Once a quaint agricultural community, New Carlisle now has a solid industrial base that includes two high-tech metal processing plants. With continued industrial growth around South Bend and residential development pressures along the Lake Michigan shoreline, New Carlisle sought Ball State's help in developing a new comprehensive plan to address the changes.

Graduate students led by urban planning professors Amy Brown and James Segedy gathered basic data on the community, and now planning professor Eric Damian Kelly is working with a local steering committee to create the plan. Public Works Director Patrick Cummings has coordinated the town's efforts.

"The town is clearly open to growth, but residents want to maintain the small-town character," Kelly says.

Preliminary concepts for the plan include a concentrated area of commercial development, better regulations for mixed-use development, better pedestrian connections, and additional space for parks and an expanded cemetery.

Ball State has developed master plans for many Indiana communities, including Shipshewana, Seymour, Berne, and Mitchell.