The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) has awarded seven grants totaling $402,000 to seven Northwest Indiana communities through its Creating Livable Communities (CLC) new funding program. The seven communities to receive grants are:
- Chesterton for their Calumet Connection/Dunes Kankakee Trail project, $24,000
- Crown Point for their North Street Corridor Vision and Guideline Plan, connecting the Downtown Livable Center to the Broadway Corridor, $72,000
- East Chicago for their East Chicago Transit-Oriented Development project for the Roxanna, South Side, and Calumet areas, $60,000
- Gary for urban revitalization planning for the Downtown/Emerson and Horace Mann areas, $150,000
- Highland for their Downtown Highland Kennedy Avenue Corridor Plan, $24,000
- Porter for the design of sidewalk and streetscape improvements in Downtown Porter, $32,000
- Winfield for a downtown master plan, $40,000
“We are thrilled to take this major step in implementing NIRPC’s 2040 Comprehensive Regional Plan,” said Eman Ibrahim, NIRPC’s Planning Manager. “This project has created better connections with the communities in our region and those who plan for their futures and the future of Northwest Indiana.” NIRPC worked with 40 local communities through intensive meetings with elected officials and other municipal staff to identify and map the geographic boundaries of each community’s Livable Centers, producing a report featuring each community and its Livable Centers. Staff developed the CLC funding program in order to fund planning and transportation related projects within the identified transit areas and Livable Centers in the 40 communities. The CLC report is a strong model for organizing place-making resources that inform local planning decisions.
NIRPC’s CLC program is an innovative first step toward making a significant advancement in implementing NIRPC’s award-winning 2040 Comprehensive Regional Plan (CRP). The CRP strongly endorses a future pattern of focused growth based on the concept of Livable Centers. The Livable Centers model is to concentrate future growth within a defined perimeter around downtown and neighborhood areas. The CLC program promotes investment and redevelopment in the places where people already live and work to create an improved working and living environment that is supported by travel choices.
NIRPC is the Metropolitan Planning Organization and regional council of local governments for the three counties of Northwest Indiana. NIRPC provides the forum for local elected officials, regional leadership, and citizens to address regional issues relating to transportation, the environment and community and economic development. NIRPC seeks to develop consensus solutions with the broadest participation.
For more information, please contact NIRPC at 219-763-6060. TTY users may call 711.