(La Porte, IN) - Much of the 39 North Conservancy District is expected to become part of the city limits in La Porte before the end of the year.
The La Porte City Council on Wednesday night voted to annex roughly two-thirds of the district along Indiana 39 from Severs Road to the Indiana Toll Road. The remaining part of the district was left out of the annexation for now, due to issues involving connectivity with the city boundaries.
The process for annexing that area north of the Indiana Toll Road is expected to begin once the first phase of the annexation previously acted upon becomes official.
City Planner Craig Phillips said the ground being annexed first will become part of the city in early December, if any attempts by the public to challenge it fail to succeed.
He said a public remonstrance would likely not succeed, because of the city having 57 percent of the signatures from property owners within the district requesting annexation, and the conservancy district board voting last week to support it.
City Attorney Nick Otis praised the conservancy district for the growth of new businesses and housing from the water and sewer lines placed into their service area since the district was created in 1997.
However, Otis said, the district has outlived its ability to finance the installation of larger water lines to accommodate future growth and provide better fire protection while the city has the means to pay the estimated $10 million cost of upgrading the infrastructure.
“There’s only about 150 property owners out there so you’re talking about a $10 million project that would have to be funded by a small group of individuals,” he said.
Mayor Tom Dermody, who aggressively pursued the annexation, gave thanks to everyone involved in making it become reality, including the 39 North Conservancy District Board.
“It’s been a long negotiation,” he said.
A Memorandum of Understanding approved last week by the conservancy district board was approved last night by the city council.
The MOU calls for the city to pay $2 million for the existing infrastructure, in the form of credits on the utility bills of district property owners and other promises including the upgrades to the infrastructure at the city’s expense.
Conservancy District Attorney Shaw Friedman said he advised the district to accept the deal because the city would likely win any legal effort to stop the annexation from having well above the required number of signatures from property owners.
Friedman said a legal defeat would mean the district being left empty-handed.
“It’s really the feeling of both the district and the city this is a win, win all the way around,” he said.
Phillips said the process to annex the remainder of the conservancy district land north of the Indiana Toll Road will begin toward the end of the year.
He said that ground containing more than 30 parcels could not be taken in until the first parcel was annexed because of connectivity issues with the city limits.
