Highland considers energy study
The Town of Highland may take initiative to identify and curb its greenhouse gas emissions as early as next spring through a plan offered through Northwest Indiana’s central planning outfit.
The Indiana University Resilience Cohort program is a two-year program that would provide the town an intern who would collect and analyze energy data primarily from NIPSCO for 10 weeks between April and September 2021, Environmental Resilience Institute Implementation Manager Andrea Webster told the council during its Monday night session.
Once the data is collected, the intern, who’d be working with a town employee, would present the data to the town and administrators would then craft an action plan to reduce greenhouse gases, Webster said.
The process would help the town save money, Webster said, but any savings would be realized as more of a long-term investment. A more immediate result would come from presenting the results to the community for its input in creating the plan.
“We definitely see an improved sense of community through this project,” said Erin Lasher, the program’s Planning for Action Coordinator and a senior at IU.
The program would also evaluate the town as a whole rather than by individual businesses, Webster said.
In order to apply, the town would pay the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission, which administers the program locally, $2,760 for the intern as well as an additional $200 application fee for municipalities with less than 50,000 residents. Five municipalities were asked to apply to this cycle of the program; the City of Gary has already participated, Webster said.
The council agreed that it would like to see examples of what other cities have done after the program but were generally receptive to it. After the surge in attendance for last week’s council meeting, the council also considered whether it needs to host council meetings at the Lincoln Center or another, larger space. Several people protesting the planned senior living facility proposed for north of Griffland Plaza on Cline Avenue were unable to join the meeting because of state COVID regulations limiting the number of people allowed in a closed area.
The Lincoln Center would be one place to move the meetings when a large crowd is expected, Councilman Mark Herak, D-2nd, said, but the acoustics in the meeting room there are poor, which make it tough to conduct meetings via Zoom. The town could opt to purchase other audio and video equipment to alleviate the distortion, but Council President Mark Schocke, R-3rd, wondered whether the town should spend the extra money if there are other alternatives. Councilman Roger Sheeman, R-5th, wondered whether the council was jumping the gun in the first place.
“In a couple months, (the senior facility project) will be resolved, and we’ll be back to only ‘Lonely Larry’ here (in the audience),” Sheeman said, referring to resident and Water Board member Larry Kondrat, who attends most meetings.