A three-member board of directors for the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority’s new land development entity is expected to be in place by the end of the month as the RDA works to get the new nonprofit agency up and running.
RDA President and CEO Sherri Ziller told the RDA board Thursday the board will be expanded as appropriate in the future.
The new entity, an important part of the RDA’s new 20-year strategic plan, will help identify, acquire and remediate parcels for redevelopment throughout Lake and Porter counties.
The new entity will have all kinds of paperwork to get it up and running, which Ziller hopes to accomplish as soon as possible so it can get to work on fulfilling its mission of turning parcels that are currently troubled by brownfields, complicated ownership or other issues into land suitable for redevelopment.
The RDA is also setting up a working group to develop a menu of financial incentives for projects within transit development districts.
A 2017 state law setting up transit development districts provided them all the features of a tax increment financing district plus capturing the increased value of income taxes over the 20-year life of the district. With changes in state law regarding local government finance, along with private market uncertainty, the working group aims to find ways to help private developers get projects going.
“Developer interest does remain strong, so that’s a positive,” Ziller said.
“We’re talking $50 million, $60 million, $100 million projects,” Economic Development Director AJ Bytnar said.
Each transit development district surrounds a train station, roughly a half-mile radius, with the opportunity to expand one time only, effectively doubling the original size.
Bytnar said mixed-use projects that combine commercial and residential use are being sought, but the investors need to be convinced of a strong return on investment.
The increased value of property taxes and income taxes is already starting to accrue in Michigan City and a few other districts. That money will provide the incentives for future projects.
But until that money accumulates, how can projects be kick-started? That’s one of the things the working group will examine, Bytnar said. In the economic development world, the question is often which comes first, the chicken or the egg. “First, you’ve got to build the nest,” he explained.
The recommendation is expected to go before the RDA board in May or June, Ziller said.
For now, the plan is aimed at transit district projects, but there might be opportunities to use the incentives elsewhere in the future, she said.
On other fronts, the RDA is working on designation of a portion of U.S. 12 as a scenic byway and blight elimination in Gary.
The first step for the scenic byway plan involves an RDA-led committee looking at the entire corridor to see what’s needed and address long-standing traffic issues like those at Indiana Dunes State Park, Ziller said.
With a scenic byway designation, truck traffic would be diverted onto U.S. 20. Ziller is hoping for a mid-year technical study to meet state and federal scenic byway requirements.
The scenic byway designation is being sought as a way to boost tourism at both the state and national parks as well as lakefront communities.
The Gary blight elimination goal this year is to work in the vicinity of the Holy Angels Cathedral, focusing on complicated projects like the old hospital, Ziller said.
A separate blight elimination project involving private contractors donating equipment and workers’ time has focused on the Aetna neighborhood the last two years, RDA member Dewey Pearman said.
They’re planning to raze about 100 homes this year, he said.
“Those programs are kind of working on parallel paths,” Bytnar said, with Gary officials coordinating both efforts and providing the trucking and disposal costs for the rubble created by the private firms’ efforts.
Another working group is focused on the proposed Lake County convention center to make sure financing will be set up. The RDA, Lake County and Gary are all involved.
The RDA board’s leadership will be unchanged this year, with Milton Reed elected vice chair and Chris Campbell as treasurer. Donald Fesko remains chair, a position appointed by the governor.
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