St. Joseph County is hiring a consultant to create a long-term growth plan that would help it map out and prioritize future projects, such as the controversial Indiana Enterprise Center that's coming to New Carlisle in the area shown here. South Bend Tribune File Photo/MICHAEL CATERINA
SOUTH BEND — St. Joseph County expects to pay an outside firm up to a half-million dollars to create a new long-term roadmap for land use in the county’s suburbs, rural areas and small towns, a move that comes amid ongoing conflict over designs for heavy industrial growth on farmland near New Carlisle.
The Board of Commissioners, the county’s three executives, voted Tuesday to seek applications from consulting firms to create the “comprehensive plan,” which could guide zoning, infrastructure and other development decisions in the county for the next two decades.
Commissioners President Andy Kostielney said the county expects to pay $250,000 to $500,000 for the development of the plan. Proposals are due to the commissioners March 16, and the county hopes to select a firm and kick off the project in May, with the final plan expected two years later.
Commissioners Kostielney, Derek Dieter and Deb Fleming voted unanimously to put the work out for bid, noting the county’s long-term plan had not been updated since 2002.
“This has been a long time coming,” Kostielney said before the vote Tuesday. “We’re anticipating it to be on the higher end of what the cost would be, but we want to make sure it’s done right, that we get plenty of community input, check all the boxes.”
Copyright © 2024, South Bend Tribune