The town of Chesterton issued a stop-work order on July 30 for the Easton Park subdivision, and after an administrative hearing Monday, construction may remain shut down for weeks.
The meeting of the Chesterton Storm Water Management Board lasted for nearly three hours Monday.
A parade of residents complained about how they have experienced flooding this summer. Trevin Fowler, who lives at 2119 Easton Park Drive, told of how they have sustained at least $70,000 in out-of-pocket losses due to flooding damage at their home.
Another property owner, Matthew Blackard of 2017 Timberwood Lane, told of how his basement well windows were blown out by flooding, causing at least $15,000 in damage.
When the town of Chesterton issued a stop-work order on July 30 to Olson Farm LLC for the Easton Park development, the violations cited were the failure to achieve temporary soil stabilization and a failure to prevent sediment-laden water from entering the property of neighboring landowners.
Easton Farms is in the third phase of a development plan that would eventually build around 500 housing units off of Porter County Road 250 E on the town’s east side.
Assistant Town Engineer Matt Gavelek said that the problems were created because, contrary to the town’s instructions, a large area of land was excavated.
There have been repeated attempts to mitigate this by planting grass, but the wetter-than-normal conditions have caused much of the turf not to take root.
The administrative hearing Monday featured pointed exchanges between Board member Victoria Wittig and Eric Gastevich of ATG Real Estate Development LLC, who has overseen the development of Easton Park.
“I love how combative you are,” Wittig said at one point to Gastevich.
Gastevich apologized and said it is reflective of his own overflowing frustrations because of what he called the town’s failures with this project.
In particular, Gastevich said the flooding problems have been created because of a blockage of the nearby Kemper Ditch and a culvert. He said that conditions should improve because both the ditch and culvert were recently cleared.
Gastevich said it was the town’s responsibility to make sure that those structures were cleared to ensure there was proper storm drainage at Easton Park.
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After the meeting, Associate Town Attorney Charles Parkinson said that the Kemper Ditch and culvert area are owned and supervised by the Porter County government.
Gastevich was also critical of town building officials, saying that some houses were given occupancy permits where the land was not properly graded to specifications, which created drainage problems.
Wittig also confronted those responsible for clearing the land, Egolf Coates Excavation, for performing a “mass excavation” on the property.
Kyle Coates of Egolf Coates Excavation said the situation was “complicated” and that they were in constant communication with town officials.
“I hear you talk about how things are complicated and you have to move things around. That’s your job. That’s not the homeowners’ job to suffer because you can’t,” Wittig said. “This is an egregious violation of the homeowners.”
Toward the close of the meeting, Wittig asked Gastevich if he would apologize to Easton Park homeowners.
“I apologize. I apologize specifically on behalf of the town for not fulfilling their obligations to all of us,” Gastevich said.
Despite the sometimes contentious exchanges, Attorney Dave Westland, representing the developer, said that his client is agreeable to all of the remedies proposed by the town.
The list of corrective actions includes installing erosion control perimeter property, temporary berms and engineered solutions for future development phases. There are also requests to re-evaluate the performance of stormwater systems of existing structures.
The Storm Water Management Board will not lift the stop work order until the matters are addressed, and their next meeting is not scheduled until Sept. 21. The board will also determine what fines could be levied.
Some of the more than 100 in attendance in the council chambers gasped or laughed when the town revealed that the fines have only amounted to $1,600 so far.
Thomas Kopko, president of Chesterton’s Storm Water Board, said he appreciated that the tone of Monday’s meeting was civil. He said he also understands that the town and the developer disagree over who is responsible. But there was one thing, Kopko hopes, that all can agree on:
“One thing we want to make sure is that it gets fixed.”
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.