Environmental grants – along with "a lot of creativity," a city official said – have helped transform a former industrial site in LaPorte.
Land that held the Allis-Chalmers tractor manufacturing plant until the late 1970s is being turned into commercial and residential property, LaPorte City Engineer Nick Minich told the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission's Environmental Management Policy Committee on Thursday.
"You need to be creative to keep things moving," Minich said. "People want to see progress."
Obtaining government grants to assess the extent of chemical and industrial contamination in the land, and then to help clean that up, was essential to the process.
So was finding a developer willing to find new uses for the land, which sits just north of LaPorte's downtown.
"Once there was a developer," Minich said, "the environmental aspect fell in line."
A commercial developer is building shops on 21 acres of the former Allis-Chalmers property near Pine Lake Avenue.
Commercial and housing development on 20 acres next to Clear Lake is expected to begin next year, Minich and consultant Dave Kulczyski said.
Also Wednesday, NIRPC staff director Kathy Luther talked about the work of the Northwest Indiana Brownfields Coalition, which includes the NIRPC, the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, and the cities of Gary, Hammond and East Chicago.
Brownfields are lands where the presence, or potential presence, of contaminants prevents future development.
Several years ago, the coalition received an $800,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant for a revolving loan fund, to be used and repaid by the cities. Luther said $225,000 of that was used for asbestos abatement when the Ambassador Apartments building in Gary was demolished in 2015. Now the land there is available for a new use.
The coalition is using another $600,000 in EPA funding for environmental assessments on properties. Luther said NIRPC will be applying for another EPA assessment grant.