Bob Harper's View
Committee members:
- Mike Bucko
- Jim Jorgensen
- A.J. Monroe
- Dwayne Williams
- Charles McGill
- Robert Thompson
- Shawn Ensign
- Robert Parks
I have an ongoing concern regarding a plan for the commercial corridors in Porter County.
As I have pointed out many times, many of these corridors such as Route 6 and State Road 130, between Valparaiso and Hobart, are in danger of becoming littered with eyesores. Valparaiso, Portage and the other cities and towns can do all the work on attempting to make their commercial corridors attractive, but much of this will be for naught if we do not do the same with our commercial corridors in the county.
What I would like to do is attempt to set up an ongoing committee that would develop a strategic plan for all the commercial corridors in Porter County. I realize that many of them are not ready for as intricate of a plan as downtown Valparaiso had, but in the interests of long-term planning, I think we should start thinking about those things.
The county is presently working on a new zoning ordinance. That new ordinance will have overlays for these commercial corridors, but will have nothing as sophisticated as the plan that Valparaiso put together.
I have put together a committee that would, hopefully, in the next two or three months come back to the commissioners with recommendations concerning a long-term committee to work on this project not just for a year or two, but for many years into the future. I am thinking about a committee that perhaps would have three members of the Economic Alliance, a member of the County Council, a member of the County Commissioners and a representative from the County Plan Department.
Obviously, this committee's work would supplement the work now being done on the ordinances in the county.
I would further like to put some requirement in the county ordinances that each time a zoning takes place along these corridors that this committee be notified so they could appear before the Plan Commission and let them know how the new zoning affects the long-term plans of Porter County for their commercial corridors.
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