Funds for street found (08/14/07)

The path to new development will be paved.

City and state officials announced this morning that funds have been allocated for the extension of Lafayette Street in Portland. The street will be extended west 2,600 feet from Creagor Avenue to Industrial Park Drive.

"I think ... it's important for us to enhance this Industrial Park Drive area ... for immediate and long-term growth in our community," Bruce Hosier, mayor of Portland, said today during a brief press conference.

The event at the Portland Fire Station was held to announce that a $740,000 FA-3 grant originally awarded to the city for the Lincoln Street improvement project, will now be used to help fund the extension of Lafayette Street.

Hosier said the street extension will help spur economic growth in the city's industrial park. The grant was awarded in late 2003. City, county and state officials attended the 10 a.m. event.

"We felt that it would be a much better use of federal money," said David Cox, local program coordinator for the Indiana Department of Transportation, which has an oversight role in the project.

The street extension will be two lanes and have a center left turn lane.

Hosier said the project is expected to cost more than $900,000. The street extension will be in the city's tax increment financing district, so using TIF funds to help pay for the work is a possibility, he said. "We do have funding sources available," he said Monday. "I think this is an excellent opportunity for us to invest our dollars."

Cox said this morning that INDOT officials are working to create a schedule for the project.

"We intend to move forward with this as quickly as possible," Cox said. We feel that it "is a win-win not only for the city of Portland but for the state of Indiana," he said.

Hosier said one of the reasons why the street needs to be extended is because a Fort Wayne company hopes to build a 56-unit apartment complex just west of Portland Place apartments, 430 W. Lafayette St. The project, called Katelynn Place Apartments, was first announced in February when an official with Keller Development Inc. asked for a tax abatement for the project. Although the request was turned down by the Portland City Council, the company's chief financial officer said the project would still move forward. Hosier said he believes that the company still plans to build the apartments. He said he had contact with company officials about a month ago, and that other developments are planned in the area.

The company hired to design the street extension project will determine how to work around a retention pond at Portland Place, Hosier said. An engineering firm has not yet been hired, he added.

This is not the end of the road for the Lincoln Street project, he said.

"The Lincoln Street project is not being scrapped, just tabled," Hosier said Monday afternoon. The Lincoln Street project, which was been in the works for several years, includes street improvements, new curbs and utility upgrades.[[In-content Ad]]