government

Regional Cities Initiative on WNIT’s Economic Outlook

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From the right:  Regina Emberton – President and CEO of The Michiana Partnership, Jeff Rea – President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County, Diana Lawson – Executive Director of the Elkhart County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jerry Chavez – President & CEO of the Marshall County Economic Development Corp.

MCEDC‘s President, Jerry Chavez, was on Economic Outlook last month discussion the Regional Cities Initiative and Marshall County’s role in it.  As previously discussed here, Marshall County, St. Joseph County and Elkhart County form one of three regions in Indiana that were awarded $42 Million in State grant money.  Check out the video link here.

Leaders across North Central Indiana will host Regional Cities “Watch” events on Tuesday

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SOUTH BEND, Indiana (December 11, 2015) –  Leadership groups in Elkhart, Marshall and St. Joseph counties, collectively known as The Regional Cities of Northern Indiana, are planning “Watch” events open to the public at three digitally connected locations Tuesday afternoon as information about $84 million in economic development grants is shared statewide via “live” streaming from Indianapolis.  The events, while physically hosted in Elkhart, Marshall and St. Joseph counties, will be cross-linked via Twitter’s Periscope application over the Internet.

“This tells you just how engaged our region is and how high the level of anticipation is,” commented Regina Emberton, President of Michiana Partnership and Vice Chair of the Regional Development Authority (RDA) for the Regional Cities of Northern Indiana.  “Residents from 22 cities and towns in North Central Indiana are gathering at three locations across the region to watch history in the making.  And they’re using Periscope to connect all three sites at the same time.  With things like this happening, it’s easy to see how Regional Cities has already had a big impact on North Central Indiana.”

Each ‘Watch’ event is scheduled to start between 12:30 and 1 p.m. when the “live” web feed from Indianapolis begins.

At 1 p.m. the Strategic Review Committee will go “live” on the Internet. At some point during the meeting, their recommendations will be made public. The IEDC board is then expected to vote on the committee’s recommendations.  Once the voting takes place and the regional grants are made official, Governor Pence will announce them in a live press conference from the same location.  The press conference is currently scheduled for around 2:30 p.m.

In Marshall County, the event will be at Swan Lake Resort, 5203 Plymouth Laporte Trail, Plymouth.  The Elkhart County event will be in the Crystal Ballroom of the Lerner Theatre at 410 S. Main St., in downtown Elkhart.  In St. Joseph County, the event will be at Union Station Technology Center in the Renaissance District, 506 W South St. in downtown South Bend.  Some, if not all locations, will offer light refreshments.

To see any of the Periscope video feeds from the three “Watch” events on Tuesday, visit the Regional Cities of Northern Indiana Facebook page.  Feeds will also be linked to the Regional Cities of Northern Indiana Twitter page.

MEDIA CONTACTS FOR SPECIFIC “WATCH” LOCATIONS

Elkhart County
Terry Mark, Communications Dir., Elkhart CVB
Terry@AmishCountry.org
(574) 262-8161, Ext. 222, Mobile (574) 361-6210

Marshall County
Jerry Chavez, Pres. & CEO Marshall County EDC
Jerry@MarshallCountyEDC.org
(574) 935-8499, Mobile (574) 780-8734

St. Joseph County
Willow Wetherall, Union Station Technology Ctr., Renaissance District
IgniteMichiana@gmail.com
(574) 360-4337

About Regional Cities of Northern Indiana
Regional Cities of Northern Indiana serves over half a million people in 22 interconnected cities and towns in Elkhart, Marshall and St. Joseph counties. The group consists of and leverages the vast experience and services of Northern Indiana’s leading business, academic, philanthropic and government leaders to develop transformational economic development projects and strategic initiatives that will improve quality of life and spur population growth. The Regional Development Authority (RDA), comprised of a five-member board representing all three counties, is guided by the strategic plan developed by Regional Cities of Northern Indiana as it oversees projects of regional importance.

 

MEDIA CONTACT
Regina Emberton
Remberton@MichianaRegion.com
(574) 400-5432

 

 

Parking Lots & the Environment

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I’ve written about the new parking lot slated for downtown Culver here and here, I had a somewhat heated exchange the other day regarding the parking lot and whether it was an issue that affected Lake Maxinkuckee.  So here is my mini rant list on why this is an environmental issue:

  1. Parking Lots and their environmental impacts are addressed repeatedly in the new Culver Comprehensive Plan. Yes, I realize it is a “plan” and plans change…  But, it is only 14 months old!!!  It seems ridiculous that all of the recommendations regarding future land use for that piece of property and how parking lots should be installed and whether we even need another parking lot are outdated at this time!  All of those things were addressed in detail in the Plan.  (It’s interesting… and sad… to note that at the three town meetings I attended where this issue was discussed, the Comprehensive Plan was only brought up one time and that was as part of a protest from an adjacent property owner.  It was never referenced by the Boards and Commissions reviewing the proposal.)
  2. Parking lots are the antithesis of green space within Lake Maxinkuckee’s watershed. This parking lot only works by violating the buffer requirements. The Culver Zoning Ordinance calls for 20′ wide buffer on C-2 parcels that abut residential properties.  The properties on either side of this parking lot are zoned R-1.  Buffers would have been green space. The Town requested variances down to 1′ from the property line on each side and after debate obtained variances for 1′ on one side and 7′ on the other side.
  3. The Culver Zoning Ordinance now includes limitations on impervious surface. This lot was rezoned to C-2 in order to accommodate the parking lot. C-2 zoning districts require a maximum 60% impervious surface coverage. As originally proposed with 1′ setbacks on each side there is no way the impervious surface requirements would not have been violated.  Even with the revised variance which was approved it is questionable whether coverage is not greater than 60%. In any case no calculations were provided to show that this requirement was not violated.

All of this is nothing but a philosophical argument at this point anyway. The die has been cast on this one and my only reason for arguing about it is to point out a missed opportunity.  Still, it is frustrating to see those opportunities slip away…

Comic source:  thedrunkencyclist

Extra Territorial Boundary Update (cont.)

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Pitchforks and Torches were out at the Council Meeting

The Culver Town Council held a public hearing on the new building permit fees Tuesday evening. As expected, someone had rallied the troops, and there were quite a few people there to protest. The room wasn’t quite filled to capacity, but it was close. There were quite a few contractors present as well as residents living in the extra territorial boundary. Kevin Overmyer, Marshall County Commissioner, was there as well as Chuck DeWitt, Marshall County Building Inspector. Al Eisenhour was there speaking on behalf of the Marshall County Home Builders Association as well. For the most part they echoed the concerns I expressed in my previous post here. Where it took a wild bounce though was when they started comparing permit fees between those proposed in Culver and those proposed in the county. They were listing comparisons where the fees would be double or sometimes quadruple or more for a permit for the same building in the county as opposed to within Culver’s jurisdiction. This appeared to resonate with Commissioner Overmyer. It was fairly clear that he was there to support those in the audience not the Town of Culver. This concerns me because it is my understanding that Culver’s extra territorial boundary is administered by Culver at the discretion of Marshall County.  It could be rescinded. It appears that instead of taking steps to expand our extra territorial boundary for which I have lobbied, Culver is now in a position of potentially losing what they have.

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