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Full speed ahead on seven Northwest Indiana development districts

The projects ensure an expanded tax base is coming soon

Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority's Sherri Ziller and developers' plans for the West Lake South Shore station (LinkedIn, NWIBRT)
Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority's Sherri Ziller and developers' plans for the West Lake South Shore station (LinkedIn, NWIBRT)

Norwest Indiana got the OK to move forward on development districts around seven South Shore Line stations down the coast from Chicago.

The 320-acre districts will be located around the existing stations in East Chicago and Portage/Ogden Dunes and around new stations in north Hammond, Munster, Michigan City and Gary, the Post-Tribune reported.

The Gateway station in north Hammond and the Munster/Dyer station will be part of the railroad’s West Line Corridor project, an approximately 9-mile southern extension of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District’s existing South Shore Line. The other stations are part of the Double Track project, which runs between Gary and Michigan City.

Approval from the State Budget Committee means the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority can begin collecting property tax and county income tax revenues from new developments in the designated areas.

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The tax development districts, or TDDs, are the first of their kind in the state of Indiana and are similar to tax increment financing districts like seen in Chicago. One difference is that TDDs also include county income tax revenue from people working in the districts.

“When the RDA updated its strategic business plan in 2015, we estimated that the West Lake Corridor and Double Track projects would together generate more than $2 billion in private development in Lake and Porter counties,” RDA’s president and CEO Sherri Ziller said in a news release. “We are now seeing those projections start to come true with transit-oriented development projects under way in Hammond and Michigan City, and more under discussion.”

Officials are drafting plans for several more TDDs, including one around the Gary Metro station and around the South Shore Line station near the South Bend Regional Airport. The South Shore Line may also relocate its station from the airport’s east side to the west.

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— Victoria Pruitt

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