CROWN POINT | Lake County commissioners again find themselves in a political no-man's land between Munster and Hammond officials debating the future of the Northcote Street bridge.

Commissioner Fran DuPey, D-Hammond, said Wednesday they have received a petition signed by 500 residents of Munster's Wicker Park Neighborhood Association demanding the bridge over the Little Calumet River be closed again.

Last month, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. asked commissioners to intercede on his behalf to open the bridge after Munster town officials closed it.

DuPey and her fellow commissioners voted Wednesday to get a legal opinion from the county attorney on the extent of commissioners' authority over the bridge by the time they meet again Dec. 17.

Munster town officials closed their end of the bridge last month. They want the bridge removed because its surface is 2 feet or more below the top of a proposed earthen dam designed to wall off homes from future flood crests.

McDermott argues the bridge is an essential traffic artery that Hammond residents need to access Munster.

DuPey said elevating the bridge over the proposed flood wall would be expensive and require the demolition of two homes from which owners are unwilling to move.