Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas

Valparaiso may be getting a new subdivision, but some neighbors say they don't want townhomes as part of the plans.

"I think we can all sleep a little better at night knowing that we're going to have some great emerging leaders come up," said Mayor Jon Costas.

"Senate Bill 1 has been the talk of city hall now and municipal governments for four months," City Administrator Bill Oeding told the city council Monday. "And, like it or hate it, we've got it, and so we've got to figure out what we're going to do with it and how we're going to make it work in the city."

"This proposal, very simply, ensures implementation of our city's code, not any one individual's interpretation of it," said council member Emilie Hunt during Monday's city council meeting.

"It is untested, and the question is, what will be the effect of this ordinance. We don't know," Mayor Jon Costas told the city council Monday.

"No one person can be the civility police," said advisory human relations council chair Alison Quackenbush. "The mayor is not the civility police. I am not the civility police, nor is the AHRC."

"People have had an equal amount of time to engage with us, but don't engage outside of us and then come to this body as though our responsibility, our role, isn't prominent and most important in this whole discussion," said council member Robert Cotton.

Outdoor dining season is almost here, but downtown Valparaiso restaurants may have some additional rules to follow this year.

The Valparaiso City Council has adjusted its leadership.

Under the proposed ordinance, Damon Run residents would see a three-phase increase between January 2025 and January 2027. The average customer's monthly bill would go from about 92 dollars today to about 115 dollars, when the final phase is implemented.