By Abby Leeds | Purdue University
WEST LAFAYETTE — Hoosiers passionate about land use planning for agriculture and natural resources can now register for the Indiana Land Use Summit workshop hosted by Purdue Extension and the Indiana Land Resources Council.
The virtual workshop will meet from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EDT Sept. 8-9. A policy update panel with the American Planning Association-Indiana chapter, Indiana Farm Bureau, The Nature Conservancy and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture kicks off the workshop with an overview of the key legislative outcomes impacting land use decision-making from the 2021 legislative session.
Keynote speaker Matthew Mazzotta will discuss community-specific public projects that integrate new forms of civic participation and social engagement into the built environment. The closing speaker, Sarah Banas Mills, will address land use considerations of solar energy, especially for those largest installations, and the positive and negative local impacts of these projects.
Attendees can choose from three concurrent sessions of nine presentations with themes of climate change and renewable energy community planning, community engagement processes for land use planning and innovations in environmental planning.
“Climate change planning and renewable energy are at the forefront of land use planning discussions. We look forward to sharing the perspectives of Indiana community leaders on innovations and implementations of environmental planning initiatives and how they fit into broader land use objectives in local communities,” said Kara Salazar, assistant program leader and Extension specialist for sustainable communities.
Katie Nelson, executive director of the Indiana Land Resources Council, notes the importance of this event for communities across Indiana.
“The Indiana Land Resources Council (ILRC) is excited to partner with Purdue Extension and other key stakeholders to increase involvement in the community planning process,” Nelson said. “This event ties well into the ILRC’s mission of assisting local and state decision-makers with land use tools and policies. Our goal for this planning summit is to ensure that county governments, organizers, planners and citizens have a comprehensive understanding of different approaches their communities can take on key land use issues.”
Purdue Extension’s Land Use Team, Hoosiers for Renewables and Indiana Farm Bureau will also unveil the survey results from a comprehensive study on land use regulations for wind and solar renewable energy and trends related to climate change planning in Indiana.
Register for the workshop online. For more information, contact Kara Salazar at [email protected].