The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District will host a hearing on a controversial plan to build a $120 million South Shore station in downtown Gary and close its Miller Beach stop.

The hearing at 7 p.m. July 8 at Christ Baptist Church will allow the NICTD board to get public reaction to the proposal before making any decisions, said John Parsons, NICTD marketing and planning director.

Developers presented their proposal for the Adam Benjamin Gateway Station at NICTD's May meeting. The NICTD board could adopt a resolution supporting it under certain conditions by its July 25 meeting, Parsons said.

"The board has not taken any action on this project to date," he said.

Gateway Partners LLC wants to build a new South Shore station at the current location of Gary's Metro Center. Two new parking garages and a block of shops also would be built.

Gateway Partners has already been meeting with community groups to drum up support, according to a June 10 e-mail from Vance Kenney, a co-owner of the firm.

"It is very important that we attempt to invite as many public attendees in favor of the development and encourage them to speak up and be heard," Kenney wrote in the e-mail.

It also noted a NICTD police officer will be there "in case things get out of hand."

Gateway Partners will present its plans at the hearing, the e-mail stated.

The e-mail was part of a packet of documents handed out at Thursday's committee meeting in Portage of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.

Kenney could not be contacted for comment Thursday.

Deputy Mayor Geraldine Tousant told the NICTD board at its May meeting that the city of Gary supports the project.

But the new proposal has proven controversial in Gary, mainly because it calls for shutting down the stop in the city's Miller Beach neighborhood, which is four miles east of the Metro Center.

The RDA has not been asked to support the current Gateway Partners project, RDA Executive Director Tim Sanders said.

Gateway Partners co-owner Mark Titus told The Times last month the group will seek financing through the RDA, probably in the form of bonds that could be paid off by revenue from the project.

Gateway Partners also will put up its own equity and seek federal funding, Titus said.

In October, the same developers presented the RDA with plans for a Gary Gateway Commuter Station to be located just east of where Interstate 65 originates at U.S. 20. That plan drew fire because it called for the closing of the Metro Center station downtown.