Gary hires company to help get EPA grant to pay for cleanup

The Gary Redevelopment Commission is hiring a Griffith company to help the city apply for a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help pay for cleanup of a polluted plot of land on Gary’s northwest corner.

Commission officials voted Wednesday to hire Weaver Consult ants Group to ensure that its application for a federal grant is done properly. Officials said the grant in question has a Jan. 31 application deadline.

Officials said they want to get some $500,000 in grant money to help pay the cost of cleaning up a parcel of land in the Buffington Harbor area. The grant would call for the city to match the federal funds with $100,000 in local money. Redevelopment Executive Director Joseph Van Dyk said the city plans to get their share from the Lakefront tax increment financing district allocation area fund.

Besides the hiring of Weaver Consultants for a $12,000 fee, the commission also voted without opposition to approve a resolution pledging that the TIF funds will be available to cover the cost of a local match to get the grant.

John Talbot, of Weaver Consultants, said his company already has done some work related to the project, mostly to determine what would be the most effective way of handling the environmental cleanup required in the Buffington Harbor area.

Some 155,000 cubic yards of contaminants are within a parcel of land at 6200 Industrial Highway in Gary.

Although the notion of placing a cap over the contaminants was considered, it was decided they will need to be removed from the area and hauled off to a proper landfill — although officials have yet to decide which landfill will be used for disposal, officials said.

Officials said the idea of doing nothing with the contaminants was considered, although such action would result in any future development of the Buffington Harbor area becoming impossible.

City officials have talked about wanting to improve the area so that it could become a more effective port for the shipment of goods through northwest Indiana.

Officials also expect to do work this year to develop added travel lanes to make it easier for cars and trucks to get into the Buffington Harbor area without interfering with freight train traffic that passes through the area on a regular basis.

Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the PostTribune.