clyde Zeek voted against it.

"It was clear to me that the administration was determined to purchase that property come hell or high water," Burgwald said.

The sale of the land, located in Porter County, is contingent on a zoning change from industrial to institutional, a Porter County zoning designation into which schools fit.

On July 11, the Porter County Plan Commission agreed to make that recommendation to the Porter County Commissioners, but Burgwald believes that meeting was irregular.

On June 27, when the plan commission also approved the move, Burgwald said, a couple of members were absent and therefore the action was taken with fewer than a majority of the full commission, although a majority of the commissioners present approved.

He believes the second meeting to correct the matter never should have happened.

Kintzele, who discussed several issues, also addressed the issue of wetlands on the property, a point he has made at several other meetings. He fears the property will present flooding risks.

Jones, however, said his reading of a report from a soil engineer hired by the architects persuaded him of the property's fitness.

"The architects recommended this site," Jones said, noting four possible sites had been considered. Of the 62 acres, he said, only eight tenths of an acre is classified as wetlands. The 20 acres immediately surrounding the building site are located on a ridge, he noted, and at its summit, it rises some 40 feet above the road.

It has other qualities to recommend it, both Jones and Superintendent Michael Harding said.

"It would be much more expensive to bring in utilities such as sewer and water lines under U.S. 20 to the Brown Road site," Jones said, referring to the school's present location.

In addition, Jones estimates students coming to school from Michigan City would be on a school bus for eight to 10 fewer minutes at the new site than they would be at the present site.

"Some 70 percent of our students come from Michigan City," Harding said.

Another discussion ensued when Kintzele questioned whether the school corporation would be required to pay a commission to the seller's real estate professional, as noted in the proposed purchase agreement.

"There will be no commission," Harding said. He likened the deal to one in which a homeowner sells his own house with no real estate agent. Attorney William Satterlee, who drew up the purchase agreement, also said there could be no real estate commission if no real estate agent had been involved.

Finally, the board voted to strike language about commission from the document before approving the purchase agreement.

Contact Deborah Sederberg at dsederberg@thenewsdispatch.com

[Ang]

Mike, are you sure you want to be on this school board? I don't know as I would like my name affiliated with them. Wishy-washy!!!

[Roger Kaputnik]

We need to get a new board. Their wishy-washiness is a reflection of their apparent lack of intelligence. Mike would be a huge step forward.

[Ang]

We need to get a new board. Their wishy-washiness is a reflection of their apparent lack of intelligence. Mike would be a huge step forward.

Right On!!

[Southsider2k12]

Mike, are you sure you want to be on this school board? I don't know as I would like my name affiliated with them. Wishy-washy!!!

To be honest with being on the board at the Y, I don't think I could serve on school board at the sametime. I'd like to run again, but I am so busy trying to put things on the road to recovery, that it would be impossible to do both, and still have time for my kid[s]. But I will admit, I do enjoy the flattery And I will say one more thing, I have been called a lot of things in my life, but wishy-washy was never one of them.

[Ang]

I wasn't calling you wishy-washy. I was calling THEM wishy-washy.

[Southsider2k12]

I wasn't calling you wishy-washy. I was calling THEM wishy-washy.

Sorry, I wasn't saying you were... I was just saying that wasn't one thing I could ever be called

[Ang]

See. Then you should not be on that stupid board. Your talents would be well served there for sure, but with all the crony-ism I don't think your voice would be heard. Case in point, Rick Carlson.