The Culver Town Council and Culver Redevelopment Commission met in a special joint session on Monday night to discuss the status of the Stellar Communities Program application.
Town Manager Jonathan Leist said the two groups have been meeting regularly since last year’s attempt at the recognition to make improvements to this year’s application. He said a vote was taken Monday night to take the next step in this year’s application process.
“The first piece that is due for the 2017 application is a letter of intent at the end of April,” explained Leist. “We just wanted to put to a formal vote with both groups as we expect financial and human capital resources from both groups – the town council and the redevelopment commission – if we would move forward with the application in 2017.”
The Culver Town Council and the Culver Redevelopment Commission members renewed their commitment toward the application and voted to approve the submission of the letter of intent. It was mentioned at last week’s town council meeting that application responsibilities would be divided among the two entities during this meeting, but that task will be completed in a future meeting.
While the step to prepare the letter of intent is fairly simple, Leist said the rest of the process is quite extensive.
“It is pretty intense. We identify maybe eight to a dozen or more that we feel are really transformative to the town and the type of projects that have broad community support that could change the future of the town. If you make the final process, we’ll do a larger strategic investment plan that really details all of the projects: the costs involved and the partners that we’d be working with. It’s a high level of detail on those plans and putting that all together.”
Leist said becoming a Stellar Community would put a spotlight on Culver for state and private investments. It also means completing several high priority projects that have been identified by the community in four years instead of 10. Leist said three projects will remain with this year’s application.
“A trail that connects the downtown that goes around our lake and connects to Culver Academy. It’s like a 10-foot wide bike and pedestrian trail. We’re also looking at more housing and the Culver Beach Lodge and the park buildings need renovations. Those three were identified on last year’s application and as our top projects. We’ll keep those on there. We’ve been working on opportunities to build on that list and add to it.”
The Town of Culver was very close to receiving the Stellar Communities Designation Program recognition last year, but the honor went to Corydon. The purpose of the Stellar Communities Designation Program is to recognize Indiana’s smaller communities that have identified comprehensive community and economic development projects and activities in addition to a plan and key partnerships.
