Pictures to end the month of June

 The Rensselaer Advisory Planning Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Advisory Planning Commission met Thursday evening. It appointed a new secretary, the administrative assistant in the Building Department and then had a discussion of various fees and other budget items. They approved the per diem allowance for members of the Plan Commission and the BZA from $35 to $50. 

A local realtor had questions about what could be done with a 20-acre parcel north of Bunkum Road. It is landlocked but has access through two easements. It has always been used for agriculture but is zoned residential suburban as are other parcels in that area. She had two interested buyers, one who wanted to farm it and another who wanted to build a house on part of the parcel and farm the rest. She was told that as long as the land was kept in farming, no changes were needed. However, building on it would cause it to be treated as residential and farming would no longer be allowed unless variances were obtained. Further, putting a house on the land would need a variance because the parcel has no road frontage. 

There were a few comments about Saint Joe's. They have a surveyor working on a development plan for a subdivision on the land that was recently rezoned as residential from residential suburban. The plan is to start building a house along Daugherty Road in August. The plan for the development may come before the Plan Commission for its July 18 meeting. There was also mention of the demolition of the press box at the football field, something that several of the members did not know was happening. Apparently the bleachers have been sold to a school in Lafayette and they will be disassembled and moved.  (If the people in charge of SJC would tell the public what they are doing, there would still be complaints, but maybe they would not be as strident.)

Below is a picture of the press box being removed taken from Sparling Ave.

The picture below, showing the removal of the last bit of the PUMAS sign, was taken from near the bowling alley. Both pictures were taken last Wednesday.

Ribbon cutting at Brookside

On Friday the Rensselaer Parks had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the HYPER Center at Brookside Park. The HYPER Center is a building that was delivered in August of 2021 and meant to help with programming in the Park, especially during the summer. It has taken several years to get the interior into final shape. Below is a picture looking to the north of the building.

On the opposite wall is a deer head.

Below is what the south end of the building looks like. There is a refrigerator but no stove, microwave, or sink.

At a bit after 11:00 the dedication speeches began with a sizeable crowd of onlookers.

Finally the actual ribbon cutting took place. Because most of the people behind the ribbon were in the shade, I knew that the picture would not turn out well.

A bit of playing with the picture on my computer made it look better, but there are still a few people next to the building that are almost invisible.

The ribbon cutting was supposed to be accompanied by people setting off confetti guns but most of the people had problems getting them to work. So instead of one big display of confetti there were about a dozen small displays, one after another.

A lot of pictures

The Carnegie Players presented "An Evening with George Ade" on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Below is the curtain call.

The Carnegie Players now own what was formerly the Apostolic Bible Church at 220 N Franklin. However, the building needs repairs and deferred maintenance. Hopefully it will be ready for the next performance of the Players.

The doors were open last week at the light plant so I peeked in and took pictures of the new floors. Below is the view from the north door.

And this second picture shows the view from the south door.

Last week was sidewalk week for the Brick Street Project. Most of the sidewalk along the east side of Harrison is finished.

The southwest corner of Harrison and Van Rensselaer was mostly finished.

Early in the week the workers were preparing part of the sidewalk between the highway and alley on Van Rensselaer.

Below cement is being poured at the corner of Van Rensselaer and Harrison. Notice that some of the east Harrison sidewalk was still not finished.

By the end of the week almost all of the sidewalk along the south side of Van Rensselaer was finished. There was a sort bit near the alley that still needs concrete.

More concrete work was underway at Filson Park, beginning with sidewalks nearest the shelter.

I stopped by when concrete was being poured for the sidewalk around the fountain.

Most of the interiour sidewalks were finished by the weekend. The sidewalks along the streets still must be removed and replaced.

The new Mexican grocery looks like it is ready to open but when I stopped by on Monday afternoon the door was locked.

This sign is along US 231 opposite Walgreens. I have not heard of any plans to put housing in this part of the campus, but in the long run this area may be converted to housing.

The new concession stand/restrooms for the baseball field and the other fields in the part of the campus is almost finished.

Most of this spring's goslings are almost fully grown and many were enjoying a swim in the Donaldson's retention pond last week.

Purple coneflowers are blooming.

As are milkweeds.

Jasper County BZA & Plan Commission meetings

The Jasper County BZA met on Monday evening with one cause on their agenda, a request for a lot width variance. The owners of 80 acres in Barley Township want to separate out 20 acres that are wooded and want a frontage of 100 feet rather than the 400 feet the ordinance requires. They do not have immediate plans to build on the 20 acres but want the variance to make the lot a buildable lot. The reduced frontage will preserve farmland. The variance was approved.

The Jasper County Advisory Plan Commission met after the BZA meeting. The first item on its agenda was a request from Patel Hospitality Group for a rezone from A2 to HC for land in Keener Township near the I-65/SR 10 interchange. The plan is to build a 75 room hotel that will be similar to the Remington Holiday Inn Express. Currently there are no hotels at the Demotte exit of I-65. The new hotel will provide about 25 jobs, provide approximately $100,000 in annual inns-keeper tax, about $50,000 in property tax, and about $25,000 in revenue for sewer and water. (DeMotte extended water and sewer to the Interstate in hopes of attracting more development.) Mr Patel said that the County is losing room rentals to Lake and Porter County by not having a hotel near DeMotte. There was one citizen who expressed concerns about the traffic at the intersection. The Commissioners are aware of that problem and have been urging INDOT to address the problem and they may be slowly working on it. The Commission sent the requested zoning change to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation.

The second item was an amendment to the ordinance that the Commissioners had approved in June about special purpose wells. Few other counties have anything about test wells because the issue is new, so the County cannot use their experience to help set Jasper County's rules. The Commission recommended to the Commissioners to extend the set back for these wells to 1320 feet (a quarter mile). 

Rensselaer City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council had a very short meeting with a short agenda on Monday evening. One citizen wanted an alley off Angelica Street between 9th and 10th streets extended for the whole block. The City will examine the alley and get back to him.

Greg Whaley requested that the City reconsider an ordnance that sets the minimum size of a new house at 1120 square feet. He argued that this results in expensive housing that is unnecessarily large for some people. Instead of a minimum size, he suggested an architectural committee to approve designs of new housing to prevent new buildings that degrade the quality of a neighborhood. The Mayor said the City will consider his suggestion.

The Council approved a gas tracker for the quarter that represents a small decrease in rates. (I did not catch the exact number.) It also honored an employee for 40 years of service.

The light plant has a new floor but diesel fuel remains in tanks and that results in a fuel odor inside the building. As of July 1 of 2025 the Council will have to live-stream its meetings (new State law) and the City is beginning to investigate how best to do that. (Audio is the hard part.) Cruise night is less than two weeks away and several City Departments are getting ready for it. The Street Department has begun a 22-day project of fixing potholes.