The new potential water source to which Donald Trump Jr. handed the St. John Town Council the rights in July — and the gargantuan subdivision that was tied to it through its eventual annexation — has dried up, at least for now.
The Town Council at its Wednesday morning meeting voted 4-0, with Councilman Gerry Swets, R-3, absent, to “terminate without second reading” the ordinance that would annex 167 acres of land with a planned-use development on it at 12863 State Line Road after the town built a water treatment facility on it. Once the facility was up and running, South Lake County-based developer Lotton Development would build a 982-unit subdivision on the land.
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The motion was first to deny the ordinance, but Councilman Christian Jorgensen, R-2, asked that the language be changed to “terminate” the agreement.
Because the water rights and easement were tied to the PUD’s approval, the town in a separate motion voted 4-0 to return the rights to RBCP Investments LLC, the company for which Trump Jr. Is a part.
“All the paperwork has been received. There won’t be any annexation, there won’t be any water, there won’t be any housing,” Jorgensen said.
Council President Mike Bouvat, R-At-Large, added that the matter “is being put to bed” and reiterated to the Post-Tribune after the meeting that the project was meant to be forward-looking since St. John currently has the water it needs to run the town with no issue.
“We appreciate the feedback, and we listen to the community,” Bouvat said. “I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but we’ll get there.”
Residents of St. John and unincorporated Hanover Township, where the parcel is located, were cautiously optimistic by the council’s vote but plan to remain vigilant. They’ve dealt with Lotton before, and they’re convinced they haven’t seen the last of him and that parcel.
“We’re happy that the council listened, but I can’t feel comfortable that it’s not going to rear its head again. There’s too much money and too much power involved,” said Denise Raduenz, of Cedar Lake. “We knew years ago that (John Lotton) was going after that parcel when he bought it out from under the farmers who were pooling their money together to buy it themselves.”
The days of sitting back and letting things happen “doesn’t work,” said Rose Kleine, who was part of a group of farmers who pushed back against Lotton in 2022 when he tried to get Cedar Lake to annex the same parcel.
“Do I totally trust (the vote)? No, but it is a move in the right direction,” Kleine said. “(Lotton) may decide to go back and do what he can within the county’s laws; at 4.5 acres a lot, that would be fine. Just follow the rules.”
Chris Salatas, Director of Economic Development and Political Affairs for Lotton Development, didn’t return a request for comment as to whether the developer plans to take action against St. John for rejecting the development or what its next step is.
“I think the project killed itself,” added Steve Jarzombek, the St. John man who registered RBCP Investments LLC in his own name after he discovered the Louisiana-based company was neither registered in Indiana nor in good standing in Louisiana. “Putting that many homes in that space, it wasn’t even a viable negotiating tool.
Donald Trump Jr. visited Portage and St. John July 23 in connection with a pair of projects in which he’s involved, awarding St. John the water rights and easement that evening during a Town Council meeting, the Post-Tribune previously reported. Lake County Planning Commission Director Ned Kovachevich, however, in a letter sent to Covington-based RBCP Investments dated August 18 that the Post-Tribune obtained, ordered the entity to “cease and desist any activity related to the development of the property” for digging wells on it.
At its September 10 meeting, Lotton’s attorney, Tim Ochs of Ice Miller in Indianapolis, said during a 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,” but in a follow-up letter dated September 19 that the Post-Tribune obtained, Kovachevich took exception to Lotton’s attorney’s interpretation of the state law under which St. John is attempting to annex the parcel.
“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.”
The Town Council at its September 24 meeting then said it was “unaware” of the size of the subdivision Lotton was planning for the PUD and vowed to vote it down, though in a letter on the town’s webpage (https://stjohnin.gov/town-council/), it acknowledged it “wasn’t naive” to the fact that Lotton planned a housing development for the parcel.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.