Razing Garyton School is back on the Portage Redevelopment Commission’s list of capital projects to consider this year.
The demolition was listed as a high priority last year but not accomplished after bids came in for the project.
Determining what to do with the property after the building comes down hasn’t been determined.
“We tried over and over” to get someone to buy the building, Planning and Community Development Director Tom Cherry said. “I think I toured that building 20 times.”
Former Mayor Sue Lynch tried, too. “We’ve had countless groups look at that property, but it’s just simply beyond repair,” RDC member Ralph Mundt said.
Redevelopment Director Dan Botich agreed. With the agreement that the building must be razed, the next step is to determine what to do with the site.
“It’s going to be removed and turned into a greenfield and grass. What do you want to happen with this area,” Botich wants to ask Garyton residents. He suggested holding a workshop with the public to gather ideas for repurposing the site.
One option would be to turn it into a public park. That, too, was on the capital improvements plan last year.
The RDC held a workshop after its regular meeting Thursday to review capital improvements planned for this year. At its February meeting, the RDC is expected to prioritize items on the list. High-priority projects are more likely to be completed than low-priority items.
Keeping the low-priority projects on the list both keeps them on the RDC’s radar and prevents the budget from being permanently reduced, Mayor Austin Bonta said.
The RDC’s budget includes $5 million in anticipated revenue from the sale of real estate.
World’s Finest Chocolate has an option to buy that expires on April 19. The property is part of the Sportsplex development that never happened on the site of the former Midwest Steel Supervisors Club. It’s near the city’s marina, with access to Burns Waterway. If the Chicago-based company doesn’t buy it, someone else likely would.
“There’s a lot of interest in the site,” Botich said.
That money can’t be spent until it’s received, though.
Botich is proposing $100,000 for a new façade grants program, $200,000 for landscaping grants and $50,000 for sign grants. Redeveloping the northwest corner of U.S. 20 and Crisman Road is driving the landscaping grant program, he said. That would allow all four corners of the intersection to be done at the same time by the same company, using the same kind of trees.
The commission approved a contract with Abonmarche Development for alternative development options for the Hillcrest area on the city’s northwest side. That 300 to 400 acres would be for multiuse venues, Botich said.
It’s also where city officials have hinted is the approximate area where the Chicago Bears could locate a new stadium if they move the team to Portage.
Streets and Sanitation Superintendent Randy Reeder updated the commission on the compost site near the wastewater treatment plant. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management inspected it and found a pipe protruding from a berm, leaking water where it’s not supposed to go.
Removing that pipe caused a water issue at the compost site, so the city has approached IDEM with engineering plans to review, Reeder said.
Bonta said Reeder suggested holding an event at the compost site to draw more attention to it.
Someone in the city recently remarked that they wished there was a place to get compost for free, Bonta said. There already is, but it’s not well known.
“It’s a very great site. It’s a hidden gem,” Reeder said.
“The leaf rows are eventually turned into compost, and we give that away for free. We even have so much compost we give some to Valpo,” he said.
Botich briefed the RDC on other projects in the works this year, including redoing the Portage Mall parking lot to build a nucleus for a downtown, a kayak launch, relocating a baseball field downtown, retail development on U.S. 6 and potential work on a bridge overpass for Burns Waterway.
“It’s going to be a bigger year than last year for the Portage Redevelopment Commission,” Botich said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
