Greenwood Comprehensive Plan

Greenwood Comprehensive Plan

by | Jul 7, 2025

Greenwood, IN

Comprehensive Plan

HWC led a team of planners, landscape architects, urban designers, and engineers to create a new City of Greenwood Comprehensive Plan. Since the last comprehensive planning effort, the City had added almost 15,000 residents and experienced significant commercial and industrial growth. This new plan establishes a vision for coordinated growth to the east of I-65 while shifting the focus from growth to reinvestment in established areas of the community. Central to this idea is continuing redevelopment and enhancement efforts in the City’s historic Old Town area while also developing specific recommendations for mature commercial areas so they remain vibrant and valuable assets in Greenwood. 

The Greenwood Comprehensive Plan includes new thoroughfare plan and trail network maps. Together, these plan components will ensure that the necessary right-of-way and improvements are dedicated as development and redevelopment projects occur. The plan also details recommendations for six key focus areas, including concept plans, precedent imagery, and area specific guiding principles.

The planning process was guided by a project Steering Committee and included significant community outreach through both in-person and online engagement opportunities. This included a project website, online surveys, interactive mapping tool, community workshops and open houses, outreach at the Greenwood Farmers Market and a Greenwood High School football game, and workshops with the Greenwood High School Student Council.

economic development/planning

Hendricks County Comprehensive Plan

Hendricks County Comprehensive Plan

by | Jul 7, 2025

Hendricks County, IN

Comprehensive Plan

Hendricks County has consistently been one of the fastest growing counties in Indiana in recent years. The community has a history of celebrating agricultural heritage and preserving the rural character that has attracted residents, but growth in Avon, Brownsburg, Danville, and Plainfield continues to push westward. Employment hubs centered around I-70 and I-74 have attracted significant investment, some of which is now occurring in unincorporated Hendricks County. The new Hendricks County Comprehensive Plan identifies potential growth areas and the inter-community collaboration needed to appropriately manage investment in more rapidly growing areas to the east, attract investment to the historic small towns to the west, and promote agriculture preservation across remaining areas of the County. Hendricks County is prepared to allow more intense residential, commercial, and industrial development in unincorporated areas when it can be served by municipal or regional water and sewer utilities as a means to land conservation elsewhere. At the same time, the County understands there will always be demand for rural residential estates and is using the Comprehensive Plan to inform potential development standards and processes for creating new lots in an appropriate manner.
economic development/planning

Align Southern Indiana – Trails Master Plan

Align Southern Indiana – Trails Master Plan

by | Apr 6, 2025

Align Southern Indiana

Trails Master Plan 

HWC led the planning process for a six-county Regional Trails Master Plan in southeastern Indiana. Working with the Trails Taskforce at Align Southern Indiana, HWC reviewed existing trail networks and developed recommendations for new greenway corridors and connections within Clark, Floyd, Washington, Scott, Harrison, and Jefferson Counties. The project included public input in the form of an online survey and workshops in each county. A set of design guidelines were also established towards the end of the process to provide system-wide preferences and guidance for future design and implementation.

economic development/planning

Avon Comprehensive Plan

Avon Comprehensive Plan

by | Feb 7, 2025

Avon, IN

Comprehensive Plan

The Avon Comprehensive Plan is a strategic planning effort between Town leadership and staff, nonprofits, local businesses, emergency services, utility providers, and the broader community to guide future growth and development in the Town of Avon. The project is a response to present opportunities and changes that have occurred since the Town’s current Comprehensive Plan, Activate Avon, was adopted in 2017. Sustained residential, commercial, industrial growth and progress made towards implementing the Town’s current plan indicate that it is time to update this important document.

This plan will cover land use, transportation, economic development, government capacity, utilities, and other topics vital for sustainable growth throughout the Town. Existing conditions research and analysis will lay the foundation for a set of planning goals and action strategies that Town officials and other community leaders will use to inform decision making. However, the Avon Comprehensive Plan is not solely meant for elected officials and Town staff but should serve as a reference document for the entire community.

Over the course of the planning process, residents, business owners, employees, and visitors will be invited to participate in engagement opportunities to provide insight into their lived experience in Avon. This input not only assists local leaders in identifying priorities for the Comprehensive Plan, but also helps lay a foundation of community support, which is key to successful implementation. Online surveys, stakeholder meetings, public workshops, and pop-up events are all part of the plan’s engagement and outreach process.

economic development/planning

East Central Indiana READI Plan and Program Management R2.0

East Central Indiana READI Plan and Program Management R2.0

by | Sep 20, 2024

East Central Indiana 

East Central Indiana READI Plan and Program Management R2.0

HWC led East Central Indiana in an effort to update their regional development plan. The 2024 East Central Indiana Regional Development Plan was formed through robust stakeholder engagement from across the eight-county region, which includes Blackford, Delaware, Fayette, Grant, Henry, Jay, Randolph, and Wayne counties. The final plan establishes a shared vision for a welcoming, authentic region where existing and future residents thrive. The plan also outlines a four-part regional investment strategy focused on the following key elements:

  • Quality of Life
  • Housing & Infrastructure
  • Childcare & Support for Families
  • Education & Opportunity

This regional development plan serves as a guide for the region, but also represents a key component in East Central Indiana’s compelling and competitive application for Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) funding from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). In the first round of READI, East Central Indiana secured $15 million in state funding. In the second round with HWC support, the region received $35 million to fund transformative childcare, housing, quality of place, and economic development projects.

economic development/planning