Subscribe/Renew
Abundant sunshine. High 63F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Clear to partly cloudy. Low 38F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: January 23, 2022 @ 8:39 am
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, lower right, presents his plan in House Bill 1110 to allow the Aberdeen subdivision to choose to become part of Valparaiso, even though Aberdeen is not contiguous to the Porter County municipality.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, lower right, presents his plan in House Bill 1110 to allow the Aberdeen subdivision to choose to become part of Valparaiso, even though Aberdeen is not contiguous to the Porter County municipality.
A large subdivision located southwest of Valparaiso may be permitted to become part of the city even though it’s not contiguous to the municipality.
The House Local Government Committee unanimously approved legislation last week creating a process to allow Aberdeen to initiate a voluntary annexation by Valparaiso, or any similarly situated noncontinuous subdivision located near a third-class city to do the same.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, the sponsor of House Bill 1110, said Aberdeen already practically is part of Valparaiso, since the subdivision is served by Valparaiso’s water utility and fire services, and the children living in Aberdeen’s 680 residences are assigned to Valparaiso Community Schools.
“For all intents and purposes, the folks of Aberdeen are Valparaiso people,” Soliday said.
Journeyman Distillery held a groundbreaking ceremony at its Valparaiso site, expected to open January 2023.
In fact, Soliday noted that Valparaiso initially intended to annex Aberdeen decades ago but the Valparaiso park board couldn’t afford to purchase the Aberdeen golf course.
“Aberdeen is big. It could be a town in a lot of the state,” Soliday said.
The shoe now is on the other foot, however, as Aberdeen residents are facing high costs to repair or replace aging infrastructure, particularly the streets running through the community that Porter County has no interest in taking over.
That’s spurred leaders of the Aberdeen Property Owners Association to reach out to Valparaiso leaders to begin the process of determining if a voluntary annexation might benefit everyone involved.
The legislation takes care of one major hurdle by authorizing Aberdeen to join Valparaiso even though there are other homes between Aberdeen and the current Valparaiso city limits that would not be included in any annexation.
It also addresses concerns about a “forced” annexation by requiring the Aberdeen homeowners association initiate the process created by the legislation, which includes a mandatory financial study so Aberdeen residents know the fiscal impact of becoming part of Valparaiso, as well as an opportunity for a majority of Aberdeen residents to overrule their homeowners association and halt the annexation.
“This is completely voluntary. The homeowners association must approach the city first, not the other way around,” Soliday said. “Nothing happens unless the subdivision wants in.”
Greg Farrell, president of the Aberdeen Property Owners Association, said discussions are ongoing with city officials and community residents, but he’s confident Aberdeen would be a good fit within the city of Valparaiso.
“Over the years, the ties between Valparaiso and Aberdeen have only grown,” Farrell said. “If you ask my neighbors they’d very likely say they’re Valpo residents.”
At the same time, Farrell observed that without this legislation the whole Aberdeen-into-Valparaiso concept is purely hypothetical, due to existing annexation restrictions in Indiana law.
“There’s much work left to be done for sure, but all of our efforts would be wasted under current law because no part of Aberdeen subdivision is contiguous,” Farrell said.
Valparaiso Mayor Matt Murphy told the committee Valparaiso is not, in any way, looking to take over Aberdeen. But he said Valparaiso officials are willing to listen if Aberdeen is interested in becoming part of the city.
This episode of the “Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops” series takes viewers around Munster in the midst of the holiday season.
The legislation also specifies that should Aberdeen join Valparaiso, the city is not allowed to pursue any subsequent forced annexation into rural Porter County that extends from the borders of Aberdeen.
“We are not looking to initiate this at all,” Murphy said. “This is them knocking on our door and we are open to sitting down with them, as we have, and continue exploring whether this makes sense for us.”
The committee voted 10-0 to advance the proposal to the full House for a decision, likely this week, on sending the measure to the Senate for further consideration.
The plan must be approved in identical form by both the House and the Senate to go to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to be signed into law.
State Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond
1st Senate District
Represents: Hammond (south side), Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer, Schererville
Experience: State senator 1978-95, 1998-present; retired banker
Committees: Homeland Security and Transportation; Insurance and Financial Institutions; Local Government (ranking member); Veterans Affairs and the Military
State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago
2nd Senate District
Represents: Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago, Gary (west side), Griffith, Hobart, Merrillville
Experience: State senator since 2008, previously served 1994-98; attorney
Committees: Commerce and Technology; Insurance and Financial Institutions (ranking member); Judiciary (ranking member); Rules and Legislative Procedure; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Utilities (ranking member)
State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary
3rd Senate District
Represents: Gary, Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart, Merrillville, Crown Point
Experience: State senator since 2016; community relations manager
Committees: Appropriations (ranking member); Education and Career Development; Health and Provider Services; Joint Rules; Rules and Legislative Procedure
State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton
4th Senate District
Represents: Ogden Dunes, Portage, Chesterton, South Haven, Burns Harbor, Beverly Shores, Michigan City, Westville
Experience: State senator since 2021; attorney
Committees: Corrections and Criminal Law (ranking member); Environmental Affairs; Local Government; Pensions and Labor; Public Policy
State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso
5th Senate District
Represents: Valparaiso, Hebron, Kouts, Jasper County
Experience: State senator since 2007; attorney
Committees: Appropriations; Ethics; Health and Provider Services (chairman); Rules and Legislative Procedure; Tax and Fiscal Policy
State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell
6th Senate District
Represents: St. John, Cedar Lake, Crown Point, Winfield, Lowell, Newton County
Experience: State senator since 2014, state representative 2012-14; small business owner
Committees: Environmental Affairs; Local Government; Tax and Fiscal Policy
State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
8th Senate District
Represents: LaPorte County
Experience: State senator since 2016; consultant
Committees: Corrections and Criminal Law; Insurance and Financial Institutions; Judiciary; Local Government
State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond
1st House District
Represents: Hammond, Whiting
Experience: State representative since 2018; retired Cook County, Ill., probation officer
Committees: Environmental Affairs; Family, Children and Human Affairs; Natural Resources
State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago
2nd House District
Represents: East Chicago, Gary (west side)
Experience: State representative since 2016; small business owner
Committees: Government and Regulatory Reform; Roads and Transportation; Ways and Means
State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary
3rd House District
Represents: Gary (downtown and east side), Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart
Experience: State representative since 2018; attorney
Committees: Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development; Courts and Criminal Code (ranking member); Government and Regulatory Reform
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso
4th House District
Represents: Valparaiso
Experience: State representative since 2006; aviation safety consultant
Committees: Elections and Apportionment; Roads and Transportation; Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications (chairman)
State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City
9th House District
Represents: Michigan City, Chesterton, Beverly Shores, Long Beach, Westville
Experience: State representative since 2018; retired small business owner
Committees: Environmental Affairs; Natural Resources (ranking member)
State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage
10th House District
Represents: Portage, Chesterton, Ogden Dunes, Burns Harbor, South Haven
Experience: State representative since 2008; financial solutions associate
Committees: Employment, Labor and Pensions; Roads and Transportation (ranking member); Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron
11th House District
Represents: St. John, Cedar Lake, Lowell, Schneider, Hebron, Kouts
Experience: State representative since 2014; farmer, former state environmental regulator
Committees: Agriculture and Rural Development (vice chairman); Courts and Criminal Code; Environmental Affairs
State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster
12th House District
Represents: Munster, Hammond (south side), Highland, Griffith
Experience: State representative since 2020; small businessman
Committees: Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development; Employment, Labor and Pensions; Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary
14th House District
Represents: Gary (south side), Merrillville
Experience: State representative since 1990; education professor at Indiana University Northwest
Committees: Education (ranking member); Judiciary; Local Government
State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville
15th House District
Represents: Dyer, Schererville, St. John, Griffith
Experience: State representative 2012-18, reelected 2020; small business owner
Committees: Environmental Affairs; Ways and Means
State Rep. Douglas Gutwein, R-Francesville
16th House District
Represents: Newton, Jasper counties
Experience: State representative since 2008; small business owner
Committees: Agriculture and Rural Development; Environmental Affairs (vice chairman); Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point
19th House District
Represents: Crown Point, Merrillville, Winfield, Lakes of the Four Seasons, Hobart
Experience: State representative 2014-2018, reelected 2020; small business owner
Committees: Family, Children and Human Affairs; Public Health (vice chairwoman); Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie
20th House District
Represents: LaPorte County
Experience: State representative since 2016; small business owner
Committees: Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development; Roads and Transportation (chairman)
Vacant following Jan. 11 resignation of state Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond
1st Senate District
Represents: Hammond (south side), Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer, Schererville
This article originally ran on nwitimes.com.
Your comment has been submitted.
Reported
There was a problem reporting this.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
We’ll send breaking news and news alerts to you as they happen!
Our top headlines sent to your email inbox each day.
Twice-weekly email with sports headlines from the Kilgore News Herald
This is the list to receive occasional emails containing special offers, deals and promotions (like contests).
