Welcome

LAW

Legislative Update | 1 CM
The 2023 session of the Indiana General Assembly was a busy one. We’ll identify statutory changes that affected IC 36-7-4 and other related statutes. One of the 2023 bills created the Indiana Land Use Task Force, an interim study committee. We’ll also provide an update on the deliberations of the task force and any other relevant study committees.
Presenters
Debbie​ Luzier, AICP, GRW
Jamie L. Palmer, AICP, IU Public Policy Institute 

Room: Event Center B

Engagement Techniques & Styles | 1 CM
Presenting through real experiences, attendees will learn processes of engaging and presenting projects, plans, feedback, and brainstorming sessions. As the intended audience of a project can range, it is crucial to ensure engagement process and techniques are appropriately chosen. This session will present challenges and successes along the way of more effective communication.
Presenters
Josh Campbell, City of Fort Wayne
Zane Bishop, AICP

Room: Event Center C

Sustainability & Resilience

Best Practices for Solar Ordinances | 1 CM
Best practices for solar ordinances that seek to balance citizen interests, energy needs, and economic benefits in an era of energy diversification. Discussion of good local policy related to solar, including critical components that should be included in ordinance and, importantly, critical items that should be addressed outside of ordinance. Much of the discussion will focus on utility-scale solar regulation but will also include discussion of the similarities and differences of a county ordinance and a city/town ordinance.
Jacob Everett, CEcD, Center for Infrastructure & Economic Development
Connie Neininger, CN Consulting LLC

Room: Event Center A

Sustainability & Resilience

Notes from the Northeast: Interviewing Rural Counties on their New Comprehensive Plans | 1 CM
Recently, multiple counties in the Northeast region of Indiana have undergone a county-wide comprehensive planning process. Each county, while seemingly similar, faced distinct challenges that each called for a unique planning process. In this session, the counties of Wabash, Whitley, and others will be represented and interviewed using a set of critical questions regarding their comprehensive plan, the process supporting the final document, and the knowledge gleaned as a result. Each of these communities are characterized by significant rural areas that are seeking to balance preservation of rural character with allowing new development, advancing economic opportunity, and embracing change. This will be set up as a dynamic, unscripted, and insightful session that will integrate audience participation. Jamie A. Greene FAICP, Planning NEXT
Nathan Bilger, AICP, Whitley County
Alex Downard, Imagine One 85

Room: Event Center B

Sustainability & Resilience

Applying Sensible Tools in your Community | 1 CM
In this session, NIRPC will introduce an innovative handbook designed to aid government officials, planning commissions, planners, and community developers in making expert decisions regarding future development needs. The 2023 Sensible Tools Handbook+ updates the NIRPC 2007 Sensible Tools Handbook for Indiana, which remains a tool for local leaders to balance the current needs of their community, economic development, and goals for the future in a sensible manner. The update is for the checkup questions and checklists to reflect new land use data, trends, and changes in the requirements for good land use planning at the local and regional levels.
Eman Ibrahim, Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC)

Room: Event Center B

Surviving the Planning Profession | 1 CM
Whether you're a planning director, zoning administrator or consulting planner, the planning profession has a high attrition rate due to the stresses of the job, politics and simply burn-out. This session will share statistics, causes and ways to protect your mental health and personal quality of life.
Topics: Transportation
Bradley Johnson, Ground Rules, Inc.

Room: Event Center C

Law 

A Planning Law Discussion | 1 CM
Zoning and land use regulation are essential tools for shaping the development of our cities and towns. These tools can promote a variety of goals, such as ensuring the availability of affordable housing, economic development, protecting the environment, and creating vibrant and livable communities. This session will provide an in-depth discussion of hot topics in zoning and land use regulation. We will explore the legal principles that govern these areas, and we will examine a number of recent case law studies that have shaped the law of urban planning. The presenters will dive into the details of the cases identifying what questions the court rulings answered and the new questions they generated. These cases will help attendees understand where they are on firm legal ground and areas requiring ordinance updates or change their practices. >
Presenters
Jonathan Hughes, JD, Bose McKinney & Evans LLC
Stephen Unger, Bose McKinney & Evans LLC

Room: Event Center A

Office of the Chief Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity Officer | Karrah Herring, J.D.
Britt Redd, AICP, APA-Indiana DEI Committee Chair | 1 CM

Room: Event Center A

Ethics

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Planning Ethics: An Exploration | 1 CM
The ethics session will examine the relationship between current and developing AI technologies and the AICP Code of Ethics.
Philip Roth, AICP, American Structurepoint

Room: Event Center A