An eminent domain dispute involving a house on North Buffalo Street in Warsaw has been resolved in an out-of-court settlement, Warsaw City Planner Jeremy Skinner said Friday.
Acquisition of the residential lot was needed so the city can finish a storm sewer project that stretches across the disputed property at 335 N. Buffalo St.
The city filed suit with the property owner, Brinda Whitaker, after talks over the sale of the property hit a stalemate. Ultimately, she struck a deal with the developer, Dave Matthews, whose firm will soon begin a multi-faceted project along North Buffalo near Center Lake.
As part of the agreement, a sales price was not disclosed.
Skinner announced the decision at Friday’s board of works and safety meeting.
Whitaker said Friday she’s satisfied with the agreement.
The house will soon be demolished and final underground work will commence, Skinner said.
In addition to utility work, the city recently concluded construction of a new road that loops around several vacant buildings and the city parks office.
The new road connects Buffalo and Indiana streets to the east. The work includes new curb and sidewalks.
The centerpiece of Matthews’ project will be a multi-use building inside the new loop of roadway near the lake.
Several buildings and homes in the area still need to be demolished before construction begins.
In other matters, the board of works accepted a recommendation to award a bid for the upcoming sanitary sewer project in the airport industrial park to HRP Construction Inc., South Bend.
HRP’s bid was $6,090,000. The other bids were $10,077,548 from Atlas Construction and $6,619,992 from Dunigan Brothers Inc.
The city earlier this year annexed nearly 400 acres of land near the airport and U.S. 30 north of city limits. The land includes Zimmer Biomet’s north campus along U.S. 30.
The city is eager to extend sewer and see development on much of the land in the area.
The utility improvements will serve some existing customers who currently rely on septic systems.
Skinner said they hope to see much of the construction work done next year and have part of the service operational next year.
“We have a lot of industry out there now that desperately needs it. There is industry out there right now that can’t do the things they want to do without sanitary sewer. Some of them are pumping weekly. The cost to pump weekly is pretty hefty,” Skinner said.
The project involves construction of about 18,000 linear feet of pipes and construction of a lift station.
