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Highway garage salt dome, sign shop torn down as controversial project moves forward

At 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Porter County Highway Garage staff began demolishing the sign shop and salt dome at the department’s headquarters at 1955 S. Indiana 2 in Valparaiso.

Highway Superintendent Jim Polarek said tackling the job in-house will save the county money twofold, both in demolition costs and in more accurate construction quoting on a bare site.

“The commissioners asked if there was anything we could do to save money,” he said. “Skillman’s estimate was $400,000 for demo.”

Polarek also said the county will be able to earn money selling scrap metal from the demolition, and Rieth-Riley has agreed to take concrete debris for free as long as the county hauls it.

The plan is to build a new garage on the site of the sign shop and salt dome. When it’s complete the remaining office and maintenance building will be torn down and a cold storage building for equipment constructed on its site.

The sign shop will be temporarily housed at the Chesterton garage until the new building is complete. The project is expected to be put out for bid by the project manager The Skillman Corporation next month.

“There will already be a hole in the ground,” Polarek said of the benefit of tearing the old structure down before companies make their bids. “That way they don’t have to guess as to what they’ll have to deal with when they show up.”

Some members of the county council aren’t happy about the speculated final price tag of the new structure they’ll have to deal with as the managers of the county’s coffers. Final cost estimates are creeping up to $18 million.

Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, has defended the project at that scope, saying the county cannot continue parking $32 million worth of trucks outside. County Councilman Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, countered that plenty of other municipalities such as the city of Portage are doing so and he is more concerned about spending bond money on facilities like the jail and Juvenile Detention Center that house people.

Rivas made his displeasure known at the end of the March 26 council meeting. Councilwoman Sylvia Graham, D-At-Large, echoed his opinion of the latest cost projection.

Rivas told his fellow council members the estimated cost was $10 to $12 million just a year ago and they need to keep a close watch on the $25 million bond planned to be used in part to pay for the garage, as well as a portion of renovations to the Porter County Jail, which needs a new roof and HVAC system, among other upgrades, after over 20 years in service.

State law allows for up to $18.5 million to be used on any one project. The county may issue a second bond 366 days after the issuance of the first. There is talk of doing so to complete work at the jail and other facilities that need attention such as the Juvenile Detention Center and county parking garage.

“No way did anyone ever conceive of an $18 million garage,” Rivas said. He could not be reached Tuesday afternoon about whether he was aware the demolition had started.

Porter County Commissioners Vice President Barb Regnitz, R-Center, stopped by to see the work. Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, said via text that while she had not attended the demolition she did not “feel like there were any secrets.”

Polarek said the oldest part of the garage is believed to date back to the ‘30s or ‘40s. “It’s something that needed to happen for a long time.”

Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.