Tips
Vancouver Complete Streets
I accompanied Becky on a business trip to Vancouver, Washington, a few weeks back. Since I was on my own while she was in her conference, I spent a little time walking around. Several of the streets I walked on were fairly major thoroughfares. I don’t know if they were defined as “Complete Streets” there, but they met my definition, having bike lanes and spacious sidewalks. Honestly, I thought there was an excessive amount of paving, considering they had continuous paved center turn lanes between intersections, despite prohibiting driveways, and including wide sidewalks along with bike lanes which seemed redundant. It was overall a nice look though.
One of the interesting features were areas carved out into the adjacent developments for stormwater detention. These were obviously for the streets and not the adjacent developments. While I’ve seen this done on a small scale creating curbside rain gardens (Like the one by the LaPorte Library completed in partnership with Purdue.), these were full blown detention ponds, 2′-3′ deep and capable of holding upwards of 4,000 cubic feet of water. They were landscaped as mini parks and maintained with turf and trees rather than going the route of a wetlands or marsh type look. I thought this was an interesting idea.
These were large city blocks. It struck me that there was a missed opportunity to turn those small oases into actual mini parks. I know there is always the public safety concern about someone being caught in a storm, if someone was in them when they fulfill their design of holding water. (I was pleased that this concern wasn’t taken to the extreme where they were fenced.) Without doing anything in the basins themselves, their could have been seating around the perimeter taking advantage of the shade trees planted there. Another idea would be to create a pier type structure out into the basin with seating or even a gazebo.
The same thought could be applied locally. When detention ponds are installed in our area, they are either designed to be mowed or designed to be naturalized. In most cases, they are not considered a feature, but are designed to be functional and to fulfill a permit requirement. But could we do better?
The gazebo on a pier idea could work nearly everywhere and change a functional stormwater control requirement into a respite. Along these same lines, ponds are generally designed to maximize volume while taking up minimum space. What if they included a peninsula into the pond that could be walked on or landscaped to break-up the functional and be more naturalized? One pond that comes to mind for this is the new municipal detention pond in Plymouth across from the Neighborhood Center. What a great opportunity for the City to set an example?
If there are any civil engineers reading this, I’m sure they are cringing. They like to keep things simple and anything that affects the flow of water, creates additional calculations for them to do. That said, anything that slows the flow is a net positive. Some of these things could be incorporated around the control structure and actually make maintenance easier.
This isn’t something that could always be done. We have had projects where we have struggled to meet the detention requirements due to capacity needs vs site size. We have also had deep and steep ponds due to various factors that are not conducive to bringing the public to them. But there’s no reason that other options shouldn’t be considered when possible. Detention ponds don’t have to be purely function and aesthetic eyesores…
DST – 2025
How do I feel? Pretty much as crappy as the Daylight Savings Time (DST) change always makes me feel. To add insult to injury, we were at a conference in Vancouver, Washington, the end of last week and just got back yesterday, so DST got multiplied by the three hour time difference to make it all the more fun!
I know President Trump has made some comments about ending DST. I have a little bit of hope that the nonsense could end. Marco Rubio is in the cabinet and as Senator, he championed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would do away with DST. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement surely would support this as well, considering the negative health effects related to DST, i.e. increased heart attacks and strokes.
As always, this is your warning to give me a little leeway for the next week or so. I’ll be grumpy (grumpier) in the morning as my internal clock is slow to reset.
Solar Panel Ideas
I’m always amazed when I see snow covered solar panels. Even some of of the ground mounted panels that are at a significant angle during the winter months often have snow clinging to them. In the case of the Culver home in the picture to the right, not only is there a reasonable angle on the panels that you would think would let the snow slide off, but you can see that the snow has melted off the rest of the roof around them. How is it staying on the black solar panels!?
So, I have a few ideas about this:
- Can some of the power generated be used for some minimal heat for the panels. I wouldn’t think it would take a lot to warm the surface enough that the snow doesn’t stick or that it slides off. Granted, this might require some power storage to handle that middle-of-of-the-night snow, but could it be done efficiently enough to offset the power loss from leaving them snow covered?
- Can the face of the panels be created with a non-stick surface like a new frying pan? Just slick it up a bit, so nothing sticks to it. That might help with dirt and debris as well. Every rain becomes a rinse cycle!
- Can someone come up with the equivalent of Solar Pam? Maybe Pam is the answer!? They make it for air fryers, grills, baking, etc. Maybe they need to run with this idea. “Spray your solar panels with Pam every Fall for a snow free winter!”
- Or do we go mechanical? The new installations have mechanisms where the panels follow the sun and in some farming applications the panels just go vertical to allow vehicle access through rows of panels. If 90 degrees isn’t enough, maybe they literally rotate to where the snow falls off. Or can we put the equivalent of a windshield wiper on them to squeegee them once or twice a day.
Someone is missing a good opportunity here. Maybe Elon is already working on this, but if he isn’t, he should be…
We’re all about Safety at ECC this Month
We received our ABC STEP Silver Safety certificate from Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) this week. Last week we had two employees complete their OSHA 10 Hour safety training as well as their Red Cross First Aid Training. Hopefully one of them will be around when I stress out and have a heart attack here! Ha!
We do our best to be responsible and safe at Easterday Construction Co., Inc. We distribute weekly tool box talk safety meetings and share safety training lunches with information provided by our insurance provider, Gibson Insurance. Last month we had some questions about safety on a job site and they provided a review of our procedures. They congratulated us on the safety measures we had in place and said we were doing everything right. Kudos to the field crew for meeting and exceeding standards!
More Targeting…
June 9, 2025
Kevin Berger
Commentary, Culver, Tips
Community, Culver, government, Tips, Trends
Following up on last week, “Targeting” in the pre-Dunes era of the Town of Culver (TOC) should be considered for local businesses as well as new residents. While there have been a few suggestions floated regarding new businesses, the needs of an increased population should be reviewed by all existing businesses too.
TOC has seen many businesses come and go. On the recreation and entertainment side, TOC has lost bike shops, pool halls, bowling alleys, arcades, theaters, lake tour boats and if you want to go way, way back, dance halls and roller-skating rinks. Most recently in this category, we lost the pottery making shop and the axe throwing venue.
On the services side, TOC no longer has bait shops, clothing stores, shoe stores, dry cleaners, furniture stores, appliance stores, flooring stores, lumber yards, a taxi service or a place to rent a tuxedo. At one time there were several car dealerships and while TOC has retained one car mechanic, there used to be five or more as part of full-service gas stations.
I can quickly name the locations of eight full-service gas stations that served Culver all in the same era. That’s not something that is applicable anymore anywhere. That’s not just a TOC thing. Some of the others listed above fall into that same category. Some of these things have also been absorbed into other businesses. The question is, what are the needs of TOC’s expanding community and how should they be addressed?
I know there is some surveying planned to help address this, but who gets surveyed and how is important. I am not suggesting that the surveying be too targeted, but I am suggesting that some of the surveying be weighted. I would guess there would be a difference in what full-time residents say and what part-time residents say. Part of the key is including question on why part-time residents remain part-time residents.
Group 1 – Full-time Residents: This group has stuck with TOC, either from inertia, job ties, family ties or general fealty to Culver. What would make their lives better?
Group 2 – Full-time Residents – Community High School kids: When they think of Culver, why are they considering leaving or staying and are the reasons things that TOC can affect?
Group 3 – Culver Academy Students: How do they see the town? What’s missing? What’s great? What would make them consider returning here after graduation or after college?
Group 4 – Full-time Residents – Formerly Summer Only: Some of these people lived in Indianapolis or Chicago and bought their Culver home as a summer get-away, but now live here full-time. Why? What brought them to make Culver their home and what do they miss now that they’re here that differs from when it was just a get-away?
Group 5 – Pandemic Escapists: TOC missed a huge opportunity during the pandemic of 2020. There were a significant number of lake cottages that were part-time residences before the pandemic that became full-time residences during the pandemic. Culver was their place to escape to… What could TOC have done to keep those people here? If they were called back to work, that’s not something solvable, but if they were remote working and could continue to remote work, what sent them home in lieu of making TOC home?
Group 6 – Realtors: TOC has a plethora of realtors, either based in Culver or working Culver from surrounding communities. No doubt they hear a lot about why someone is considering moving here and what they see as the pros and cons.
There was a business subcommittee created as part of Culver Crossroads. (Remember Culver Crossroads? Another positive initiative that lost momentum when key people exited.) That subcommittee brought in Alan Steele from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in South Bend. An analysis at that time really only named one missing element in our area, which was a sporting good store. That was 3+ years ago and without considering 300 additional residents. What would be different now? SBDC could possibly help with analyzing survey data to identify targeted opportunities.
Some of the potential needs could be added to existing businesses, whether as added offerings or actual stores within a store. (An example of this was the ice cream shop, which was popular, but not viable. Ice cream was added to Culver Coffee Company’s offerings, which seems to be doing well.) Along with helping existing businesses identify the upcoming needs, TOC could assist with marketing. Most of the TOC marketing being done in the past few years has been geared towards bringing in tourist business, but marketing existing businesses, Welcome Wagon style, to new residents could be helpful. This was done to some extent when The Paddocks opened, but there would be the opportunity to do this with The Dunes as well.
Where needs are identified, TOC could help with micro loans. This would be a way of helping businesses prepare to meet the needs foreseen in the surveys. TOC could also consider waiving some of the fees associated with expanding an existing business. Waive permit fees for expansions, new signage and other sundry costs.
As I’ve observed in the past, Culver can be quick to pass judgement on new businesses they don’t like. How about instead of complaining, be proactive and recruit (target) what is desirable?
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