A nearly half-completed comprehensive plan will be enough to see the Town of Munster through its next several years of growth and development, town leaders believe.
The Town Council at its Monday night meeting voted unanimously to trigger a termination clause in its contract with Chicago-based Houseal Lavigne Associates, an urban planning firm the previous council hired to update the plan last completed in 2010. That previous council, which hired Houseal Lavigne in 2022, paused the work on the plan so that the council elected in November could decide how it wanted to proceed, Councilman Chuck Gardiner, R-3, said.
The town gets to keep the completed work, for which it’s already paid $75,919 of a $171,045 contract, Controller and Interim Town Manager Patricia Abbott said in a memo. It can also use screenshots of ideas gleaned from a “visioning” session the town held in December 2022 with residents, Gardiner said.
“We held it at Wilbur Wright (Middle School), and there were about 130 residents who attended. It really brought people out,” Gardiner said. “There were two groups of high school students that I was really impressed with.”
Council President Dave Nellans, R-4, said the new plan “ran out of steam” and doesn’t have many changes from the 2010 comprehensive plan. People can look at the comprehensive plan from 1938 hung in Town Hall and see what’s come to fruition, he said.
“Munster doesn’t have a lot of open land, so we want to be judicious with what we have,” Nellans said. “There are also areas in town that could use a facelift, like the area at Calumet and Ridge Road — things there haven’t changed in decades.”
Another thing that won’t change will be Ridge Road, Nellans said, even if it means the town has to give back the $17.1 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant it received in 2022 to reconstruct the main artery into a three-lane road from its current five lanes. While Nellans and the council don’t want to lose the money, he said they won’t go back on their campaign promises.
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“We went door-to-door, and the No. 1 issue was Ridge Road,” Nellans said. “I drive a pickup, and I had signs about the police and ‘No lane reduction.’ People were constantly asking for them to put in their yard.
“We’re going to do everything we can to be in compliance, but do you do something wrong just because you have the money? It’s like people are saying: ‘We are their referendum’.”
In other business, the council voted 5-0 to approve the Centennial Village tax abatement; to put forth a letter of engagement for firms to conduct a salary survey for the other town employees; to engage Chicago-based financial consultancy Baker Tilly in updating the town’s financial plan; and engaging services to input updates to the town code.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.