Strategic plan decision coming

Jul 28, 2010 — Zionsville Times Sentinel

Emily Atwood

Jul. 28, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- By the end of September, Zionsville's Economic Development Commission should have a final decision on which company will help develop their strategic plan.

The plan will be in coordination with the new Zionsville Comprehensive Plan, which is being conducted by the plan commission.

Members decided at their Wednesday, July 21, meeting, to send the proposal out to six chosen companies instead of broadly throwing it out for even more companies to look at.

"We picked some people who are familiar," EDC member Chad Sweeney said.

Otherwise, the commission would have spent a lot of time answering questions, town attorney Andy Buroker said.

The invitations for consideration will be mailed to Urban Initiatives, American Structurepoint, Building Better Communities (Ball State), Katz, Sapper and Miller, Strategy Development Group and Remenschneider Associates Inc.

"We're looking for a consultant with experience with similar projects and one that will take the time and effort to understand our specific situation and come up with a plan that is tailored to that situation," EDC President Charlie Edwards said.

That specific situation being that Zionsville recently went from 11 square miles to 52.

"That is a very unique thing to happen," EDC member Andi Montgomery said.

After interviews are done and a firm is chosen, the consultant will have some time to conduct their work. It could be two to six months, Buroker said.

Amongst several requirements in its plan development, the company will have to lay out a plan for preliminary meeting with the EDC, the project team of the comprehensive land use plan, the plan commission and elected officials.

Montgomery also asked in the meeting that an amendment be made to the proposal so that business leaders' voices are also heard.

In addition, the consultant will have to evaluate the current conditions of existing land use inventory, infrastructure conditions and current staffing related to economic development as well as identifying the primary business corridors in Zionsville.

After evaluations, the consultant will have to look forward.

Stated in the proposal, it is required that there be a presentation of achievable short term projects, ones that are within a year to five years time span, and long term goals, ones that look out to more than five years.

Examples of these are the rebricking of Main Street and construction of a new 106th Street between Zionsville Road and the Hamilton County line, which were both targeted 10 years ago.

In planning and studying, the EDC can use TIF dollars when looking within the TIF district. The rest of the money will come from the EDC budget.

"It sounded to me like we were in line," Edwards said of the budget.

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