VALPARAISO – Aukiki Park took another step forward when the Porter County Board of Commissioners voted to rezone the property north of Kouts from residential to park land.
The county purchased 63.5 acres west of Indiana 49 between County Roads 650 South and 700 South in December 2013, after a needs assessment for the department revealed a south county park as a priority. The park will provide the first county-owned sports fields.
Preliminary plans include softball, baseball and soccer fields, and possibly using artificial turf for one soccer field and putting a dome over it so it could be used year-round, as well as walking trails, a community building, a play area, and a festival plaza.
The county’s plan commission voted in favor of the zoning switch 7-1 in November.
During a brief hearing before the commissioners’ vote last week, a nearby resident was concerned that lights over the ball fields were too close to homes, and about increased traffic in the area, while another resident said the plans hadn’t been made available to the public.
Supporters noted the need for ball fields for south county, and for the park to preserve green space.
“We need these fields for the kids,” said Craig Kenworthy of Morgan Township, a member of the park board and president of a baseball and softball organization who has been active in getting the park.
There have been several public meetings about the park, he said, and the planned ball fields are positioned away from homes to minimize their impact.
“We’re establishing green space in the middle of this county that will be there for generations,” he said.
Robert Thompson, the county’s planning director, said commissioners could pass the rezoning and require the park plans to return to the plan commission for a public hearing.
“We want public support. We want to make it work,” said Rich Hudson, president of the park board.
South County kids don’t have the same ball facilities as those who live in the northern part of the county, said Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, whose district includes the park.
“Porter County kids need some place to play,” she said, noting a memorandum of understanding commissioners signed with EMPOWER Porter County, which provides $150,000 to fight drug abuse in the third year of a three-year contract. “Giving kids something to do is part of that.”
Commissioners unanimously supported the rezoning, with the understanding that the plan commission will hold a public hearing on plans for the park.
