The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority’s activity in coming years will feature creation of a new non-profit entity dedicated to redeveloping brownfields, and an effort to have portions of U.S. 12 designated a National Scenic Byway.
Those were among goals in an updated comprehensive strategic plan introduced by RDA President and CEO Sherri Ziller at a Thursday RDA board meeting.
“This will serve as a roadmap moving forward, now that we have mostly completed our commuter rail expansion projects outlined in our 2016 (strategic plan) update,” Ziller said.
While the final plan is yet to be published, its main goals have been set, and will include promotion of economic development along existing commuter rail lines, as well as support for potential railroad expansion; support of development and service expansion at region airports; enhancement of the Lake Michigan shoreline, along with support of efforts to leverage the state and national parks to grow tourism; and participation in efforts to reduce the local impact of traffic congestion on highway corridors.
Ziller said the activities, meant to get “the biggest bang for our buck,” centered around “four focal points of RDA future activity.”
“These include continuing to invest in our Transit Development Districts, continuing to connect to the Greater Chicago economy, reclaiming and enhancing the Lake Michigan shoreline and managing and supporting redevelopment across the Region,” she said.
Among the first steps, Ziller said, would be creation of a “land development entity,” or LDE.
The entity, whose exact structure is yet to be determined, will “assemble, acquire and remediate properties to make them suitable for private sector investment and redevelopment,” the RDA explained in a news release issued later Thursday.
The LDE would focus on grant funding, but Ziller announced at the meeting the RDA would provide initial funding of $5 million. The intent of the LDE is to work with local governments on projects where environmental cleanup requirements and assembling of developable parcels have proved to be outside the scope of local resources.
Shoreline enhancement, and promotion of its value to visitors, would start with the National Scenic Byway effort for portions of U.S. 12, known locally as Dunes Highway.
“We’re eager to get started on this effort,” Ziller said, noting that it has the support of tourism authorities in Lake and Porter counties and the Indiana Department of Transportation is “very receptive to the idea.”
Lakeshore efforts would also include increasing public access to the shore, and upgrading infrastructure, including transitioning from septic to sanitary sewer systems where possible.
Other elements of the strategic plan pick up on efforts dating to the inception of the RDA 20 years ago.
Commuter rail service has been the focus of the RDA since 2016, through its service as the local financing agency for the West Lake Corridor and Double Track NWI projects, which total about $1.5 billion, and through its continuing administration of the Transit Development Districts emerging around current and future South Shore Line stations.
Moving forward, the RDA will support potential future expansion of the South Shore that its operator, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, might undertake. Ziller noted expansion ideas include extension of the West Lake Corridor southward, building a branch off of it to Crown Point, and building a line from the existing South Shore to Valparaiso, and possibly LaPorte.
The RDA was also involved in the extension of the Gary/Chicago International Airport’s main runway, completed in 2015, and will “continue to work with the airport to develop new revenue strategies” and support cargo and any future passenger services, Ziller said. The RDA will also support the Porter County Airport, identified as an “underutilized asset.”
The effort to reduce road congestion would focus on working with local and state agencies that fund and perform road construction and maintenance “with an eye towards diverting the traffic that currently comes from outside and passes through the Region” in a manner that causes less disruption to local traffic, or takes the through-traffic around the Region.
The new plan was an 18-month effort involving RDA officials and consultants, and included more than 100 interviews with local officials and representatives of regional organizations.
Beverly Shores/Pines TDD
Also Thursday, the RDA board approved the 11th Transit Development District, in Beverly Shores and Pines.
TDDs collect incremental growth in income and property taxes to support development within them. The newest one is intended to support expansion of sanitary sewer service to the towns in an effort to support commercial development, mainly along U.S. 12.
The TDD needs State Budget Agency approval to become official.
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