Plan complete

Some of the proposed projects highlighted in the plan include:

•Senior housing at the former Judge Haynes and Pennville elementary school buildings, in downtown Dunkirk and at the former hospital site between High and Arch streets in Portland.

•Owner-occupied housing rehabilitation, in which funding would be available for homeowners to improve existing structures.

•Infrastructure to provide high-speed internet service.

•A walking trail connecting Redkey and Dunkirk along the existing railroad corridor.

•Facade revitalization in downtown Portland, Dunkirk, Redkey and Pennville.

•Creating a new home for Dunkirk Public Library and The Glass Museum in the former Stewart Brothers Building.

For Redkey Town Council member Doug Stanley, all of the projects come down to a single word — revitalization.

“All small towns need it,” he said. “They need kind of a shot in the arm. This would certainly provide that.

“Most small towns are trying to survive, but it’s very difficult. This would really be a shot in the arm for all Jay County communities.”

Projects are not guaranteed if Jay! receives the Stellar designation. Rather, the county and its municipalities would be at the front of the line for funding through Indiana Department of Transportation, Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs and Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. (Other partner agencies include Indiana State Department of Health, Indiana Arts Commission, Indiana Bond Bank, Honest to Goodness Indiana and Indiana Department of Natural Resources.)

“It gives us a prioritization over the competition,” said Huffman. “So our projects would go to the top if we were designated and make the funding process a little less competitive for us.”

Jay!’s current effort to earn the Stellar designation began in early 2018 when county commissioners, in consultation with other local government leaders, decided not to participate in that year’s process. Instead, the choice was made to create or update redevelopment plans for each community in order to be well-prepared for Stellar this time around. Portland, Redkey, Dunkirk and Pennville all went through that process, completing plans by early this year.

Those plans — developed through a total of 42 public meetings — provided a framework for Jay!’s regional development plan.

After the region was announced as a finalist in April, local officials used the individual municipality plans to help choose projects that would fit into the Stellar requirements. More public meetings and a survey that had about 1,300 respondents helped the leadership team — government officials from each community and other local leaders — prioritize projects for the regional development plan that was turned in Friday.

The Stellar Communities program was originally targeted at municipalities, with Portland making the top 12 in the process in the inaugural year in 2011. The city did not make the top five in the competition.

Dunkirk was one of three finalists for the designation for small communities in 2015. North Liberty was selected as the winner that year.

Local officials are now hoping that falling short in those previous efforts will simply allow for Jay County to experience the impact of Stellar as a whole. The designation is estimated to result in about $38 million in grants and other financial incentives. Stellar finalists that are not chosen for the designation will split $1 million to be used toward moving forward with their redevelopment plans.

“It would be a game-changer for the whole county. And I think the really neat thing about it is it would be the whole county,” said Jay County Commissioners president Chuck Huffman. “This way, everybody’s a winner. … Everybody benefits. It would just, I think, create growth throughout the whole county.”