JEFFERSONVILLE — The River Ridge Development Authority is looking into purchasing equipment that could take care of one of the biggest problems left behind by the Army.
Tom Vittitow, planning and development manager for River Ridge, said at the board’s Monday meeting that buying one demolition excavator with shears could tear down the 176 remaining igloos, or defunct ammunition storage outposts, that are still on the 6,000-acre property.
Marketing and Finance Director Paul Wheatley said that Australia-based mining company Orica completed a decommissioning and clean-up plan on the igloos, giving River Ridge the go-ahead to demolish them.
“They’re an impediment to growth, so they need to be taken down in order for us to ready most immediately for the heavy haul route and then for the ancillary development on either side of the road out there,” Wheatley said.
Vittitow showed a video at the meeting of an excavator that River Ridge was lent for a day that took bites into the concrete and steel structures, tearing down one and a quarter igloos.
One excavator costs about $160,000 plus $105,000 for a set of jaw-like shears , a total of $260,000 that would exceed River Ridge’s annual equipment budget for the year.
But owning this kind of machinery could save River Ridge more than $4 million in the long run by paying private demolition companies to do the work for them, officials said.
“Basically the reason we’re going through this process is because we feel this is the most economical way to proceed,” Wheatley said.
Vittitow said River Ridge could salvage the bits of steel skeletons once they are separated from the concrete chucks that could be used for fill or roadbed material.
“We’re going to make money because we’re not going to be contracting out,” he said.
The excavator could tear down one and a half to two igloos a day.
Wheatley said the igloos were built facing away from the northwest, the direction of German attacks. They were also spaced out enough that if one exploded, it wouldn’t cause a chain reaction.
“We’re wanting to save one for historical purposes,” Wheatley said.
Vittitow said he was looking into bids for the equipment and would have a resolution for next month’s meeting.
EMINENT DOMAIN
The board also unanimously approved using its rights to eminent domain to take out about 1,000 feet of railroad on a property that a commercial developer is interested in buying.
The property is 15 acres, 2.7 of it that holds the rail line, said General Counsel David Lewis on the board’s Monday meeting.
“The developer has asked us to remove the encumbrance of that rail track,” Lewis said.
Mid America Rail Storage has a lease hold interest on the rail line that is located on the southern tip of the commercial center.
“It’s not in use in terms of traffic going across it every day, but it’s used to store rail cars,” he said.
River Ridge has 55 miles of railroad on its property.
“There’s probably a main channel where they use it to move cars from one storage site to another,” Lewis said.
An appraiser is assessing the value of the 1,000 feet of rail that will be removed, and River Ridge will negotiate with the Charlestown company on a fair price instead of filing a lawsuit.
Indiana statute requires that Jeffersonville approve the commerce center’s exercise of imminent domain because the property is located in Jeffersonville city limits. The city council unanimously approved this activity at its own meeting later that night.
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