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Local women design shirt to raise funds for Sept. 11 organization. — Page 2 April 21, 2021
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PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID WABASH, IN PERMIT NO. 233 Vol. 44, No. 6
City OKs resolution for housing developement By Joseph Slacian jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com The Wabash City Council passed a resolution on Monday, April 12, expressing interest in creating a housing development at the former site of the GDX plant on Stitt Street. The measure, which could potentially carry a $500,000 price tag, is needed to show the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) that the city is serious about creating the development. The money would be used to create infrastructure at the site, only if IDEM orders the land’s former owner, Aerojet Rocketdyne, to clean up the property to a level safe for housing. Between 30 and 60 housing units, along with a 100-unit, market rate apartment complex could be built at the site. There also is a potential for some commercial buildings but, Mayor Scott Long noted, “that is not set in stone.” IDEM and attorneys from Aerojet, now a division of Lockheed Martin, are currently negotiating the cleanup with city representatives. “The issue that has arisen in all of this is typically, when you can get someone to do a cleanup, they want to come in and do the minimal amount of clean up necessary to have IDEM say, ‘yes, it’s a clean site,” City Attorney Doug Lehman explained to the council. “But what IDEM usually does in that instance is issue environmental instructions that say, ‘It’s a clean site as long
as you don’t dig in it, as long as you don’t put any housing over it, as long as you don’t have anything else that’s A shipping and receiving sign still stands at the site of the former GDX plant on Stitt Street. going to have people Photo by Joseph Slacian there 24 hours a day.’” Results of the 2017 housing study that showed a need However, that means no housing could be created at for more housing here, as well as a timeline of what the site, which is now owned by the City of Wabash. steps the city would take to make a housing project were “All along the city has intended to put housing at included with the letter. GDX,” Lehman said. “We thought it was a big enough “We’ve come up with a timeline to have that property site that we could really do something significant in rezoned from light industrial to residential R-4 for housterms of adding to the housing market, so we want it ing, to get a housing TIF in place, and to get a planned cleaned up well enough that IDEM will allow us to put unit development approved through the plan commission housing there.” to put a mixture of single family and duplex and multiCity representatives negotiating the case with IDEM family housing in that area,” Lehman said. “We need to and Aerojet representatives told local officials that neialso provide our willingness to commit financially to ther party initially believed the city wanted to create the making it a housing development.” housing complex, Lehman noted. The council approved the resolution 7-0, but it wasn’t “So, they wanted some evidence that we really were without more than 20 minutes of debate. serious about a housing project,” he continued. “The Council member Terry Brewer believed the resolution mayor has signed a letter … to IDEM that first off shows was too general and believed it needed to be more specifthem the development plans that Luckett and Farley (a ic in regards to the funding. Louisville-based development firm that has been workThe council amended the matter to specifically note ing with the city on the project) have been working on that the pledged $500,000 would be spent only on infrafor the last year and a half or two years, which was a structure and only if the site was cleaned sufficiently housing site. enough to build housing on the site.
Blue pinwheels stand outside the Department of Child Services building in Wabash. Photo by Mandy Mahan
Protecting our children April is Child Abuse Prevention Month By Mandy Mahan mmahan@thepaperofwabash.com Many may notice blue pinwheels this month in front of office building such as the Department of Child Services here is Wabash. They are in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month which is every April. “Currently the Wabash County Department of Child Services has open involvement with 98 children in the county,” according to Julie Hobbs, Local Office Director of Wabash County Department of Child Services. “We also currently have 46 open assessments/investigations on families in Wabash County,” she said. “There are three levels of involvement with the department – an Informal Adjustment, an in-home CHINS (Child in Need of Services) and an out of home CHINS. “If a child can be safely maintained in the home and the parents are receptive to services, we can offer an Informal Adjustment. If the child/children are not safe and need to be removed from the home this would be considered an out of home CHINS. The Department of Child Services wants to keep families together when it can be done safely. In June of 2020 the Department rolled out the Family Preservation Model which is holistic approach to supporting families in crisis where the children are at imminent risk of being removed from their parents care and
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placed outside their homes.” Hobbs told The Paper that the department of Child Services investigates many forms of abuse and neglect including but not limited to sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect. Forms of neglect include lack of supervision, lack of food, shelter or clothing, environment life/health endangerment, drug exposed infants and medical neglect. “A large contributor to the neglect cases we currently handle in Wabash County is attributed to substance use by the parents or caregivers and their inability to appropriately supervise their children and meet their basic needs,” she said. In order to keep an eye out for potential abuse, look for these signs: Consider physical abuse when the child has unexplained burns, bites, bruises, broken bones, or black eyes, fading bruises or other marks. The child may also seem frightened of their abuser which would be one or both of their parents or someone else. Consider Neglect if the child is frequently absent from school, Continued on Page 7
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