SESSIONS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

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October 15 

 

10:00 AM

Environmental Review - Auditorium

Craig McGowan, Bryce Gorman, Tim Parthum

In preparing funding applications for local projects, Region Planning staff may encounter conflicts in the Environmental review processes between OCRA, SRF, USDA and EDA. This workshop will describe some of the differences and similarities between the various review processes

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Unveiling Indiana’s Social Landscape: Navigating Social Science Data - Theodore Roosevelt Room

Kevin Mickey 

Social science data are used by planners to identify, analyze, and mitigate social issues related to poverty, crime, climate change, health, education and more. Social science data are readily available in Indiana from the US Census, SAVI, a variety of social indices, and other resources. This workshop explores these data as well as their potential and limitations. 

 

GO Electric Vehicle Indiana - Pat Summit/John Wooden Room

Carl Lisek, Shawn Seals 

GOEVIN - A Statewide Program helping foster electric vehicle adoption and education across Indiana. This is a collaboration between State Agencies, Utilities, Businesses, Non-Profits, and Consumers! 

 

11:00 AM

Regional Planning Perspectives: With a Purpose and a Pathway Towards Success - Auditorium  

 Mitchel Berg, Ph.D., Tom Guevara 

As regional planners we cannot simply look within our regions to identify where all our development threats and opportunities come from. Regional planning needs to include new tools that can help us be more objectively comprehensive as well as identify potential development opportunities which leverage existing talents, community strengths, and industries. This discussion will focus on emergent tools and applied cluster industry research to help planners build more effective strategies to achieve their development goals.  This discussion will also provide practical takeaways and tips to promote greater regional cooperation. 

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Connecting the Region through Transit and Evansville Microtransit Pilot - Theodore Roosevelt Room

Zach Dripps, Matt Schriefer

The Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) partnered with the local public transit provider to create the regions first Regional Transit Plan laying out a vision for public transit in the South Bend-Elkhart Region. The 18-month planning process, beginning in late 2021, in included a lot of stakeholder engagement and education to better understand the unique challenges to transit planning in our communities, resulting in a short-term and long-term vision for the the system. Following the adoption, MACOG and its partners have worked together to launch the short-term improvements in the Summer of 2024. 

After more than two years of discussion and coordination, the Metropolitan Evansville Transit System (METS) kicked off a Microtransit Pilot on Evansville's Eastside in November 2023. METS chose Via as the contracted operator, who maintains constant communication to ensure the best possible service. Just six months into the Pilot, the service is already expanding.

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IMPO Regional Resiliency Snapshot : A PROTECT Program RIP - Pat Summit/John Wooden Room

Annie Dixon 

The IMPO's Regional Resiliency Snapshot was designed with the PROTECT discretionary funding guidance in mind. In this session, attendees will learn about the vulnerability assessment of transportation infrastructure of Central Indiana and the holistic assessment of regional resiliency for other regional capital assets. The snapshot is designed to serve as the region's resilience improvement plan (RIP) under the PROTECT guidance.

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2:00 PM

Tools for Addressing a Region’s Housing Shortage - Auditorium

Ryan Keller, Lisa Lee, Sara Correll, Jason Semler, Hayden Wiesinger

This session will provide an overview of tools being used to address housing challenges in Indiana including non-profit housing development corporations, Housing Tax Increment Finance (HoTIF), and the Section 42 Rental Housing Tax Credit (RHTC also called LIHTC). 

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Planning the Next Generation of Interstates - Theodore Roosevelt Room

Tim Miller 

Many of our nation's interstates were constructed more than 50 years ago. As our aging interstate system approaches its anticipated design life, several states are planning and implementing techniques that modernize the interstates while reconnecting communities, incorporating community aesthetic packages, and including multi modal opportunities. This presentation will review national examples and prompt a planning discussion.

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Riding a Bike with a Purpose - Pat Summit/John Wooden Room

Dustin New, Caroline Ahern

MACOG is utilizing a data bike to collect geolocated trail specific data, including roughness, 360 degree photographs and detailed trail photographs. This data will be used to develop trails specific asset management plans, trail maintenance budgets and an app for trail navigation. 

The right combination of data can enable planners and decision makers can build safer and more equitable communities. With more funding available than ever, Replica will share use cases for how data, modeling, and platforms can be leveraged for grants, project design, and monitoring. 

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2:00PM - 4:50

Prairieville Workshop - Christine Grant Ballroom - Must register in advance - space limited

Prairieville is an interactive workshop exploring the trade-offs of designing a transit system. This 2.75 hour workshop fills a critical gap in people's professional training by giving people a grasp of how transit networks and services work, so that they can form more confident and resilient opinions about transit proposals in their own work.  It offers a fun, hands-on way of learning what makes an effective transit network, and what those insights mean.

 

3:00 PM

Using Housing Studies for Identifying Other Community Need - Auditorium

Brad Coffing, Erica Boswell

This session will discuss housing studies, the connection between housing studies and utility needs, and the disconnect between housing preferences and the available housing stock. MIBOR will present findings from their longitudinal housing preference surveys and the Hancock County EDC will discuss their comprehensive plan that incorporates transportation, housing and economic development.

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A Watershed Approach to Understanding & Improving Our Waters - Theodore Roosevelt Room 

Kelly Brown, Jill Hoffmann 

The White River Report Card project and the River Assessment Field Teams (RAFT) programs collect community and field data to perform watershed-level analyses, aiming to create a more comprehensive understanding of the condition of the physical environment as well as identify which human and/or policy choices are driving those conditions. The proposed presentation will explore how the report card worked to score various indicators of land, water, and community health, and then identify key local concerns. Concurrently, RAFT assisted the Report Card effort and now continues to help fill agency data gaps, tease out pollution hot spots, and measure trends over time.

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Tactical Urbanism: How one Indianapolis neighborhood prevented crashes and helped drivers obey the law - Pat Summit/John Wooden Room

Leslie Schulte 

Community Heights neighborhood, a streetcar suburb on the eastside of Indianapolis, had grown tired of speeding and reckless driving. Using a new tactical urbanism policy to secure a permit from the city, the organization tested a new design for a minor arterial road. During the 90 day experiment, crashes dropped 74% and speeding and other illegal driver maneuvers were sharply curbed.

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4:00 PM

IEDA Childcare Study - Auditorium

Jim Tidd, Katherine Follansbee, Cheryl Morphew

This session will provide an overview of the methodology, process, intent and some of the findings of the recently completed IEDA Childcare Study.  The panel will discuss how the IEDA and individual Local Economic Development Organizations plan to implement and use the findings of the Study with suggestions how IARC Members can utilize the results of the Study in the Regional Planning Process.

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Practical Approaches to Bicycle & Pedestrian Planning: Engagement and Analysis - Theodore Roosevelt Room

Varu Musunuri, Andrew Magee

An overview of the stakeholder & public engagement strategy for IMPO’s new Central Indiana Regional Active Transportation Plan and a look at the spatial analyses for facility selection and prioritization used in the MCCOG Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan update.

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The More You Know: Grants, Grants, and Grants - Pat Summit/John Wooden Room

Erica Tait, Patrick Zaharako, Leslie Biek, Leah Thill, Matt Brinkman, Andy Rush

This session will be an interactive peer exchange detailing the experience of discretionary grant recipients in Indiana across multiple grant programs.

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October 16

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9:00 AM

The Maze of Regional Planning Organization Management - Auditorium

Germain Willett, Rachel Mattingly Phillips, Jeff Roeder, Amanda Gleason

The variety of management issues that Regional Planning Organizations’ must deal with in their operations can be overwhelming and intimidating, especially for people not trained in those management areas. This session will discuss administrative and operational issues including legal topics related to personnel, benefits and recruiting, and the increasingly important topic of cyber security.  Just as important, the panelist will be available to answer and address specific questions you bring to the workshop.

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Affordability as a Planning Goal: How Local Policies can Increase Affordability, Financial Resilience and Economic Opportunity - Christine Grant Ballroom

Todd Litman

This workshop will identify practical ways to evaluate affordability impacts and achieve affordability goals in their community. Housing and transportation are most households’ two largest expenditure categories; when household have trouble purchasing healthy food, healthcare or education the cause is often excessive housing and transportation cost burdens that leave too little money for other essential goods. Automobiles are expensive, costing several thousand dollars annually to own and operate, and they sometimes impose large, unexpected expenses due to mechanical failures, crashes or traffic citations that can cause financial shocks. A lack of affordable transportation can limit people’s economic opportunities including access to education, jobs and affordable shopping. Households often make trade-offs between housing and transportation costs; a cheap house is not truly affordable if located in an automobile dependent area where transportation is expensive. True affordability therefore requires affordable housing located in walkable urban neighborhoods where transportation costs can be minimized. Many current planning practices favor expensive housing, such as single-family homes with costly off-street parking, over lower cost options such as multi-family with unbundled parking, and expensive transportation, such as automobile travel, over lower cost modes such as walking, bicycling and public transportation. Reforming these practices can increase affordability. Through presentations, discussion and group exercises, workshop participants will identify planning strategies that can increase housing and transportation affordability, evaluate their benefits and costs, and determine the most appropriate combination to implement in a particular community.

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​Metropolitan Transportation Plan Tools - John Wooden/Pat Summit Room

Bobby Wertman AICP PTP, Rose Scovel AICP, Shengnan Lou, Johnny Han Jeremy Weir

RSG led an update of the Anchorage, AK region’s travel demand model simultaneously with supporting the MPO’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) update through using the new model to forecast performance of the potential plan alternatives. RSG worked carefully with the client and the MTP team to design integrated work plans so that the updated model clearly addressed the chosen MTP goals, objectives, and performance measures. Part of this presentation will provide an overview of Terre Haute Are MPO's recent effort in updating its 2050 MTP, with a highlight of the data-driven approach for project recommendation and the extensive public/stakeholder engagement through various online surveys and three public meetings.

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11:00 AM

Post Covid Regional Competitiveness--EDA Supply Chain Tool and Supply Chain Leakage Tools New Industry Cluster Presentation - Auditorium

Indraneel Kumar, Steve Dunlop, Annie Cruz-Porter

​This session will begin with a demonstration of the supply chain marketplace tool and the supply chain SBDC leakage tool.  This will be followed by a presentation on occupations by skill and new industry clusters and then a discussion on what regional competitiveness is beginning to look like in a post-covid economy.  Through a grant provided to PCRD by the EDA to update industry clusters in the United States, this presentation utilizes and highlights the most up to date information on industry clusters.

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Stone Eater Mountain Bike Park - Pat Summitt/John Wooden Room
Kevin Krulik PE PS AICP
Stone Eater Mountain Bike Park is a competition level mountain bike park in Lebanon, Indiana. The site has a long and interesting history as an unregulated landfill with significant environmental issues and the city has worked with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to get the site clearance needed for reuse. The vision, partnerships, funding model and plan for operations and maintenance is part of this exciting project.

Regional Orgs + Local Community Data Exchange - Theodore Roosevelt Room
Jen Higginbotham AICP

A group discussion about the successes and challenges of sharing
data between regional and local organizations.

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October 17

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9:00 AM

Indiana Tourism and Trails - Theodore Roosevelt Room

Elaine Bedel, Dan Bortner, Mitch Barloga

 

Elaine Bedel of the Indiana Destination Development Corporation will discuss the corporation’s programs and new grant funding for tourism across the State.  Indiana offers more than 4,200 Indiana miles of state, local, federal and non-profit trails for all ages.  Dan Bortner will describe the Department of Natural Resources efforts to improve, extend and expand the states trails.  Tying the two together, Mitch Barloga will talk about the award winning Marquette Greenway and how it connects to tourism in the Region.

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Harnessing the Power of Quantitative Data to Create Catalytic Change - Pat Summit/John Wooden Room

Chris Worley

This session will present inspiring case studies from four communities using data for community transformation. The case studies will touch on creating a targeted response to economic shock, developing a minority business incubator, identifying housing solutions to support community development, and preserving wealth and economic mobility. The session will guide practitioners through the challenges, approach, and results for each case study, as well highlight how attendees can use data for decision making and development in their community.

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The Basics, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 Self Evaluations - Christine Grant Ballroom

Taffanee Keys

This session will focus on ADA and Section 504 self-evaluation basics as an agency-wide process to help ensure that all programs, services, and activities are accessible to people with disabilities.