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The city of Warsaw is seeking grant money that could pay for 90 percent of the cost of demolishing the Gatke property on East Winona Avenue.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner presented two resolutions on the former manufacturing building Monday night to the city council. Both were unanimously approved.
The first resolution declares “slum and blight for the Gatke property,” while the second resolution authorizes the submission of a grant application to the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) “for some demolition funds – we hope – in partnership as we move forward with the people that we are in conversation with redeveloping the Gatke property,” Skinner said.
He said it goes hand-in-hand with different projects the city’s been working on.
At the Nov. 6 Warsaw Redevelopment Commission meeting, that board approved an agreement between it and Michael Kinder & Songs Inc. that gave MKS the exclusive right of first refusal for acquisition of the Gatke property for six months. It committed the commission to sponsor applications for, and to provide local match funding toward, mutually agreed upon grants for site clearance, demolition or related activities. The commission also pledged to enter into a development agreement with MKS or its assigns for redevelopment of the Gatke property upon satisfactory completion of “due diligence.”
Skinner told the Redevelopment Commission that the city’s been in conversation with Economic Developer Alan Tio, representing MKS, as well as some parties interesting in doing something with the Gatke property. It was coordinated through the contract with HWC Engineering as HWC tried to partner some people together for a project on the property.
The OCRA grant funds that will be applied for now for the demolition of the Gatke property are leftover funds that were not allocated through this last year’s grant cycle.
“That’s the reason for the walk-in. There’s a timeline sensitivity here. We’re just trying to create the necessary approval and cooperation from the city on something we’ve been trying to do for a long time. I know we’ve had money in the budget for demolition of Gatke for many, many years and we’re just waiting for the opportunity. Well, this would actually allow us to leverage those funds and not use maybe 20-25 percent of it,” Mayor Joe Thallemer said Monday.
Skinner said the Redevelopment Commission spent the better part of two decades trying to come up with a solution for the Gatke property.
“We did some environmental clean-up in the early 2000s,” he said, and it can be used for commercial or industrial purposes now.
The OCRA grant is 90/10, which means if the grant is awarded, OCRA would pay for 90 percent of the demolition costs and the Redevelopment Commission would provide a 10-percent match. The maximum amount that would be granted by OCRA is $500,000, which means the commission’s match would max out at $50,000. The commission’s share would be designated out of the Winona Interurban Tax Increment Finance District.
Skinner said he didn’t know if the demolition costs would reach a half million dollars. The last time he bid out for the demolition of the Gatke property, the low bid was around $150,000 and the high bid was around $250,000, but that was about 10 years ago.
The council also approved two transfer ordinances on first and second reading.
Skinner requested transferring $90,000 from capital outlays land and $200,000 from capital outlays infrastructure in the Northern TIF budget to professional services.
“As we’ve gone through the year, we’re trying to prepare our projects for next year within the redevelopment district. One of those projects is the sanitary sewer design for the airport industrial park. We are embarking on an annexation of that industrial park that starts in December. We have six public hearings. I’d like to get the contract signed for the engineering by the Redevelopment Commission (meeting) in December so that we can stay on schedule for next year,” he said.
The public meetings will be in the Warsaw City Hall, 102 S. Buffalo St., at 5 p.m. Dec. 4; 10 a.m. Dec. 7; 5 p.m. Dec. 11; 11 a.m. Dec. 13; 5 p.m. Dec. 18; and 10 a.m. Dec. 19.
The annexation would be completed in late 2018, the Eastern and Northern TIF districts would be expanded, and the sanitary sewer expansion project would go into 2019-20, Skinner said.
Council?President Mike Klondaris said it was his understanding that most of the people being annexed want to come into the city.
“Oh yes,” Skinner said. “(They) have been for about 10 years.”
He said the Redevelopment Commission will review the transfer at its Dec. 4 meeting.
The second transfer request was from Oakwood Cemetery sexton Hal Heagy to move $2,000 from machinery and equipment to repair and maintenance supplies. He said the money was to just get the cemetery through the end of the year and may not even be used.
