City Looks To Use $500K Grant To Clean Up Arnolt Property
September 3, 2021 at 11:25 p.m.
City Looks To Use $500K Grant To Clean Up Arnolt Property
By David [email protected]
On Friday, the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety approved the RLF application, which is the next step in the process to start the cleanup project.
Mayor Joe Thallemer said Warsaw Community Economic and Development Director Jeremy Skinner had pursued the grant for a while. “We’re certainly excited about this opportunity. These funds certainly give great assistance when we’re working on sites that have environmental concerns, and I know that (Indiana Finance Authority) and (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) have been great partners with the city with our sewer expansions and the work we’re doing there, and also the environmental side of it, this is a significant grant,” he said.
Skinner said the grant has been “in the works” for some time now. “If you go back 10 years, we’ve been, over the years, trying to redevelop the Arnolt property. The Arnolt property has been in receivership for 20-plus years. There was a set amount of money that was being managed by that receiver. Pretty much they were trying to lease the property out,” he said.
This was actually the second time the city submitted the grant application. The first time, it was submitted directly to the Environmental Protection Agency over eight years ago, but the city wasn’t awarded any funds then. The city didn’t own the Arnolt property at that time.
“We were going after this grant to take ownership of it through the receivership and clean it up. We didn’t get awarded that grant, and we continued to work with the receiver and various real estate people to try to redevelop that property. Nothing materialized over the last 10 years,” Skinner said.
A few years ago, he said, the receivership was running out of money as taxes and administrative costs were coming out of it.
“Once it started running out of money, we knew it was going to end up on the tax roll. We worked with the receivership, through (city attorney) Scott (Reust), to take ownership of this property through the courts,” Skinner continued. “Once that was done and we had ownership of it, then we could start to apply for some grants. Being the owner of a property, there are certain types of grants that we are eligible for that, from a public entity standpoint, that private entities aren’t eligible for.”
One of those grants is the RLF fund. It can only be used by public entities or nonprofits, which the city is.
“We worked with IDEM and IFA. They had keyed us in to a couple of funds that were becoming available and had set up the table for us to apply for these RLF funds. So they went, on our behalf, to the EPA ... for either the Arnolt, Warsaw Chemical or for the Gatke property,” Skinner said.
The city’s intent was to use the funds for the Arnolt property as the city pursues the affordable housing development with Real America through the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority grant.
“While we’re here, we’re in the process of supplying that application to them for those funds. Each site can go up to a maximum half million dollars, if we request a waiver, which is what we’re be doing, which the state will be doing on our behalf, so this is in essence that RLF application to the state to set aside these funds to clean up the Arnolt property,” Skinner said.
Thallemer pointed out the RLF funds will be grant funds and do not have to be repaid.
Skinner said the first step will be to clean up the known hazards on the property. The second step, if there are any funds left, will be to demolish the building.
“So it’ll be a clean site so that if we are awarded the IHCDA funds for the affordable housing project, we’ll have a clean site to come in and build on,” Skinner said.
Thallemer said Real America tried last year to get the IHCDA funds but missed it by 1 point. He said the type of housing that is being applied for would be affordable family-style workforce housing.
“I know that’s a lot of explanation, but this is a really important piece of the puzzle that is being pursued for the redevelopment of that side of Argonne Road,” Thallemer said.
George Clemens, Board member, said it was wonderful that the property was being cleaned up. He gave Skinner “kudos” for his work on it.
Thallemer said Michiana Area Council of Governments has been a big part of it as well.
Clemens made a motion to approve the application and it was approved 3-0.
Skinner also presented to the Board an easement and easement agreement for the purchase of a sanitary sewer easement along property at 4050 Corridor Drive. The city will pay $11,700 to Crown Castle.
He said the easement agreement “lays out the construction methodology that will be needed to be used to expand the sanitary sewer to the property to the north.” The city has sanitary sewer on Corridor Drive, but is trying to provide sewer to the north of Corridor Drive “to roughly 70 acres that will be developed for housing,” he said. In order to do that, he said there needs to be easements along Corridor Drive.
After city engineer James Emans looked at and determined what the best solution was, the city settled on the property at 4050 Corridor Drive for the easement. Skinner said the property is owned by a cellular tower company. The easement is 20 feet.
Skinner said the price of $11,700 they negotiated on was just the costs for Crown Castle to process the paperwork on their end, i.e. attorney fees, etc.
Thallemer said, “Just from the city’s perspective, our return on the investment is the ability to create more residential housing.”
Skinner estimated the 70 acres will accommodate about 100 homes. He said they will have to annex the property into the city’s Northern Residential tax increment finance (TIF) district and “use those funds to extend the sanitary sewer to the site.”
He said he was working with the property developer. “He has an option to purchase the property but wanted to make sure we get sanitary sewer to him, so we are working with him to make him comfortable that we can execute these documents, get that easement before he purchases the property and starts the annexation,” Skinner explained.
The Board approved the easement agreement.
In other business, the Board approved an addendum to the contract with VS Engineering Inc. for Country Club Lane Extension improvement. The addendum adds an additional $17,400 cost to the original $11,300 contract for a total of $28,700.
Wastewater Utility Superintendent Brian Davison said there’s some flooding issues where you turn to go down Country Club Lane at the curb.
“The original contract, you can see we hired them to look at it, give us some options. We looked at their options and now we’d like to proceed with the design, leading into construction. So this takes us through construction with the administration. We’re looking at possibly raising that road out there and minimizing the amount of water that will stand on the road for a length of time,” he said.
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On Friday, the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety approved the RLF application, which is the next step in the process to start the cleanup project.
Mayor Joe Thallemer said Warsaw Community Economic and Development Director Jeremy Skinner had pursued the grant for a while. “We’re certainly excited about this opportunity. These funds certainly give great assistance when we’re working on sites that have environmental concerns, and I know that (Indiana Finance Authority) and (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) have been great partners with the city with our sewer expansions and the work we’re doing there, and also the environmental side of it, this is a significant grant,” he said.
Skinner said the grant has been “in the works” for some time now. “If you go back 10 years, we’ve been, over the years, trying to redevelop the Arnolt property. The Arnolt property has been in receivership for 20-plus years. There was a set amount of money that was being managed by that receiver. Pretty much they were trying to lease the property out,” he said.
This was actually the second time the city submitted the grant application. The first time, it was submitted directly to the Environmental Protection Agency over eight years ago, but the city wasn’t awarded any funds then. The city didn’t own the Arnolt property at that time.
“We were going after this grant to take ownership of it through the receivership and clean it up. We didn’t get awarded that grant, and we continued to work with the receiver and various real estate people to try to redevelop that property. Nothing materialized over the last 10 years,” Skinner said.
A few years ago, he said, the receivership was running out of money as taxes and administrative costs were coming out of it.
“Once it started running out of money, we knew it was going to end up on the tax roll. We worked with the receivership, through (city attorney) Scott (Reust), to take ownership of this property through the courts,” Skinner continued. “Once that was done and we had ownership of it, then we could start to apply for some grants. Being the owner of a property, there are certain types of grants that we are eligible for that, from a public entity standpoint, that private entities aren’t eligible for.”
One of those grants is the RLF fund. It can only be used by public entities or nonprofits, which the city is.
“We worked with IDEM and IFA. They had keyed us in to a couple of funds that were becoming available and had set up the table for us to apply for these RLF funds. So they went, on our behalf, to the EPA ... for either the Arnolt, Warsaw Chemical or for the Gatke property,” Skinner said.
The city’s intent was to use the funds for the Arnolt property as the city pursues the affordable housing development with Real America through the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority grant.
“While we’re here, we’re in the process of supplying that application to them for those funds. Each site can go up to a maximum half million dollars, if we request a waiver, which is what we’re be doing, which the state will be doing on our behalf, so this is in essence that RLF application to the state to set aside these funds to clean up the Arnolt property,” Skinner said.
Thallemer pointed out the RLF funds will be grant funds and do not have to be repaid.
Skinner said the first step will be to clean up the known hazards on the property. The second step, if there are any funds left, will be to demolish the building.
“So it’ll be a clean site so that if we are awarded the IHCDA funds for the affordable housing project, we’ll have a clean site to come in and build on,” Skinner said.
Thallemer said Real America tried last year to get the IHCDA funds but missed it by 1 point. He said the type of housing that is being applied for would be affordable family-style workforce housing.
“I know that’s a lot of explanation, but this is a really important piece of the puzzle that is being pursued for the redevelopment of that side of Argonne Road,” Thallemer said.
George Clemens, Board member, said it was wonderful that the property was being cleaned up. He gave Skinner “kudos” for his work on it.
Thallemer said Michiana Area Council of Governments has been a big part of it as well.
Clemens made a motion to approve the application and it was approved 3-0.
Skinner also presented to the Board an easement and easement agreement for the purchase of a sanitary sewer easement along property at 4050 Corridor Drive. The city will pay $11,700 to Crown Castle.
He said the easement agreement “lays out the construction methodology that will be needed to be used to expand the sanitary sewer to the property to the north.” The city has sanitary sewer on Corridor Drive, but is trying to provide sewer to the north of Corridor Drive “to roughly 70 acres that will be developed for housing,” he said. In order to do that, he said there needs to be easements along Corridor Drive.
After city engineer James Emans looked at and determined what the best solution was, the city settled on the property at 4050 Corridor Drive for the easement. Skinner said the property is owned by a cellular tower company. The easement is 20 feet.
Skinner said the price of $11,700 they negotiated on was just the costs for Crown Castle to process the paperwork on their end, i.e. attorney fees, etc.
Thallemer said, “Just from the city’s perspective, our return on the investment is the ability to create more residential housing.”
Skinner estimated the 70 acres will accommodate about 100 homes. He said they will have to annex the property into the city’s Northern Residential tax increment finance (TIF) district and “use those funds to extend the sanitary sewer to the site.”
He said he was working with the property developer. “He has an option to purchase the property but wanted to make sure we get sanitary sewer to him, so we are working with him to make him comfortable that we can execute these documents, get that easement before he purchases the property and starts the annexation,” Skinner explained.
The Board approved the easement agreement.
In other business, the Board approved an addendum to the contract with VS Engineering Inc. for Country Club Lane Extension improvement. The addendum adds an additional $17,400 cost to the original $11,300 contract for a total of $28,700.
Wastewater Utility Superintendent Brian Davison said there’s some flooding issues where you turn to go down Country Club Lane at the curb.
“The original contract, you can see we hired them to look at it, give us some options. We looked at their options and now we’d like to proceed with the design, leading into construction. So this takes us through construction with the administration. We’re looking at possibly raising that road out there and minimizing the amount of water that will stand on the road for a length of time,” he said.
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