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Warsaw Redevelopment Commission on Monday unanimously approved the agreement from the Northeast Indiana Regional Development Authority and the Indiana Economic Development Commission for the Buffalo Street Redevelopment project.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner said the RDA only provided him with a draft of the agreement as of Monday, though he asked for a final one but hadn’t received it yet. He recommended the Commission approve signing the agreement, and once the final version arrives board members can sign it provided there’s no major changes.
After the Commission signs it, Buffalo Street project developer Dave Matthews must sign it and then Regional Cities signs it.
“All this agreement is ... our portion of it is that after completion of our Buffalo Street reconstruction, which will be around $2.3 million, we will get 60 percent of our $1.615 million, which amounts to $969,000. At the completion of the plaza, we will get the remainder of that $1.615 million, which is roughly 40 percent. So that is our distribution,” Skinner said.
“So we’ll complete the Buffalo Street infrastructure, show them our expenditures, get the 60 percent, complete the plaza, show them the expenditures and get the 40 percent,” he summarized.
Along with the plaza near Center Lake, the city is upgrading the lights, curb, gutter and road along the Buffalo Street redevelopment project.
Matthews – who is developing town homes, city homes and mews along the street and a mixed-use structure at the former Indiana American Water Company building – will have his own distribution from the RDA.
Skinner said he hoped to take the signed, final draft of the agreement to the RDA by September.
Board President Tim Meyer asked if the agreement had to be approved by the city council. Skinner said it did not as the Redevelopment Commission is the authority on the project.
In another matter, the largest claim approved by the Commission was to G&G Hauling & Excavating LLC for $152,987.91.
Skinner said it was G&G’s second payment application for the CR 300N trail project. He said city engineer James Emans has reviewed their work to date, and while he hasn’t received all of their claim “tickets” yet he feels all of the work has been completed.
The pay application is the second payment to G&G, so after paying Monday’s claim, Skinner said the Commission will have paid out $296,162 on a total contract price of $897,771.
For the board members who haven’t been out to CR 300N yet, Skinner said “the storm work is done, the road is paved, the curbs are in, they’ve got the asphalt trails put in and the street lights complete. And then there’s some grading work, and sod, all that is left to be completed.”
He expects the project to be completed by the time school starts up as the road goes out to Madison Elementary. Warsaw Community Schools begins the school year Aug. 16.
Other claims approved by the Commission included: Barnes & Thornburg LLP, $2,875, legal services for the expansion of the Central Redevelopment District; Ozinga Ready Mix, $665 for concrete for the curb along the Indiana Street streetscape; Wessler Engineering, $23,403.73 for the new sewer treatment plant design work, and $768.19 for lift station work at the Warsaw Tech Park; HWC Engineering, $1,497 for project development on the Gatke property; and Redevelopment Association of Indiana, $125 for Skinner’s dues to belong to the association.
