Chesterton, IN-Lake Erie Land Company announced the completion of an innovative new method for gathering input for the company's Coffee Creek Center Project. Coffee Creek Center's on-line survey encourages citizen input and feedback as a revolutionary way to gather information. The tool is available on-line at coffeecreekcenter.com and at LEL's Chesterton office. The purpose of the survey is to allow the community to help define those features most desired in Coffee Creek Center neighborhoods. The survey touches on three main areas: Community, Environment, and Technology ranging from questions about front porch styles to green space characteristics. Looney Ricks Kiss was awarded the American Planning Association's prestigious Outstanding Planning Award in the category "Current Topic: Information Technology" for developing the survey.
The goal of the Coffee Creek survey is to provide an opportunity for community input in order to allow Chesterton residents the ability to shape the area's growth. The community's input will play a big role in how the neighborhoods form. This concept was first implemented in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, by Looney Ricks Kiss, a research and planning firm in Princeton. Their goal was to assist Hillsborough in identifying an achievable scheme for transforming a Town Center District/Main Street Area. Citizens provided input at various public locations using a computer to answer interactive questions and choose images of development they would prefer for the area. This survey ultimately provided a framework for re-examination of the Township's Master Plan and Development Regulations so that future development would be guided in a manner supported by the community. Coffee Creek Center is a more than 640-acre project in Northwest Indiana slated for up to 2,000 residential units and over 3 million square feet of commercial, office and retail space. The project's centerpiece is a more than 180-acre public conservation district. For more information, visit www.coffeecreekcenter.com.