Master planning process has begun in the Village of Grand Beach

Members of the Grand Beach Master Plan Task Force began envisioning a new and improved Grand Beach when they met to kick off the master planning process Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Member Diane Cody said that a municipality must review its plan per a bill that was written in 2008.

“But after a while you have to look at your plan and say is it meaningful anymore and do we go in and change a few things or do we go in and gut it and start again?

I think it was in agreement that we go in and start again,” she said.

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

the village and “looking at things and recording data” to finding sources of that data online, Walder said.

Walder noted that there’s been two censuses since the last master plan.

“Someone’s going to go and take the data from those two master plans and compare them and put that data into this document,” he said.

how the pandemic affected the village with regards to the prices of houses and how more people were living in the village more often as opposed to going to the city. Also included would be the type of village housing and its demographics.

A key part of strategic or master planning, Cody said, is asking: “Where are we now?” and subgoals.

The first step is data gathering from a variety of sources, from driving around the village and “looking at things and recording data” to finding sources of that data online, Walder said.

Harry Walder, a member of the task force as well as president of the Grand Beach Village Council, said that a master plan is needed to address what the village is going to look like in five, 10, 15 and 20 years.

“It’s going to address the things that, at the end when it’s all done, that the council needs to consider funding, constructing, building, repairing - whatever that comes out of that master plan,” he said.

The first step is data gathering from a variety of sources, from driving around

Once everything has been assembled and Cody has pulled it together in some format, a consultant will be hired to take the data that was collected and the results of surveys, townhalls and focus groups and “put it into the legal format it needs to be in so it qualifies by state law as a master plan,” Walder said.

Per a master plan timeline that was distributed to members of the task force, a Request for Proposal (RFP) would be sent out for a consultant in August.

The plan would be required for approval first from the Planning Commission and then the village council.

Cody said the plan could start with an introduction to Grand Beach and the purpose of the plan, as well as an executive summary, in the first section. Next, it would give a brief history of the village, which Cody said could highlight

“Then we start gathering the input from people and saying, ‘Okay, where do you think where we are, do we need any changes, what are the good things?’” she said.

Opportunities for input from the community could come from the survey, with a first survey scheduled to be sent out Feb. 23-March 5 according to a master plan timeline. Focus and Zoom groups could take place this summer, and possibly a town hall meeting in August.

Saying that “nothing is set in stone” with regards to gathering input, Cody said that the first short survey will gather information on issues such as demographics. Other surveys may be needed to “prioritize things and digging deeper into a particular topic that we need to have input from them.”

Input gathering will help them formulate goals, which Cody said she believes should be a “reasonable number” but have several subgoals underneath each one. An “action plan” would put “accountability” to the goals

When asked to identify what they believe to be the “treasures” of Grand Beach, members of the task force listed the beach, golf course, its community aspect, how the village has no businesses, its seclusion off the main highway, how it’s an “enclave” (which ties into safety), its recreational opportunities, its generational aspect and the family histories of the village and its location (being within 20 minutes of larger cities or two hours of Chicago). Cody said that survey participants will be asked to also identify the positives of the village.

When asked how the village could be improved upon, members listed the following items: beautifying the pier, having viewing platforms, the clubhouse and utilizing it more on a daily basis, village infrastructure (such as power line), playgrounds, the maintenance building, making a plan for beach/ lakefront resiliency, roads and streetlights, community engagement (such as making newcomers feel more welcome in the village), redoing the tennis courts and making a pickleball court (which could mirror the one in the Village of Michiana) and possibly opening that area up for more parking.

Members will spend the next few weeks gathering data on different topics, with their next meeting scheduled for March 24.

ew Buffalo High School will host its annual Empty Bowls Benefit Dinner from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, in the middle/high school cafeteria at 1112 E. Clay Street in New Buffalo.

Members of the New Buffalo High School Pottery Club and attendees of the Community Pottery Workshop have been working hard to create some beautiful bowls for the event.

For a suggested donation of $10, guests are invited to choose a ceramic bowl made by a high school student or adult in the pottery workshop before enjoying a meal of chili or soup, a drink and a dessert.

This event is sponsored by New Buffalo High School Student Senate and the New Buffalo Fine Arts Council. Proceeds will benefit the New Buffalo chapter of Blessings in a Backpack, which is supported by Water’s Edge United Methodist Church in New Buffalo.

BY STAN MADDUX