City plans to grow with I-69

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June 11, 2009

By Nate Smith, Staff Writer The Washington Times-Herald Thu Jun 11, 2009, 09:52 PM EDT

The Washington Plan Commission passed an update to the city’s Comprehensive Plan on Wednesday.

While the plan, to be passed onto the City Council for approval, is not set in stone, it does give a glimpse into where the city is going in 20 years.

And where the city is going is southeast, towards the planned I-69 interchange.

During a presentation to the commission, David Rueppel with Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates said the city is looking to grow with a projected increase of 1,357 jobs by 2030.

“(The report found) a projected demand for 572 acres of land to accommodate growth within Washington to the year 2030 that cannot be satisfied within the existing incorporated boundaries of Washington,” Rueppel mentioned in the report.

Also projected will be 616 new homes between now and 2030 for “increased population, declining housing size and demolished housing.”

That is only if the city acts now to get projects ready for business and industry to move in.

“If you wait until I-69 is there, all the business you wish you would have, Evansville might take them,” Rueppel said. “(The plan) enables the city to compete for federal loans and grants and gives the city a basis for its development.”

The plan, an update of the city’s existing 1986 comprehensive plan, gave several recommendations for future city growth, including in the two-mile region the city has jurisdiction over.

Some of those projects include:

• SR 57 reconstruction from Donaldson Road to National Highway.

• National Highway reconstruction from the U.S. 50 Bypass to Maysville Road.

• A relocation of CR 150N from N.W. 16th Street to SR 57.

• Converting Main Street from one-way to two-way traffic.

• Converting five “oblique angle” intersections, like the Troy Road/SR 57 intersection, into regular intersections.

• Extensions to county and city roads including CRs 200E, 200S, 300E, 300S and city streets Apraw Road, Cumberland Road, Main Street and Highland Avenue.

Also in the plan’s recommendations were wastewater and utility expansions to the I-69 corridor, where commercial and industrial developments would be located. The plan also asked for new subdivisions near CR 200W, CR 300W, Maysville Road and on Oak Grove Road to Troy Road.

A green way connecting the city’s park was also included, with the recommendation to create a local preservation commission for the city’s historic homes and districts. The plan also said the city should buy foreclosed housing and create housing for all incomes.

Many of the recommendations were assumed by some on the commission as just as they were, recommendations only.

“The plan itself doesn’t change any rules, regulations or zonings whatsoever,” Plan Commission President Art Biddinger said. “It’s a very well organized plan.”

“This plan sets up a checklist by the plan commission and the staff that helps the commission,” Rueppel said.

Construction on I-69 will start, according to INDOT earlier this year, will start in 2011 and finish in Washington around 2015.

The plan was paid for by a grant with INDOT. Daviess County also had a land use plan developed in conjunction with the city’s comprehensive plan.

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