Committees

Culver Zoning Revisions

by

Steve Gorski, Culver Building Commissioner, has stepped up to the task of updating the Culver Zoning Ordinance. Having served on multiple committees to do this, I know this can be a mind-numbing and somewhat thankless task. This was one of the goals of the 2024 Comp Plan and Mr. Gorski has tackled it. At the last meeting, he presented a lot of the changes and corrections he is proposing. It wasn’t really open to the public for discussion, but was handled as a line-by-line presentation to the commissioners.

For 100% of what he presented, I appreciated what he was trying to do and the clean-up it represented. I think there was 10% that could have been improved by some additional input. My concern with the current approach being taken is two-fold:

  1. Mr. Gorski is the Building Commissioner, so naturally he tends to look at things from the administration and enforcement side of things. While those are relevant and extremely important, it doesn’t always pick up the implementation side that is important to the citizens when they try to comply with the ordinance.
  2. In the past, this has been done by a subcommittee, involving Plan Commission members and members of the public. While Mr. Gorski has a good working relationship with the Plan Commission, it’s harder for the Commissioners to question his suggestions since they are more personal than if they were created by a subcommittee. It’s impossible for one person to do this without it being affected by their personal experience. That is tempered by a committee. (Though this can easily double the time it takes to do this work.)

There is also the factor that Mr. Gorski has only held the position for a couple of years. I’ve written about “Institutional Memory” here before. This applied to more than a few items that he suggested changing. A couple examples just in the category of height restrictions:

  1. In the existing ordinance, there is a restriction that accessory structures in the residential districts have a height limit of 16′. This was added to the ordinance because multiple permits were issued for garages that later had a second floor area remodeled into a second residence, which was not permitted. Mr. Gorski has been questioned multiple times about this and would like it remove it.
  2. In the existing ordinance, the S-1 district allowed accessory structures to have a height of 50′, above the regular height restriction of 35′ in other districts (except A1 – Agriculture). The 50′ limit is there to accommodate grain elevator legs from before there was a separate A1 district. It was left in the ordinance during the last revision so existing farmers in the S-1 weren’t forced to rezone to comply if they added an elevator to their silos.

The ordinance is meant to be somewhat of a living document, so I am by no means saying that these things are written in stone. But the institutional memory of why they are there, could temper the decision to change them.

A couple larger items I struggled with on the changes were:

Image borrowed from the Strong Towns link (Hierarchical Zoning) to the left.
  1. Many of the tweaks, were to address current recurring problems, such a setbacks on small lots. I whole-heartedly agree with the thought process that the ordinance should be changed to reflect the reality of variance being given. Where I struggle with this is in the tweaks being made to setbacks in the R-1 district (as an example) to eliminate current setback issues on existing small lots, without considering how this would affect new lots with the larger lot sizes recommended by the ordinance. If the smaller existing lots are acceptable in R-1, then change the ordinance so new developments mimic the existing. Else, leave them intact as aspirational to what is desired in new construction. Or create new districts and district overlays to accommodate the current needs.
  2. The Comp Plan suggested some major changes in how zoning is handled. In some ways, it suggests moving away from Euclidean Zoning to more Hierarchical Zoning. This wouldn’t have to be done all at once, but could be done in steps or waves. Much of what is currently being fixed reinforces the current Euclidean Zoning. I did bring this up in the public comment section of the agenda and those that seemed to agree with me felt that fixing what we have is a good first step towards this. I hope that’s true since I know sometimes things get busy and major change is hard.

Overall, I commend Mr. Gorski for taking the bull by the horns and moving something forward. I hope the Plan Commission continues to work on this and takes the next steps recommended by the Comp Plan.

Marshall County Crossroads

by

I attended the Marshall County Crossroads meeting today. Swan Lake Resort hosted the event. It appears the steering committee is making good progress and I commend Ginny Munroe and Kevin Overmyer for taking this on. It is a daunting job. The Stellar Community effort in Culver was difficult on a single community level, so I can see that upping the community count to 6, plus the county, has to increased the difficulty in a geometric progression.

I’m not sure if many of the new ideas generated today will be usable in the application since we’re getting down the the wire, but I am sure some of them can be melded into the existing targeted goals. It was a useful effort. Culling out some of the other, stand alone, good ideas can be added to the overall planning for the future. I would sincerely hope that some of the overarching organizations such as the Marshall County Community Foundation  (MCCF) and the Marshall County Economic Development Corp. (MCEDC) will include them in their planning and that the individual communities and the county will fold them into their individual strategic action plans. Possibly Marshall County Crossroads morphs into its own continuing entity to spearhead these things.

The planning and collaboration process was one of the more important “wins” to come from the Culver Stellar application. Keeping that supportive collaboration going can be like herding cats, but it’s worth the effort. I think Marshall County Crossroads is a good next step in the mutual support that has been fostered by MCEDC’s County Development for the Future program. We’re better when we can work on goals together.

Sand Hill Farm Ground Breaking Ceremony

by

From Left to Right, Bob Porter – Culver Utilities Superintendent, Jack Jordan – State Representative, Dale Cramer – Lake City Bank, Joel Samuelson – Culver Town Council, Kevin Berger – Easterday Construction Co., Inc., Tammy Shaffer – Culver Town Council, Ginny Munroe – Culver Town Council President.

I was pretty impressed with the turn out for the Sand Hill Farm Ground Breaking Ceremony last Tuesday, November 5th. There were around 35 people there including representatives from the Town, County and State. Town Council President – Ginny Munroe, County Commissioner – Kevin Overmyer and Lake City Bank Representative – Dale Cramer all spoke in support of the project. I truly appreciated the kudos. We broke out the gold shovels and made a showing of it for the Press.

Speaking about Workforce Housing at the Stellarbration on November 5th. From Left to Right, Kevin Berger – Easterday Construction Co., Inc., Brian Meek – Elkay Wood Products, Karen Shuman – Culver Community School Corp., Don Fox – Culver Academies

The theme from everyone was how this was a first step towards addressing Culver and Marshall County’s workforce housing needs. Currently, Marshall County has an unemployment rate of less than 3%. The general “rule” is that once it gets below 4%, everyone that wants to work is working. Since there are still jobs going unfilled, the next step would be to recruit labor from outside the County. That’s difficult when there isn’t housing available for those new workers. Sand Hill Farm hopes to be a first step towards addressing this. This is Easterday Construction being a community partner/leader.

Along with the several of our area newspapers, we received coverage from the three major networks, ABC 57, WNDU 16 and WSBT 22. See WSBT links for video clips of the Stellerbration event and ABC 57 and WNDU 16 for a little more about the Sand Hill Farm ground breaking. They were all kind with their video editing and made us look good!

Housing was the signature piece of Culver’s Stellar Communities application and I truly think we wouldn’t have scored as highly without the Phase I portion of this project underway. It showed that even without winning Stellar designation last year, Culver moved forward, addressing the needs identified in our Strategic Investment Plan. Having Regional Cities also put money towards this project was positive too. It showed a regional commitment that the State values. At several of the presentations, I was pleased to stand with Culver’s three largest employers, Elkay Wood Products, Culver Community School Corporation and Culver Academies, as their representatives spoke about the needs this project was addressing and how this needs to be just the start.

Excavation underway at Sand Hill Farm. Some of the hill is going into the building pad.

Tuesday was a true ground breaking as we made our presentations with an excavator working in the background. Currently the building pad is nearly complete and the excavator should be cutting in footings in the next week. the site looks quite different.

We’re racing the weather to get the slab done so we can work through the winter. Since it is slab-on-grade construction, that means a fair amount of underground utility work needs to be completed as well. Cross your fingers for us!

It sounds like the Town will delay their street work until Spring. That shouldn’t affect us as long as they are complete sometime in June. The goal is to be open next summer before the new school year starts. That would meet many of our goals, i.e. increased Town population, increased school enrollment and an expanded labor pool.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks to Nancy Tyree at MCEDC for the pictures.

 

Culver Achieved Stellar Designation!

by
OCRA

October 18, 2017

Lt. Governor Crouch Announces the 2017 Stellar Communities Designees

INDIANAPOLIS –  Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch announced today that the City of Madison and the Town of Culver are the 2017 Designees of the Stellar Communities Designation Program (SCDP).

Between May and October, representatives from the SCDP State Team visited all six finalist communities where they heard highlights from each local team as well as toured project locations from their local Strategic Investment Plans (SIP).

“The hard work, dedication, and passion the six finalist communities demonstrated throughout this process was clearly seen firsthand by the Stellar team during the site visits.” said Lt. Governor Crouch. “Each community demonstrated their capacity to strengthen local and regional partnerships in reaching transformative outcomes in their respective communities.”

Launched in 2011, the SCDP is a multi-agency partnership designed to recognize Indiana’s smaller communities that have identified comprehensive community and economic development projects and activities as well as next steps and key partnerships. The designations are separated into two divisions based on population size. Division I are communities of a population of 6,000 or more and Division II are smaller cities and towns with populations of fewer than 6,000.

Division I Designee –
City of Madison
Madison’s SIP includes the Madison Connector, a bike and pedestrian trail connecting Madison destinations; adaptive re-use of historic buildings; creation of a mixed-use facility in a former cotton mill; improvement of a riverfront park; overhauling the community gateways and neighborhood revitalization.

Division II Designee –  
Town of Culver
Culver’s SIP focuses on creating workforce housing with the Sand Hill Farm Development, expanding the Lake Maxinkuckee bike and pedestrian trail, renovating the local landmark Beach Lodge, and improving the western gateway into Culver to create an appealing multi-modal corridor into the town.

Seven communities submitted letters of interest (LOIs) for the 2017 Stellar Communities Designation Program. Of those seven, six communities were chosen as finalists, received planning grants and were required to submit local Strategic Investment Plans. The SIPs detail the projects, partnerships and proposed sources of funding based on feedback and input from the local community. The next step was the site visits which were conducted by the Stellar Team, comprised of staff representing the partnering agencies.

On October 25th, a Stellarbration hosted by Lt. Governor Crouch, will be held at the Indiana Statehouse to celebrate the 2017 Designees. The event will include presentations from Madison and Culver.

The Lt. Governor and state team members will also travel to Madison and Culver later this fall to participate in local Stellarbrations with the local community members.

The SCDP State Team is comprised of the following agencies:

Funding for the SCDP comes from multiple existing federal programs. Both communities have proposed projects involving public and private dollars; although they have been designated as a Stellar Community, the projects are proposals and no specific funds are guaranteed. Both communities will meet with representatives from the state Stellar Team in the coming weeks to discuss details of the proposed projects including feasibility, available funding, timeframes and partner participation.

The finalist communities will receive follow up from the state team to discuss details about their submitted SIPs and provide feedback on the SCDP process.

Eligible applicants must be a Local Unit of Government which includes a city or an incorporated town not entitled to direct Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Click here for more information about the SCDP.

Stellar Site Visit 2017

by

State Stellar Evaluation Team with the Culver sign

Yesterday was the Stellar Site Visit in Culver. Despite some stress, it went well. Everyone hit their marks, attendance from State representatives was good and distractions were limited to one plan blowing off an easel and one sea-plane doing touch-and-go’s on the Lake. Now it’s down to waiting to see what happens. For anyone interested, below is the outline of my presentation at Sand Hill Farm. (It’s an outline, so it’s not word for word) Top representatives from Culver’s three largest employers stood with me. Karen Shuman – Superintendent of Culver Community Schools, Josh Pretzer – Dean of Faculty at Culver Academies and Brian Meek – Plant Manager at Elkay Industries. They all spoke eloquently about the need for entry-level housing in Culver. One thing that seems to come up over and over is the lack of available full time rentals. Sand Hill Farm will address this as it will be all 12 month rentals. Also addressed was the declining numbers for school faculty and plant employees who live in Culver. Hopefully Sand Hill Farm will be an opportunity for people to live and work in Culver… and become part of the community…

I’ve also included some pictures from yesterday’s event. Thanks to all of those that contributed. It was great getting to know everyone better and help work towards the common cause. Now it’s down to waiting for the results. We should know in the next few week.  Cross your fingers for Culver. #CulverisStellar!

+++++++++++++++++++

TM Jonathan’s introductory pitch at the Beach Lodge

Stellar Presentation – Sand Hill Farm

I’m standing here with Culver’s three largest employers, Brian Meek from Elkay, Karen Shuman from Culver Community Schools and Josh Pretzer from Culver Academies. Culver Academies is also the largest employer in our County.

  1. A Little History about the site

    1. Tourism Rep Becca making her presentation

      The property was previously owned by a great aunt & uncle. I purchased it from their estate in 2005. I lived just to the east and used to play on the property as a kid. We used to refer to it as going to play at the “Sand Hill”. Thus the name I’ve placed on the property.

    2. The Sand Hill used to extend to the west past the current location of State Road 17, but was mined for fill during the relocation of State Road 17.
  2. Affordable/Entry Level Housing

    1. MACOG’s James Turnwald speaking about the Jefferson St Corridor

      The need for affordable housing has been recognized for the past decade. Culver has become a community of “second homes”. Many of these have become retirement homes for their owners.

    2. The need for affordable housing was prominent in our Comprehensive Plan which was completed in 2014, but prior to that, it showed up in various town surveys, and was discussed each election season by candidates for Town Council.
    3. In the Spring of 2014 Elkay applied for a $4.5 million tax abatement. At the meeting when it passed, the Town Council asked if there was anything else they could do to assist them. Elkay asked for help with the housing issue as it was affecting their hiring. This was the catalyst to actually start a Task Force to address this. Discussions began with the two schools, Elkay, MCEDC and representatives from the various Town commissions and boards to put together an Entry Level Housing Task Force.
      1. In November of 2014, I partnered with the Town to represent the Town of Culver at the Affordable Housing Conference in Chicago. That was almost too much information. I was attending the 4oo level class when I needed Affordable Housing 101, but I did make some good contacts and brought back information that was useful.
      2. In 2015, the Task Force began meeting in earnest, examining 6 sites throughout the town, sending RFP’s to developers and generally getting a handle on what our resources were and what was needed.
      3. This site, Sand Hill Farm, was selected as the best option for available infrastructure, expandability and a landowner that believed in the cause. (Me)
      4. Most of 2015 was spent in this assessment. It was determined that we wanted a mix of housing types to expand our appeal and expand our accessibility to various targets in our market.
      5. While we had made progress, we were left at an impasse. In 2015 MCEDC arranged a meeting with the OCRA director to discuss options and it was there that we were directed to consider a Stellar Community application.
  3. 2016 Stellar

    1. Park Supe Anna presenting the Beach Lodge Renovations

      When Stellar was discussed in 2016, Housing was the prominent goal on our agenda. Housing is the truly transformative need to address. It will help our employers, put children back in the school and provide the critical mass to make most of the rest of the projects flourish. The more we talked, everything came back to housing. Hopefully that was reflected in our application.

  4. After 2016 Stellar
    1. We were disappointed that we didn’t achieve Stellar status, but we recognized that it didn’t change the housing issues that had been building for years. We continued to move forward. To this end:
      1. The property has been subdivided and annexed.
      2. A Special Use Variance was obtained through the BZA to allow multifamily apartments on the property.
      3. The Zoning Ordinance section on Planned Unit Developments was updated in anticipation of this project’s next step. The Planned Unit Development plans are underway.
      4. An allocation of $270,000 was committed through Regional Cities towards housing on this site. Our SIP (Strategic Investment Plan) from Stellar 2016 was instrumental in selling the need. It also sparked conversations throughout the County and two other communities were awarded Regional Cities money for housing projects.

      5. Park Supe Anna presenting the Damore Amphitheater Project

        A partnership was formed with Elkay Cabinets. They will be providing cabinets, sinks and faucets at a reduced cost.

      6. $400k in infrastructure money has been committed by the Redevelopment Commission which has been matched with $400k in other town funds through their streets, water and sewer funds.
      7. An Economic Development Commission has been created and the site has been designated as an Economic Development Target Area which clears the way for a Tax Abatement. A Tax Abatement hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday.
      8. The Right of Way has been dedicated to the Town and as you can see, clearing is underway.
      9. A development agreement has been executed between the Town and Sand Hill Farm
      10. Plans are also nearly complete on a 24 unit apartment building. There is a set at the Beach Lodge if anyone wants to look at them at the end of the tour.
      11. Plans are nearly complete on the road and infrastructure construction which the town will be handling.
    2. Stellar 2017

      1. Mike Reese from Troyer Group and Dana Neer & Don Fox from Culver Academies presenting the Trail project

        In our current application we’ve worked to more clearly tie the housing project to the rest of the projects. While that was the case last year we’ve strengthened those connections.

        1. The bike & walking trail will have a stop here and the open space provided will tie into that trail.
        2. The Jefferson Street Corridor improvement will enhance the connection to the Town. We want these residents to be part of the community. We are targeting Elkay employees with this development and we want them to make the after hours connection as well as the work connection.
        3. Long range, this the extended section of property to the north backs up to the Little League diamonds which are included on the Cavelier Park project.
        4. While the other projects don’t touch this one directly, they all enhance Culver’s livability and frankly, EVERYTHING in Culver is within walking distance.

      2. Karen Shuman from Culver Community Schools discussing the connections and benefits of Cavalier Park

        We’ve talked to Elkay, the schools and some local residents about education programs that can be offered to residents here. Things like opportunities to learn about finances, nutrition and continuing education for advancement.

      3. We feel the PUD with the mixed use will provide the best opportunity to integrate the new residents into the community and provide some New Urbanism opportunities. There will be a mix of apartments and single family residences through duplexes and townhouses on the site.
      4. The development agreement includes a site for a Habitat for Humanity home, again enhancing that town connection.
      5. We’ve had several meetings with IHCDA representatives over the past two years. (Name Carmen, Samantha and Dani if they’re here.) We’ve explored several of their programs with them, but the only one that seems to apply at our scale is the Tax Credit Housing program. Unfortunately, we don’t have an infill site, a brownfield site or a dilapidated building to renovate, so we’re unlikely to score well for in the general competition for those funds. Stellar is our “in” to qualify. If we don’t make Stellar this year, as with last year, that just means we have to change our target and work the housing differently… as we did this past year.