Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Shoreline reclamation project advances
LAKE/PORTER COUNTIES: State, local officials pledge money as blueprints are prepared for 2005.GARY --
Visionaries for a plan to recapture the Indiana lakeshore for
recreation named a Chicago-based company to develop the blueprint.
The
Marquette Greenway Plan, developed by U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind.,
and announced last fall, involves the transformation of Northwest
Indiana's lakeshore from an industrial wasteland to a recreational site
covering about 45 miles from the Illinois state line to the eastern
edge of Portage.
The
plan calls for reclaiming 75 percent of the lakeshore with a 200-foot
setback to be used for a continuous pedestrian/bicycle trail along the
shore.
Visclosky, along with the mayors of Gary, Hammond, East
Chicago, Portage and Whiting, announced the appointment of JJR, a
Chicago landscape architecture and urban planning firm, during a news
conference Tuesday at Marquette Park Pavilion in Gary.
The Marquette Greenway Feasibility Study is scheduled to be complete in
January 2005, Visclosky said.
Gregg
Calpino, JJR project director, said he and his team will develop a
generational plan and create some short-term projects, which can be
completed quickly.
Meanwhile, Visclosky said this project will
make the most fundamental change in the lakeshore of Northwest Indiana
in the last 100 years, promote a better quality of life and attract
people to the region.
The Indiana Department of Natural
Resources will fund $160,000 of the project, while the mayors of Gary,
Hammond, East Chicago, Portage and Whiting will provide a $40,000
match, or $8,000 from each city.
John Fekete, environmental
director for Ispat Inland Inc., said he's excited about the project
because it brings together a lot of ideas that have been reviewed in
the last few years.
"We've worked before with East Chicago, IDEM
and the DNR on cleanup ideas," he said. "From industry's perspective,
we're all very interested in these plans."
Carmen McCollum can be reached at [email protected]
or (219) 933-3318.