As Chesterton officially kicked off an update of its 2004 comprehensive plan Thursday, it quickly became apparent a key component will be mapping a viable future for the historic downtown.

“Can our downtown survive with a Walmart in town? You bet it can. It has a heart, a feel,” said Town Council and Advisory Plan Commission member Emerson DeLaney.

He addressed approximately 25 people, the majority town officials and business owners, at the first of two public input sessions to solicit preferences and a common direction that will guide consultants from SEH in preparing the update.

The next public open house is Oct. 21.

Suggestions included making a downtown riverwalk-type attraction along adjacent Coffee Creek, creating more parking, having shops stay open later, promoting eco-friendly products and having stores that sell day-to-day needs beyond antiques and specialty gifts.

Other priorities listed after a break-out session into small groups were housing; zoning; job creation, retention and diversification; capitalizing on the expansion of local medical facilities and fiberoptic networks; better management of the bustling Indian Boundary Road area; future sewage treatment capacity; sensitivity to the town’s adjacent rural areas and jump-starting the stalled 640-acre Coffee Creek Center development.

The latter is located in the Indiana 49 corridor, which planners and the public alike said for better or worse divides the town so it can’t be ignored, especially with the Rossman and Pope’s Farm developments and a new Dunes Kankakee Trail all proposed along the divided highway.

It didn’t take long for any discussion eventually to return to Chesterton’s downtown.

How best to get there was discussed: on Porter Avenue, from the redesigned South Calumet Road, or along North Calumet Road from Indian Boundary? For all its problems, Kerry Keith of SEH said Indian Boundary is an incredibly valuable area because it brings people there with the potential to have them visit the downtown, too.

Michael Hogan of Hogan Consulting Group observed that Chesterton’s downtown has very limited traffic patterns. He asked if the comprehensive plan should reflect what the town wants, or does it work with what it has? Keith said both.

According to Maribeth Conyne of Regal Rabbit, “The downtown has gone through cycles, ups and downs, but there’s always been a draw (there). People in town don’t know it because it’s not in their drive pattern.”

Nada Karas of Lucrezia restaurant said having passenger trains stop downtown would change its dynamics. Town manager Bernie Doyle said a downtown shuttle from the Dune Park South Shore station two miles away could provide that visitor base.

DeLaney said visitors to the Indiana Dunes are a huge untapped market as well. He noted part of Chesterton’s leg of the Dunes Kankakee Trail will be routed through the downtown and suggested a connecting trail link from the west along railroad right-of-way from the Prairie Duneland Trail at 15th Street.

DeLaney also said the downtown Coffee Creek riverwalk could include an amphitheater, a pedestrian walkway to Calumet Road, family/fine dining and revamped buildings with inviting facades along Lois Lane if owners buy into the concept.

Doyle said the challenge would be to enhance the downtown without it becoming artificial.

Karas said it’s important to energize the downtown to be attractive to local residents. “If they don’t come downtown, tourists won’t come downtown.” Keith said downtowns are very dynamic and complicated since shopping malls came into popularity in the 1970s.

As for land use, DeLaney said the town’s been put together like a patchwork quilt --- until now. More thought is being given to future needs like land for a major park, town fire station and future school near the approved but unbuilt 360-home Sand Creek Farms, all east of Indiana 49.

Housing and the frequency of downtown business turnovers was a concern for Florian Steciuch, who lives just outside town limits but has been active in building the Duneland Skate Park in Chesterton. He said when he built his home, 12 houses on large lots were planned in town across the street; today, a 42-home subdivision is under construction.

Other speakers said offering a balance of housing types and prices, especially in light of an aging population, would serve the town best; encouraging walk-up apartments in downtown buildings also was advocated.

Duneland School Board member Janice Custer said she hears complaints there is no transportation for seniors, and that there are too many hoops when trying to develop in Chesterton. Keith said a balance needs to be struck between zoning oversight and uncontrolled development.

He advised a comprehensive plan should be a guide for the next 20 years with implementation goals established for the next 10 years.

Chesterton’s current long-range plan to extend Dickinson Road north from Porter Avenue to Indian Boundary remains unfulfilled, in part because a railroad crossing would have to be closed elsewhere in town to win a new at-grade one there.

SEH’s $28,000 contract to update the comprehensive plan including a downtown overlay component and possibly Coffee Creek and Indian Boundary sub-area plans ends March 31, 2010. A $14,000 grant from the Lake Michigan Coastal Program doesn’t have to be spent until June 30. The town is picking up the balance.

Consultants hope to have a final draft of the plan update ready for public hearing Dec. 17 and final Town Council adoption Feb. 8.

Doyle said the town actively is working to develop a new web site with an economic development component linked to the Chesterton/Duneland Chamber of Commerce site as well as a contact link to town departments. A visual preference survey for the downtown also is being conducted.

DeLaney said Chesterton is the last frontier on the fringe of the farthest comfortable place to call home and still commute into Chicago for a living. However, “If you want to be known as a bedroom community, expect to pay more in taxes.”

The councilman encouraged residents and stakeholders to attend the Oct. 21 input meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the town hall to help formulate the planning update. “We want to fill this room up with a lot more ideas.”

Posted 9/11/2009