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Workshop Recap: Know Before You Bid

  • Apr 17
  • 3 min read

Updated: Apr 20

On Monday, April 13, 2026, Gary Townmakers hosted a critical virtual workshop entitled "Know Before You Bid". This session was designed to equip local investors and residents with tools to research the environmental and legal histories of property parcels in Gary ahead of the upcoming May 4th Lake County Tax Sale.


To access the presentation materials and supporting documentation, visit https://bit.ly/4cmhguL. To view fact sheets and reference guides, visit https://bit.ly/4exFuDG. 


Why the "Legwork" Matters


Acquiring property through a tax sale can seem like a shortcut to redevelopment, but Gary’s industrial legacy often hides significant risks. As the presentation highlighted, many parcels have hidden environmental histories that can drastically increase redevelopment costs.


Key risks identified include:


  • Contamination Risks: Unknown toxins from former gas stations, coal yards, or dry cleaners.

  • Changing Data: Address and PIN numbers may have changed over decades, making records hard to track.

  • Zoning and Liens: Future development may be stalled by existing zoning constraints, deed restrictions, or hidden liens.


Your 9-Step Research Toolkit


The workshop provided a comprehensive roadmap for due diligence. Before spending thousands on an environmental site assessment, here is how you can verify a site’s viability:


  1. Identify Zoning: Use the City of Gary Zoning Viewer to see if your intended use is "permitted by right" or requires a costly special variance.

  2. Research Historical Land Use: Access Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (1945–46) via the Library of Congress to see if the lot once housed high-risk facilities like coal yards or lumber yards.

  3. Google Maps Timeline: Use the "historical views" feature to see structures that may have been demolished as recently as 2008.

  4. State Records: Search IDEM’s "What’s In My Neighborhood" interactive map for records of leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) or brownfield designations.

  5. Federal Records: Cross-reference with the EPA’s RE-Powering America’s Land Mapper for Superfund or landfill data.

  6. Check Recorded Liens: Search the Lake County Recorder website by PIN and owner name to find legal disputes.

  7. Conduct Archival Research: Visit the Lake County Auditor’s Office in Crown Point to track historical owners back to the 1920s.

  8. Historical Directories: Use the Internet Archive to search "Gary Indiana directories" (1925–1970) to find short-lived businesses that regulatory databases might have missed.

  9. Field Visits: Physically visit the site to look for environmental red flags like stressed vegetation, staining, or illegal dumping.


Currently, the City of Gary's Office of Sustainability is working with KSU TAB to digitize known parcel-level brownfield site data and upload it as a separate layer on the City of Gary's Zoning Map Viewer. Stay turned for when this data goes live.


Community and Resources


A central theme of the meeting was the availability of assistance. Partnering organizations like KSU TAB (Technical Assistance to Brownfields) and the Delta Institute are actively working with Gary to digitize paper files and create an environmental data layer for the city's maps.


"We’ve learned as much as we can to support our work, but the goal is to share what we know with everybody else so that we can all come up together." — Gary Townmakers



Save the Date


Join us for the next phase of this initiative:


  • Title: Part II: Let's Transform Your Neighborhood

  • Date: Monday, May 18, 2026

  • Time: 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM

  • Location: Jay’s Breakfast Club (In-person and Online)

  • Registration: Click here

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