Valparaiso U.S. 30 Corridor Plan

U.S. 30 CORRIDOR PLANC I T Y O F V A L PA R A I S O

Adopted July 25, 2011

Resolution No. 25-2011

Adopted July 25 , 2011

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Western Gateway .................................................................. 24

Western Approach ................................................................ 26

Corridor-Wide Master Plan: Preferred Development Scenario ........... 27

Section 4, Implementation .......................................... 29

1. Legal / Regulatory Approaches ................................................. 30

Corridor Overlay Design Standards ......................................... 30

Annexation Policy and ETJ Authority ...................................... 30

2. Incentives .............................................................................. 31

Tax Abatements .................................................................... 31

Facade and Sign Grants / Loans ............................................. 31

Special Redevelopment Loan Fund ........................................ 31

3. Direct Public Investment ......................................................... 31

4. Privately-Led Initiatives ........................................................... 32

Priority Planning Area: Downtown Vestibule ................................... 32

General Redevelopment Steps ...................................................... 33

Priority Planning Area: Western Gateway (Hayes-30) ...................... 33

Appendix, Streetscape Project and Materials List ........... A1

Section 1, Introduction ..................................................... 1

City Street vs. Regional Mobility ........................................................... 1

Public Input ....................................................................................... 2

Section 2, Planning Context .............................................. 3

The Regional Setting ........................................................................... 3

U.S. 30 Today .................................................................................... 5

Development Patterns and Land Use .................................................... 5

Natural Features and Open Space ........................................................ 6

Infrastructure ..................................................................................... 7

Section 3, Concept Plan .................................................... 9

Segmenting the Corridor .................................................................... 12

49 Corridor ................................................................................ 14

Campus Drive ............................................................................ 16

The Trestles ............................................................................... 17

Downtown Vestibule .................................................................... 18

Haymarket District ..................................................................... 21

The Middle Mile ......................................................................... 22

Table of Con ten t s

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Acknowledgment s

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City of Valparaiso AdministrationJon Costas, MayorSharon Emerson Swihart, Clerk TreasurerBill Oeding, City Administrator

City of Valparaiso Common CouncilBob Taylor, 1st DistrictAl Eisenmenger, 2nd District and Council President – Until September 2010Deb Butterfield, 2nd District – Since October 2010Joey Larr, 3rd DistrictKelly Ward, 4th District – Until July 2010Michael Baird, 4th District – Since September 2010John Bowker, 5th DistrictJan Dick, Council at Large, President of Council since September 2010Art Elwood, Council at Large

City of Valparaiso Plan CommissionBruce Berner, PresidentJan Dick, City Council RepresentativeTim Burkman, P.E., City EngineerDeb Butterfield, Park Board Representative – Until October 2010Christa Emerson, Park Board Representative – Since March 2011Vic RitterAl ShieldsMike MickaDiane WorstellJim MooneyHelene Pierce, SecretaryCraig Phillips, AICP, Planning DirectorEthan Lowe, Plan Commission Attorney – Blachly, Tabor, Bozik and Hartman LLCPatrick Lyp, Plan Commission Attorney – Blachly, Tabor, Bozik and Hartman LLCScott Bozik, Plan Commission Attorney – Blachly, Tabor, Bozik and Hartman LLC

US 30 Corridor Plan Steering CommitteeMike Rudolph – Team Chevrolet and GLR LLCBruce Boyer – Boyer Construction

Bob MacMahon – Remax Commercial Property SolutionsDiane Worstell – Plan Commission Representative and Worstell Real Estate ConsultantsRuss Adams, Strongbow Inn Janet Brown, Valparaiso UniversityRick AmRhein, Valparaiso UniversityLaura Campbell, Valparaiso Redevelopment CommissionK-Todd Behling, INDOT LaPorte DistrictTim Burkman, P.E., City EngineerJohn Hardwick, City Utilities DirectorBob Thompson, AICP, Executive Director, Porter County Plan CommissionEman Ibrahim, Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning CommissionBob Taylor, Valparaiso Common CouncilJoey Larr, Valparaiso Common Council

City of Valparaiso StaffCraig Phillips, AICP, Planning DirectorTim Burkman, P.E., City EngineerMatt Murphy, Economic Development Director, VP Valparaiso Economic Development CorporationStu Summers, Executive Director, Valparaiso Redevelopment CommissionJohn Hardwick, Utilities DirectorJohn Seibert, Director of Parks and RecreationTyler Kent, Assistant Planner and Transit ManagerTaylor Wegrzyn, Planning Department InternLori Pattermann, Planning Department Administrative AssistantSandy Biggs, Planning Department Administrative Assistant

Kendig Keast Collaborative TeamBret C. Keast, AICPGreg Flisram, AICP, Project ManagerSabine Somers-Kuenzel, AICPLiz Probst, AICPSusan Watkins, LEED Green AssociateJim Schaefer, ASLA Schaefer Land Design, Landscape Architecture Consultant


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recommendations in a handful of special cases, for proactive, targeted infrastructure improvements, zoning changes, and city-expedited redevelopment. A major focus of the plan is on beautification and creating an image for the corridor that reflects positively on the larger city. Implementation tools at the City’s disposal include: zoning and special design standards; developer incentives; annexation policies; as well as direct public investment in infrastructure, landscaping and possible participation in privately led real estate development.

Most of the planned area lies within the City’s limits; however it also includes sections of the corridor along the City’s southern and extreme western edges, which could possibly be annexed during the life of the plan.

City Street vs. Regional Mobility

As a state-maintained U.S. highway, the city cannot currently make physical changes within the 150’ public right-of-way without State approval. Any changes that might affect the overall functionality of the highway such as traffic controls or lane configurations remain firmly under the purview of INDOT. This includes beautification projects that could possibly affect roadway safety – things that may possibly affect the incidence or seriousness of crashes (i.e. the placement of “hard’ obstacles or things that could interfere with sight lines).

The city’s main planning authority instead comes from its ability to control land use and development in the corridor, as well as the design and capacity of the intersecting street network. That said, the city must work closely with INDOT to assure that the City’s interest in having a corridor that is both attractive and functional – and one that doesn’t completely sacrifice local interests to regional ones – is protected. To that end, the plan explicitly and purposefully advances design ideas for the public right-of-way that are intended to be negotiated with, and ultimately endorsed by, state transportation officials.

This plan sets forth a strategy to improve the function, appearance and economic potential of US-30 (Morthland Drive) in Valparaiso, and to improve its connectedness with the rest of the City. It establishes a vision and a strategy to guide public and private reinvestment activity in the 4.5 mile stretch in a way that is coordinated and forward-looking. The plan addresses both the look and function of the public right-of-way as well as adjoining land use.

The plan seeks to reconcile the corridor’s multiple and sometimes competing functions: to move high volumes of through-traffic as well as local traffic; provide access to property; carry important public infrastructure; connect several of the city’s activity centers, and serve as the city’s main “face” to the region. All this, while continuing to serve as the City’s main services corridor.

Although the plan spans a potential 10 – 20 year time horizon, many of the projects (particularly beautification projects and smaller redevelopment projects) are intended to occur in a much shorter time period as resources become available. Larger development and redevelopment projects will occur as market forces dictate.

And while the plan shows how the corridor could transform itself over a 20-year period, it isn’t intended to force that transformation. In other words, it is understood that many of the existing businesses and land uses are likely to continue more or less as is beyond the plan’s useful life, and that the City’s recommendations regarding major changes to private property will be largely voluntary and market-driven. In this sense (and in anticipation of major commercial property market changes in coming years), certain aspects of the plan therefore should be viewed as more contingency-based than absolute.

Accordingly, the plan shows how the area should redevelop in the event of major changes in market conditions or property ownership over time. It also makes

In t roduc t ionSECTION ONE

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Public Input

The plan was informed by a handful of public input sessions including a two-day planning charette that was attended by about 75 people on Oct 19-20, 2010. A series of focus groups also occurred during the week of October 3rd, 2010 involving economic development professionals, commercial real estate broker/developers, property and business owners, and public and university officials who offered their insights on specific development opportunities and local market conditions. The focus groups were supplemented by a series of personal interviews with key property owners, NIRPC representatives, economic development professionals, and state transportation officials. The plan was further guided by a 12-person steering committee that met monthly during the seven-month process.

Map 1.1, Public Input

Composite map of public workshop comments.


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heavy as large distribution centers are pushed farther and farther south of the Interstate 90/94/80 corridor in search of large tracts of open land.Although distribution facilities can lead to important regional job growth, larger volumes of truck traffic have the potential to adversely affect the character and functionality of the corridor and may limit its potential for office and high quality retail development. It may also adversely affect the City’s bucolic, college-town image.

In a more immediate sense, the type and intensity of development near the Porter County Municipal Airport will invariably impact the City’s stretch of U.S 30. Some truck traffic, of course, must be tolerated. Too much however can conflict with other objectives such as enhancing the approach experience to VU and strengthening the city’s regional “garden spot” image. In all cases, the City must remain keenly aware of how planning decisions elsewhere within the corridor can have serious “downstream” impacts.

The Regional Setting

In addition to its multiple functions, the corridor also exists within an economic context that will influence the type of investment that will occur there in the future. Currently, the corridor serves mainly as an intra-regional commuter corridor linking the interior parts of LaPorte and Porter counties to the job and retail centers of Lake County and southern Cook County, Illinois. In this capacity, it serves an important “back road” function bypassing the congestion of Interstates 90/94 and I-80 for travelers in the Fort Wayne – Chicago corridor.

As the region continues to develop (propelled by the inexorable outward stretch of Metro Chicago), the U.S. 30 corridor can expect to see modest increases in commuter traffic volumes over time. More concerning perhaps, is the continued expansion of Northwest Indiana’s already large logistics sector which could make the traffic increasingly truck-

SECTION TWO

Planning Con tex t

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The corridor has historically served as the city’s principal service corridor – a home for a variety of everyday businesses and activities serving both a local and regional clientele. While this plan doesn’t contemplate major changes to this basic function, a number of possible influences may affect market changes to the corridor during the life of the plan.

Perhaps the biggest influence will come from the City’s comparatively large and growing professional services economy; particularly in the area of legal and medical services. While State Road (SR) 49 is positioned to absorb much of this potential growth (especially larger institutional-scale uses), US 30 could be expected to see some of the overspill; especially in ancillary functions that don’t need the higher visibility/higher cost environment of SR-49. These uses include such things as medical clinics and labs, office backroom operations, and smaller format A-class and B-class office facilities.

The growing stature and projected enrollment of Valparaiso University is also likely to create pressure for new development within the corridor particularly in the area of hospitality services and other off-site support services and facilities. (Much of this may also end up occurring on Lincolnway.) Anticipated development and job growth around the airport is likely to add further to these pressures. So too may the continued success of nearby developments like the Purdue Technology Park in Merriville as successful companies spin-out into nearby communities, like Valparaiso, that offer a higher “place-quality”.

Finally, the City’s growing connection to Metro Chicago may further add to the City’s opportunities for new business growth within the corridor particularly in the area of satellite offices and starter (office/flex) space for small businesses.

Combined, the expansion of Valparaiso’s institutional, professional services, and manufacturing sectors is likely to drive the demand for some new retail development in the corridor. New plans for the Valparaiso University campus and the Porter County Municipal Airport area are being prepared concurrently with this plan. The timing of this plan also coincides with a new regional comprehensive plan for the three-county northwest Indiana region.

Map 2.2, Local Context

Map 2.1, Regional Context


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U.S. 30 Today

The planned area includes the approximately 4.5 mile segment of U.S. 30 between State Road 49 and County Road (CR) 250-West. This section is part of a larger stretch of the highway that has historically served as a main connection between Fort Wayne and the south Chicagoland cities of Joliet and Aurora. The Valparaiso section of highway intersects with both SR-49 linking the City to Chesterton and Interstates 94/90 and 80, and State Road 2 (SR-2) that connects the City of LaPorte to I-65 via Valparaiso. The Valparaiso section of U.S 30 carries approximately 30,000 vehicles per day. SR-2 carries about 1200 vehicles per day where it crosses U.S. 30, and SR-49 about 29,000, including about 3500 on the west bound U.S. 30 exit.

At the local level, U.S. 30 serves as a regional through-route bypassing Downtown Valparaiso. It serves as the main connector tying together the Porter County Municipal Airport, Valparaiso University and a significant part of the City’s hospitality market. Access to Downtown is limited to two main entry “portals” at Sturdy Road and Route 2 (Washington Street). Major landmarks along the corridor include the university bell tower (“the campanile”) and chapel.

The surrounding landscape is a virtual transect of the region’s rolling geology of prairie and moraine interspersed with large patches of wetlands and hydric soils. Salt Creek flows under the corridor west of Horseprairie Avenue and a number of interconnected tributaries and ditches pose significant challenges to development in the central part of the corridor especially near the “triangle” formed by U.S. 30, SR-2 and Horseprairie Avenue. The corridor also touches three different political jurisdictions (correct?) including a large section of Center Township along its southern edge.

Development Patterns and Land Use

For analytical purposes the corridor can be broken down into several distinct segments. Starting on its eastern end, the short section of highway between the Highway 49 interchange and Sturdy Road forms a major entry vestibule for the City consisting of larger format retail including a number of hotels and national chain restaurants.

The area between Sturdy Road and the Chicago, Fort Wayne, and Eastern railroad trestle by contrast is dominated by the university and is mostly rolling, green and campus-like. The area between the trestles is a mix of small-scale industrial and marginal retail on shallow lots pinched in by ridges and wetlands.

The segment between SR-2 and Hayes Leonard Road is a classic commercial strip featuring a range of office and retail on deeper lots including the City’s unofficial auto mall. Large commercial signs and overhead utility lines proliferate. West of Hayes Leonard Road, development is significantly thinner with mostly single-family homes some including some being used for home-based businesses. Beyond 250 West lays mostly open countryside for seven to ten miles until reaching the Hobart-Merrillville commercial strip.

With the exception of a few rare examples, most notably the VU campus, development along the corridor is generally utilitarian in appearance and isn’t emblematic of the rest of the City. The city is also not “announced” at either end of the corridor and, despite a few directional signs, neither are the two main entrances to Downtown at Washington Street and Sturdy Road.

Typical of mature urban areas, land ownership and parcelization in the corridor is very fragmented. There are however a number of good redevelopment and infill opportunities involving vacant or underutilized parcels and older shed-style buildings that are nearing the end of their useful lives. (These opportunities are shown in blue on the concept plan map on pages 10-11.)

Map 2.3, Existing Development Character


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Natural Features & Open Space

The corridor’s natural landscape is largely rolling and moraine-like due to its location on the edge of the Valparaiso Morraine. There are numerous patches of wetlands, woodlands and hydric soils in the corridor’s midsection formed by the Salt Creek and its various tributaries. A large impound area is located on the southern edge of the corridor to the east of the Norfolk Southern right-of-way. The western end of the corridor is also heavily impacted with wetlands interspersed with rolling countryside just east of IN 250-West. The north side of the corridor is generally higher in elevation than the south side with tree-top views along portions of West and South streets.

The area’s drainage system is largely hidden from view and, with only a few exceptions, has not been used as a site amenity by area property owners. There have many instances of floodplain infill and developers who have gone to extraordinary lengths to alter the structural suitability of their properties

Map 2.4, Natural Features and Constraints

through landfilling and deep pilings. Aside from the pathways and linear parks shown elsewhere in this plan, there are no parks or dedicated open space preserves currently planned within a ¼ -mile of the corridor.

Zoning

Zoning in the corridor east of Hayes Leonard Road consists mostly of General Commercial. The area west of Hayes Leonard is under County zoning control and is zoned primarily residential. All new development within the corridor is subject to the Nonresidential Design Standards of the City’s Unified Development Ordinance as well as additional special standards for the US-30 “signature overlay district”.


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Infrastructure

The corridor is currently a four-lane divided highway along its entire length with eight signalized intersections. The speed limit is 45-mph and pedestrian access both along and across the highway is severely limited. Service access roads exist near the most intensely developed portions of the corridor east of Hayes Leonard Road on the west, and on the extreme east end of the corridor near the 49 interchange. The latter includes an extension of Silhavy Road which is prone to significant backups. Future traffic projections were not available at the time of this writing.

The combination of railroad tracks, topographical features, disconnected road segments and large-scale “superblock” development along the corridor, cause its western half to be largely severed from the main part of the city. As a result, traffic to and from Downtown along the over 7200 foot segment from Horseprairie to Hayes Leonard Road, is funneled onto just two other secondary roads (Coolwood Drive and West Street) connecting to Downtown via Joliet Road. Also, the secondary roads are not designed to carry high amounts of through-traffic.

Map 2.5, Connectivity and AccessAbove: The interconnecting road network in the US-30 corridor is highly fragmented preventing efficient access and dispersal of local traffic.


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Effective plans are held together by an overarching logic or “framework” that helps make sense out of the myriad smaller recommendations that constitute the plan in whole. The framework identifies the overall themes, ideas, unifying elements and organizational features that help transform otherwise random collections of buildings, roads, and land-forms into identifiable places. The concept plan for the U.S. 30 corridor as shown in the Opportunity Analysis graphic below, encapsulates several key ideas that are “threaded” throughout the plan. That,

• Salt Creek and its tributaries need to be protected and opened up as an amenity for the area

• Natural and open spaces should be protected, reclaimed and tied together into a connected greenway system

• Pedestrians and bicyclists need to be able to cross the highway as well as access property alongside it

• The main entrances to the City, and to downtown, need to be strongly accented with landmark-quality buildings and public art

• The Washington Street corridor (and to a lesser extent, Sturdy Road) needs to become a tentacle of Downtown and a “red carpet” to it

• Valparaiso University and downtown provides a design vocabulary (i.e. architectural/materials palette) that could be used to style parts the corridor

• The corridor is made up of discrete segments with differing physical characteristics. New design elements can/should reflect these differences while still carrying a nominally consistent theme

• The corridor needs to have a hierarchy of development intensity with clearly defined activity nodes and limits on “strip” development

• The adjoining local street network needs to be more fully developed to carry local traffic and to connect the corridor to the rest of the City

• There needs to be clear areas of transition, and divisions between urban, suburban and rural sub-segments of the corridor, as well as between highway and service roads

• Service roads need to take on a more urban/pedestrian/bike-friendly feel and be buffered from the highway

• The corridor’s vertical dimension needs to be improved: Trees need to frame the corridor and separate it from the service roads; taller buildings need to be introduced at key development nodes; and the clutter of overhead wires and individual pole signs needs to be reduced

• Larger (re)development sites need to be mixed-use and master-planned

• There needs to be a strong emphasis on landscaping and beautification throughout the corridor

• The overall design quality of buildings needs to be improved

• The corridor remains an unwidened 4-lane divided highway

SECTION THREE

Concept Plan

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Map 3.1, Highway 30 Concept Plan

Above: the concept plan for the US-30 corridor calls for focused investment at several key intersections; infill development along key segments; the building-out of the interconnecting roadway network; expanding public access to the Salt Creek environmental corridor; and creating a “firewall” against strip development west of Hayes Leonard Road.


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Above: This series of maps contrast existing and proposed new roads and buildings along the US-30 corridor.


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Segmenting The CorridorArea-Specific Strategies

These specific opportunities are organized as a series of discrete places tied together with common, unifying elements. The intent is to move toward a discernible hierarchy of development along the corridor where the most intensive development is concentrated at major intersections instead of a uniform strip. A further goal is to maximize development opportunities in parts of the corridor that are underused instead of extending development to where it shouldn’t go.

Downtown Vestibule

The intersection of Route 2/ Washington Street is conceived as a portal to, and extension of, downtown.

Western Approach

Intensive, urban-scale development is not recommended west of the Hayes Leonard Road and Highway 30 intersection.

West Gateway

This Hayes Leonard Road and Highway 30 intersection is conceived as the city’s western gateway and urban/rural edge, demanding a high level of attention to new buildings and public amenities

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West entrance

Four-corner development

Streetscape redesign

Triangle redesign

Map 3.2, Plan Segments

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Middle Mile

This area is intended to remain the most intensely developed stretch of Highway 30 bookended by major “gateway” developments at both Hayes Leonard and Route 2/Washington Streets.

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The 49 Gateway

From a regional transportation standpoint, the Highway 30/ SR-49 interchange is Valparaiso’s de facto “front door” and main crossroads.

The Trestles

This ½-mile segment is the most environmentally constrained section within the corridor with a steep ridge on the north side of the highway and wetlands to the south.

Campus Drive

This area should be designed as a verdant parkway winding its way between two prominent landscape features along the corridor. An overhead bike-ped bridge should connect across the highway in the vicinity of the Sturdy Road intersection.

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PG 18Haymarket

The swath of former industrial land roughly between Washington and Campbell Streets could be repurposed for a combination of small, clean production activities along with some limited residential uses.

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Pedestrian-bike bridge

Monument signage

Potential overpass design

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Stream culvert crossing5

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Railroad crossing6


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From a regional transportation standpoint the Highway 30/ SR-49 interchange is Valparaiso’s de facto “front door” and main crossroads. Its where highest intensity development has occurred outside of Downtown, and is the hub of the city’s hospitality economy. It is also the main approach to Valparaiso University from the east. Plans for the area surrounding the Porter County Municipal Airport will further position it as an important regional jobs center.

For all of these reasons, this interchange needs to announce – through quality buildings and highway beautification projects - a strong sense of arrival into the community. This goes well beyond the obligatory “welcome to” sign to include heavy doses of ornamental landscaping, lighting, and architectural design that is a cut above the usual corporate prototypes.

Also because of the generally large “footprint” of the interchange area the scale of the public improvements is very important here. Vertical elements such as trees and decorative lights will help define the street edges and reduce the expansiveness of the area. This is especially important in the medians separating the highway and the service roads where some distinction between the high-speed (regional through-route) versus slow speed (local access) environments needs to be reinforced.

Plantings will need to be arranged in relatively large, dense groupings throughout in order to accentuate the separation. Also, the overpass itself should take on a less purely utilitarian aspect. The addition of decorative structural elements or surface ornamentation can transform it into a welcoming archway (see graphic below).

Development in this segment includes a combination of new and older buildings. It is expected that future development along the western half of the interchange will occur incrementally with regional hospitality-type businesses, although in higher densities and with greater attention to design. (Major, large-scale redevelopment isn’t anticipated for several years except for the eventual repositioning/redevelopment of the Wal Mart site.)

Continued infill development is encouraged along the frontage roads to maximize land use efficiency and to physically enclose the large surface parking lots. The scale and orientation of development should also “step down and step out” toward Sturdy Road where cornerpiece buildings should firmly relate to the outer edge of the VU campus.

49 CorridorPLAN SEGMENT

New interchange design for Vale Park Road should be replicated at U.S. 30 (source: American Structurepoint Inc.)


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Perhaps the most needed public improvement in this section is a realignment of Silhavy Road which is a combination north-south through-street and truncated service road. The fact that Silhavy has no western outlet forces all through traffic onto Highway 30 and causes traffic back ups at the existing traffic signals at Highway 30. The City should continue to examine ways to relieve this problem by either realigning Silhavy well to the north of its current path so that it can tie directly in to Sturdy Road and/or to connect its extreme western end to Sturdy Road via Warbler Drive. The latter should be part of any redevelopment project(s) affecting the western end of the frontage road.

Right and below: New development should frame the intersection at Sturdy Road creating a formal entry to the VU campus and the City.


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This area is set off by new a proposed new “three-point” development at Sturdy Road and extends westward to the easternmost railroad trestle. The focus here is mostly on aesthetic improvements (mostly landscaping) that effectively identifies this segment as being an outgrowth of the VU campus.

The campus’ landscape scheme of prairie plantings and limestone should extend out to, and include, the highway. University monumentation should be more prominent along the corridor and new campus buildings near the southern edge of the campus, should present a face to the highway. Well-defined cross walks and other pedestrian appointments extend from the campus across the highway as well as Sturdy Road.

An overhead bike-ped bridge should connect across the highway either in the vicinity of the Sturdy Road intersection (Sturdy Road has been identified in the City’s recreation plan as a regional bike segment), or farther west where it could parallel the railroad bridge and connect into an improved wooded area west of the cemetery. Here it could take advantage of the lower road elevation and the earthen risers on either side of the highway.

Throughout this segment, the roadway should have the appearance of a verdant parkway winding its way between the two largest landscape features along the corridor. A new university-themed entrance to the VU law school is envisioned near Brick Street.

Campus DrivePLAN SEGMENT


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This area is roughly the ½-mile segment between the rail road bridges and Washington Street/Route 2. This is the most environmentally constrained section within the corridor with a steep ridge on the north side of the highway and wetlands to the south. Land uses here consist of a hodge-podge of light industry, retail, and a few aging single-family homes.

Although some redevelopment should be encouraged on the north side of the highway, it will generally be the small-scale, single-lot variety. A vigorous, city-assisted redevelopment strategy is not recommended here. Instead the strategy should be one of gradual attrition of existing buildings and uses, and their replacement with higher quality commercial buildings over time.

The south side of the highway on the other hand does warrant a more proactive strategy on the City’s part to annex property as opportunities arise and return it to open space and recreational use. Deep within a floodplain, much of this property probably should have never been developed in the first place, and in fact, couldn’t have been without significant cutting and filling and the drilling of deep pilings. These filled in areas could be used for parking or for visitors center for a new creek-side conservation park that ties into the main branch of Salt Creek farther west. The Creek should form the backbone of a new public greenway system incorporating hiking and bike trails and interpretative exhibits. The City should seek permanent public dedication of these lands (public trail easements) incrementally through the annexation and subdivision process.

Aesthetic improvements to the Norfolk-Southern trestle are needed and could include decorative painting to structural ornamentation such as a medallion with the city logo.

The TrestlesPLAN SEGMENT

Above: Design concept for a new conservancy park incorporating a reclaimed section of highway frontage and organized around existing landscape features.


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The intersection of Route 2/ Washington Street is conceived as a portal to, and extension of, downtown. The concept plan shown below contemplates eventual redevelopment of the northeast and southwest quadrants with strong streetscape accents and pedestrian improvements tying the north and south sides of the corridor together. Decorative obelisks (perhaps styled after the bell tower on the VU campus) are shown bracketing either side of Washington Street on the north side of the intersection which, together with the arch-formed railroad bridge, forms a strong entryway to Downtown.

This intersection should be further landmarked with the highest quality development including buildings with vertical design elements and strong corner treatments. Salt Creek and its tributaries are opened up as amenity for the area. Much of the south side of the corridor east of Route 2 is also reclaimed as open space.

The critical need to landmark the northeast corner as a visual “hook” to downtown demands that the city work closely with the owners of that site to assure the highest quality design including a strong architectural corner treatment, sidewalks, and easements or land dedications for transit-staging and public monuments.

The “triangle” formed by the convergence of Route 2 and Horseprairie Avenue is the main redevelopment opportunity/priority in the corridor likely requiring some city facilitation in land assembly and deal structuring. New development in this quadrant should contain a blend of retail, commercial office and possibly some upper-floor housing.

Downtown VestibulePLAN SEGMENT


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Development should be master-planned and urban in character with interior, interconnecting roads and pedestrian features. Horseprairie Avenue and Washington Street are reconstructed as regular urban streets with full curbs, gutters and sidewalks. Bike trial segments would run parallel along the interior network of ditches and creeks and tie back into a major greenway along the main branch of Salt Creek. Bus stop amenities would be provided on both sides of the US-30, Washington Street intersection.

Challenging site conditions in the area including: vacant and/or inadequately maintained buildings, potential land use conflicts, awkward parcel sizes, inadequate utility capacity, and problematic geo-technical issues, makes the entire area a prime candidate for TIF designation (see diagram on the following page)

A pedestrian bridge over Highway 30 is contemplated in the segment between Washington and Horseprairie Avenue roughly parallel to Salt Creek. The bridge would provide a cross-corridor link in an eventual public greenway/bike corridor running parallel to the creek. It would also serve as an archway feature to further accent the downtown portal at Washington Street.

Above: New master-planned redevelopment concept for the Horse Prairie/SR-2 “triangle”. Internalized parking and streets and an amenitized creek provide an organizing framework for a new mixed-use development. Major landmark features such as a new pedestrian bridge and obelisk mark the entrance to downtown.


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As of this writing, two sites within the area have been eyed by investors for possible new development. Getting the area designated as a TIF district prior to construction would allow the district to collect a significant amount of “unearned increment” that could be used to fund improvements in the surrounding area. Capturing this new revenue within the TIF at the outset would create a dedicated (captive) revenue source even in the absence of new public debt.

A new TIF district would create the necessary public finance structure to help assemble land and pay for the many required public improvements in the “triangle” area.

Map 3.3, Proposed New TIF District


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North of the railroad tracks, the swath of former industrial land roughly between Washington and Campbell Streets could be repurposed for a combination of small, clean production activities along with some limited residential uses. This could involve the restoration of the handful of older industrial buildings in the area along with some new construction. Small-scale artisan-oriented businesses allowing for some on-site production, warehousing, wholesaling, retail, and accessory apartments or live-work units should be incentivized in this area along with more traditional “studio art” spaces.

The types of businesses that would be a good fit for the area include: glass-blowers, furniture makers/restorers, ceramic artists, custom metal workers, artisan food/beverage producers, antiques dealers, home decorating wholesalers, and a myriad of other “craft businesses”. The creation of a special purpose artisan-incubator or merchandise mart in the immediate area, along with special “branding” of the area as a Haymarket District for instance, could help get the district positioned in the real estate market.

At a minimum, the City should encourage this type of redevelopment scenario through the use of flexible, mixed activity zoning, land assembly, environmental assessment and remediation, tax credit incentives for affordable housing and pedestrian amenities including a potential bike-ped tunnel connecting the lower part of Campbell Street to the Chicago Dash site.

This area is currently zoned for General Commercial and Heavy Industry. A more appropriate designation would be Light Industry.

Haymarket DistrictPLAN SEGMENT


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This area is intended to remain the most intensely developed stretch of Highway 30 bookended by major “gateway” developments at both Hayes Leonard Road and Route 2/Washington Street. The plan envisions major master planned development and aesthetic improvements at both intersections and infill (re)development in the area in-between. Although the car dealerships and other large-format businesses in this segment will continue to be permitted, the plan shows how these sites may be adapted for other uses should ownership or market conditions change.

The plan contemplates the westward extension of the service roads as far as Hayes Leonard Road on both sides of the corridor, and the introduction of two or more north-south road connections to Joliet Road. One of these would involve a northward extension of Thornapple Road to Joliet Road. Other possible road extensions could occur where indicated on the Concept Plan shown on pages 10-11.

Short of complete redevelopment, an optimal reuse pattern would be to maximize outlot development in order to create a more urban-style street front along the outside edge of the access drives. Sidelot development should also be allowed on larger lots provided that driveways are linked laterally.

This two-tiered development pattern would make for more efficient use of land; screen large parking lots; and visually frame the corridor. This together with heavy landscaping on the side medians to buffer the service roads from the highway (preferably trees to introduce a stronger vertical dimension) it would also give the corridor some defined edges which it currently lacks.

Under this scenario, the service roads take on the feel of a slow-speed (albeit one-sided) urban street with buildings fronting directly onto it with all parking to the rear or side. The service roads have either a dedicated bike-ped path/sidewalk on the building side and/or striped on-street bike lanes. They also have full curbs and gutters (see graphic below). Dense median landscaping buffers the access roads from the main highway.

The Middle MilePLAN SEGMENT


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Recommended corridor improvements in a typical segment of the Middle Mile. Major landscape treatments along median strips would help buffer new outlot development along the service roads and help create a friendlier street space for pedestrians and bikes.

West Street

US-30


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This intersection is conceived as the city’s western gateway and urban/rural edge for the foreseeable life of this plan. As such, it demands a high level of attention to design in both new buildings and public amenities, as well as strong public commitment in limiting development westward beyond this point.

Fortunately, much of the land near the intersection remains un(der)developed in larger parcels presenting an opportunity for new mixed-use, master-planned development at a scale not possible elsewhere in the corridor. The city’s main role in bringing about this opportunity (besides extending basic services) is through the exercise of its zoning, annexation, and extraterritorial planning/zoning powers.

The concept plan shown on the following page does not attempt to dictate the exact combination or arrangement of future land uses, so much as to demand adherence to a few basic planning principles to assure quality, site-responsive development. Similar to what is proposed herein for the Sturdy Road and Washington Street intersections, this intersection should strive for a strong “4-corner” orientation with landmark quality, corner buildings framing the intersection. Although some front-lot parking may allowed along the Highway 30 side, most of the parking should be behind the front rows of buildings. Heavy landscape treatments and ornamental features are needed to mark the arrival into the City. The general scale of development is 2-3 stories.

The most immediate development opportunities in this area are clearly the larger undeveloped parcels in the southeast and southwest quadrants. These sites are large and deep enough to accommodate mixed-commercial frontage and a significant amount of less intensive development – either office or residential – in the interior portions. The sites do present some topographical challenges however and it is expected that developers will respect and work around many of these features instead of doing indiscriminate cutting and filling. Development of the interior portions should be organized around natural features and a through road network that connects to adjacent lands to the east and west. Generally, development intensity should diminish with distance from the highway.

The northeast and northwest corners currently have buildings on them including (on the northeast corner) the only historic building on the entire west side of the corridor, the original Hayes Leonard school. As of this writing, the school district has not decided the future of the school and its 10-acre grounds. If the site does come available, the expectation is that it will be redeveloped as a landmark-quality “cornerpiece” project. The preservation and incorporation of the original schoolhouse in a new master development is something that the city strongly encourages.

Western GatewayPLAN SEGMENT


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Above: A new master-planned community at the southeastern quadrant of US-30 and Hayes Leonard Road would deepen development along the corridor and establish a strong western entry into the City.


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Western ApproachPLAN SEGMENT

The intersection of Hayes Leonard Road and Highway 30 generally marks the City’s western urban boundary for the useful life of this plan. Intensive, urban-scale development is not recommended west of the immediate 4-corner area. Any new development should be of a low intensity, predominantly residential nature and sensitive to the environmental features of the area.

Although outside of the city’s municipal boundaries, the City should aggressively assert its extraterritorial planning authority up to and including the intersection of Highway 30 and 250-West (and southward along Route 2). Extraterritorial planning powers allow cities to place land use controls on lands that may eventually be annexed to the City (so that the City doesn’t end up inheriting poorly planned development. See Indiana Codes section 36-7-4-205).

The City can further restrict what happens in this stretch of the highway by denying or limiting utility extensions or by placing conditions on such extensions that can be enforced via pre-annexation agreements. Such agreements can require the owners’ non-challenge of City zoning for a specified period of time following the service extension.

One possible exception to the low intensity rule, could be a new master-planned neighborhood or tech park on the western quadrants of the 250-West intersection where large, buildable sites lend themselves to top quality master-planned development projects. Such developments may be considered under special planned development standards and subject to a rigorous site plan review process.

Map 3.4, Proposed Pedestrian System


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Corridor-Wide Master Plan: Preferred Development Scenario

The highway remains a 4-lane divided highway; service roads are extended westward to Hayes Leonard Road; and most new development is concentrated at major the intersections at Sturdy Road, Washington Street, and Hayes Leonard Road. These intersections also feature the heaviest streetscape and landmark features including major landmarking in the form of decorative obelisks at the northeast and northwest corners of Washington Street and US-30.

Infill development is shown along the access roads as the opportunity presents. Pedestrian bridges are shown in the vicinity of Horseprairie Avenue and Sturdy Road. A pubic greenway along the Salt Creek corridor takes shape over a period of years through an “annexation with dedication” process.

Map 3.5, Planned Land Use

Above: Composite map of public workshop comments.


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Map 3.6, Proposed Development Pattern

Above and right: Map sequence depicting future land use and development pattern along the US-30 corridor.


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Making this plan a reality will require use of all the tools at the City’s disposal. These include: direct public investment in streetscape, infrastructure, and site acquisition; targeted incentives for private investment; the application special zoning and design review authority; strategic extensions (or denials) of public services, selective annexations, and possible use of the City’s extra-territorial (ETJ) planning powers. The City should begin to actively promote US-30 as a “target reinvestment area” and make public its revitalization program on the City website and through various media outlets.

Implementation activities can be organized into four different but overlapping “tracks”. The tracks present a wide variation in terms of cost, ramp-up time, and magnitude and immediacy of impact (figure 1). They include: (1) legal/regulatory approaches, (2) incentives, (3), direct public investment, and (4) privately-led initiatives.

SECTION FOUR

Imp lementa t ion

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4

Direct Public Investment

Incentives

Regulations

• Land Acquisition• Road connections• Underground wires• Streamback restoration• Streetscape• TIF

• Land write-down• Redevelopment loan fund• Facade sign grants• Tax abatements

• Annexation policy• Design guidelines

• Merchants Association• BID

Cost

Time to implement

= size of impact

Privately-led


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highway at high speed. The standard should be changed to a 10’-12’ maximum height (monument style).

Areas targeted for an additional layer of design standards beyond those included in the existing corridor overlay zone include the major “gateway” intersections at Sturdy Road, Washington Street (Route 2) and Hayes Leonard Road (100– West). These key development areas warrant exceptional design because of their high visibility and image-setting potential. The latter two should also be steered toward a planned development review process because of their potential for large-scale, master-planned development.

Certain extra-ordinary design requirements may also be applied to these sites contractually via development agreement (particularly at Washington Street and Hayes Leonard) if the City, as recommended, becomes involved in land assembly or other developer incentives or agrees to extend or upgrade utility services.

The additional design guidelines for the Gateway Intersections could include all or some of the following:

• 2-story minimum height• 4-sided design and prohibition of Eifs use• special design of corner buildings and special corner treatments (e.g. corner

entries, wrap-around architectural elements, towers and other protrusions) • landscaping and public/common-area amenities• minimum proportion of door and window openings within the façade surface• door, window, roofline articulation (i.e. detailing, contrast and relief)• higher percentage of masonry use• restrictions on certain roof shapes (mansard, gable) • rear/side parking only

Annexation Policy & ETJ Authority

A major principle of this plan is to prevent new commercial strip development from stretching westward past Hayes Leonard Road. The City basically has three tools at its disposal to prevent this from happening: (1) annexation (i.e. zoning), (2) restricting or making conditional the extension of City services, and (3) exercise of the City’s extraterritorial planning authority.

Generally speaking, a combination of development incentives and direct public investment will have the most immediate impact on the corridor. No single avenue however will be enough to effectuate major change by itself. Moreover, without incentives to offset them, a singular focus on regulatory approaches can act as a further disincentive to reinvestment in all but the hottest development markets. Therefore a combination of incentive-based and regulatory strategies will be needed.

Implementation activities can further be broken down geographically into priority redevelopment areas that include a combination of programmatic and project-specific implementation activities. This discussion starts with general corridor-wide approaches and moves later into location-specific applications.

1. Legal/Regulatory Approaches

This category refers to the traditional legal mechanisms by which plans are implemented. They include zoning and subdivision regulations, design guidelines, access management standards, extraterritorial planning jurisdiction (ETJ), and annexation policies. They also include potential intergovernmental boundary/ ETJ agreements between neighboring jurisdictions, and special improvements maintenance agreements with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT).

Corridor Overlay Design Standards

The corridor is currently appropriately zoned for a combination of institutional (campus) and commercial/retail uses, and it subject to the additional requirements of U.S. 30 Signature Overlay Design Standards. One aspect of the design standards however that will need to be changed to align with the plan is the minimum front setback requirement for commercial buildings. The current 65’ requirement precludes a more urban pattern of outlot development along the service roads as depicted in this plan. That setback should be changed to 15’ (the width of the landscape greenbelt) with seating areas, and other decorative hardscape features allowed within the setback area.

Also needing to be changed, is the 6’ maximum height for commercial signs in the corridor. This standard is too small for the signs to be seen from the main


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gloss over structural problems or to extend the life of non-conforming buildings and uses. Grants should be used to leverage (not replace) property-owner investments and should require a 100% match by the recipient. Potential funding sources among others can include: CDBG grants, and/or TIF proceeds.

Special Redevelopment Loan Fund

One of the biggest obstacles to redevelopment projects are the added predevelopment costs such as land assembly, environmental assessment, and demolition. One way the City can incent redevelopment along US-30 is to help offset these costs by offering low interest loans or grants to help cover these larger up-front expenses. Loans can also be used for actual development provided that it is used as gap financing to cover the difference between conventional bank and total project costs (less developer equity). Eligibility requirements should include capital investment and equity minimums and the highest level of design.

Potential fund capitalization sources include: CDBG, general funds, TIF, pooled private bank funds, utility company grants, private foundation grants, and the US Department of Agriculture Intermediary Relending Program. The fund may also be structured as a loan guarantee program to maximize conventional lending. Although revolving loan programs can be a potent redevelopment tool, they do require a commitment of staff and/or volunteer time to administer.

3. Direct Public Investment

This category refers to public outlays on all manner of public capital improvements that are designed to enhance the corridor’s functionality, appearance, and capacity for (re)development. They include improvements/ extensions to intersecting roads; stormwater management improvements; streambank restoration; sewer, water, telecommunications upgrades, the burying of overhead utility lines; and streetscape and public art.

These are the kinds of investments that generally require a substantial outlay of public funds without the automatic guarantee of immediate payback through increased taxes. They are typically incorporated into the City’s overall capital improvement plan (CIP), and when possible, coordinated with private development efforts. They are usually paid for with a combination of general funds, tax increment finance (TIF), Federal or State grants, or special assessments to directly-benefiting properties.

One particular challenge with respect to capital projects directly within the State –controlled US-30 right-of-way, is that they must comply with state and Federal requirements with respect to clear zones and the preservation of sight-lines. And while the state’s department of transportation (INDOT) nominally controls the right-of-way, they are unlikely to pay for anything beyond basic maintenance to the current, basic infrastructure. Therefore, any upgrades will not only have to pass inspection by INDOT, they will have to be paid for and maintained through an outside source. Currently, INDOT has no immediate plans to reconstruct, widen, or otherwise “improve” the segment of US-30 that traverses Valparaiso.

The plan identifies several public improvements intended to improve the appearance and overall investment climate along the US-30 corridor. Chief among these are the public streetscape installations proposed for discrete sections of

As a general rule, the city should enter discussions with the County to officially exercise its two-mile ETJ authority along U.S. 30 and SR-2. If in the future the City opts to provide services to areas outside the current city limits, it should either require annexation or automatically invoke its extraterritorial planning authority as allowed by law.

As a further condition of extending services, the City should execute a pre-annexation agreement with affected property owners stipulating adherence to the City’s ETJ-area plan. The agreement should include the condition that property-owners agree not to contest the plan for a pre-set number of years following annexation and/or the extension of city services.

Subdivision Regulations

Although not considered to be in need of a major overhaul, the City should review its current regulations to ensure quality master-planned development of the type envisioned for the Hayes Leonard/US-30 intersection (and possibly farther west at 100-West).

2. Incentives

The complexities of redevelopment in “soft market” situations (i.e. weak market demand, fragmented property ownership, difficult site conditions) usually require special inducements to attract quality investment. These can range from small grants or loans for superficial property improvements, to tax abatements, low interest loans, or TIF-financed public improvements for larger redevelopment projects. Incentives are typically used in conjunction with new investments in public infrastructure as a way to leverage those investments for maximum impact.

Tax Abatements

Perhaps the easiest incentive to institute in terms of both administration and up-front costs are tax abatements (or alternatively, tax “phase ins”). The City has already used this tool along US-30 and continuing the practice is recommended for larger-scale, high quality projects. One way for the City to give the US-30 corridor an extra boost is to extend the abatement period for projects along the highway for a longer period than what is available elsewhere in the City, and to extend it to include personal property tax.

It is recommended however that the City use this tool judiciously so that only major redevelopment projects that substantially advance the plan, and that have a potentially transformative effect on the corridor, are included. Besides general plan compatibility, eligibility can be determined by instituting a minimum capital investment requirement.

Façade & Sign Grants/Loans

The City currently operates Downtown area façade grant programs and it is recommended that the program be extended to properties along US-30. Eligibility should be limited to code compliant properties only, and on projects that bring properties into compliance with design guidelines or to help defray the costs of any extra-ordinary design requirements (imposed, for instance, through a development agreement to which the City is party).They shouldn’t be used to

Above and left: Examples of corner treatment buildings. Special overlay design standards should be adopted for major the principal “gateway” intersections at Sturdy Road, SR-2/Washington Street, and Hayes Leonard Road to address the need for landmark-quality buildings on key corner sites.


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The City should also seek an agreement with Valparaiso University for it to absorb the cost of installing and/or maintaining special landscaping along the section of highway that crosses in front of the campus.

Priority Planning Area: Downtown Vestibule

The triangle formed by Route 2, US-30 and Horseprairie Avenue is a critical redevelopment opportunity requiring direct City intervention in the areas of land assembly, new infrastructure, and environmental/ geo-technical repair. The entire area is an important tone-setter for Downtown. However it is unlikely to redevelop well on its own because of fragmented property ownership and serious geo-technical constraints.

As stated earlier, the area meets all of the criteria of a proposed TIF district as far as meeting the technical definition of “blight” under most states’ statutes. Including it in a TIF district that also includes the north side of the intersection, may allow the district to passively capture tax increments from already pending developments in the area.

The basic process of creating a new TIF district involves preparing a statutory redevelopment plan and a blight study and TIF project plan. The latter outlines eligible project costs that may include both “soft” (i.e. design and other consultant fees) and “hard” costs. These costs may include some or all of the following:

• environmental site assessment • engineering & design• market studies• financial feasibility studies• site acquisition• demolition and site prep • geo-technical stabilization • sewer and water upgrades• new roads and sidewalks• stream bank restoration • streetscape • stormwater detention • developer fees

As a first course of action, the City should talk to current property owners to gauge their interest in partnering in a comprehensive redevelopment effort. Possible owner positions may include: seller, equity partner or developer.

On the regulatory side, the City should rezone the area to allow for a mix of medium and small-format, master-planned commercial buildings in multi-story structures. The area should also be a part of a special design overlay district that requires a minimum of 2-story, 4-sided architecture (see examples on previous spread). Master planned, planned unit development is something that the City should actively pursue by trying to consolidate ownership in the hands of master developer.

the corridor. The bigger ticket items are likely to be the pedestrian bridges on the east (campus) and central segments of the corridor, the obelisk(s) at Washington Street, entry signs at the east and west gateways, and the structural arch incorporated into the Highway 49 overpass.

Given its exceedingly high cost, the burying of overhead wires is best done incrementally in conjunction with major redevelopment projects or major road/sewer/water reconstruction projects when the roadway is already “opened up”. The undergounding of utilities should also be coordinated with the installation of high-capacity (4-G+) fiber-optic along the entire length of the corridor.

Outside of the immediate highway right-of-way, the most expensive capital improvements will be the various road extensions and realignments shown throughout the plan. These will have to be developed through a combination of official mapping/platting, land dedication, special assessments, and possibly TIF. Of these, the extension of Campbell Street poses perhaps the greatest engineering (and cost) challenges. If the costs of this project prove to be too steep, the City should at least consider installing a bike-ped tunnel connecting lower Campbell street to the Chicago Dash (TOD) site.

Necessary environmental infrastructure projects include streambank cleanup and restoration along Salt Creek and a handful of site reclamations east of Route 2/ Washington Street. This work would preferably be prioritized through a comprehensive stormwater management plan, emphasizing collective detention, for the entire Salt Creek watershed in the vicinity of US-30. Remediation costs may possibly be covered in whole or in part by grants available through Federal and state departments of natural/environmental resources or by the Army Corps of Engineers.

4. Privately-Led Initiatives

The phrase “privately-led” belies the fact that such initiatives often take public coaxing to get started. Still, the idea is to encourage private business and property owners to assume greater stewardship over the highway by taking partial care for it themselves (by directly paying for landscape installation and/or maintenance for instance), or by contributing to a dedicated fund to extend the improvements over a larger area.

The second of these scenarios is the business improvement district (BID) model which is already in existence downtown. Although commonly organized to maintain publicly-funded landscape improvements, corridor-wide BIDs in other cities are increasingly involved in funding bigger ticket items such as stylized entry signs, art installations, transit shelters, decorative lighting and traffic studies.

The City can help encourage more self-help activities by organizing meetings among corridor businesses to facilitate the formation of a working corridor business association. Later, the City can work with the group on ideas for cost-sharing projects and joint promotions. A starter project could be the creation of a fund (capitalized by donations from area businesses) to maintain any city-installed landscaping along the medians.

Map 4.1, Proposed New TIF District


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Getting the right project however is going to require much more than just rezoning. Although the highway frontage may redevelop on its own, the interior portions of the site pose serious challenges to integrated master-planned development. Getting a quality project here will require a concerted effort by the city to facilitate the land assembly process, perhaps including getting City control over key properties (through direct purchase or option) or helping to organize cooperative 3rd-party ownership such as through a land syndicate. It will also require the City agreeing to make necessary investments in infrastructure (and perhaps site engineering) to make the entire area more development-ready.

Although such decisions should always be made carefully, the City’s purchase of land in a targeted redevelopment area puts it in a much stronger position to get the project it ultimately wants and to get it sooner. To the extent that the City does control certain key pieces, it can have a more active role in developer solicitation and selection, and can negotiate for an even higher quality of development than is required under the zoning ordinance alone.

Public ownership also opens the door to grants for infrastructure and environmental restoration that may not be available to private parties. Finally, public control allows the City to push the plan forward at its own preferred pace thus allowing a faster recapture of public investment through increased tax revenues.

General Redevelopment Steps

• Outreach to property owners • Rezoning• TIF districting • Land assembly• Grant procurement • Site remediation• Replatting• Infrastructure upgrades• Developer solicitation

Priority Planning Area: Western Gateway (Hayes-30)

As a greenfield site under consolidated ownership (and outside of current City limits) this project warrants a much different approach than under the previous scenario. It is essentially a new subdivision. Hence, the City’s most effective strategy in getting a top quality master-planned development involves the standard regulatory tools of zoning and subdivision regulations; a rigorous site plan review process; and the application of consistent and predictable annexation policies.

Because the area is already served with some City services, the City should invoke its ETJ authority and zone the site for mixed-use planned development. Any hook-ups to City services should be made contingent upon official annexation to the City and acquiescence to the PUD zoning designation. These terms should be spelled out in a pre-annexation agreement triggered by a request for services.

Given the size of the site, it is expected that the project would be built in several phases over several years and possibly involving multiple developers. The master developer would be required to submit, and get approval for, the complete master

plan before starting the first phase. The master plan would include lot layout, grading, circulation and stormwater management components. Each subsequent development phase would also be subject to a thorough site plan review process. The developer would be required to install all streets per City’s specs and dedicate them back to the City. The most environmentally sensitive portions of the site should be set aside for permanent open space.

• Exercise of ETJ authority• Pre-annexation agreement• Design guidelines & covenants• Rigorous site plan review


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Tracks 2011-2012 2013-2014 2015-2016 2017+

1. Legal/Regulatory

a. Zoning & Design Guidelines• Outreach • Amendment drafting • Resolution, adoption

b. ETJ Authority• Meetings with City• Filings, notices• Public hearings

• Implementation

c. Annexations • Pre-annexation draft language • Ongoing with service extensions

2. Direct Public Investment

a. Streetscape• Design and engineering• Peg. funding sources

• Phase 1 construction (Wash @ US 30)

• Phase 2 Construction (east gateway) Phase 3 con-struction (west gateway)

b. TIF District (Wash @ US 30)

• Blight study• Statutory redevelopment plan• Meetings with property owners,

taxing bodies

• TIF project plan• Infrastructure needs incor-

porated in to CIP• District creation

• Land assembly• Sitework• Developer recruitment

• Land assembly• Developer recruitment

c. Infrastructure

• Engineering construction• Coordinated with other devel-

opment and incorporate into CIP

• Begin preliminary alterna-tives analysis on Silhavy realignment

• Preliminary design of major intersection im-provements: Sturdy Rd., Washington St., and Hayes-Leonard Rd.

d. Underground wires Coordinated with infrastructure work and private development

e. Salt Creek restoration & stormwater management plan

• Grant procurement • Planning • Implementation

3. Incentives

a. Façade grants• Peg. funding sources• Establish eligibility criteria• Program launch

b. Hwy 30 loan fund• Concept white paper• Recruit fund-raisers• ID funding sources

• Fund-raising• Underwriting criteria

• Program launch

4. Privately-led Initiatives

a. VU Joint Maintenance agreement

• MOU VU maintenance of Campus Drive segment

b. Hwy 30 Business Association• Business owner outreach

meetings• Formation of business as-

sociation• Creation of BID district • BID plan

• Maiden project launch

5-Year Planning Goals

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A D O PTED J ULY 25 , 2011A D O PTED J ULY 25 , 2011

3535

30

A P P ENDI XA P P ENDI XSTREETSCAPE PROJECT AND MATERIALS LIST

A-1A-1

Description Quantity

New Hwy 30 Railroad Bridge (to replace existing) 1

Metal structure Metal post and beams, heavy structure to replace existing (increase in span from 65' to 75' width)

Wing walls Reinforced concrete to support railway, with brick veneer and stone or precast capstones

Columns Masonry veneer stone & brick, with stone or precast capstones, over reinforced concrete block, surrounding metal structural posts

Deck / railway Reinforced concrete railway deck

Finials (4) Wood or High Density Urethane, with internally lit logo panels (one side), & metal roof

Decorative wood railings Timber guardrails and posts w/steel backing

Widened roadway Widened roadway (10' additional width)

Renovated Washington Street Railroad Bridge 1

Structure Existing structure to be skinned with new veneer siding

Wing walls / columns (4) Masonry veneer stone & brick, with stone or precast capstones, with new poured concrete structure pinned or adhered to existing concrete

Deck / railway Reinforced concrete railway deck

Finials Wood High Density Urethane, with internally lit logo panels (one side), & metal roof

Pedestrian Bridge 2

Metal structure Arched, with vertical posts, with metal beams lengthwise, painted

Decorative metal railings 42' ht, metal posts, thin metal tube rails, painted

Finials (4) Wood or High Density Urethane, with internally lit logo panels (one side), and metal roof

Columns (4) Masonry veneer stone & brick, with stone or precast capstones, over steel-reinforced concrete block columns

Foundation Reinforced concrete mass to 4' depth, over sonotube or pilings to greater depth as required

Deck / pathway paving Reinforced concrete deck and approach paths, asphalt paths 10' width from ramps to destination points

Approach ramps Stone veneer or segmental retaining walls to elevate pathway over road, sloped at 5%

Intersection improvements - Decorative Signals / Accented Crosswalks 3

Renovated signals New decorative traffi c signal systems to accommodate pedestrian crossings

Decorative crosswalks Colored concrete paving, and refuge islands to replace existing pavement

Clocktower Monument (approx. 30' ht x 7' w. at base) 2

Finial Wood or High Density Urethane, with internally lit logo panels (one side), and metal roof

Column Masonry veneer stone & brick, with stone or precast capstones, over steel-reinforced concrete block columns

Foundation Reinforced concrete mass to 4' depth, over sonotube or pilings to greater depth as required

Plaza surrounding Accent paving - brick or concrete pavers, seatwalls, and accent plantings in area (30' dia.) around clock tower


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DowntownValparaiso University

Library

Highway 30 Highway 30

NaturalStone Veneer

Vertical Accessvia Ladder @Hollow Core

Wood or High DensityUrethane Finial Structure,

w/ Clock, 4 Sides

Stone orPrecast Cap

Brick Veneer

Timber Guardrail & Postsw/ Steel Backing

Wood or High DensityUrethane Finial Structure,w/ Lit Logo Panels

Natural StoneVeneer orSegmental UnitRetaining Walls

Metal Arch & Post StructureDecorative Metal

Railing

NaturalStone Veneer Stone or

Precast CapBrick VeneerMetal Beam

Reinforced Conc.Deck, 10’ W.

NaturalStone Veneer

Stone orPrecast Cap

Wood or High DensityUrethane Sign Box

Wood or High DensityUrethane Finial Structure

Wood Top &Bottom Rails

Wood or High DensityUrethane Finial Structure

Pedestrian Bridge

Stream Culvert Crossing

Clocktower Monument

Community Entrance Signage

Directional Signage

Sample Landscape Elements:Monuments / Features

Highway 30 Corridor Plan

Refined DetailsMarch 30, 2011

A-2


37

Decorative Pedestrian Lighting

Shortgrass PrairieBu�er Plantings

Shade TreesExistingBuilding

Decorative Signal Poles,Arms, and Lights

Existing BusinessSignage

Existing Plantings

Accent MedianPlantings

Morthland Drive

Hwy 30

Existing BusinessSignage Existing

Building

Limestone BoulderAccents

Shade Trees

Shortgrass PrairieBu�er Plantingsw/ Limestone BoulderAccents

Landscape Enlargements0' 50'

Typical Roadway PlantingsHighway 30 Corridor Plan

Final ConceptsFebruary 14, 2011

Signals & Streetlights

A-3


38

Highway 30 Highway 30

NaturalStone Veneer

Wood or High DensityUrethane Finial Structure,w/ Lit Logo Panels

Stone or Precast CapBrick Veneer

Timber Guardrail & Posts

Metal Beam

Concrete BarrierShoulder Highway 30 Corridor Plan

Refined DetailsMarch 23, 2011Highway 30 Railroad Bridge

Elevation0' 10'

Plan

Existing Bridge

0' 60'

A-4


39

ExistingConcrete

Arch Structure

North Washington Street North Washington Street

Natural Stone Veneer

Natural Stone Veneer Stone or Precast Cap

Brick Veneer

Existing Conc.Wingwall

ExistingConcrete

Arch StructureStone or Precast Cap

Brick Veneer

Existing Conc.Wingwall

Wood or High DensityUrethane Finial Structure,

w/ Lit Logo PanelsWood or High DensityUrethane Finial Structure,w/ Lit Logo Panels

Highway 30 Corridor Plan

Refined DetailsMarch 23, 2011

Washington Street Railroad Bridge

Elevation - looking north Section - looking west

0' 8'

Plan0' 60'

A-5


40


Bike / Ped TrailShortgrass PrairieBu�er Plantings

w/ Limestone BoulderAccents

Shade Trees

Building In�llCafe Space

Shortgrass Prairie Bu�er Plantingsw/ Limestone Boulder Accents

Building In�llBuilding In�ll

Building In�ll

Existing BuildingExisting Building

Cafe Space


Shade Trees

Bike / Ped Trail

Westbound Hwy. 30 Frontage Road

ExistingBuilding

Middle-Mile Landscape 0' 40'

Site Section Looking West

Highway 30 Corridor PlanFinal Concepts

February 8, 2011

A-6

Documents

Valparaiso U.S. 30 Corridor Plan