There was consensus Wednesday that by 2040 the tri-town Duneland area, if not the town of Chesterton itself, will grow to a large community on the level of Valparaiso and Portage today.

About 60 citizen planners meeting in Valparaiso said both those cities will grow in the coming decades but neither likely will become a metropolitan center with a population of 70,000 or more.

Valparaiso (with an estimated population of 30,429 now), Portage (36,976) and Chesterton (12,705) were predicted to remain the main hubs of retail and residential land use in Porter County so they should be better linked with improved roads, bus service and perhaps even light commuter rail, said participants.

The Chesterton/Porter/Burns Harbor current combined population estimate is 19,184 or just below the 20,000 large-community threshhold. Some participants thought the towns should merge, there was no recommendation that Chesterton should become a city.

Duneland-area representatives were scarce at the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission’s last of four workshops focusing on future regional development, transportation/connectivity and open space/conservation for the unincorporated areas and 41 communities of Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.

This fall another public workshop will continue the process begun in December, 2008 to solidify visions, goals and objectives that will lead to adoption by the NIRPC Full Commission of a regional plan in December, 2010.

Identified as ripe for Porter County development was the Liberty Township area around the planned Porter Hospital near U.S. 6 and Indiana 49. A potential for light-industrial growth also exists between U.S. 20 and Interstate 94 east of Indiana 49 in Porter, it was noted.

Garry Traynham, deputy superintendent of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, said, “Whether someone comes from Nebraska or Valpo, we have to plan for everybody.” With pressure to increase future access to Lake Michigan, how to protect the area from cars and congestion will become even more difficult.

The Town of Porter is seeking funding for a $30 million revitalization of the U.S. 20/Indiana 49 corridor as a gateway to the state and federal parks; Traynham said while there are no plans to make the Lakeshore bigger, conservation easements might be a way of protecting adjacent areas to develop more pleasing aesthetics along U.S. 12 and U.S. 20.

A wild card in any 2040 Northwest Indiana plan is whether Chicago tomorrow is announced as the host city for the 2016 Olympic summer games. If it is, to what extent should planners here provide for a convention center, training facilities, condominiums, hotels, restaurants, marina space for displaced Chicago boaters and even water taxis to Chicago in hopes of luring Olympic visitors not only to visit this region but return again and again?

Linda Swisher, who lives in Illinois and works in Lake County, said Northwest Indiana will need to cooperate with uniform marketing to get the biggest bang for its Olympic buck. “Instead of everyone thinking they’re competitors, they’re allies.”

Don Babcock of NIPSCO said funding any major regional projects, whether Olympics-related or not, will be a challenge if local revenue sources aren’t in place. There was no definitive support expressed by a majority of participants for either the embattled Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority or the proposed Northern Indiana Regional Transportation District although regional cooperation at all levels repeatedly was stressed as were innovative suggestions like creating cross-jurisdiction sewer and stormwater districts.

Cited were the lack of adequate north/south Porter County roads and the growing congestion on its major east/west routes. Extending Indiana 149 and/or Willowcreek Road in Portage south to U.S. 30 often was mentioned. Some of those present supported construction of the Illiana Expressway in south Porter County as a way to divert traffic off existing roads; there was no majority preference for extension of the South Shore line from Lake County to Valparaiso.

The lack of bus transportation and connectivity to move people within Porter County was predicted to grow worse as the population increases. All groups recommended providing direct links between Chesterton, Portage and Valparaiso with potential stops at Porter Hospital, the Indiana Dunes and the Dune Park South Shore station as necessary in the future; even building light rail down the median of Indiana 49 was mentioned.

Hebron was anticipated to grow in the future but not at the rate of the other communities although yet to be seen is how a new Interstate 65 interchange at 109th Avenue in Lake County will affect land use east of there into Porter County. Some participants recommended Portage annex South Haven since both are served by the Portage school system.

Preserving and developing more open space was a consistent theme with additional bike trails and new blueways for canoing, fishing and hiking along the Salt Creek, Little Calumet and Kankakee River watersheds also identified.

According to Phil Hanegraaf of consultant HNTB, who moderated the meeting,"We want to protect prime farmland. Will it stop development? No, but it will affect choices.” Some said compatible uses might be biofuels and wind farms as an untapped source of jobs. Others pointed to Warsaw as having reinvented itself as a high-tech employment center, and potential was seen for expansion at and around the Porter County airport on U.S. 30.

Some stressed the need to reverse the divisions between urban versus rural and Lake County versus Porter County, and it was suggested Portage, Chesterton and Valparaiso should cooperate more.