Council mulls costly County-City Building fixes, tax abatements, concrete and data center

St. Joseph County Council committees on Tuesday took on some key issues that The Tribune has been tracking, from the costly repairs for the aging County-City Building to tax abatements, a concrete plant near New Carlisle and a data center at the old St. Joe Farm.

The council will vote on the matters at its next full meeting on May 14. Here are the recommendations they made in their committees.

County-City Building and courthouses

St. Joseph County commissioners are seeking $1 million from the county’s rainy day fund, almost all of which would replace the aging, leaking boilers that serve the County-City Building and the nearby courthouses. The boilers struggled to keep up during a cold spell this winter, causing officials to close the buildings for a few days.

John Baker, who manages maintenance at the County-City Building, said costs could tip over $1 million for the boilers, which he said appear to be original to the 1967-built building. Parts can’t be found to fix and upgrade the boilers, he added.

March 19, 2024: What should happen to the County-City Building? Here are the options based on costs, needs.

The council’s Budget and Administration Committee voted Tuesday to give the funding a favorable recommendation as they passed it on to the full council’s meeting, where it will get a final vote.

This comes as the commissioners have hired consultants to study the county’s buildings and, specifically, what it should do with the County-City Building. Consultants at DLZ said this spring that most of the 14-foot downtown structure’s mechanical systems are beyond their lifespans. Commissioners have started the discussion over whether the county should remain in the building or move part of its operations into another structure. The county owns it and also faces the reality that the city will move out of its 3.5 floors in 2025, heading to the South Bend schools’ current headquarters.

When asked, Commissioners President Carl Baxmeyer reiterated, “I don’t see any way we can abandon this building completely.”

The council committee also gave a favorable recommendation for $404,976 to start looking into repairing roof leaks on the historic St. Joseph County Courthouse in downtown and the interior plaster that has been damaged as a result, including murals. Judges have reported ceiling plaster that has fallen in their courtrooms. Some of the damage is also inside of the courthouse rotunda, Bree Roberts, the county’s director of procurement, said.

Local architect Greg Kil has started to do assessments and would help in the bidding process for the work, which he said could be completed by the end of 2024.

Roberts said it isn’t clear yet on what the total cost would be, but it would include a new underlayment for the roof, plaster repairs and mural restoration.

She pointed out that, because the courthouse is a historic landmark, the county would have to work with the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and St. Joseph County.

Lippert/Holladay abatements

The council’s Land Use Planning Committee easily gave a favorable recommendation to tax abatements for a nearly $39.3 million warehouse and distribution center that Holladay Properties would build at the northwest end of the county and that Lippert Components would lease for the first 10 years.

Both are local companies. Lippert, which is based in Mishawaka, reports that the center would handle after-market parts — the company serves makers of recreational vehicles, automobiles, watercraft and prefab homes. This would be one of four hubs across the U.S., after Lippert consolidates its current 13 distribution centers, a representative told the council Tuesday.

The 52-acre site is southwest of the U.S. 20/31 bypass and the Indiana Toll Road, specifically on Old Cleveland Road just south of the intersection with Didam Boulevard.

One abatement would last 10 years for the real property (the buildings). The other would last five years for the personal property (contents and equipment) that Lippert would own, estimated to cost an additional $5 million.

Lippert says its 100 jobs there would mainly be in the warehouse with an average wage of $21 per hour. The office workers would make an average of $38 per hour.

Concrete plant shifts to Larrison

Kuert Concrete has found yet another site for the temporary concrete mixing plant that it wants to set up to feed massive developments coming near New Carlisle.

This agricultural site is at 56180 Larrison Boulevard, just north of Indiana 2. A proposed special use variance for a concrete mixing plant there gained a favorable recommendation Tuesday from the council’s Land Use Planning Committee.

Unlike prior sites that Kuert had tried, this one doesn’t seem to face any opposition from neighbors so far. The last proposed site, on U.S. 20 just west of Tulip Road, raised concerns from neighbors, most especially that large cement trucks could aggravate traffic on the two-lane highway and cause accidents.

On Larrison, trees and a berm along the road would provide a buffer, according to plans.

Data center at St. Joe Farm

The proposed rezoning of 914 acres of the historic St. Joe Farm to industrial use moved ahead with no recommendation from the council’s Land Use Planning Committee.

April 17, 2024: Revealed: Data center and farmer's woes at St. Joe Farm as county advances rezoning

This is where an unnamed company hopes to build a computer data center with 1.1 million cubic feet of building space, a project that has left neighbors wary as they’re unsure how it might disrupt their rural surroundings and Juday Creek, which cuts through the southern part of the property.

Council member Bryan Tanner suggested the “no recommendation” vote, pending a public meeting that consultants at Danch, Harner and Associates hope to hold with residents, possibly on May 8 or 9, to talk more about the plans.

The site is east of Capital Avenue and Cleveland Road. Council member Dan Schaetzl suggested that more unwanted kinds of development could be added to the list of restrictions for the site, especially for the portion south of Cleveland where there aren’t any plans yet. He said neighbors worry that the developer could sublease that property to other industrial uses.

Consultant Mike Danch said the developer liked this region of the country for its moderate climate, making it less costly to cool the computers and building during the summer.

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Council votes on County-City Building courthouse tax breaks St. Joe Farm