The town of St. John appears to be attempting an end run for a South Lake County developer to get his subdivision built, and residents opposed to it are going to need an Indianapolis attorney to fight it, says the Lake County Plan Commission.
The town, at its Sept. 10 Town Council meeting, held a public hearing over whether it will annex the 167-acre parcel at 12863 State Line Rd. in unincorporated Hanover Township after a water-treatment facility is built on it – essentially calling “dibs” on it. The parcel wasn’t on the commission’s Sept. 17 agenda, but the commissioners allowed several remonstrators to talk about why they’re against the annexation after the meeting.
Along with the annexation, the town wants to attach a PUD zoning designation that would potentially allow a 982-unit subdivision Lotton Companies is eyeing for the parcel. The annexation, therefore, would be paused for two years until the plant was built.
Lotton attempted in 2023 to develop the same property with a 450-unit development, and Cedar Lake was going to annex it, the Post-Tribune previously reported. When the plan went before the Lake County Plan Commission, however, the commission deferred it and Lotton ultimately withdrew it.
“This is very dense housing, and if you were to not do anything and let St. John go on, the problem with 900-plus units — the cars, the children — it’s going to be (the county’s) problem whether you like it or not,” said Donna Fathke, of St. John.
“I don’t think it’s clear what exactly’s taking place,” added Denise Raduenz, of Cedar Lake. “First it was 450 units, and now they’re looking at 982. The schools, the drainage, EMS, roads flooding — they don’t care about the people in the area.
“We the residents expect county to step in for us. Let (Lotton) provide all the infrastructure; we can’t afford it, and we don’t want it.”
Plan Commissioner Randy Niemeyer said he spoke to Chris Salatas, former Cedar Lake town manager who now serves as economic development and Political affairs director for Lotton Companies, and Salatas told him the developer will be submitting its plan this winter. As such, the process of “adopt and delay” that the town is using is “convoluted” to him.
“They still have to come before us first before anything,” Niemeyer said. “Indiana’s annexation laws are such that an ‘unfriendly’ annex is almost impossible to complete, so (the parcel) will remain unincorporated, but there is no loophole — they have to come to us first. Once the annexation is done, though, we have no control.”
Plan Commissioner Paul Panczuk said he read the paperwork, and sliding the development in with the water treatment facility is exactly what Lotton’s trying to get done.
“If we approve the water wells, then (St. John) will approve the houses in the annex. But housing’s not allowed in the water plan,” Panczuk said.
The residents, then, are going to have to see the town and Lotton in court.
“The best advice I can give is for you all to get more organized — call all your neighbors, go through your deeds yourselves and get a good attorney in Indianapolis, because it’ll be tried down there,” Plan Commissioner Jim Metro said.
In a follow-up letter dated Sept. 19 that the Post-Tribune obtained, Lake County Plan Commission Director Ned Kovachevich took exception to Lotton’s attorney’s interpretation of the state law under which St. John is attempting to annex the parcel. Tim Ochs, an attorney with Ice Miller in Indianapolis, said at the public hearing that “the entirety of the property does not need to be within the two-mile boundary of the existing municipal limits of the town of St. John,” the Post-Tribune previously reported.
“The adoption of the annexation ordinance, should it ultimately be adopted, is not the end of the process, and it does not actually effectuate the annexation. It is a step in the process, and if the annexation ordinance is adopted, it does not become effective the next day. It becomes effective in the future when the property is being operated as a water withdrawal and treatment facility for the town of St. John,” Ochs said.
“My letter did not reference (state law), nor did it interpret its provisions,” Kovachevich said. “The two-mile reference in my letter was a geographic observation regarding infrastructure, not a legal argument. The statutory concern I raised based on (state law) has still not been addressed by Attorney Ochs or the (St. John) Council.
“It remains my professional opinion that the Town may only annex noncontiguous property by ordinance if the property is currently occupied by a municipally owned or operated water or wastewater treatment facility. Any attempt to annex vacant property in anticipation of future development risks being void upon passage. Furthermore, if the Town intends to construct such a facility under the guidelines of the Unincorporated Lake County Unified Development Ordinance, any annexation ordinance would appear premature, given that approvals are not guaranteed. If the goal is to work collaboratively with the public, attempting to force through an ordinance under misrepresented premises is counterproductive.”
At a St. John Waterworks Board meeting the same night, Board President John Schaefer said their board has “been caught off-guard” about the entire annexation plan, from Donald Trump Jr. gifting the town the water rights forward, and he finds it “troublesome.”
“(Lotton llc LBL) did the test wells, but who did the engineering? What aquifer is (it), and is it going to hurt someone else? Who did the studies? If the town drains an aquifer and it affects other people, St. John is responsible, and that’s a lot of money,” Schaefer said. “If the town council is moving forward with that, we should at least be informed of what’s happening and not read about it in the newspaper. At least I won’t feel like an idiot sitting up here when people are asking questions.”
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The St. John Town Council will meet at 6 pm Thursday, Sept. 24, at Town Hall.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.