We want your feedback! This page is a space for residents and stakeholders to share ideas, ask questions, and provide constructive input on the update to the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Please read the background information and have your say in the space at the bottom of the page. We welcome your input!
The City of Jasper has been a collaborative partner in Dubois County and the surrounding region, recognizing the importance of working with neighboring communities to address challenges such as housing, transportation, healthcare, and workforce development. Jasper has the opportunity to strengthen its position as a leader through collaborative partnerships and relationships across nearby cities, within the county, and the greater area. This collaboration can enhance physical, economic, and social ties in and around Jasper, while also addressing regional issues that directly impact Jasper residents’ quality of life.
Streetscape enhancements in downtown Jasper improved walkability and connections between key public spaces and commercial areas, supporting a more cohesive urban experience.
Knowing that there is a wide range of views on Connectivity and Collaboration, we want to hear your comments about the future of Jasper, Indiana.
For more information about the Jasper Comprehensive Plan Project, please contact:
Becki Moorman
Community Development & Planning
City of Jasper
Jasper City Hall
610 Main Street
Jasper, IN 47547-0029
[email protected]
Courtney Powell, AICP
Urban and Community Planning Manager
WGI, Inc.
1201 Wilson Boulevard, 27th Floor
Arlington, VA 22209
571-438-9436
[email protected]
David Beurle
CEO, Future iQ
P.O. Box 24687
Minneapolis, MN 55424
612-757-9190
[email protected]
Future iQ® provides customized research and planning services to governments, communities, corporations and industry groups. Please contact us to discuss our services.
6 Comments
Thank you for your participation in the City of Jasper Comprehensive Plan! We look forward to your input and the discussion to follow on how we can make the Connectivity and Collaboration Pillar representative of the community’s vision of the future.
We are improving our trails, maintaining roads, creating a downtown, parks are improving, and quality of life is fine. My concern here would be at what cost do we have to make this happen as a taxpayer. a little is fine. Find ways to get funded thru partnerships.
Making a connection to I69 is needed for future growth. Do it without the Mid state corridor. I like the Mill street to 47th street thought process for trucks and connection pint to shopping via another entrance. We have Fiber already a very good value.
Jasper has added great amenities and there are plans to add amenities like the wellness center and sport field. From my perspective the collaboration with other communities within Dubois County continues to get stronger and the city needs to focus efforts to connectivity with and to these towns like Huntingburg and Ferdinand. Again, as I have shared in my comment for other pillars, we can improve roads and connectivity without the drain of the proposed highway project.
To truly establish Jasper as the economic center of the region, we must leverage our robust base of large regional employers. Potentially establishing a targeted innovation center that bridges the gap between these corporate anchors and agile local entrepreneurs.
Jasper can become one of the most frictionless places in the state to launch a venture by implementing bold, creative incentives for startups, such as:
* Fast-tracked commercial permitting to eliminate bureaucratic red tape from day one.
* Localized tax rebates designed specifically to offset early-stage operational costs.
* Corporate-sponsored seed grants, where our large legacy employers actively fund and pilot digital or operational solutions built by local founders.
Intentionally connecting our massive corporate scale with fresh startup energy will create a dynamic economic ecosystem. This naturally pulls top-tier talent and young families to our community, proving that Jasper doesn’t require you to choose between deep community roots and high-level entrepreneurial success.
Dubois County has so many wonderful amenities it’s hard to name them all. Numerous walking trails, an amazing museum, an art center to be proud of, an award winning hospital, diversified businesses and industries, and many more. Jasper is more than than its boundaries. Indeed. Jasper’s strength is also dependent on the many small towns and the farming community. which surrounds it. There are two incorporated cities in Dubois County: Jasper and Huntingburg, There are also three incorporated towns, including Holland, Ferdinand, and Birdseye. In addition there are quite a few unincorporated towns in the county and many more around the local region including Ireland, Dubois, Celestine, St Anthony, Crystal, Hillham, Cuzco, Haysville, Portersvile, Schnellville, Duff,and many others spread over a wide region including Santa Claus, St Meinrad, Dale, Mariah Hill, Kyana, New Boston, and many more in other surrounding counties and all of them are unique. These small towns are connected with wide open spaces, fields and forests, linked by state and county roads in all directions. As Mark Nowatarski succinctly pointed out in a recent letter, Jasper is a great place to live, not because of highways, but due to “quality of place.”
This quality of place we already have is not based on money, but on the co-operation and hard work of the people who live here, as well as on the open spaces that dot the landscape throughout the entire region. In addition the entire region is blessed with a good supply of water and much fertile soil despite the fact that Indiana ranks near the bottom on environmental quality, which is one of the challenges that face most everywhere–including Dubois County.
Median incomes are higher than state averages, and it has consistently maintained one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state. Dubois County’s population at the last census was about 43.600, and Jasper’s was about 17,000. This growth has been slow over the years, and fairly manageable.
To maintain these things we need to focus on the good things we have and find ways to recognize that small is beautiful and focus on protecting what we have rather than attempting to grow larger. Jasper is already at an optimum size for maintaining a good quality of life. Without the rest of the county–and the region–Jasper would be much poorer. Focusing on local roads that connect us to each other rather that a wildly expensive interstate that would divide the county in half, will do the most to nurture the quality of life that already exists.
We need to improve our physical connection to other regional and national areas with improved transportation pathways and transporation resources. Most importantly, we need to be connected with other communities with positive interaction and participation WITH them. Be a part of a Southern Indiana (Tri-State) TEAM!