As a part of the land use and growth scenario process the planning team facilitated a highly
interactive workshop charrette over the course of a (2) two-day period. During the charrette all previous data collection, community interviews, and interaction with the steering committee and stakeholder groups was presented, in addition to a short, detailed presentation on background information, local trends, guiding principles and workshop instructions before turning participants over to workshop facilitators to build their future.
Participants at the charrette worked in small groups with a large format map and development “chips” (like game pieces that coordinate with the development types) to create their own scenario of growth and make decisions about where and what type of growth they desire.
The workshop challenged participants with the task of making decisions about the general form that new growth should take, and the type of transportation system needed to serve it. They grappled with the issues and trade-offs related to placing growth in different locations, given environmental, institutional, and infrastructure constraints.
Using data gathered during the charrette, the planning team will develop (3) three refined, GIS based land use and transportation scenarios to illustrate a range of potential futures for Kosciusko County. We will map opportunity sites, roads and infrastructure, and identify common themes and plausible directions for future community growth.
Using Envision Tomorrow, a GIS based program, we will test and refine the scenarios using
community goals and/or evaluation benchmarks as a guideline and then, compared against each other using the selected evaluation criteria developed. Outputs from these evaluation criteria, called indicators, enable the team to tie the scenario results to the community values and guiding principles identified throughout the process.
The refined land use scenarios will be presented to the public at an upcoming public meeting.