Merrillville Comprehensive Plan Open House scheduled Oct. 5
Concepts continue to be formed for the Merrillville Momentum Comprehensive Plan, and the Town is seeking feedback from residents to help the plan take shape.
An open house is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Dean and Barbara White Community Center, 6600 Broadway.
The community is invited to attend to learn about ideas developed from the summer workshops and to share your thoughts for Merrillville’s future.
“The Comprehensive Plan is a major undertaking in the Town of Merrillville as it will include projects for the next 20 years,” Town Council President Rick Bella said. “Resident participation is crucial to make sure your ideas are considered in this important document.”
Marty Shukert, of RDG Planning & Design, said the Oct. 5 open house will focus on future land use, redevelopment projects, a community promenade, street & trail connections, and other topics. RDG is the firm the Town hired to prepare the Merrillville Momentum Comprehensive Plan.
Shukert stressed that the concepts that will be discussed on Oct. 5 aren’t set in stone, but they have been created to help gauge what they community wants to see in Town in the coming decades.
He said the redevelopment of the former Radisson Hotel and Star Plaza site has drawn significant attention from the community.
“There are several different ideas of what could be done with the 36-acre site,” he said.
One of the concepts would involve developing a children’s museum or another children’s-focused project that would make the area a regional destination.
There are also ideas of developing the site as a mixed-use project. Shukert said that could involve the creation of a municipal campus in which Town departments and other Merrillville agencies could move to a new building there. He said that could be combined with other facilities around the property such as an amphitheater.
“We have a 36-acre site that really ought to be the gateway to Merrillville,” Shukert said.
Shukert said the summer workshops also produced concepts to create a community promenade.
“An idea to link together the main central features in the middle of Merrillville that are right now rather close together but rather unrelated to each other,” he said.
Shukert is referring to the Dean and Barbara White Community Center, Merrillville High School, and Hidden Lake Park.
“They’re right next to each other, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it because you can’t easily go from one to the other,” he said.
RDG’s concept would create a major walking path to bring those three areas together.
“There’s a real desire for community,” Shukert said.
RDG has created many other concepts for a variety of areas in the Town, so residents are encouraged to attend the Oct. 5 open house to stay informed and have their voices heard.
Visit https://rdgusa.mysocialpinpoint.com/merrillvillecomprehensiveplan for more information about the Merrillville Momentum Comprehensive Plan.