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Progress across Marshall County
Argos Approves Comprehensive Plan
Recognizing the impact of creating a document to provide benchmarks for progress and guide the Town's growth, on April 19th, the Argos Town Council adopted a new comprehensive plan. State funding is tied to growth and metrics such as population, school enrollment, tax base, and economic development initiatives are used to determine how well a community is executing a plan. Argos' plan was created with the intention of growing the Town in all of those areas. Plan development began in the summer of 2016 and included input from a steering committee, local leadership, and residents. The Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) and the MCEDC have helped guide the planning process. The Argos comprehensive plan will serve as a long-term vision and guiding document to address community challenges and create solutions over the next 10 to 15 years.
Bremen Joins Hometown Collaboration Initiative
The Town of Bremen has demonstrated its commitment to growth through their successful application to join the Hometown Collaboration Initiative (HCI). This recognition comes after several months of hard work from Town leadership and residents throughout the application process. The announcement was made by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) on January 18th. The state-wide program aims to help small communities develop new leaders, boost small business, and improve planning efforts. Bremen's next steps in the HCI process will be developing relationships between the government, businesses, and residents to identify issues facing Bremen and create a plan that will address them.
Culver Welcomes New Commercial Businesses
Ups and downs are a regular occurrence in the business cycle, and Culver is benefiting from several new and upcoming commercial business expansions. The business boom began late last year when a new restaurant, Lucrezia, purchased the old Corndance Café building and opened in November. This was shortly followed by Ace Hardware in December, which Culver has supported by providing storm water and sewer services to the building. Next, a new brewery, Vonegard Brewhouse, signed a lease on the former Evil Czech facility and opened on Saint Patrick's Day. Finally, an ice cream shop out of Rochester, Sallie's by the Shore, will be expanding to Culver at the end of April. The business has been awarded a façade grant to enhance their new building's exterior in preparation of the grand opening.
Plymouth Becomes Main Street Certified
Discover Plymouth began as a small organization of local business leaders and community members who wanted to revitalize the downtown area. On March 9th, after more than a year of organizing and planning, the group was recognized by OCRA as the City of Plymouth was named an official Main Street community. Main Street is a national movement aimed at creating preservation-based commercial district revitalization. It promotes downtown development in accordance with the idea that a community is only as strong as its core. Plymouth is the second Marshall County community to receive Main Street Certification, with Bremen joining last summer. With projects such as the River Gate South housing development and Rees Theater revitalization, this recognition is another sign that we are seeing a true resurgence in Plymouth's downtown area.
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