Huntingburg overpass and airport major parts of city’s future

As the City of Huntingburg updates its comprehensive plan it has become apparent how the future addition of an overpass in Huntingburg has greatly affected the direction of the city’s development.

The state recommends a city’s comprehensive plan be updated every five years. Huntingburg’s was last updated in 2007; the council approved the process of updating it in April of this year.

Many aspects of the comprehensive plan being developed by Orlando-based Real Estate Research Consultants, Inc., are built upon the 2007 plan. According to principal Tom Kohler the new plan his firm is developing does include some new ideas and further clarification of ideas included in 2007.

The previous plan was built around the assumption of the completion of a rerouted and improved U.S. 231, but the state pulled money from the project to complete I-69. With the recent announcement and funding of the Huntingburg Overpass project, Kohler’s team used it as a guiding force the city’s development.

According to Kohler and made apparent by Mayor Denny Spinner when the project was announced, the overpass project provides an essential connectivity between the north and south side of the city. This connectivity greatly enhances the propensity for economic and recreational development by removing the factor of up to 30 trains cutting off portions of the city daily.

Kohler’s presentation – available above – includes the common theme throughout involving the completion of what he labeled as the Styline Overpass.

The overpass, as it is currently proposed, connects 14th Street on the north side of Huntingburg using Styline Drive, effectively creating a throughway that will direct traffic to flow in front of the Huntingburg Event Center. This new commerce corridor could fuel development of a hotel near the event center. According to Kohler, this corridor would also solidify Huntingburg as a market for major chains like TJ Maxx and Steinmart in the future.

Recreationally, the overpass could serve to connect a citywide trail system connecting all the parks, downtown area and the schools.

Some interesting recommendations included developing Memorial Gym to be more prominent in the community. “You have a unassuming building exterior,” Kohler said, “But my jaw dropped when I went inside, you walk in and you are in ‘Hoosiers.'”

To develop the gym as a greater asset would require it being used for something beyond basketball, but as an entertainment venue, the building has logistics problems in regards to the movement of large stage pieces up and down the stairs.

Off the cuff, Kohler stated the city could have local artists create a huge mural along the gym’s western facing flat brick wall to create an attraction. “It could be a mural of the interior of the gymnasium,” he explained.

He also recommended the city examine some development of the green space next to the Teen Outback. “It could become the trailhead for a citywide trail system,” Kohler told the council.

Kohler’s plan veers from the 2007 Comprehensive Plan noticeably in relation to the Huntingburg Airport. He told the council the city should be providing more support to the airport in relation to the economic boon the site could mean for the county. He identified it as a potential port authority but also as a connection with the continued research into unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) being conducted by Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center.

The airport also has one of the state’s few shovel ready sites. These sites are immediately ready for development by potential companies and could be used to entice a technology firm centered around the development of UAVs.

Huntingburg could potentially expand infrastructure services it already has in place to help support the growth of an industrial/technology park on the shovel ready site.

“The airport is a valuable asset, but the potential there is somewhat untapped,” Mayor Spinner said, “I heard from the council that they are excited about seeing ways to better partner with the airport and seeing ways we can leverage it as a great tool for the city.”

“This plan pinpoints some areas that maybe we haven’t given enough emphasis to,” Mayor Spinner said. “The assets that he identified in our community, I think we all see those, but how to bring those all together to make it part of a unified effort to make the city more livable for everyone who is here.”

According to Mayor Denny Spinner, the plan is waiting on the completion of a study being conducted on 4th Street before it will be finalized by Kohler’s team and then approved by the council.