PIDCO 2011 Annual Meeting

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Last Week the Plymouth Industrial Development Corporation (PIDCO) held their annual meeting, the highlight of which was the presentation by Stu Summers on their Destination Downtown initiative to invigorate Plymouth’s Core.  (They also discussed how horrible the existing PIDCO website is.  Ugh!)
 
 The main thing I took from the presentation was PIDCO’s desire to learn from other communities and capitalize on their successes. They spent time in Valporaiso and developed a non-competitive relationship where the two communities can share ideas and successes going forward. I hope they continue this spirit of cooperation and foster relationships with other nearby communities such as Warsaw and Rochester. This is similar to the initiatives taken by the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) in their efforts to form relationships with surrounding counties. “A rising tide lifts all boats” is an aphorism that can be applied to the economic successes of our towns, cities, counties and regions.
 
They also took the opportunity to honor Brent Martin who has often been the main impetus in bringing their projects to fruition. It is unclear who is in line to step up to this challenge on the new PIDCO board, but it is clear that they will have big shoes to fill.

Culver Garden Court – Rezoning

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The Plan Commission met on its regular third Tuesday night last month.  Rezoning the newly annexed properties on the south side of Culver was on the agenda.  Unfortunately, they did not have a quorum.  The meeting was rescheduled for the following Monday (Monday of last week) and the hearing was held then. I was unable to attend the hearing as I had a scheduling conflict.  I sent a letter of support (see it here) and I understand the rezoning was passed without remonstration.
 
I was a little surprised that the Plan Commission did not follow the Comprehensive Plan recommendations which I would have interpreted to suggest this area should have been zoned R-2.  The Plan Commission did zone the northern third, which included the McGee Property and the newly subdivided Garden Court Parcel to R-2 as per the agreement with Mr. McGee, but the remaining 2/3rds were zoned R-1.  My letter cited various references in the Comp Plan, but my source on the Plan Commission said that the property owners in that section preferred R-1.
 
Unfortunately, I think this may have been a lack of understanding or foresight on their part.  The basic difference between the two zonings is the density requirements and the allowance for multi-family development under R-2.  There is very little that can be done under R-1 that can’t be done under R-2.  (See the Use Matrix in the Zoning Ordinance here).
 
A continuing theme in the Comp Plan is affordable housing.  The Comp Plan is extremely dated as it was completed over 10 years ago and the housing issue has not been corrected in the past decade.  Allowing higher densities in housing is one way that housing can be made more affordable.  Higher densities are also a goal of the green movement as it promotes more efficient use of land and infrastructure.
 
In any case, I’m pleased to see that the Plan Commission has taken the steps to upgrade the zoning in this area and plan for future development. The Town Council has taken steps to extend water and sewer to the northern third of this area.  That project will be underway this Spring and was necessary for the construction of the Culver Garden Court.  I think this is a positive step for the area and may be the first step towards seeing additional housing starts in Culver.

Pioneer Award

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Hey, I’ve received the Pioneer Award from Andrea Cook at iHEARTgreenmedia.  All right, all right, hold down the Oooo’s and Ahhh’s…  It is always nice to get noticed.

Andrea is a friend with whom I’ve been working on several projects, not to mention the fact that we continually cross paths in our volunteer lives.  We just recently debated Lurkers on her LinkedIn Social Media page.  I had previously discussed my thoughts on Lurkers here. 

Andrea is very active in the community and is doing good things for Culver and Plymouth through her iHEARTculver and iHEARTplymouth sites.  Check her out.

Attic Insulation

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Typical Ice Dam Condition

Becky and I made a trip to South Bend last week and she pointed out the icicles on many of the houses and buildings.  This led to a discussion on ice dams, which I discussed here previously.   There’s another nice picture here.

It was one of those days where it was easy to see which buildings and homes had good attic insulation and which didn’t.   The temperatures were just below freezing and it had been nearly a week since the last snow.  Those structures with poor attic insulation stood out easily amongst the sea of white roofs.

The fact that heat rises makes it fairly easy to understand that the majority of a structure’s heat loss is through the roof.  In most homes, adding attic insulation is a fairly economical way to save energy costs.  When done correctly in conjunction with proper venting, it can prevent or cure ice dam issues as well.  This is green that saves green!

Icicles are pretty, but they may well be the sign of underlying problems and potentially the precursor to water damage.  Take a look at your home the next time you pull into your neighborhood.  If your house has lots of pretty icicles and is the only one without snow on the roof, you may have an insulation deficit.