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COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DEVELOPED UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN COMMITTEE OF ALLEN COUNTY AND FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, FOR THE PROGRESSIVE GROWTH OF THE GREATER ALLEN COUNTY COMMUNITY Inside: Preface 2 Executive Summary 5 Guiding Principles 13 Comprehensive Plan Chapters: Chapter 1 – Land Use 17 Chapter 2 – Economic Development 47 Allen County Courthouse, constructed in 1904 Chapter 3 – Housing and Neighborhoods 77 and re-dedicated in 2004. Chapter 4 – Transportation 85 Chapter 5 – Environmental Stewardship 95 Chapter 6 – Community Identity and Appearance 103 Chapter 7 – Community Facilities 111 Chapter 8 – Utilities 119 Chapter 9 – Grabill, Huntertown Monroeville and Woodburn 127 Chapter 10 – Implementation - Still To Come? 141 Acknowledgements 145 PREFACE “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir people’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that your children and grandchildren are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.” Daniel H. Burnham, 1910 Architect, City Planner and Author: The Plan of Chicago 2 PREFACE Welcome to Plan-it Allen! — our first-ever, joint land use and development plan for Allen County and the City of Fort Wayne. It is the culmination of an historic three-year, citizen-powered initiative to define a new vision and an inclusive road map for our community’s future growth and development. We took on this challenge, because the time was right. Allen County’s current Plan was nearly 30 years old and the City of Fort Wayne’s Plan was well over 20 years old. Over the years, our community has changed dramatically. Our challenges continue to come faster and faster. And our lives are more interconnected and interdependent than ever. The importance of building a healthy, livable and competitive community as a whole, in all its parts and for all our citizens is a goal we can all embrace. We are convinced that by working together we can achieve it. • • • • • Plan-it Allen! is about building community one unique and lasting neighborhood at a time. The Plan’s purpose is to lay out a path to sustainability, to preserve and enhance our quality of life and natural environment, and to position Allen County and Fort Wayne as regionally strong and competitive in the global economy. Throughout every step of the process, Plan-it Allen! has been shaped by the people of Allen County, its cities, towns “ Good plans shape good and communities; and Fort Wayne. It is the work of hundreds of volunteers and represents thousands of your ideas, insights, hopes and dreams gathered in scores of community meetings and work sessions. decisions. That’s why good planning helps make Those recommendations, along with an extensive factual analysis of our existing conditions, trends and comparisons elusive dreams come true.” with other localities, have been woven together to form the foundation for the new Plan. This storehouse of data was blended and distilled into a new guide for community decision making. Lester R. Bittel , b. 1918 One of the primary benefits of Plan-it Allen! is that for the first time in our community’s proud history, the public and private sectors will be working off the same page – a common Comprehensive Land Use and Development Plan. The Plan’s shared vision and policy framework will establish a unified approach to infrastructure expansion, economic development and neighborhood enhancement efforts. It won’t alter the character or integrity of our small towns, rural countryside or urban neighborhoods, but it will reduce jurisdictional differences in planning and development that cost time and money. It will also send a message to the world around us: this is a community that is ready to grow in ways that build on its strengths and its most appealing attributes. • • • • • What you have before you is an up-to-date policy guide for encouraging high-quality development and for preparing our community for the changes the future will bring. Equally significant, as we progress, the Plan will help us preserve our distinct and diverse community character – all the things that make our cities, towns, suburbs and rural areas 3 PREFACE unique and desirable places to live, work and raise our families. The Plan will be a fundamental tool to realizing our dreams. Plan-it Allen! has been a pioneering venture for Allen County and Fort Wayne. It is not a one- size-fits-all initiative. It is a first in our collective history. It presents a shared vision and goals for the common ground that is our home. But it also recognizes the variety and unique character of the community’s many parts. It is a Plan that is designed to work for all jurisdictions. The Plan itself is organized into 10 chapters. Each chapter reflects one of the Plan elements or subject areas: Land Use; Economic Development; Housing and Neighborhoods; Transportation; Environmental Stewardship; Community Identity and Appearance; Community Facilities; Utilities; Grabill, Huntertown, Monroeville and Woodburn; and Implementation. The individual chapters outline topic-related recommendations, and each presents a Policy “ Would you tell me which way Foundation of the Plan and Key Findings followed by the chapter’s Goal, Objectives and Strategies. The chapters are I ought to go from here?” preceded by the guiding principles, statements of purpose that serve as touchstones to aid in decision making and help in determining the quality, pattern and character of future development. asked Alice. Plan-it Allen! is advisory in nature. The Plan’s principles, goals and objectives offer real guidance for land use and “That depends a good deal on development decisions – how we will grow. The Plan’s Conceptual Development Map gives clear geographic direction on land use and development decisions – where we will grow. Together, the two components of the Plan signify a new where you want to get,” approach to growth. The end result: a more proactive, dynamic form of growth, one in keeping with contemporary said the Cat. lifestyles, yet constantly anticipating demographic changes and trends; one that invests in our economic vitality while honoring the natural environment and community characteristics that give us pride of place. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 1865 Lewis Carroll The Plan will be used by the community as public and private decisions are made concerning development, Novelist and Poet redevelopment and capital improvements, including: community utility-system improvements, economic incentives and other matters affecting the growth of the community. The new Plan brings an integrated approach to planning and development. Often in the past, land use and development decisions were made in isolation, one jurisdiction from another, one department from another. As an example, a road project might have been built for safety and efficiency, without considering the impact on surrounding neighborhoods, the environment, utilities, the sense of place, pedestrian movement and other factors. Now each project will be examined through the filter of all of the Plan’s elements, principles and goals; how they interconnect and relate not just to one project, but to our greater community. With its broad perspective, the Plan will help us institute the policies that will ensure we can accomplish our goals, and actually create the community we envision. It will also make for more efficient, coordinated use of resources. The effectiveness of the Plan will be measured in the success of its implementation. To that end, an Implementation Matrix outlining action steps for each of the goals, objectives and strategies contained in the Plan has been 4 PREFACE prepared. Along with the action steps, the Matrix will identify the lead department or agency and timing for each entry. Ongoing review by an implementation task team is also anticipated to monitor activity and maintain public accountability. To keep the Plan current, it will be updated every five years, or as dictated by need. • • • • • Creating the first joint plan for land and living in Allen County and Fort Wayne has demanded the best from each of us. We knew from the outset, if we did not envision together the tomorrow we hoped to inhabit, we could never expect to make it a reality. At every turn, the people of our community have risen to the challenge. The promise of Plan-it Allen! is before us. We have not just developed a new Plan, we are carving out a path to a stronger community. The impact of Plan-it Allen! will touch all our lives. We extend our gratitude to the members of the Comprehensive Plan Committee, the Element Work Groups, the Vision Work Group, the Stakeholder Groups, all elected and appointed officials, professional consultants, and Allen County and City of Fort Wayne staff members who contributed so generously to the project. Most especially, to each and every citizen of Allen County and Fort Wayne, thank you for your ideas, your energy and your commitment to this process and to making our community a place of pride for all of us. Graham A. Richard Mayor City of Fort Wayne Mark D. Becker F. Nelson Peters Plan-it Allen! Co-Chair Plan-it Allen! Co-Chair Deputy Mayor Allen County Commissioner City of Fort Wayne Linda K. Bloom Bill Brown Allen County Commissioner Allen County Commissioner 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction • Indiana State law says that the primary goal of a Plan-it Allen! is our citizen-powered initiative to develop a new Comprehensive Plan is the “promotion of public health, Comprehensive Land Use and Development Plan for Allen safety, morals, convenience, order, or the general County and the City of Fort Wayne – the first-ever, joint effort in welfare, and for the sake of efficiency and economy in our community’s history.

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