The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority recently laid out its vision for growth.

A multi-disciplinary team with expertise in land use, engineering and transportation worked for 18 months to update the organization’s strategic plan. To determine regional needs, the RDA talked to over 100 local civic and business leaders, elected officials and organizations.

“On one level, the job was straightforward: the RDA was initially conceived to address specific issues, all of which were laid out in our enabling legislation,” said Sherri Ziller, Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority president and CEO, in a press release. “These include rail and bus transit, airport development and shoreline redevelopment. So those areas of focus were not going to change. But within, and adjacent to, them were a great many options that the RDA could pursue.”

One need that emerged was for a more aggressive approach to cleaning up environmentally contaminated properties. Municipalities sometimes struggle to redevelop larger, possibly formerly industrial, or key strategic sites.

To address the challenges, the RDA will create a Land Development Entity. It will acquire and remediate properties to make them suitable for private sector investment and redevelopment. The entity will work in tandem with communities.

The RDA will also pursue a National Scenic Byway designation for portions of U.S. 12. To receive the designation, a byway must meet at least one of six qualities: archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic. The byway designation will provide a tool for shoreline communities to bolster tourism and local economies.

“We are eager to get started on this effort and in fact already have secured the support of Lake, Porter and La Porte county tourism agencies for the creation of a scenic byway,” Ziller said. “We have also had preliminary conversations with INDOT and they are receptive to the idea as well.”

Other initiatives include infrastructure improvements and acquisition and cleanup of industrial properties as they become available to expand public lakefront amenities. The RDA will pursue transit-oriented development in the communities served by the South Shore, including Portage, Porter, Beverly Shores and Pines.

The RDA will work with Gary/Chicago International Airport and Porter County Airport to develop new revenue strategies, expand services and capitalize on development opportunities.

The 2025 strategic plan can be found here.