At its Tuesday meeting, Gary Common Council members unanimously approved a resolution regarding a new city comprehensive plan.
The city zoning and planning department and plan commission helped craft the comprehensive plan before it was sent to the council for approval.
Councilwoman Mary Brown, D-3rd, was absent from the Tuesday night vote.
According to the resolution, the comprehensive plan updates a document from 2019 that details Gary’s vision for “promoting economic growth, sustainability, public health, safety, convenience, order, or the general welfare” of the city.
Because of actions taken to further Gary development in the past year, multiple city officials believed the comprehensive plan should be updated.
“The comprehensive plan is designed to look for future developments in the city, to address current plan use development and to set policies for land use across the city,” said City Attorney Marco Molina.
To create the comprehensive plan, the Gary Plan Commission had to get public input and had to hold at least one public hearing. Two public hearings took place, with one on Aug. 21 and another on Sep. 18, Molina said.
The plan commission reviewed the comprehensive plan before it was presented to the council.
“This was based on a number of different sources, including the Notre Dame report, which … they had built off the 2019 plan,” Molina added.
The city of Gary partnered with the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture’s Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative in July 2024 to reinvigorate the city’s downtown core, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Gary Plan Commission President Tom Cera said at Tuesday’s meeting that the plan’s creators “did a fantastic job.”
“The process itself received a lot of positive feedback, and I think that matters,” Cera said. “With all the involvement by the community and the positive feedback, we urge you to pass this resolution.”
The plan, which is about 118 pages long, details goals that are specific to Mayor Eddie Melton’s priorities for the city, including stabilization, growth, quality of life and planning for the future.
The plan aims to further eliminate blight in the city, increase the population and tax base, improve public safety, improve environmental practice, revise the zoning code and make “major infrastructure improvements,” according to the document.
“Gary is at a pivotal moment — positioned to become a regional hub of opportunity, particularly for women and minority-owned businesses, entrepreneurs and innovators,” the plan says. “With a strong foundation already in place, the city is poised to capitalize on new economic investments, catalytic infrastructure improvements, and its legacy of resilience to build a more inclusive, equitable and self-sustaining economy.”
During public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, Gary resident Carolyn McCrady said she appreciates the comprehensive plan and what it lays out for the city.
“The comprehensive plan is amazing for our city,” McCrady said. “It’s a really good start at how we look at development.”
Although McCrady was positive about the plan, she also asked the council to caution some development, specifically those in B3 zoning, which she said can be used for trucking facilities.
In her comment, McCrady referenced concerns with plans for a development at the shuttered Alfred Beckman Middle School, which the council greenlit earlier this year. The approved ordinance allows the middle school to rezone from R2 residential to planned unit development, or PUD, and B3-1, which allows for shopping centers or large stores.
Various residents had been vocal about concerns with the development, including McCrady, sharing worries that the facility shouldn’t be in a residential area because of truck traffic. Gary Mayor Eddie Melton pocket vetoed the ordinance after the council’s passage, which was then overrode.
“While the Gary Common Council and I may occasionally have differing perspectives, I remain steadfast in my dedication to collaborating with them in service to our residents,” Melton said in a previous statement to the Post-Tribune. “Together, I am confident we will identify thoughtful development opportunities that drive sustainable economic growth.”
