Local Decision Maker; Assisting Indiana communities in making informed and integrated land use and economic development decisions

November 17, 2014

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant

Local Decision Maker (LDM) is a powerful decision support system for comprehensive planning. LDM brings together the data, current research, analyses, mapping tools, and models to assist communities throughout the planning process. If vexing issues such as too much growth, too little growth, loss of natural resources, poor employment outlook, or declining school populations have driven your community to the point that change is wanted, you will find LDM useful. LDM will help you assess existing conditions, develop a realistic vision of the future, identify future development strategies, and select a preferred strategy consistent with the community’s economic, natural resource, social and cultural objectives and projected resource bases. Conflicts are unavoidable given competing objectives. Overall, we expect communities that use LDM will find ways to navigate through these conflicts and develop a comprehensive plan supported by the community.
The site is designed for county planners, planning consultants and public officials. If you are new to the comprehensive planning process, please spend some time in the Resources section. In addition, we recently added the map to the right that summarizes existing planning efforts throughout Indiana. Before starting a planning effort, you may want to visit some of the counties that have recently completed or updated their comprehensive plans.

Academia to Government

Sea Grant welcomes 2025 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship finalists

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2025 class of the Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. This year, for the first time in program history, all eligible Sea Grant programs are represented by a diverse cohort of 88 early-career professionals who will spend the next year working alongside federal agencies or legislative offices in Washington, D.C., applying their academic expertise to critical marine, coastal and Great Lakes policy issues.

Sea Grant & Weather Program Office award $1.5 million for community flooding social science liaisons as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s $22.78 million investment to help communities better prepare for water-related climate impacts

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced the award of $22.78 million in funding to NOAA labs, programs, cooperative institutes and other research partners to advance research on a wide range of water-driven climate impacts. Research topics include coastal and inland flood and inundation mapping and forecasting, and next-generation water modeling activities, including modernized precipitation frequency studies.

These funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help communities prepare for a range of climate impacts and will directly benefit policymakers, emergency responders, researchers and the general public.

Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries Announce 2024 Joint Fellowship Program Awardees

Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries are excited to announce the 2024 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship recipients. This year, seven population dynamics fellows and three marine resource economics fellows will embark on critical fisheries research with support through this national program.