North Liberty, Indiana
North Liberty Strategic Development Plan

Camiros, Ltd. was retained by the Town of North Liberty, Indiana to create a tourism and economic plan based upon the development opportunities afforded by visitors to the nearby Potato Creek State Park. In the past, the town never fully realized any specific economic benefit from its location relative to the state park. Camiros sought to bring out the opportunity for North Liberty to increase its economic base by appealing to the latent market potential of park visitors. This project involved more than just capturing dollars. Camiros needed to create a strategic development plan for economic and community revitalization for North Liberty.

The plan encompassed five major planning steps:

1. Background Review and Inventory: Camiros documented existing conditions, met with community representatives, conducted a downtown photo inventory and created both a base map and vicinity map.
2. Advisory Task Force: This task force was created to help establish the preliminary goals and objectives for future community development.
3. Survey of North Liberty Residents: The survey documented community concerns, attitudes and consumer behavior.
4. Development Options: An analysis of community characteristics led to the creation of development options and alternatives.
5. Final Strategic Development Plan and Implementation Agenda: The documentation of the plan formed a cohesive development strategy which included various downtown revitalization strategies and an implementation agenda which detailed project priorities, community actions and completed the planning assignment.

One unique aspect of the development strategy was that community leaders could take a proactive approach to stimulate demand for downtown space by actively recruiting small business persons who seek a small town lifestyle and to enlarge their opportunities to be involved in the community. The plan suggested building the potential of tourism by targeting specific visitor markets and expanding local opportunities to be a part of the larger regional tourism context.