Munster officials are happy that a planned South Shore Railroad station at Ridge Road and Manor Avenue has been moved to the vacant land on the west side of Manor.
Munster residents had voiced their displeasure with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District’s original proposed station site on the south side of Ridge. The Munster Town Council passed a resolution requesting NICTD change the location. Town officials had worked with residents, who initiated the resolution over the course of several meetings.
“The town is very pleased with this result as it directly addresses the concerns it brought forward earlier this spring,” Town Manager Dustin Anderson said. “NICTD has been consistent when they say they would listen to our comments and concerns.”
In addition to a change in the station’s location, the resolution seeks configuration of the station to eliminate one of the three traffic lights between easternmost Harrison Avenue and Manor. The resolution requests a traffic study to help facilitate safe passage of pedestrian and bicycle traffic near the station.
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Anderson said it’s premature for NICTD to act on items other than changing the station site until the station is actually designed.
NICTD spokesman John Parsons said the original station site looked like a good fit, but the railroad was happy they could accommodate a different location. He said it was an example of how the community input process was supposed to work.
“At the end of the day, when you get public input you get a better project,” he said, noting the new site for the South Shore rail yard on the north side of Hammond when residents objected to using the former Monon yard along 173rd Street.
Parsons hoped uncertainty over the West Lakes Corridor Project will start to level off and that the region will enter a time of acceptance. However, funding is well away from a done deal.
“Once you come to these decisions together as a community you can then move forward,” he said.
There are still opportunities for the public to review plans and offer input. Land use concepts for areas adjacent to the Ridge station as well as one to be built at the Munster-Dyer border will be on display during a public meeting sponsored by NICTD at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 30 at the Centennial Park Clubhouse, Calumet Avenue and Centennial Drive, Munster.
Anderson said that the land use plans are only conceptual, but they may eventually influence potential zoning decisions for Munster.
“A zoning change could make the land more economically desirable,” he said. “But if a property owner chooses not to sell or change the use, that is their right.”
Jim Masters is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.