Cedar Lake council candidates debate responsible development in fast-growing town

Cedar Lake residents are facing a crossroads on Tuesday over the vision of how the town will grow in the coming years.

Public pressure over the density of residential developments prompted residents to come out in large numbers to voice their opposition, taking their displeasure to the polls in May when they voted against several Republican incumbents in the primary.

Republican voters ousted incumbent at-large councilmen John Foreman and Richard Sharpe, opting instead for their challengers Richard Thiel Jr. and Larry Nagy. Republican Chuck Becker, also a newcomer, unseated incumbent Republican Ralph Miller for the 4th Ward seat. He is running unchallenged Tuesday.

Former Councilman Greg Parker, a registered Republican, is seeking to return to the 5th Ward seat he once held, this time as an independent, creating a three-way race with one-term incumbent Republican Colleen Schieben, and Democrat Deborah Mandich-Nowland.

Both Republicans running for the at-large seats are newcomers.

In the at-large race, lifelong resident Mary Joan Dickson, a Democrat and former Hanover Community School Corp. board member, and fellow Democrat Jeff Biel are trying to capture the two at-large spots.

Dickson said as the town has become more popular, she has watched it contend with the growth. Cedar Lake is the second fastest growing town in Lake County with a growth rate of 3.9%. St. John leads the pack at 4.9% and Winfield comes in third at 3.7%, according to U.S. Census data.

“My largest concern is the sewer and water because we share the plant with Lowell,” Dickson said.

Dickson said she is concerned about the number of private wells for businesses that have been tapped in recent years and wants the town to establish a water plan to ensure availability for future growth and development.

“People are talking about bringing industrial in. If you don’t have water to meet their needs, you can’t do it,” she said.

Dickson said high density, multi-family residential growth also puts a strain on services such as schools, traffic, police, fire and even things outside of council control like grocery stores.

“We need to build right. We have our fair share of duplexes and town houses. We have to start thinking of single-family homes,” Dickson said.

Dickson said there also needs to be more accountability from the town’s elected officials, including making public priority lists for infrastructure improvements such as paving. While campaigning, Dickson said she has been down some roads that are so bad she initially thought they were driveways.

“Unfortunately, it’s all on the east side. There is a lot of neglect over there that has to be looked at,” Dickson said.

Dickson would like to see more diversity on the town’s boards and commissions, and she criticized an effort by the current Plan Commission and town council to oust a Democratic member of the Plan Commission and replace the member with a Republican, which violated state statute.

Parks and open space are another concern the growing community needs to address, Dickson said, as Cedar Lake does not own any athletic fields. She said supports a petition effort to place the town’s lakefront parks into a land trust.

Democrat Jeff Biel is a first-time candidate who recently relocated with his family to Cedar Lake from Munster, where he was active in the Democratic precinct organization there. When he learned there were no Democrats on the council, Biel started going to meetings and watching them on YouTube.

“There are a lot of questions about how the town council runs. I think all votes are 7-0. There’s no transparency. I was just curious. I didn’t think this is the way a town council should run,” Biel said of his decision to run.

The current town council, he said, lets developers do what they want in terms of creating as dense of subdivisions as possible filled with townhomes and villas.

“Residents seem to want more traditional-type neighborhoods with single family homes and bigger lots,” Biel said. “You need that growth and expansion, but it needs to be regulated a little bit better,” he said.

Biel said would like to see more transparency from the council and town and more outside members of town boards and committees to get a wider perspective on residents’ desires.

Road improvements are an expensive endeavor but more effort needs to be placed in prioritizing the town’s worst roads for repairs, Biel said.

“We should have nice roads and sidewalks. You’ve got to systematically take care of all your problems,” Biel said.

Republican Richard Thiel Jr., who is a retired mechanic, said the scrap yard business he has owned for 15 years does not keep him busy enough, so he started getting involved in town government.

“I didn’t just attend town council meetings. I attended every meeting,” Thiel said.

After paying close attention for all those years, he felt it was time to step and do his part.

“I understand you will always have development, you’ll always have growth,” Thiel said, but planning for the needed infrastructure to accommodate the growth must be done.

With conflicting reports from engineers for town and the wastewater treatment plant about sewer capacity, Thiel is concerned about future development until the facts are known.

“How is the Plan Commission able to make an accurate decision moving forward with a 200-unit subdivision without knowing if the infrastructure can handle it?” Thiel asked.

Too many matters are approved with little to no discussion, he said.

“I think it is extremely important getting different perspectives,” Thiel said.

He would like to see more transparency from town government and said it needs to be more responsive when residents ask for information.

“We are here first for the residents,” he said.

Nagy, a Republican, is looking to cement a spot as an at-large councilman. Nagy, who has lived in Cedar Lake all his life, owns Nagy’s Automotive and has served on a variety of boards and commissions.

“I strongly believe we need more transparency to allow citizens of Cedar Lake to understand more about the projects being planned for our town and how they will impact us,” Nagy said in a statement, adding updates on current and future projects should be made public at town council meetings.

“This would help earn the trust of the taxpayers,” Nagy said.

The town also needs to attract more small businesses to help ease the tax burden on homeowners, he said.

Nagy said he would strive to ensure council executive sessions are limited to topics allowed under Indiana code. He would like to see term limits established for council-appointed board members.

“This would bring a constant flow of new people with new ideas and void the status quo attitude in zoning and rezoning issues,” he said. The town is growing so fast, that infrastructure may not be able to keep up, he said.

Most of the town’s current employees are hardworking, professional and dedicated, Nagy said.

He said it the council’s responsibility to ensure that all appointments and or new hires should be made with the utmost consideration regarding diversity and equal opportunity for all candidates.

“If elected as an at-large council member, I will be available to every taxpayer,” Nagy said.

In the 5th Ward race, incumbent Republican Colleen Schieben said the community’s growth is important.

Schieben said there are several new developments coming in that are in the planning stages. The projects were pulled off the table by the plan commission on the day the council was to consider its recommendation after public outcry against the proposed density. She will not say she would vote on the developments until they come before the council.

“We have to be careful how we do it. I don’t like the super dense. I wasn’t thrilled with what was drawn up at the golf course. If I’m still on council and it comes to me, I will see what (the developer) actually comes up with in the end. I cannot tell you how I would vote on something I have not seen in front of me. I don’t have a 100% position,” Schieben said.

While she does not like 50-foot lots, she said there is a demand for low maintenance properties in neighboring communities like St. John.

Schieben said she is aware some residential wells have gone dry, but said the town’s well is stable as it draws from a deeper aquifer. Residential wells in town typically run about 80-feet deep, while the town well is 400-foot deep.

She touted some of the successes of her first four years in office including the start of the long-awaited dredge project, creating a new park, establishing a park board, road repairs, and extending sidewalks from the roundabout to the town grounds.

Schieben said hopes that people can see what she brings to the town and what she has accomplished. She was hesitant to talk about her challenger Parker, who did not to face her as a Republican during the primary. She said Parker tapped her to be his replacement in 2019 when he decided not to run for reelection.

She questioned his motivation in opposing the recent controversial planned unit developments, saying he previously signed off on other PUDs while in office.

“Now that one is across the street from his house, he is losing his mind. I don’t know how it can be OK on one side of the town and not the other,” she said.

Deborah Mandich-Nowland, who seeks the seat as a Democrat, has campaigned with Dickson and Biel on a platform of controlled growth and lower density developments, forecasting for future needs and increased transparency.

“I would like to develop goals pertaining to Cedar Lake’s development, and the design process,” she said, adding most importantly she would like to establish priorities for future needs for water, sewer, roads and stormwater management.

She would exercise more fiscal responsibility and accountability if elected to office. She said the council needs to stick to its annual operating budget and monitor revenues and expenses so they can communicate the information to residents.

“The public has to know what we bring in and where we’re putting the money. Right now we don’t know,” she said.

Mandich-Nowland said she is concerned the current council wants to put too many homes that would tax existing infrastructure.

She would like to encourage more business growth to help spread the tax burden, but the town must ensure they can meet demands for water and sewer services.

“We have to think about our future. (For) businesses, I think is a great opportunity over here. We have to be careful not to overpopulate with homes,” she said.

Independent Parker, a former three-term councilman, is looking to reclaim his seat as the fifth ward councilman.

“We’ve got a situation where a developer gives the local (Republican) party $15,000. For a small town like this, that kind of money getting injected into the political arena reeks of corruption,” Parker said.

The issue was the impetus for him to seek the office again as “I just think they need somebody that is not bought and paid for. You can’t serve two masters.

‘You can’t be beholden to a developer because they are paying you and be beholden to the taxpayers because they are paying you,” Parker said. “How can the average citizen get involved in the process when they have to compete with that kind of money on the local level? It creates a playing field that is not level.”

Parker said he is a registered Republican and a proven fiscal conservative with 12 years of experience.If elected, Parker would like to change the public comment portion of meetings, requiring officials to respond to their constituents instead of deferring a response to the town manager.

“It’s really like a free speech squelch,” Parker said.

When it comes to development, Parker said he is a proponent of controlling density, as a town home subdivision takes up two to three times the sewer capacity of a similarly sized single-family development.

“We need to get it right,” Parker said.