Part 2: The Real 39N Fire Danger
Property owners in 39N Conservancy District have heard from the City of La Porte’s Mayor that residents are in fire danger. The Mayor in several meetings said he couldn’t believe residents didn’t know about the peril. In his June 16, 2022 meeting with 39N residents at City Hall, the Mayor said, “we now have a situation where we cannot guarantee water flow to fight fires in the 39 North Conservancy District.”
Firstly, it’s not and has never been the City’s responsibility to fight fires in the 39N Conservancy District. The Center Township Volunteer Fire Department has always provided fire protection for the Conservancy District, and they have been putting out fires on 39N since 1958.
At that same meeting, the Mayor spotted a retired doctor in the crowd. He asked him a question in front of the crowd, “If a fire happened <name redacted> and house fire hits and burns because the infrastructure that 39 North supplies right now has not upgraded, and burns his house to the ground and he looks at me and says and finds out I knew the infrastructure wasn’t appropriate right now, would you be upset?” The doctor reluctantly said, “probably.”
In front of a whole group of 39N residents, the mayor said residents were in danger, that the 39N water system was inadequate to extinguish a fire, and homes could burn to the ground. This should be a criminal act, an abuse of authority for sure. The mayor knew 39N residents weren’t in danger from fire and actually are quite the opposite; they enjoy better fire protection than any other county residents. They have one of the best volunteer fire departments in La Porte County, fully equipped with tankers that bring water to a fire and hydrants that meet and exceed all residential State fire standards.
What an insane thing to say to 39N residents. Residents believe mayors. They don’t expect one to tell such an egregious lie and pretend he can’t sleep without protecting them. It was an outrageous act for a sitting mayor.
How do we know the Mayor knew residents weren’t in danger and had adequate fire protection? The 2022 water study the City had done on the 39N water system in preparation for this annexation told the Mayor that 39N had adequate fire suppression from their hydrants and that those hydrants meet State fire suppression standards.
The La Porte Mayor, through his attorney, suppressed this information for all of 2022 and half of 2023 while they repeated their lies in the press and at meetings. Several Freedom of Information Act requests were made for the City’s water study, with the City attorney denying all attempts for people from 39N to view the study.
For a year and a half, the mayor made his closing statement that 39N residents were in danger, and the city was willing to help in exchange for annexation. The local media amplified the fear without fact-checking; the mayor said it, so it must be true. Nobody on the City Council fact-checked the mayor. Nobody on the La Porte Board of Works fact-checked the Mayor. Nobody on the Board of Commissioners fact-checked the mayor. They all bought the lie and were complicit in it. For 18 months, the city and county were blatantly lied to by the mayor, with nobody giving a damn.
In early 2023, when 39N still represented freeholders in the district and knew their water system wasn’t inadequate, the 39N board approved their own water study. You see, the City denied even the 39N Conservancy District from viewing the city’s water study, which the city said shows residents are in danger.
39N paid over $40,000 to have an engineering firm test their system and provide a report. In May 2023, the 39N preliminary water study was released. Immediately, the city FINALLY released its water study after the state public access counselor demanded the city do so. The 39N water study confirmed that 39N residents were not in any danger of fire, and all hydrants met State fire standards for residential fire suppression. The city’s lie was exposed, but the damage was already done. Residents were fearful because their mayor had told them they were in danger for almost two years.
Two hydrants on that report didn’t meet residential fire suppression because they were never meant for fire suppression. An asphalt company requested a small water main to their new facility for restrooms. That company paid for that 6″ tap off the district’s 12″ main for a restroom. All the residential areas in the district had/have sufficient fire suppression.
SO WHERE IS THE FIRE DANGER?? Surely there has to be some issue right?
Correct, there is a fire suppression issue on 39N caused by the City of La Porte. You see the City of La Porte has to approve all water connections on 39N. Nobody connects to 39N Conservancy District water system without the City’s approval.
In 2017 the City of La Porte approved a water connection for a new factory on 39N, Haynes International. Through oversight or negligence the plans called for installing a 2400GPM (gallons per minute) fire suppression pump for the internal sprinkler system. This is in addition to the expected 1000GPM from the outdoor hydrants to provide external fire suppression. So, the city approved a 3400GPM water connection on 39 North’s water system capped by the city at 1500GPM; that factory is the fire suppression problem on 39N. One factory was built and approved that needs much more water than the district can provide. That shouldn’t have happened.
For a city bragging about the experts on staff in their water department, that was a colossal mistake. Still, it doesn’t put residents in any danger from fire; it’s quite a distance and not near homes.
The beans were spilled once the 39N Water Study was released on May 5th, 2023. A 39N board member, after hearing about this factory’s water requirements and how much more water it needs than the district can provide, asked, “Did this come across any of our desks?” How was a factory approved that requires a water capacity more than twice our district’s capacity?
So the 39N annexation has absolutely nothing to do with residential fire suppression. Residents were never in danger, and the Mayor and city knew it the whole time. They lied to you because they needed your vote for annexation. They knew if they told you the truth, that they let a factory be built that needs more water than the district can provide, most of you would have said, “Not my problem.” I didn’t make a mistake, and why do I care if a factory far from my home doesn’t have good fire suppression? The Mayor knew he had to lie to you and scare you into signing for annexation to save your home and protect your family. The Mayor had the water study that said you weren’t in danger and had plenty of water with the same Center Township VFD that’s been protecting you for 66 years.
You still have time to remonstrate if you don’t want to annex to the city, and send a clear message to the Mayor that his deception won’t work. If the City annexes your property, you can bet on your taxes increasing and your services declining. The Mayor wasn’t truthful about the reason for annexation. Do you really believe him when he says your taxes won’t go up? It’s a ploy on words; you will have less money in your pocket at the end of the month; call it taxes, fees, or service charges; it always costs more to live in the city
Read the history of the Thomas Rose TIF district, how it didn’t make enough money to pay the bonds and the city just passed an ordinance to charge residential taxpayers to cover the debt. It happened and it could easily happen on 39N.
Now you know where the fire danger is and where it isn’t. 39N residents have never been in fire danger and enjoy better fire protection than other county residents outside the 39N Conservancy District..