Mark Spelbring
Purdue Extension
Parke County Extension Office
P.O. Box 146
Rockville, IN 47872
(765) 569-3176, (765) 569-2279 fax

Robert McCormick
Purdue University
195 Marsteller St.
West Lafayette, IN 47907
(765) 494-3627, (765) 494-6026 fax

The Purdue Land Use Team helps Purdue Extension address land use and planning and zoning in Indiana. The ultimate goal is more informed public decisions and decision-making processes at the local level.

This team, created in 1996, is unique in administrative structure and results. The team has experienced County Extension Educators who serve on county plan commissions, and campus specialists with subject matter expertise, which fosters cooperation between field and campus staff and focuses university resources on current problems across the state. After bringing team members up to date, an early priority was helping train all other Extension Educators serving on plan commissions.

The team created partnerships with other groups, including the planning faculty of Ball State University, Indiana Planning Association, Indiana Farm Bureau, and others. Training programs were jointly planned and offered for local plan commission members, staff, and other officials. On-site workshops, and more recently two-way video seminars, have reached hundreds of people who had no previous training.

Products and programs have been developed and delivered throughout Indiana. A series of 10 programs and 13 publications were developed, and two tabloids were written and distributed to educate citizens and local officials about land use issues. A new Planning with POWER program focused on environmental and natural resource planning was implemented, adding 7 publications, and the Team also works with it.

Through staff and leadership changes, the team has continued to offer training and information across Indiana on land use issues.

PowerPoint presentation (PDF format, 287 kb)

Planning with POWER: Protecting Our Water and Environmental Resources, PowerPoint presentation (PDF format, 2,008 kb)