Ball State University architecture students were tasked with making recommendations to spruce up the Ind. 49/U.S. 20 interchange, but it is their other ideas that Porter town officials believe could help shape the community’s future.
Porter Councilman James Burge, I-Ward 4, invited Ball State Assistant Professor Jeremy Merrill and his landscape architecture students to visit Porter and study what could be done for Ind. 49/ U.S. 20, considered a town gateway. The study was done free of charge.
Merrill, at a Porter Plan Commission meeting in March, pitched an elaborate proposal to develop within the green space of the interchange that featured an arboretum with trails, an amphitheatre and a bridge to the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center on Ind. 49.
Indiana Department of Transportation officials quickly rejected the plan for the interchange, citing regulations prohibiting development within a highway green space and pedestrian safety concerns.
While they spent time in Porter, Merrill and his students wandered around town and came up with suggestions. They are included in a 61-page report.
“There are a lot of gems in there that could be utilized in other parts of town,” Burge said.
Plan Commission member Tara Duffie said she believed that the students, as outsiders, gave a valuable perspective and vision on what the town could be
“There are a lot of ideas throughout town. What we are saying is take those ideas, and pass it along to the appropriate party,” said Rob Albrecht-Mallinger, the plan commission’s president.
The plan’s major recommendations include:
*Envisioning how the Porter Beach area could become even more important to the community when the dilapidated Johnson Inn is cleared away. The plan includes renderings of what the beachfront would look like if a boutique hotel and restaurant were built on that site. Parking and trails for that beach area are also addressed.
*Redesigning the Lincoln Street corridor, which is Porter’s downtown, by adding a landscaped entrance, plazas and a tree-lined buffer.
*Improving the connectivity of the trail system within the town.
*Adding more attractions to Hawthorne Park, in the middle of Porter, that would include an amphitheater, enhancing a birdwatching deck and a kayak launch to the nearby Little Calumet River.
For the past few years, the town had considered demolishing the Johnson Inn, but then decided to wait until the ownership question was settled.
Chuck Williams, a Valparaiso developer who oversaw the renovation of Indiana Dunes State Park Pavilion in a private/public partnership with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, is interested in buying and redeveloping the property.
Carl Dahlin Jr., the primary owner of the Johnson Inn, died at the age of 90 on Sept. 22. The disposition of Dahlin’s estate is being determined in a supervised probate case in Lake Superior Court/Probate Division. The case hasn’t been settled yet, said Michael Barry, Porter’s development director/building commissioner.
The Ball State report notes that the adjacent Indiana Dunes State Park beach area is overcrowded at times.
“Creating a more inviting development can appeal to both the visitors and residents of Porter,” the report said.
A design that pays homage to the area’s history is suggested, either with the area’s steel mills or the State Park pavilion, to create a “wow factor” that would draw people to Porter Beach.
“With this design, you get the best of both worlds, a classy boutique hotel that could provide guests stunning views year round. In addition, the bottom floor of the hotel is equipped with a restaurant, and a rooftop bar. These facilities will provide visitors with an all around great experience, and allow them to appreciate Porter, Indiana’s natural beauty, ” the report says.
The Lincoln Street component of the plan calls for creating a distinctive gateway at the Wagner Street corner.
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Plazas would also be developed west of Pleasant Avenue and near Francis Street to make Lincoln Street more inviting to pedestrians.
A vegetated barrier with trees is proposed along the railroad tracks on the south side of Lincoln Street to “help reduce noise pollution.”
Barry said that he found the connectivity suggestions made by the students to be useful, as it is an issue he was already addressing in the trail master plan.
The student report urges extending a current trail on Waverly Road, north of Hawthorne Park, to Porter Beach.
In July, the Butler, Fairman & Seufert firm of Merrillville, as part of its study funded by a federal grant, presented its findings that called for the trail to go north on Waverly Road to Porter Beach. It was stressed that a multi-use trail was needed by Porter Beach, because pedestrians currently are forced to walk in the roadway.
The students also made suggestions about improving the landscape for trail connections, like the junction of the Porter Brickyard Trail and the Marquette Greenway/Calumet Trail.
Porter Parks Director Brian Bugajski said he agreed with the Ball State report’s suggestion for building an amphitheater that would accommodate up to 120 people near the community building.
The town of Porter had already been working toward developing a kayak launch on the Little Calumet River.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.