The City of South Bend is beginning a neighborhood planning process for four neighborhoods, and it’s inviting community members to begin their participation through a virtual planning workshop at its new online engagement platform, Together.SouthBendIN.gov.

In partnership with neighborhood residents, businesses, institutions, and others, the City is creating plans for the Kennedy Park, Near West Side, Rum Village, and Northeast Neighborhoods.

These plans will create a broad framework for private and public investment, and they will include topics such as transportation, housing, parks, zoning and building form, and other items important to the neighborhood.

As the plans should be representative of neighborhood residents’ vision and priorities for their neighborhoods, the City is offering multiple ways to engage with the planning process.

“We look forward to meeting and having conversations with residents to identify ways we can work together to make our neighborhoods better places to live,” said planning director Tim Corcoran.

The Together South Bend website empowers residents to contribute ideas and complete survey and mapping exercises conveniently from anywhere on a computer or other digital device at any time of the day.

Executive Director of the Department of Community Investment Santi Garces said, “Our Neighborhood Plans are important documents: they inform the decisions around land use and they provide a vision for the future.” Grace added that, “These documents will provide guidance to the City Administration and the Council for many years to come.”

The planning process will continue with in-person planning workshops this summer at times to be announced