20/20 Vision for Culver

20/20 Vision is what I’m dubbing my attempts to get Culver on track for a new Comprehensive Plan.  Judging from the last one which has taken a little over 10 years to revise, shooting for a plan that would lay out goals for completion by the year 2020 seems like the place to start.

I’ve been pushing for this for a while.  (See here as well as a couple of other times.)  At the September Culver Plan Commission meeting I was rewarded punished for my diligent nagging by being appointed to a committee of one to look into it.  Hopefully this will be expanded to a larger group in the future, but I was asked to get things moving.

At the October Plan Commission meeting I reported on some of the issues I thought should be addressed by a revised comp plan, the steps required, the State Statute regarding Comprehensive Plans and options for a planning grant.

A few of my concerns with the existing Comprehensive Plan include:

1. The Public Input Section was always disorganized and disjointed to the point of contradicting itself.  There should be some organization and distillation of goals here.
2. Many of the things listed are dated, for example:
1. Tenneco is mentioned multiple times.  Tenneco was already going away at the time the previous plan was being implemented!
2. There’s a goal for annexing the Lake.  Since that time the Town has made the decision, right or wrong, not to pursue this goal and has made it nearly impossible due to allowing Conservancy Districts to be created on the east and west sides of the Lake.
3. There is a goal of expanding the zoning boundary.  This has not been done and the Plan Commission is currently discussing this with expectations that not only will they not expand the area, but they are giving up areas to the County out of expediency.
4. There are sidewalk standards as a goal and while this was implemented, the current Council is questioning the methodology.
5. There is discussion of residential infill which has already been achieved to a large extent in the past 1o years.
3. There have been several new Commissions created which are not addressed including the Culver Redevelopment Commission and the Culver Tree Commission.
4. There is a reference to creating an Economic Development Committee which was never formed.  (This may have been partially handled by the creation of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation in which Culver participates as well as the Culver Redevelopment Commission and its efforts to create economic growth.)
5. There have been several studies commissioned in the last 10 years that should be incorporated including the Lake Maxinkuckee Watershed Management Plan, the Culver Town Well Head Protection Plan, the Culver Town Stormwater Management Plan, the Culver Town Park’s Master Plan, the Culver Tree Commission’s Tree Survey, etc.  While I don’t think it is appropriate for these to become part of the Comprehensive Plan per se, I do think they should be referenced.  I am going to suggest that we look into an electronic version where these references can easily be linked together.
6. There have been broad community discussions on golf carts, skate parks, bike trails, safe routes to school, windmills and PUD’s that should be addressed.

After hearing my presentation the Plan Commission voted to move forward on this with the next step being a commitment by the Town Council to pursue the grant.

I made the presentation to the Town Council last Tuesday, October 25th, and it was well received.  They voted to move forward on this with their grant administrator, Shannon McLeod of Priority Project Resources.   Looks like we’re headed for a new Comprehensive Plan people!  Look forward to some meeting announcements.  I’m pushing for a complete new plan in lieu of just an update.  That means going to the community for input.  Get yours ready.