Plans by Pratt Industries to expand on land annexed by the city of Valparaiso for a converting plant, along with a zoning change from light to heavy industrial for the property, will have to wait a bit longer.
During a marathon meeting Monday, the Valparaiso City Council carried first readings on both ordinances until its Sept. 28 meeting.
The move came after extensive presentations, a unanimous vote resolving to adopt a fiscal plan for the annexation of the property, and several public comments opposed to the plant and zoning change, save one.
The proposal calls for annexing two parcels across 92 acres and changing the zoning from light industrial to heavy industrial to construct a converting plant along the north side of Division Road, east of Ind. 49 and the Porter County Fairgrounds, and south of the railroad.
A capital investment of $70 million would result in a 300,000- to 400,000-square-foot plant.
The Valparaiso Plan Commission held a public hearing and forwarded a recommendation to the city council to grant the zoning change. Valparaiso’s Director of Development, George Douglas, provided background on Pratt Industries, which first came to the city 23 years ago. “It’s very difficult to get new companies coming in,” he said. “It’s very competitive.”
He said Pratt is the largest private employer and the largest taxpayer in Valparaiso. The converting plant will continue the packaging manufacturing already underway at the campus. Currently, a paper mill processes 100% recycled paper products into the raw sheets to be made into packaging at the neighboring corrugated plant.
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The converting plant would allow for final finishing with water-based inks, eliminating the need to send products out for the final phase of packaging creation or have them finished at the corrugation plant, which is not as efficient.
Valparaiso Planning and Transit Director Bob Thompson explained that the county’s unified development ordinance allows for heavy industry in the area in question should the city not choose annexation. He said that wouldn’t be preferable as city standards are stricter than county standards, particularly on landscaping.
Landscaping stringency was low-hanging fruit to homeowners from the Fairview Estates subdivision, which lies on the southeast border of the property in question. They cited concerns over noise pollution, further bad smells they say they’re already dealing with, particularly at night, and concerns over their wells becoming contaminated.
Jeff Beaver of Pratt Industries said the heavy industrial designation was being sought solely to allow for a larger building on the site. “I don’t want to minimize, but it’s nomenclature,” said Beaver, who repeated many times the five-foot height of the screening berm, the 322-foot setback from Division and the 350-foot setback from the easterly side, loading docks to the north in the rear, and the enclosed nature of the plant.
Residential neighbors were unimpressed.
“Everything they say sounds good on paper, but they haven’t been good neighbors,” said Mark Dievers. “There’s times in the spring when there’s nothing left of the road.”
He said more than 75 trucks travel on Division Road coming and going from the existing plants now and added that a frost law sign on the road was removed about 10 years ago when Pratt had its last expansion. His neighbor Connie Heflin said she’s lived on Pinehurst Drive since 1996. “We loved it there, but when Pratt moved in it all changed,” she said.
Her husband Jeff Heflin said trucks turning onto Division from Ind. 49 don’t have enough room. He said large potholes already go unrepaired and asked why the road wasn’t built with reinforced construction and who would be monitoring the decibel level coming from the plant.
“There’s usually a buffer zone between heavy industrial zones and residential,” Heflin said. “What’s this? A few hundred feet? I don’t think you would want to live that close,” he told the council.
Connie Heflin was also concerned about the area being rezoned to heavy industrial. “If you guys make this heavy, who’s to say you won’t get a tank wash in there?” she asked.
Vaness Lynch, executive vice president of the Valparaiso Economic Development Corporation, was the sole supporter during public comment. “From an economic development standpoint, this is exactly the kind of development we go for,” she told the council. “It positions Valparaiso as a place where businesses can successfully grow.”
Beaver said the converting plant would be a $100 million investment and create around 50 jobs the first year, paying $28.59 per hour, another figure that ruffled the neighbors.
“I don’t know if any of you have kids,” Dievers said to the council. “Twenty-eight dollars an hour, your kid isn’t going to be able to buy a house on that.”
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Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.