Ball State Offers Planning ServicesTown Councilman Walt Miller wants to enhance the economic vitality of the small business owners in Clermont byproviding the town with a growth plan to lead them forward. Miller invited Director of Indianapolis Center of Ball State College of Architecture and Planning Scott Truex and City of Indianapolis City Planner Bob Wilch to discuss their services at the May 10th town council meeting. Several years ago, Ball State and the City of Indianapolis started partnering in planning projects. The City of Indianapolis would be involved because the Department of Metropolitan Development controls the zoning in all of Marion County including Clermont. Miller invited town residents to name the town’s assets. Comments included maintaining a small town feeling, feeling safe to walk in town, low rent for businesses, and its strategic location to Indianapolis, Avon and Brownsburg. Truex’s presentation highlighted a common misunderstanding about planning that it only revolves around the land. “The land is to serve us. Don’t let the color maps become too powerful. Planning is about people and how they become engaged in the community,” he said. Planning also targets quality of life issues. People need to think beyond good jobs as defining their quality of life. It is about the quality of schools, housing, parks, neighborhoods, and infrastructure. He noted that small towns are often resistant to change, but unfortunately is inevitable. “Change happens to you and around you regardless if the community wants to change,” he said. Ball State services are not free. He said the cost is based in the extent of the service and how many architecture students it involves. Ball State starts vision process, but the town would have to hire an engineering firm to later in the process. “There has never been a town too small that didn’t get involved because of money,” he said. He noted that small towns often tap on the doors of community service organizations to pay for the planning or seek grant money with the help of Ball State. Truex will not accept the service if only one person funds the project because that means it is not a community investment. The council made no comment whether or not they were going to pursue Ball State’s planning resources Although the council did not speak about budgetary issues in the presence of Truex, the council learned that Department of Local Government Finance chopped the budget by $10,000. The DLGF also refused to approve $180,000 for the fire territory contract with Wayne Township. Although the fire territory will end June 30, the council should be entitled to half of the amount. The town had to increase its fire service budget from $80,000 to $218,000 because of past miscalculations that occurred. The error was blamed on the omittance of not accounting for Clermont being located in Pike Township and Wayne Township. Clermont was not paying as much as other taxpayers for fire service from Wayne Township. The township wanted to level the playing field for all taxpayers in the township dependent upon their fire services. Dissolving the fire terrirtory means the council and Wayne Township will have to enter into contractual arrangement for fire services starting July 1. However, a fire contract cannot be created unless the two entities know the amount the DLGF will approve for fire services. Town Attorney Robert Lutz said he would contact the DLGF about the issue. Lutz speculated that DLGF’s decision not to approve the funding was due to the town’s error of an improper advertising of the budget’s legal notice |
|
