The proposed Good for Youth Farm project will move from the lot near the Juvenile Justice Center on 93rd Avenue to the land behind the Lake County Parks and Recreation office near Deep River Waterpark.

The farm project is a continuation of efforts by Lake County Juvenile Court Senior Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. who created a flower farm in a lot adjacent to the center. Stefaniak initiated the project during the COVID-19 pandemic to teach youth offenders skills like gardening, equipment operation and sales.

Lake County Councilman Ted Bilski, D-6th, said the project moved because “unfortunately it just got too encumbered over there.” Now, the project will be built on the land at Lincoln Highway and Randolph Street — near the waterpark, he said.

“We didn’t have the space. So, with the Lake County Parks, we found a home for the garden,” Bilski said. “I think it’s a better marriage with the parks.”In August, the county received a $323,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to go toward its Good For Youth Farm project.

Robert Colangelo, founder of CEA Technology, Inc. who is designing the project, said the property already has a greenhouse, so the USDA grant will go toward establishing two gardens inside the greenhouse and equipment.

One half of the greenhouse will have a vertical farm and the other half will have a tomato garden, with a gutter system, Colangelo said. The funds will also go toward equipment needed to run the greenhouse and to install a solar field to provide a portion of the greenhouse’s electric power, he said.

The USDA grant will go toward establishing the gardens inside the existing greenhouse, Colangelo said, and once the project is up and running more elements to the farm will be added.

In the second phase of the project, the plan would be to build a building for an additional indoor vertical farm and new greenhouses, according to council documents.

The plan is for the farm to grow four crops: lettuce, basil, tomatoes and cucumbers, Colangelo said. The farm will provide training, education, and outreach, he said, and all produce will go to the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana.

Bilski said the farm will get food to people who need it and serve as an innovation center creating jobs and educational opportunities.

“I’m super excited about this. We’ve never had anything like this north of U.S. 30,” Bilski said.

Councilman Randy Niemeyer, R-7th, asked what the long-term funding plan was for the farm. Colangelo said that after the third year, the farm could sell some produce.

Any work on the farm would require the county to go out to bid and approve contracts, Bilski said, so the County Board of Commissioners and the council would be made aware of the costs to build the farm.

Councilman Pete Lindemulder, R-4th, said at previous meetings about the farm he shared data that the cost of growing lettuce would be more expensive than buying a head of lettuce at a grocery store.

“I just want to know that if we’re going into this, we’re going into this with the knowledge that we are spending a lot of money to get something that’s going to cost way more than what you can buy in the open market,” Lindemulder said.

The project would be a good source of educating the public, specifically children, Niemeyer said, but the council will have to be “really clear on where we identify the sustainable source of revenue for the project.”

akukulka@post-trib.com