Wednesday, April 19, 2017 10:00 A.M. at NIRPC Dune Room
1) | Call to Order by Chairman | Greg Stinson |
2) | Approval of the minutes of January meeting | |
3) | Presentation on the Town of Highland CLC Plan Redevelopment Director | Cecile Petro, Highland |
4) | Regional Land Use Planning | |
a) NWI Food System | Gabrielle Biciunas | |
b) I-65 & US 30 Safety Planning Project Update. | Eman Ibrahim | |
5) | Announcements |
a) Next Meeting June 21, 2017.
Requests for alternate formats please contact Meredith Stilwell at (219) 763-6060 extension 138 or mstilwell@nirpc.org . Individuals with hearing impairments may contact us through the Indiana Relay 711 service.
For Interpreter Services please contact Meredith Stilwell at (219) 763-6060 extension 138 or mstilwell@nirpc.org 48 hours in advance of the scheduled meeting.
The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, parental status, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Chairman Stinson called the meeting to order at 10:06 a.m.
The absence of Gabrielle Biciunas from the meeting attendees was noted. On motion by Nick Bellar and second by Justin Kiel, the minutes were approved with the correction.
The goals of the Livable Center Plan for the City of Gary were to create a tool to address multiple interrelated community issues, develop a community vision for the Downtown, Horace Mann and Emerson Areas, Identify citizens’ priorities, establish strategies and policies for plan
implementation and update the 2008 Master Plan. Community vision and neighborhood meetings, an open house and a public meeting in order to determine goals and preferences and to review the neighborhood plan and the Livable Center Plan. Planning issues included deteriorating housing, demographic and land use, urban fabric and the correct sizing for Gary.
17 goals and 90 strategies were developed using the key plan categories of land use, transportation, infrastructure, development and urban form. Resulting land use changes include 73 new business commercial acres, 20 new residential acres, 84 new manufacturing acres and 174 new parks and open space acres. Plan elements were reviewed by Arsh Group representatives Taghi Arshami and Jay Gianutti.
NIRPC is moving from a polygon-based data approach to using parcel data as the primary input, to monitor land use changes more accurately. The 2040 Plan data sets for land use came from local governments in multiple formats and resulted in a significant margin of error. Using parcel data as the primary input will create a unified and more accurate land use system with up to data parcel and assessment data from the county assessors. A parcel
based approach allows for prediction of a region’s future spatial distribution of households
and employment more accurately, key inputs to models of travel demand, emissions and air quality, identifying and quantifying land-use changes within local jurisdictions as the basis for evaluating land development and the implementation of local land-use policies. The process involves obtaining up to date parcel and assessment data, developing standardized datasets, creating a regional land use classification code system and integrating transportation data.
There are over $270m worth of projects in NIRPC’s Transportation Improvement Program
(TIP) located within livable centers. Handouts were given with breakdowns of projects and cost. An interactive map has been created to showcase the projects and their locations.
Users will be able to toggle layers on and off for more specific inquiries. Questions were raised regarding if the INDOT projects listed actual benefit a community’s livable center.
Going forward only projects directly related to the recommendations/goals of the CLC will help in looking how to fund the next phase of CLC.
Safety funding was identified to conduct a study on the I-65, US 30 area. This area is high density commercial with conflicts between pedestrian and automobiles. There is limited residential area which results in more cars being used to reach destinations. The study was kicked off with the steering committee in September/October 2016. Ratio Group and BF& S Engineering were hired. A survey was conducted inside of Southlake Mall with almost 60 responses and also posted online with over 300 responses stating concerns regarding safety, transit and north/south travel. Solid analysis and recommendations will possibly be presented at the next Land Use Committee meeting.
Announcements were made regarding upcoming meetings.
Chairman Stinson called for a discussion regarding the next meeting date and time. He asked the Committee if the 10:00 am starting time and if the third Wednesday is the appropriate day. Consensus of the Committee was to leave the meeting at 10:00 am on March 15, with the time and day of the week question to be revisited when the new NIRPC Commission appointments are made.
a. Next Meeting: March 15, 2017 The meeting adjourned at 11:36 a.m.