Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance
The Town of St. John, Indiana, located 40 miles southeast of Chicago, experienced rapid conversion of farmland into suburban subdivisions, requiring land annexation and the development of new water and sewer infrastructure. In response to significant population growth, the St. John Planning and Development Advisory Committee selected SCB’s planning group to update the town’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance.
The process included a strong focus on robust public participation with the community, plan commissioners, and stakeholders. Issues taken into consideration included: developing growth boundaries in conjunction with infrastructure development and land use compatibility, town center development, plans for a new train station, roadway linkages, US 41 corridor urban design guidelines, residential site design standards, wetland preservation, and sustainable design. After completion of the comprehensive plan, SCB’s planning group rewrote the Zoning Ordinance to address the Comprehensive Plan recommendations, and provided form-based code regulations for corridor development, shopping centers, town center, business parks, and housing.
A decade later, in 2015, the Town of St. John hired SCB again to prepare the Comprehensive Plan Update, which included refining the civic center vision with property owners, identifying new trail and green space opportunities, coordinating with thoroughfare plan updates, reviewing growth trends and new annexations, and planning for a new commuter rail station with adjacent mixed-use development.
