LAPORTE -- Four days before a group of resident activists gather to organize against a giant transportation hub, LaPorte County commissioners are promising to engage in a public process.
This is a change from the last several months, where elected officials have been mum on the issue, citing confidentiality pledges they'd made to a real estate developer.
In a written statement Friday night, Board of Commissioners President Barbara Huston vowed to make the process of evaluating sites and potential developers for an intermodal hub "as inclusive, fair and transparent as possible."
The county will create a 15- to 21-member Intermodal Advisory Task Force composed of stakeholders, following the recommendation of two University of Illinois researchers, county attorney Shaw Friedman said.
"We want good, solid information getting out there," Friedman said. "We need to build public confidence."
He admitted the job creation and economic development possibilities that would come with the intermodal are attractive to the commissioners, but added there are a number of issues that need to be resolved before a decision is made, including those involving the environment and farming, and at what location the intermodal will go.
"This is going to be a long, ongoing process," he said.
In her statement, Huston said she personally prefers the Kingsbury Industrial Park at Indiana 35 and U.S. 6 be chosen as the site for a transportation hub. Friedman noted that is Huston's preference only, not that of the commissioners.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, a group of activists will meet at the Union Mills Conservation Club to discuss ideas to stop the intermodal from coming to another proposed location -- Union Mills.
Friedman and Matt Reardon, LaPorte County Economic Development coordinator, will arrange contacts with prospective developers, which so far have included a railroad and large real estate investment trust; a real estate investment trust and a realty firm; and a private venture group.
"We'll start the process of speaking to developers to determine which proposals are real and which are not," Friedman said.
Friedman said he is not recommending that any officials sign confidentiality agreements with interested developers, but added there will be a process put in place in the event a developer wishes to share information that is deemed "proprietary" or "confidential."