Latest news with #MikeJabo
Chicago Tribune
22-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Construction bids delayed until July for replacing Porter bridge
The bid opening for a new North Mineral Springs Road Bridge in Porter has been delayed until July, and the challenges might include how construction crews will have to work around the presence of the Coho and Chinook Salmon in the Little Calumet River's East Branch. The bridge just south of U.S. 20 suddenly closed on Dec. 1, 2023, when an inspection discovered deteriorating steel beams that made the structure unsafe. Porter County had originally planned to replace the bridge in 2026 or 2027. There was no money available to do an emergency replacement of the span. To expedite the project, the county had to finance the project on its own because requirements connected with federal funds could delay the project even more. The bid opening had to be pushed back from May to July 15, because right-of-way had to be purchased from three property owners near the bridge, said Mike Jabo, director of the Porter County Department of Development and Stormwater Management. The bridge's design will be different with the deck set at a higher level over the river. Jabo said the new bridge will cost 'a significant amount of money.' He didn't want to release an estimate before the bids were submitted. If all goes well, the bridge is projected to open around Memorial Day next year — May 29, 2026. Meanwhile, the closure will continue to have the biggest impact on the Spring House Inn complex, which is south of the bridge on North Mineral Springs Road. The complex includes an inn, Uno Pizzeria & Grill restaurant, a bar and banquet facilities. Vishal Patel, the owner, has said the restaurant has lost 25% of its revenue because of the closure. 'We have (detour) signs up everywhere, but it doesn't seem to do enough,' said Michael Barry, Porter's development director/building superintendent. The Spring House Inn complex can be accessed from Beam Street off U.S. 20 to N. Mineral Springs Road. Patel has said he believes that although there are detour signs on U.S. 20, visitors to the Indiana Dunes National and State Parks speed past because they are unfamiliar with the local roads. Another replacement issue could be the presence and movement of the Coho and Chinook Salmon in the Little Calumet River's East Branch. Porter County has to obtain permission from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for an exception to work in the river where the salmon are present from July 15 to Nov. 30. Jabo said they will have to abide by the rules. Barry said the bridge construction could still proceed above the water. The construction will start with the demolition of the old bridge and then building a retaining wall.
Chicago Tribune
14-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Union Township residents show up in force to protest data centers proposed for rural community
The Porter County Expo Center was a mass exercise in solidarity Tuesday evening as over 1,000 Union Township residents crammed into the main ballroom to vehemently oppose two data centers proposed for Wheeler. The sea of orange T-shirts that read 'Wheeler Country Not Corporate' covered nearly every body in the 530 chairs, while hundreds more stood on three sides around them. That visual message was audibly reinforced at a deafening level as the crowd cheered their neighbors who spoke against the proposal and booed a NIPSCO official and other business leaders who spoke in favor of it. The town hall was organized by the Porter County Plan Commission as an extra step not required by state statute to allow petitioner QTS to hear the questions, concerns, and feedback from residents as it finesses its application for a planned unit development that would allow for changes to the county's Unified Development Ordinance through a vote of the Board of Commissioners. While the Plan Commission will run the majority of the application process it is strictly an advisory body, meaning it will take a vote to make a non-binding favorable or unfavorable recommendation to the Board of Commissioners which has the final say. 'I know a lot of people are impatient and they want it to stop now,' said Porter County's Director of Development & Storm Water Management Mike Jabo, 'but there's a process.' The proposed projects are being called Jeremiah A and Jeremiah B. Jeremiah A is proposed for a 351.85-acre parcel at the northeast corner of County Road W 450 N and County Road N 750 W owned by John Loxas of Hammond. Jeremiah B is proposed for 434.46 acres owned by Johnson Sunnybrook Farm, LLC and Ceres Cedar Creek Farm, LLC, of Hobart, at the southeast corner of W 450 N and N 650 W due north of Union Township Middle and High schools. QTS, a Kansas City-based data center owner, operator, and developer, was given 45 minutes to make a presentation. The formal petition came from AXPK, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, on behalf of the property owners who would transfer ownership upon adoption of the ordinances. Attorneys for AXPK filed papers with the county naming QTS as an affiliate. Nick Blessing, of the land policy and development department for QTS, started off with a lot of talk about core values. 'Integrity, character, and trust are foundational to every relationship,' he said while two women who live in Union Township and serve the children in the cafeteria at Union Center Elementary chuckled over his remarks in the middle of the audience. Upon his mention of QTS taking a team of boys from one of its data center towns to the Little League World Series someone in the audience muttered, 'He's gaslighting.' To talk of the installation of a 50-foot American flag on a 'Freedom Wall' another said, 'Oh big deal!' And to his claims that the company's data centers provide 'very skilled labor jobs' and 'highly skilled technology jobs,' someone shouted, 'That's a lie.' Blessing said 125 to 175 full-time permanent jobs were anticipated at the sites upon completion. He also said the county could expect $10 million in tax revenues upon full buildout. He then passed the presentation to his colleague Chris Kapper of the predevelopment team who addressed a series of particular concerns, including building height, setbacks, and site lines. Building height in the proposed light industrial zone would be 75 feet, plus additional height for mechanical equipment. 'We understand that is what is causing some angst,' Blessing said. A 32-foot landscaping berm with a 5-foot elevation change from the road level is proposed. 'We envision you will be able to shield the view of the development at maturation in about 10 years,' he added. He explained that setback plans have been expanded to 2,000 feet from the nearest school building, 1,000 feet from the nearest ball field, 100 feet from agriculture, 200 feet from residential development, and 500 feet from school property. The audience was unimpressed. After a few brief remarks from Blessing regarding noise and EMFs the meeting was turned over to public comment. What had been planned for two hours eventually stretched 45 minutes over schedule as moderator and Plan Commission President Rick Burns failed to maintain control of the event. While the audience was originally told each speaker would be given a maximum of two minutes to speak, some were haphazardly given up to five because they were deemed to have special status, such as a physician, or the crowd demanded they be allowed to continue. Rex Richards, president of the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce, spoke first. 'I'm here to compliment the county on going through this type of process,' he said. 'If you need to hire experts to help please consider doing that.' NIPSCO's Rick Calinski, director of public affairs and economic development, got big boos when he introduced himself next. He said NIPSCO's Generation Company is pursuing the separation of the cost of infrastructure for large projects like data centers from that of regular customers. Several county officials were in attendance, including the entire Board of Commissioners, Treasurer Jimmy Albarran, and County Council members Red Stone, R-1st; Michelle Harris, R-At-Large; Mike Brickner, R-At-Large; and Andy Vasquez, R-4th. Vasquez was the only one to speak. 'If it comes to me for a vote for an abatement, my answer is no,' he said. Speakers made a variety of points including statements that the project would not be a data center, but a hyper-scaled data center the size of many WalMarts and that Blackstone, which is considered by many to have contributed to the 2008 housing crisis, bought QTS in 2021. Porter Township School Corporation Superintendant Stacey Schmidt joked that despite Union Township Bearcats being their arch-rivals, her community did not support a data center being thrust upon them. 'Parents send our most precious asset (to school),' she said. 'School safety is lacking in your presentation.' Union Township resident Chris Navetta summed up the ethos of the crowd. 'I've moved here for this and I've never been more proud of Wheeler. These are your constituents.'
Chicago Tribune
26-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Porter County plans May 13 town hall on data centers proposed for Union Township
Porter County officials gave an overview at Tuesday's Board of Commissioners meeting of what residents should expect from next month's town hall on the proposed data centers in Wheeler. Mike Jabo, Porter County director of development and stormwater management, planned to release the town hall structure via the media well before the May 13 date, but the crowd at the meeting spoke out against the centers for the second meeting in a row and requested the plan as did Commissioner Barb Regnitz, R-Center. Jabo explained that under the county's unified development ordinance, a neighborhood meeting is an optional step in the petition process. 'We feel very strongly, with a project of this size and scope, a neighborhood meeting is important,' he said. The town hall will take place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, at the Porter County Expo Center and will be hosted by the Porter County Plan Commission. It is the body that will hear the formal petition from AXPK, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, on behalf of the property owners who would transfer ownership upon adoption of the ordinances. Jabo explained that the format will be similar to the town hall that was held at the Expo Center several years ago regarding a proposed solar farm in Malden. A dais seating the plan commission and its staff will head the room and a table will be set up for AXPK as presenter. There will be sign-in sheets for members of the public who wish to speak. While formally it will not be a question-and-answer format, with the petitioner expected to respond, Jabo and Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, said it is an opportunity for AXPK to hear all the questions and concerns of the public, and to come prepared to answer them at the first public hearing held by the plan commission at a later date. 'They can pose questions, yes,' Jabo said of the public at the town hall. 'The thing is so huge, there will be lots and lots and lots of questions.' The areas in question are currently zoned rural residential. The plan commission will formally hear the petition and make either a favorable or unfavorable recommendation to the Board of Commissioners, who would need to pass ordinances to amend the county's UDO approving a planned unit development. The proposed projects are being called Jeremiah A and Jeremiah B. Jeremiah A is proposed for a 351.85-acre parcel at the northeast corner of County Road W 450 N and County Road N 750 W owned by John Loxas of Hammond. Jeremiah B is proposed for 434.46 acres owned by Johnson Sunnybrook Farm, LLC and Ceres Cedar Creek Farm, LLC, of Hobart, at the southeast corner of W 450 N and N 650 W due north of Union Township Middle and High Schools. During the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting several people, including some who spoke at the April 1 meeting, again expressed concern over the petition. 'What keeps us up at night is not knowing what that process is,' said Amy Ketchum. She asked officials to walk the audience through the petition approval process. Jabo said it's a combination of confirming the petitioner has met Indiana Code and Porter County's UDO. First, he said the plan commission will hold a public hearing during which the public can make comments that the plan commission must address. At that point, it can vote to make a recommendation for or against the application or it can continue the meeting. Once the plan commission has made a recommendation one way or the other, the Board of Commissioners will have up to two meetings. Commissioners can approve or deny the request at the first meeting. Officials can't say how long the process will take. 'The answer is we don't know,' said Porter County Attorney Scott McClure. 'Mr. Jabo's department needs to determine when the application is completed. That sets the timeline in motion.' Ketchum looked up from her phone and told the board about breaking news from Kosciusko County. 'While we've been sitting here, that county denied it. They considered it heavy industrial.' 'I actually know the commissioners there, so guess who I'm calling?' Biggs replied. It's the industrial aspect that has protesters most concerned as Union Township school children would be separated from the southerly proposed site by a railroad track. Union Township retired pediatric nurse Cheryl Johnson mentioned extremely low-frequency magnetic fields and studies showing their potential link to childhood leukemia. 'I have tagged the toes of little children,' she said. 'Have you seen a child die of leukemia?' One young mother, who asked to be identified only as Jennifer S., cried through her entire statement, speaking of her two kids, one of whom is five. 'She's going to be there for 13 years,' she said of her daughter's school career. 'She's going to get a full dose.' Opponents of the centers are organizing swiftly. Yard signs have been distributed for weeks. An informational meeting for people to ask questions and get involved is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at Wheeler High School, Door D.
