Regional plan in the works for Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties

BY JEAN STARR, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent

PORTAGE | Members of the Northwest Indiana Future Forum Advisory Committee met Friday to work out steps in the process of creating a three-county regional plan.

In working toward that goal, the members formed a consensus to hold a kickoff forum Dec. 6. Steve Strains, Director of Planning for NIRPC, said those who attend the forum will be as representative as possible of the population of Northwest Indiana.

Based on the guidance of committee members, the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission will follow a seven-step process in the development of a comprehensive regional plan. The plan's goal is to gain input from communities within Lake, Porter and LaPorte Counties about four issue areas within the plan, including transportation, land use, environment, and economic development.

"It will be open to the public," he said of the event at the Radisson in Merrillville. "That's where we are going to start."

Invitations will be sent to stakeholders, elected officials and business leaders, but Strains said they will strive to reach out to those who don't normally participate.

Originally, it was NIRPC's plan to hold a series of public meetings this month throughout the three counties. It was decided Friday that scheduling public meetings by county would not present the most diverse consensus.

"There really wasn't the time and the absolute necessity to have the regional workshops that would feed into the large forum," Strains said. "There will be small interviews by the consultant (AmericaSpeaks) with the advisory committee group and the groups they represent."

Members discussed social equity as it was defined in the original CRP draft, which commits to ensuring participation by all groups of people in the regional community regardless of age, gender, income, race, ethnicity or disability status.

He said the December forum will feature keypad polling so that everyone in attendance will be able to register their age, ethnicity, income, etc. and compare results with the census to see how representative participation is.