Residents weigh in on vision

<b>Community sessions offer residents chance to have their say on blueprint for county’s future</b>

by Kevin Smith

Mark Kistler, president of the Twelve Mile Lions Club, turned out for a meeting last week to talk about Cass County’s proposed comprehensive plan.

He attended the event, he said, to satisfy his curiosity.

“It’s kind of nice to see what they’re going to include,” Kistler said. “Overall it is really good. Some of the things we really need and we need them now. Where we are going to get the money from, though, I don’t know.”

The plan is intended as a blueprint for projects and initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life in Cass County over the next 10 to 20 years.

The plan is divided into five distinct sections — transportation, economic development, land use, community facilities, and parks and recreation.

Information boards set up at the meeting emphasized the five themes, and they listed some programs that have already been suggested.

Ideas included the establishment of a countywide mass transit system, improving the county road network, supporting a sustainable and natural storm and wastewater management system, promoting specialized retail stores and restaurants that sell local products and the use of Ivy Tech Community College to train a 21st century workforce savvy to technological advances.

Residents attending the session were offered the chance to provide feedback on what they liked and disliked, and to suggest further ideas on issues the planners might have missed.

Paul LeBlanc, managing partner of LSL Planning, the consultants working with the county on the project, said the plan would build on the county’s existing strengths and assets.

“We have to plan for the future by putting growth in the right place that costs the county government and taxpayer as little as possible,” LeBlanc said. “We intend to use existing services we already have to maximize their potential before expanding further and further out.”

Kory Zeider, a resident of Twelve Mile, who attended Thursday’s information session, was clear on what he would like to see the plan address.

“I’d like to see more activities for the children and more recreational activities,” Zeider said.

Doug Decker, a landscape architect with CBA, said the plan’s focus was to improve the overall parks and recreation opportunities in the county.

“Logansport is pretty well served, and France Park is a wonderful facility,” he said, “but in Twelve Mile and some of the other communities, parks and recreation need to be improved.”

Suggestions for improvements include improving the Adamsboro canoe launch site and improving and increasing the number of walking and bike trails to create a network across the county.

“We have an excellent opportunity here to create some regional trail networks,” Decker said. “There are already some great trails in Cass County and by adding and improving them we can increase the overall quality of life for residents and increase opportunities for others to visit Cass County.”

The chance for public involvement did not end on Thursday night.

There will be further public meetings once the first draft of the plan is finished, and the county is also encouraging residents that are interested to hold their own community meetings before then to discuss what the plan should include.

“We have developed a ‘Public Workshop in a Box’ which is a kit that has been put together with a lot of questions and markers, as well as some microwaveable popcorn, so people can host meetings at their homes,” LeBlanc said. “Five, six or 10 people can get together and discuss the future of the county. The kits are available to borrow from the county.”

LeBlanc admitted that is often difficult to get people excited about the future during a tough economic time, but he said he hoped that by offering a range of ways for people to get involved the planners could convince county residents to embrace the comprehensive plan.

“When we do a program like this, there is no one way of getting people involved,” LeBlanc said. “I think people will appreciate the chance to participate in a variety of ways.”

Kevin Smith can be contacted at (574) 732-5148 or via e-mail at kevin.smith@pharostribune.com

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