Delia Novak, the mayor's neighborhood advocate who represents the southeast corner of Marion County, told neighborhood association members that the Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD) is updating the Marion County land-use plan and will host open-house style meetings in each township from June 2 to June 30.

Novak said the countywide meeting is scheduled for June 30 at Martin University, with a Center Township meeting on June 17 at the Frederick Douglass Park Family Center. "They're gonna be having meetings in every township ... from June 2 to June 30," Novak said. She directed residents to search "DMD land use plan" on Google or the indy.gov website for a list of all meeting dates and locations.

Novak also described other city resources and programs — the monthly "Tuesday 10" digital news segment, Project Indy summer jobs, Indy Parks summer jobs and camps, and a road-closure viewer and DPW capital-improvement map — and said that many parks will receive Lilly Endowment-funded improvements in 2025.

Several residents at the meeting pressed Novak on the public-engagement format for the land-use update. Speakers said the plan lists only one meeting per township and expressed concern that the open-house format and digital emphasis would limit community members who cannot attend evenings or who lack internet access. One resident said the open-house format reduces opportunities for face-to-face, interactive discussion that can reveal divergent local views and sometimes build consensus.

Novak said planners also will form a citizen advisory committee with representatives from each township; she added that DMD intends to integrate 20 existing area-specific plans into the countywide comp plan and acknowledged that the process will be challenging. She said a fully updated plan is expected in a later phase (Novak said the comp plan documentation would be available online and that a newer version should be visible in roughly a year).

On outreach logistics, Novak said she was not sure whether the city would mail postcards or run a press release for the meetings; she said the city's communications team has not finished public messaging for the June timetable. Residents urged additional notice for people without internet access; Novak said she would pass concerns to DMD's communications staff.

Novak encouraged residents to review the area plans most relevant to them (she read a partial list that included River Village, Cumberland, Irvington, Lafayette Square, and West Washington Street corridor) and to attend the open houses to provide input on zoning and development questions that will affect neighborhoods for decades.