Clarksville Town Manager Kevin Baity discusses the town’s development of a downtown along the riverfront during Friday’s Regional Mayors’ Luncheon at Indiana University Southeast. Staff photo by Brooke McAfee
SOUTHERN INDIANA — Housing and quality of place were among the topics explored during a recent discussion between Southern Indiana officials.
On Friday, One Southern Indiana presented the Regional Mayors’ Luncheon at Indiana University Southeast.
The event featured a panel of officials from local cities and towns, including town managers and council members.
The discussion included Charlestown Mayor Treva Hodges, Madison Mayor Bob Courtney and Scottsburg Mayor Terry Amick, as well as Clarksville Town Manager Kevin Baity and Sellersburg Town Manager Charlie Smith.
New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan and Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore did not attend Friday’s event, but New Albany City Council President Jason Applegate and Jeffersonville City Council President Matt Owen represented the two cities.
The discussion was moderated by 1si President and CEO Wendy Dant Chesser. The questions focused on issues related to attracting and retaining talent in communities and regional collaboration.
“We know that building great communities where people want to live does start at the local level,” she said. “Among those primary areas the local area is working on include quality of place, housing and security and safety concerns.”
CHARLESTOWN
To attract talent to communities, Hodges said it is important to focus on retaining and attracting women to both work and live in the community, including offering incentives to companies that offer child care vouchers, flexible work hours and remote work opportunities.
In Charlestown, Hodges wants to wants to keep “that good old small town feel while we grow by making sure we are practicing inclusivity.” She noted the plans to develop an inclusive playground in the city that will be accessible to children of all ability levels.
Hodges mentioned 400 units of apartments to be built in Charlestown in the next couple of years, including both luxury apartments and workforce housing.
Infrastructure is also a major focus, and she noted that wastewater improvements in both Charlestown and Jeffersonville will benefit residents in the city.
She noted the importance of taking a regional perspective to the issue of housing.
“Each [community] is an important piece of that puzzle, so when it comes to meeting those housing needs, we have to have that diversity and the uniqueness of each of our communities to meet the needs of all of the folks who are looking to move here, live here, work here, raise their families here and thrive in our entire region,” she said.
CLARKSVILLE
In Clarksville, the town is building a new downtown on the riverfront that will be “a livable, a walkable and a work-at-home environment” with restaurants, stores and housing, Baity said.
The town is working with developers to bring in projects ranging from high-end to workforce housing “for all levels of income,” he said.
“We’re a landlocked community, so we can’t build out, we have to build up, and so we have worked with several developers in the area, some developers out of the area, and we have over $12 million in housing going in right now, and we probably will be announcing in the next six months another 600 units,” Baity said.
Supply chain issues have presented a challenge in infrastructure projects needed for developments, and the town has to stagger projects, he said.
“We have to look at what projects are going on, because we don’t want to do a major sewer project if Charlestown or Sellersburg is doing a major sewer project,” Baity said. “We’re going to be competing for the same truckload of pipe, so we have to look at doing other projects.”
JEFFERSONVILLE
Owen said parks, industry and infrastructure are the top priorities for the City of Jeffersonville in terms of quality of place. He notes that the city has invested in its parks system, whether it is small “pocket parks” or the 140-acre Chapel Lake Park.
These investments are important to “improving the desirability for the family unit to be here,” he said.
The recently-completed Jeff Digs sewer project replaced outdated infrastructure, and the project “contributes to that reinvestment we’re seeing in our older neighborhoods,” Owen said.
The City of Jeffersonville has focused on utility infrastructure to keep costs down for developers looking to build housing and other developments in the city, Owen said.
He noted the importance of regional collaboration between communities.
“All of us have to keep the dialogue going so we realize a sewer improvement project in Jeffersonville is going to help the region, not just Jeffersonville,” he said.
NEW ALBANY
Applegate emphasizes the role of quality of place initiatives such as the City of New Albany’s riverfront development to attract and retain talent. The city’s shoreline projects include improvements on the shoreline and the addition of pathways to extend the Ohio River Greenway.
He also noted the city’s plans to create the South Monon Freedom Trail, a regional trail that would span multiple counties and connect with downtown New Albany and the Ohio River Greenway.
“There’s a lot of that quality of place that we’re talking about,” he said, “Walkability, I think, attracts people.”
In regard to housing, Applegate noted the transformation of public housing as the New Albany Housing Authority works to revitalize and rebuild units, including redevelopment of the Beechwood neighborhood. The city is focusing on creating mixed-income housing, which includes developments with both public and market-rate housing.
He said spreading out income levels will be beneficial for schools, communities and the workforce, and New Albany’s work to revitalize public housing “will be transformative in the next decade.”
SELLERSBURG
Smith said one of the challenges has been developing an identity for the Town of Sellersburg and making it more than a “pass-through community.” Cleaning up the community and investing in infrastructure and parks have been priorities, and he referenced the town’s plans for a town center district.
“We updated our comprehensive plan and our zoning code…and established unique zones for economic development, for housing options, while preserving the small town feel,” he said.
As the town plans for growth, one of the obstacles is that it is “utility-locked,” Smith said. The Town of Sellersburg is working on a major sewer project to allow capacity for future development.
The project will establish a new wastewater system for Borden and Sellersburg.
“Not only does it assist with future growth and housing, it helps Sellersburg address our capacity issues, it provides Borden with an opportunity to grow their community, because ultimately, they are not big enough and they do not have the quantity of customers there to be able to reinvest in their sewer plant,” Smith said.
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