Local Decision Maker: Helping Indiana Communities Plan Their Future

By Irene Miles, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant

In Indiana, it has become much easier for local officials to consider natural resources as they develop land use plans for their community. Local Decision Maker (LDM) is a GIS-based online resource rich with research data on environmentally sensitive areas, open space, streams and rivers, and potential sources of contamination.

"Now when local planners strive to balance growth with natural resources, they have tools necessary to make informed choices," said Rick Farnsworth, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant associate director of extension.

Development decisions affect natural resources and have economic consequences for local communities. Local Decision Maker provides the means for informed land use planning.

The LDM project began as an effort to address the need for natural resource information in counties along Lake Michigan. The concept expanded and LDM is now more comprehensive in its geographic range and in its scope of information. In addition to natural resources, local planners throughout Indiana can go online and find data and maps on economic development, labor markets, schools and other critical planning components.

In this decision system, land use planners can find up-to-date information specific to their community. They can view multiple maps of information at the same time to see where potential problems or opportunities exist. And they can compare their community with neighboring communities or the larger county or state.

On the Local Decision Maker web site, planners can find maps of natural areas throughout Indiana. This is Marion County.

"Developing an inventory of a community's existing conditions has typically been a costly part of the planning process," said Farnsworth, who is also a Purdue University natural resource economist and a leader in creating the site. "That money can now be used for developing better plans."

By asking key questions, LDM helps planners determine the type of growth– urban, recreational, or agricultural–that complements their natural, human, and economic resources. For example, how will new development impact the existing sewer, water, and transportation infrastructure? And how will new development impact the flow of services coming from the community's natural resources?

"Almost half of a county's tax revenues go to school corporations," said Larry DeBoer, an economic development specialist at Purdue University. LDM provides questions for communities regarding local schools on topics such as expenses and taxes, the number and size of schools, and the rate of community growth. "In working through these questions, planners get a good idea whether schools may need to be added or closed and the implications on school budgets, based on actual and projected growth in the region," said DeBoer.

LDM also provides an economic diversification index, employment data, commuting patterns, and demographic data to assess existing economic conditions.

Residents of Porter County, Indiana, which sits along the shores of Lake Michigan, are hoping to preserve horse pastures, small-town charm and lakefront natural areas and recreation as the region faces inevitable growth.

Three Indiana counties that are in the process of developing or updating comprehensive plans are pilot testing LDM. "These counties have very different challenges," said Farnsworth. "Porter County is facing rapid urbanization; Jasper County is focusing on agricultural-based businesses as part of their economic development; and Brown County is looking to recreation as a component of their economy. As these counties create their development strategy using LDM, they are helping us fine tune the site."

LDM was developed with funding from the Purdue Center for the Environment, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, the Purdue Center for Regional Development, and Purdue University College of Agriculture. Faculty and staff from Purdue's Departments of Forestry and Natural Resources and Agricultural Economics were instrumental in collecting data and developing maps for the project.