By Erik Potter, Post-Tribune staff writer
CROWN POINT -- It was all handshakes and hugs among Hammond officials after the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority's shoreline committee gave the initial go-ahead to the city's $31.4 million improvement plan for Wolf Lake, George Lake and Lake Michigan.
The three-phase, four-year project looks to open up access to Hammonds lakes, connect the Chicago and Whiting trail systems, and construct a permanent outdoor amphitheater for summer concerts at Wolf Lake, among other things.
Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. suggested, and RDA board members agreed, that the project represented the kind of signature project in Lake County that the Portage Lakefront Park has become in Porter County.
Monday's recommendation for approval by the RDA shoreline committee is not the final OK Hammond needs, however. The project must still be approved by the full board. But with five of the seven board members having just voted in favor of the project, that support appears all but assured.
Details that remain to be worked out are a detailed parsing of the application to root out any components that don't fit the RDA's funding priorities. A request for money to help modify Sheffield Avenue along the east side of Wolf Lake and close the road down before its intersection with Calumet Avenue is likely to be eliminated from the final grant agreement, as the RDA seeks to avoid the precedent of funding road projects. RDA board members and staff are also keeping a close eye on any stimulus package to come out of Washington next month, hoping to snag federal dollars for Hammond in order to conserve RDA funds for future projects.
Wolf Lake is nestled within an industrial zone, with the Unilever factory sitting on the lake's shore, and BP's Whiting Refinery visible from the north end of the park.
McDermott stressed that the park and bike trails will function as the front door to Northwest Indiana for a lot of people coming from Illinois. "People associate Hammond with an industrial city, and this is a green project," he said, hoping that the project will give travelers a reason to make Hammond a weekend-long family destination, rather than a daylong casino visit.
Some of the items in the first phase of the project, totaling $16.8 million, include the Wolf Lake Amphitheater, connection to the Burnham Trail in Illinois, Wolf Lake shoreline enhancements.
The second phase, totaling $7.6 million, includes, in part, a Wolf Lake Aquatic Play Center and Bathhouse, a playground and formal garden area in Forsythe Park and parking improvements at Wolf Lake.
Phase three, costing $7.1 million, includes Illiana Marina improvements, Wolf Lake paths and wetland planting.