By PAULENE POPARAD

It’s not so much a matter of if you build it, they will come.

They’re already here.

But if better amenities and more attractions would induce each of Porter County’s 3 million annual lakefront tourists to linger for a few days instead of one, is that even something the people who live here year-round want?

More to the point: What can be done for local residents to make Lake Michigan and the area’s major highway corridors more accessible, safer and a higher-quality recreation/transportation experience that can be the catalyst for sustainable economic growth?

Consultants posed those questions Wednesday seeking input from a small audience in Porter to help develop recommendations for the Marquette Plan Phase 2, its study area encompassing 24 miles of shoreline from Portage to Michigan City. A companion corridor study focuses on U.S. 20 and U.S. 12.

The Phase 1 plan from East Chicago to Portage has been completed with Portage’s new 60-acre, $6.8 million Lakefront Park complex, due for summer 2008 completion, the most visible project to begin. Conceptual Phase 2 alternatives should be ready for public comment in September and a draft action plan with short-term and long-term goals released in November.

Consultant Gregg Calpino of JJR,LLC of Chicago said most importantly, consultants need to know what area residents want. “Millions come here; thousands live here. We don’t want to make the thousands miserable catering to the millions. If we do not want another soul to come into this region, tell us.”

Despite their unique features, Calpino observed, Porter County and its northern communities don’t identify themselves well and create few incentives for Interstate 94 travelers from Illinois headed to Michigan to stop here.

As it is now, when they do they’re greeted with fireworks warehouses, liquor stores, gas stations and underdeveloped intersections, said speakers.

“Let tourists know they’ve arrived somewhere,” said consultant Kerry Keith of Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc.

“We’re trying to do some great things here but northwest Indiana has a stigma. There’s no ‘wow’ factor,” said Porter resident Theresa Valade. “Residents that live here have limited beliefs we can’t be the destination place Michigan or Chicago are.”

Other audience members were asked what they would recommend to make the lakefront better.

Porter County planning director Robert Thompson said a connected hike/bike trail system, trail planner Mitch Barloga advocated sidewalks along U.S. 20, and Gary Atkinson of Furnessville cited limited lakefront parking suggesting a bus/trolley system to move people more efficiently, especially to and from the South Shore railroad’s Dune Park Station.

Others said increased user-friendly shoreline access for public fishing, handicapped accessibility to the lake itself, unified master plans and promotional tie-ins like the themed South Shore posters.

Carl Dahlin Jr., who owns property at Porter Beach, said, “Millions of people have no place to go to stay on the lake overnight. There has to be lodging someplace and not five, six miles from the lakeshore.”

Dahlin also said the federal government doesn’t need to acquire any more land along the shoreline. Calpino said the Marquette Plan is not a land grab or displacement strategy; it’s a way to balance assets, issues and opportunities and to develop cohesive standards for development to emphasize a higher-quality sense of place.

Bill Cantrell of Porter noted that there’s only one way in and out of Porter Beach and despite Splash Down Dunes being a major tourist attraction, compatible development hasn’t sprung up around it. And because the state and federal governments own significant land along U.S. 12 and U.S. 20, Cantrell said, development along them would have to be a cooperative effort.

Consultants said Porter County bucks the trend that population concentrates closer to a lakefront because of its industrial and state/federal land holdings along the shoreline. For that reason major north/south roads in the study area like State Road 49 will be included in the planning activities.

Although much of the two-hour discussion dealt with tourism, Calpino said a principle of the study is to showcase the heritage of local industry, natural features, communities and their residents as well. As an example, a video tour along U.S. 20 from State Road 49 to State Road 149 showed no signage when crossing the Little Calumet River, which has historical significance.

Special markers, lighting, railings and a scenic pull-off would enhance that area, said consultants, and encourage visitors to linger. Likewise, bridges across highways don’t have to be boring and intersections devoid of character, they added; interchange aesthetics can embrace the visitor, not just accommodate them.

“We have to be the people to raise the bar and expect a little more,” said Keith. He acknowledged enhancements will cost money and need financing incentives. “There are ways. We have to start finding them.”

Jenny Orsburn of Chesterton suggested making U.S. 12 from Burns Harbor to Michigan a safer, scenic drive and eliminating combined sewer overflows that spill partially treated sewage into the lake. Calpino said in 2005, swimming beaches in Lake/Porter counties closed three times more often than the beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan during the same period.

Calpino said whether for drinking water or recreational waters, Lake Michigan needs to be protected.

Orsburn said we should strive to make things nice for people who live here, too, not just tourists. Calpino said Portage has chosen tourism to be its economic engine but not every city and town will do the same.

The concept for the Marquette Plan was conceived several years ago by U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Merrillville, as a way to expand public shoreline access through redevelopment of idle industrial land using public/private partnerships.

Posted 6/28/2007