Heated Drive and Walk

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FullSizeRenderThis is a project that we completed late last year.  We tore out the old asphalt driveway and apron.  We tore out a couple of walks and stairs.  We replaced the walks and drives with sand set pavers, cobblestone for the drive and brick for the walks, on a 12″ base of crushed limestone.  At the end of the drive at the road, we poured a 6″ thick concrete apron.  We poured another concrete apron at the approach to the garage. The stairs are pavers on a concrete base.  In the sand between the bottom of the pavers and the limestone base, we installed plastic tubing in 150′ to 200′ lengths.  We also ran the tubing through the concrete aprons and on the treads of the stairs.  These tubes were connected manifolds in boxes around the perimeter.  Then home run lines were connected back to the boiler system in the garage.

A glycol fluid mix is used in the system to prevent freezing when the system isn’t running.  Sensors in the pavers turn the system on when they detect moisture (snow, ice, freezing rain) and when the ambient air temperature is below freezing. The pictures here were taken Friday morning after the mix of snow and freezing rain we had Thursday night.  The driveway is in better shape than the State Highway it accesses!

The sensors were strategically (hopefully) placed to account for areas where there might be blowing snow accumulating when there might not be snow on the entire drive.  The system is also laid out in zones for better control.

The boilers are variable speed and can reduce speed and temperature when the load calls for that.  There are two boilers and there is also the capability to shut one off completely if the load isn’t there.

This has been a challenging project and we’re still working a few bugs out.  In the end, this driveway should never see another snow plow and the walks should always be clear.

Additional pictures below.

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Marshall County Vision (Culver Thoughts)

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I was very pleased with the turn out Saturday for MCEDC’s presentation on Marshall County Vision.  There was good participation and good support.  When the discussion turned to Regional Cities, I didn’t see much enthusiasm.  That concerns me.  Whenever I speak to anyone about Culver’s place in Regional Cities I get one of two responses (Or sometimes a combination of both.):

  1. We don’t have enough information to do anything yet.
  2. We don’t have much chance of getting any of the money.  What little comes to Marshall County will go to Plymouth.

First off, we should acknowledge how fortunate we are.  Out of seven regions, we were selected as one of the top three.  Then it was decided to award to the top three in lieu of just the top two as originally planned.  The scuttlebutt is that we were number three and   And then think about Kosciusko County.  They are probably kicking themselves right now.  They were invited to be part of our region, but instead decided they would be better served being part of the Fort Wayne Region.  Now instead of being one of four Counties dividing up $42 million they are one of thirteen!

But Marshall County and the Marshall County communities needs to get off our collective butts and start figuring out how we can benefit from this.  We are starting out at a disadvantage.  The other two Counties in our region, St. Joseph and Elkhart, have dedicated staff that are working on this.  The cities of South Bend, Mishawaka and Elkhart have City Engineers that they can dedicate to this.  Marshall County doesn’t have the equivalent staff put on this.  We’re going to have to overcome that in order to move things forward if we don’t want negative attitude #2 above to come to fruition.

As far as the lack of information goes, everyone in the three winning regions is in the same boat.  Are they just sitting and waiting?  The Fort Wayne region has CEDIT.  (Remember how we’re one of the few counties in northern Indiana that doesn’t have CEDIT?)  They are down at the State House lobbying for the ability to raise their CEDIT in order to have the extra funds needed to fully fund their matching $42 million.  It doesn’t sound like they’re sitting on the sidelines waiting for more information…

My thought process is that “planning” costs very little.  The County needs to convene a meeting with the communities and work through prioritizing their projects.  Rather than working on these tasks individually, we can maybe pool resources and make the most of what we have.  Additional “shell buildings” are included for several communities.  How about we sit down and look at Plymouth’s shell building as a model.  Do we want to duplicate that?  Probably not.  So what do we want to change?  We can talk to land owners and try and tie down sites.  We can get contractor estimates.  None of that costs money, but any of that time spent now would move things ahead.  Ditto for the Entrepreneurial Hubs.  We could be determining locations.  Talking to other communities that have them and figuring out the good and bad.  Getting contractor estimates.  This thinking could apply to all of the projects on the original submittal.

Culver is on the list for both of the above items plus a few more.  Jerry Chavez and MCEDC thinks Culver may have the best opportunities to advance these things.  Opportunity is knocking.  Or as Jerry is fond of saying, “The economic development train is passing right by us.  It’s our obligation to flag down that train.  It’s not going to stop here of it’s own volition.”

Marshall County Vision Meeting at Culver Cove

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Saturday’s meeting was well attended and went quite well.  There were two County Council representatives, one County Commissioner and four Culver Town Council Members.  There were also three members of the Culver Redevelopment Commission there.  All of them were in with a mix of citizens from Culver and Union Township.  All told, there were 30+ in attendance.

Jerry Chavez, President of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) lead a group discussion on the needs of the County, both in the area of Economic Development and the deterioration of County Roads.  Handouts were provided showing the an increase in paving costs of 98% since 2003 while highway funds have actually decreased.  The Local Option Highway User Tax (LOHUT) was discussed.  Chavez said, “The State is giving us the tools to handle our problems ourselves.  We need to use them.”  He also noted that the State was considering matching County LOHUT funds… meaning if we don’t have the LOHUT in place, we will not get that funding.

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