The last time the community met to brainstorm the new Chesterton Comprehensive Plan—now being revised and updated by consultancy SEH Inc.—a consensus emerged that the key to the town’s future is a viable and vibrant Downtown.

But as became clear at Wednesday night’s session, a comprehensive plan is a delicate mechanism whose cogs and flywheels must all be in balance. Land uses must foster, not hinder, economic development while the transportation network must support those land uses without having an unwanted impact on the environment.

SEH project manager A. J. Monroe called it the need to recognize the “trickle-down effect” of planning decisions, how one policy will inevitably impinge on others and how together the policies must somehow merge harmoniously.

A case in point: Porter hospital has at last purchased the acreage at the northwest corner of Ind. 49 and U.S. Highway 6 in Liberty Township for its new facility, on a site currently designated by the Land Use Plan in the existing Comprehensive Plan—last revised in 2004—as Residential.

It’s pretty certain, Monroe noted, that Residential will not be the best use of adjacent land.

At the same time, the Town of Chesterton has a stake in finding alternative routes to the new hospital which will siphon motorists off the already heavily used Ind. 49 corridor.

Another case in point: someday, somehow, Coffee Creek Center is going to get traction, Monroe ventured. When it does—and he’s hardly the first to ask this question—what effect will its rise as an economic force have on the Downtown?

Specifically, Monroe said, the new Comprehensive Plan will work to balance five goals or “themes” which emerged from September’s brainstorming session: balance land uses; quality, sustainable development; an integrated Duneland environment; connected places; and arts and culture.

Ideally, Monroe said, there will be a “harmony” among residential, commercial, industrial, and open space uses, with those uses all complementing one another, not conflicting. Land-use policies must be implemented not only to attract business and create jobs but also to accommodate residents with a “variety of choices” across the socio-economic range. In particular, Monroe said, a balance must be struck between redevelopment—the retrofitting of existing buildings and properties—and in-fill, the development of vacant properties or of remediated brownfields (take the construction of The Flower Cart as an example of the latter).

In response to a query from the audience, Monroe noted that both redevelopment and in-fill are necessary, that the town ultimately will expand past its current corporate limits, and that if Chesterton is to remain viable it cannot rely solely on in-fill.

Here’s another balance in need of striking, Monroe said: development which enhances Chesterton’s small-town charm and at the same time drives economic and cultural activities without compromising the town’s “uniqueness, history, and flare.” That development must be compatible with existing buildings.

That’s fine, Mark Chamberlain remarked, if someone can only say what style in the hodge-podge of styles in the Downtown is the standard which must be preserved.

That’s not so hard a question to answer, Monroe replied. The old buildings of the Downtown—the original buildings—give plenty of guidance: appropriately scaled with nice windowed storefronts and brick facades (again, think The Flower Cart).

The new Comprehensive Plan must neither lose sight of Chesterton’s Dunes environment in its urban design, Monroe said, nor fail to provide access to its natural spaces. But Monroe pointed to two separate environmental motifs.

The first is the Dunes as envisioned by tourists: the sandy hilly beaches along the lakefront. The second is the habitats we know here in town: the woodland, the water corridors like Coffee Creek, the wetlands. “These natural areas must be incorporated into our design and celebrated,” Monroe said.

Perhaps the most discussed theme on Wednesday was that of connectivity, which Monroe characterized as a system of trail, sidewalks, and local streets to interconnect the town and encourage biking and walking over driving.

Chesterton Plan Commissioner Member George Stone strongly urged the new Comprehensive Plan to state, at least in principle, the value of a public transit system which, say, could move folks by trolley from the Downtown to Dune Park South Shore station.

Heather Ennis, executive director of the Chesterton/Duneland Chamber of Commerce, floated the idea of bike rental stations at various locations like the train station, Indiana Dunes State Park, and the Downtown.

Monroe for his part took note of the enormous mileage and fuel expense incurred by the Duneland School Corporation in bussing kids to school. A better solution might be to install sheltered gathering places at central points to cut down on some of those miles.

But Monroe did caution the community. “Be careful what you wish for” because policy decisions have financial consequences. Someone’s got to pay for that sort of infrastructure.

Monroe only briefly touched on the Chesterton aesthetic but did wonder why, in a community as proud as it is of its arts, there is no public art.

“If art is so important, let’s get some public art out there, not just the galleries that close at night,” he said.

The rubber meets the road in what Monroe called “Implementation—A Call for Action,” specifically in the form of the guts of the new Comprehensive Plan: the Land Use Plan, the Downtown Plan, the Thoroughfare Plan, and Economic Development.

The Land Use Plan is right now being prepared with GIS overlays which will permit easy determination in any given area of soils, topographical features, water bodies, and the like, Monroe said. And because SEH is consulting with the towns of Burns Harbor and Porter on their comprehensive plans, there is a general mindfulness with respect to common borders and land uses in Chesterton’s neighbors. “We need to look outside our barriers, not just within,” Monroe said.

The Downtown Plan, meanwhile, is being digitized to include all buildings, parking areas, and uses, and will be helpful, for instance, in determining with some precision whether there is in fact a parking problem there or that’s simply an impression.

Critical to the success of the new Comprehensive Plan will be its Thoroughfare Plan. Attention is being given to the long-discussed Dickinson Road extension, which would provide an alternative north/south route east of Ind. 49; to the reconstruction of the two-lane 1050N between 11th Street and 100E into a modern four-lane roadway with a six- to eight-foot sidewalk; and the ultimate reconstruction of 1050N as far west as Ind. 149 to provide a major east/west arterial on the south side of town linking to Ind. 49.

Finally, for Monroe successful economic development depends in part on capitalizing on the town’s previous investments but also on identifying immediate achievable targets. Again, Monroe said, “the hospital comes to mind. We need to capitalize on the new hospital in our planning.”

A draft version of the Comprehensive Plan should be ready for the Advisory Plan Commission at its next meeting, Nov. 19.

The commission should hold a public hearing on the new Comprehensive Plan at its last regular meeting of the year, Dec. 17.

The Town Council should take receipt of the document at its Jan. 11 meeting.

And the council should vote to adopt it at its Feb. 8 meeting.

　Posted 10/22/2009