LAPEL — The head of the Lapel’s planning board suggested Lapel might want to form a council with other towns to deal with development along Interstate 69.
Cooperation on I-69 corridor growth, grant funds and new town signage were among several topics discussed during the recent council meeting.
Gary Shuck, planning board president, approached the council about his goal of creating an Area Planning Council to link Ingalls, Pendleton, Fortville and Lapel to help better plan out development along I-69.
The idea behind the council would be to ensure all communities and municipalities know what each town is doing and to find ways to work together for the betterment of all.
“Rather than everybody trying to do their own thing, there’s grant monies out there, and we should try to get together as a task force or regional committee and get those monies,” Shuck said.
Council members were receptive to the idea but wanted to know if there is interest from the other towns.
Shuck hopes to find that out and report back to the council this month.
In other business, Herschel Hinkle from the Lapel Community Association presented town leaders with a proposal from the association to update signs along Main Street through town.
The signs would be more ornate, Hinkle said, like ones in Zionsville, as an example.
Total cost to replace the signs is estimated at about $18,000.
The association is applying for a $10,000 grant from the South Madison Community Foundation to help pay for the signs. The balance of the cost will come from association funds.
The council approved the plan and offered to piggyback with the association grant application for a better chance of winning the grant funding.
Association member Margo Sink requested, should the project receive the grant and move forward, that town officials put a plaque or sign up on Main Street to indicate the project was completed by the association and town.
The concern is many people don’t know or understand exactly what the association does for the town and what the group does with money generated from the Lapel Village Fair.
Sink is hoping a plague honoring the effort would remedy the issue.
Council member Dave Taylor said he was on board but requested the poles for the signs be break away poles. When break-away poles are hit by a vehicle, the pole breaks to reduce damage and injury, he said.
The council also:
• Discussed redoing an income study conducted earlier in the year and said a new study must be done that doesn’t include residents from Fishersburg.
The study is time sensitive and must be completed by November, the council said. They’re asking anyone receives a new survey in the mail to please complete it and return it as soon as possible.
They want to the results so they use them as part of an application process for an 80/20 state infrastructure improvement grant, through which the town would commit 20 percent of the total grand funds it would receive.
The grant can be used to upgrade, repair or improve storm water, drinking water or sewer systems.
Town officials are hoping to get the grant monies to work on the water tank on Ford Street.
The grant can be applied for every year, so it could be the start of some long term infrastructure improvements for the town should it come through.
• Discussed their use of RQAW engineering and architect billing.
The town council and Clerk-Treasurer Dennis Molina wondered about a bill they received from RQAW for the month of July for $13,000 and discussed another bill for $5,000 from the company. The latter bill was for building inspection work.
Officials with the planning board plan to limit the number of projects they send to RQAW for planning approval to reduce the cost to the town, Shuck said.
• Approved spending $2,700 to repair four lights and an exhaust fan at the wastewater plant.
• Discussed a request from the Pleasant View Apartment developers for town officials to move a four-inch gas line.
• Approved either applying a weight limit to or prohibiting commercial trucks on 12th Street. An ordinance will be drafted for the next town meeting.
• Voted to retire Dennis Molina’s former service weapon and give it to him. Molina retired from Lapel Police Department several years ago after 29 years of service.
