Confessional Box

props to the archi dept. for putting AU in the news!

Andrews Shows Off North End Study
University officials stress changes don’t have to be quick.

Jason Miller
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Residents on Thursday were given their first real look at the study that officials feel could transform the city’s North End.

Instructors and students from the Andrews University Urban Design Studio presented the final results of their early fall study to an overflowing crowd at Michigan City City Hall.

The study, commissioned last summer, not only gave ideas for utilization of new retail, residential units and green space, but also presented a way to refit the city’s zoning process. That would make the study’s conclusions more feasible.

“Everything we’ve done here is a proposal that has to be taken to the next level,” said Andrew Von Maur, the head of the design studio and facilitator of the study.

“It’s not a 100-percent blueprint to follow, but it shows how development should work. It’s a visionary illustration that’s supposed to help guide the decision-making process.”

The study focused on creating “meat” in the middle of what many call the city’s “Golden Triangle,”the area between Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets, Blue Chip Casino and Washington Park.

Andrews students designed wholesale changes not only at the edges of the triangle, but in the middle, as well, including parks and new buildings, all of which Von Maur said would make the city more pedestrian friendly.

“We want to turn the triangle into a diamond by utilizing the South Shore (railroad on 11th Street),” he said. “Franklin Street is a pretty good district, but it’s surrounded by a non-pedestrian friendly environment. The study shows how to change that.”

Along with making Franklin Street a two-way street and creating a shopping and residential mecca along Trail Creek, the study also showed how to utilize Washington Park more efficiently.

The study makes use of beach as a “front yard to the city,” by creating a grassy area with an amphitheater on one side and a restaurant on the other.

Parks Superintendent Darrell Garbacik liked the idea.

“It looks surprisingly like the parks’ Master Plan,” Garbacik said. He was referring to a plan introduced last year that included many ideas the Andrews study encompassed, including a restaurant. “And I think it looks pretty darn cool.”

One of the more interesting aspects of the study, Von Maur said, is its introduction of, and recommendation of, a new zoning plan called SmartCode. SmartCode sets up zones based on the type of environment the city seeks instead of specific uses.

The code more easily blends different types of uses into one area to fit the idea of what officials would like the area to become. Von Maur said the study should be phased in over generations.

Mayor Chuck Oberlie already has laid out plans to begin work on some of the ideas as soon as this year.

“These are all bold ideas. Some people are ready to start today,” Von Maur said. “But some aren’t. This is something that should be phased in over time.”

Contact reporter Jason Miller at jmiller@thenewsdispatch.com.

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