FOR THE TOWN OF BEVERLY SHORES

In the twenty years since the last comprehensive plan for Beverly Shores was drafted, there have been few fundamental changes in the character of its residents. The primary reason for living in Beverly Shores remains the same. As the 1996 Resident Survey found, most residents came here for access to nature in quiet solitude, while maintaining a proximity to metropolitan Chicago. Its location and its natural resources are the community’s greatest attractions. Beverly Shores residents continue to be very well-educated (56.6 percent have a bachelors or graduate degree) and, as a result, are wealthier than the residents in most surrounding communities ($59,107 was the median household income in 2000 versus $53,100 in Porter County and $42,148 in the country as a whole).

Some of the more significant changes that have occurred in the demographics of Beverly Shores’ residents in the past twenty years are:

· the population is older with the median age increasing from 38.4 in 1980 to 50.8 years in 2000 with half as many school age children and nearly a fifty percent increase in the number of persons aged 65 years and older;

· the balance between permanent full-time residents and part-time residents has shifted from parity in 1980 to nearly twice as many full-timers as there are part-timers in 2000, even though the total number of full-time residents has decreased from 864 to 708;

· the ethnic make up of the community has grown more diverse, with the largest percentage of residents claiming ancestry of German (28%), Irish (18.8%), Lithuanian (14.7%), and Polish (7.4%) in 2000; and,

· an increasing percent of the residents are new to Beverly Shores with nearly half of the population living in their current homes for ten years or less and more than three-fourths twenty years or less.

On the other hand, the housing stock in Beverly Shores has aged appreciably, with the percentage of housing being less than twenty years old falling from 59 percent in 1980 to 26.8 percent in 2000, while at the same time the median value of a Beverly Shores home rose from $66,400 to $238,000. Because the number of lots available and suitable for building new homes is rapidly decreasing (a study undertaken for the Plan Commission estimated about 141 such lots currently remaining), it may be anticipated that a major source of new housing will be tear-downs or major renovations of these older houses.

Stability in Plan Precepts

None of the changes in the characteristics of Beverly Shores’ residents or its housing market in the last twenty years has altered the basic precepts of the 1982 Comprehensive Plan. Indeed, housing market developments and land appreciation may well be a direct result of the 1982 Plan. Residents still believe that the highest priority of town government must be: the maintenance of low-density housing through strict enforcement of planning regulations of new housing (principally the 20,000 square foot lot size requirement) is the highest responsibility of the town government’s obligation to sustain the essential attraction of Beverly Shores. Current residents owe a great debt of gratitude to the framers of the 1982 Plan and the consequent regulation of building in Beverly Shores that they enacted to protect against over-building and the despoiling of the beautiful dunes topography.

Because of the recent arrival of many of Beverly Shores’ residents and the independence and solitude that most residents sought in coming here, their participation in local governmental activities is less than might be expected in such a well-educated community. During the year that this plan was developed, the only towns-people attending the Plan Commission deliberations were people pursuing special interests or the reporter for the Association of Beverly Shores Residents newsletter. If the town’s efforts to maintain low-density housing in Beverly Shores for the next twenty years are to be as successful as they have been in the last twenty years, greater vigilance by citizen groups of the legislative and administrative functions of town government will be required. Only two issues, water and deer, have drawn that kind of necessary attention by citizens in the last five years.

The 1982 planners also accurately predicted the weak financial base of town government with little expected growth in tax revenues for the town of Beverly Shores. Although the Town’s total budget has increased by 2.3 percent annually in real terms since 1980, there has been no change in the services town government is providing its residents. Fortunately, the increase in the private wealth of the community’s residents, and the private organizations that they have developed, have provided the resources necessary to finance services that in other communities might be provided by government. Beverly Shores had only eight families living below the poverty level in 2000, about two-thirds of Porter County’s poverty rate and less than 40 percent of the national rate. Lower income families will be increasingly disadvantaged by the lack of town services, especially as the town looks to the development of a municipal water system on a self-funded basis. Because no reform of the archaic Indiana tax system is anticipated that could improve the financial prospects for town government over the next twenty years, it is likely fewer lower income families will reside in Beverly Shores over the next twenty years.

I. LOCATION

The Town of Beverly Shores is a 2,300-acre municipality in Porter County, Indiana. Beverly Shores is comprised of “the Island”, “the Strip” and “the Lakeshore”. The island comprises approximately 652 acres, including approximately 100 acres of municipally owned property. The strip encompasses approximately 56 acres, and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (hereafter referred to as the National Lakeshore) comprises approximately 1,600 acres owned by the federal government and managed by the National Park Service. Beverly Shores is bounded on the north by Lake Michigan, on the east by the City of Michigan City and the Town of the Pines, on the west by the Indiana Dunes State Park and on the south by unincorporated Porter County.

II. HISTORY

Beverly Shores owes it existence to land speculation activities during the 1920’s. In May 1927, Chicago real estate developer Frederick H. Bartlett purchased 3,000 acres of lake front lands from the estates of local owners. The development, which included five miles of frontage on Lake Michigan, stretched from the western edge of Michigan City to the eastern boundaries of the Indiana Dunes State Park. Bartlett conceived of his new holdings as an urban resort community and during 1927 began selling property in the eastern half of his development extending from the LaPorte-Porter county line westward to Lake Shore County Road. Most residents and prospective buyers rode the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend interurban to the Lakeshore train station at Central Avenue, now destroyed.

In the summer of 1929, the western portion of the development, extending from Lake Shore County Road to State Park Road, was opened for sales. A second train station was constructed on Broadway, north of U.S. Highway 12. Thousands of Chicagoans rode special excursion trains to Beverly Shores, where they were met by salesmen in private automobiles and given a tour of the community, served refreshments and encouraged to purchase one or more of the fifty-foot wide lots.

In 1933 Frederick H. Bartlett sold all of his northwest Indiana properties to his younger brother, Robert Bartlett. Robert touted the community and its attractions with the promotional flair of a born salesman. He constructed a school, a seasonal hotel with botanic gardens, a championship 18 hole golf course with clubhouse, a beach front casino, a riding academy and a theater. In 1935, Robert Bartlett purchased 16 structures from the 1933-34 “A Century of Progress”, Chicago World’s Fair and moved them to Beverly Shores. Four of the buildings from the Homes and Industrial Arts exhibit of the fair were barged across Lake Michigan and relocated to their permanent site on the lakefront. These houses include the House of Tomorrow, the Florida House, the Rostone House and the Armco-Ferro house. The Cypress Log Cabin was dismantled at the fair site and trucked to Beverly Shores. All five of these structures are located within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Currently, the Indiana Historic Landmarks Foundation leases four of the houses and is actively recruiting individuals to renovate the structures. The use of the fifth home is still governed by a time specific reservation of use agreement with the U.S. Department of Interior. The only other remaining World’s Fair structure, the Old North Church replica, is a privately owned residence. The other ten structures are no longer standing. The totally renovated Beverly Shores train station, on the National Register of Historic Places, and the four miles of Lake Michigan beaches form the principal tourist attractions of the Town.

By 1946, the Robert Bartlett Realty Company had sold most of its property and moved on to concentrate on developments in suburban Chicago. It deeded the streets and six beach sections to the property owners, it also sold them the Administration Building and the hotel indoor parking garage. Complying with procedures governed by Indiana State statutes, a special census was conducted, the town divided into wards and an election for or against incorporation was held in December 1946. The community was incorporated as a State of Indiana town on January 1, 1947.

Though thousands bought lots, few built homes. The Depression and World War II impeded the community's growth. The lack of municipal water and sewer system also contributed to the Town's slow development. In the nineteen-fifties and sixties, a slow pattern of building began with about half of the residents living in Town on a full-time basis and the remainder owning summer homes.

In the mid-nineteen-sixties, a movement to include Beverly Shores in the proposed Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore began. When Congress authorized the National Lakeshore in 1966, two-thirds of the town's acreage became part of the park. In 1971, another effort was started to include the remainder of the Town in the Lakeshore. In 1980, after nine years of Congressional consideration, a parcel of land bordering the Town to the south became part of the National Lakeshore, but the center of the community, the Island, and land bordering U.S. 12, the Strip, were excluded. The uncertainty of inclusion or exclusion of the Island and Strip affected building in these areas during the 1970’s, and early 1980’s. When the public became aware that the Island was not going to be included in the National Lakeshore Acquisition Plan, the Island experienced modest growth in the 1990’s.

Although this Comprehensive Plan will address itself to the 2,300 acres that encompasses the Town, most attention will be paid to the 652 acres which comprise the Island and the 56 acres in the Strip.

Beverly Shores adopted its first zoning ordinance in 1947. The ordinance was largely amended in 1969. The Camiros consulting firm carried out a further planning study in 1978. In 1983, Ordinance 208, establishing zoning and subdivision regulations was adopted. A number of amendments have occurred over the past 19 years and exist today as the present Town law.

III. NATURAL RESOURCES

The location of the Town of Beverly Shores on the southern shore of Lake Michigan dictates the great importance of the community's physical environment. The physical setting is the most unique feature of the town and much of the planning initiative to date has been and continues to be directed to its preservation.

The fragile dune ecosystem is given great emphasis in the Comprehensive Plan as a major developmental factor. It is because of the fragility of the dune ecosystem that the housing density remains low. Any major municipal improvements (water, sewers, etc.) are not reason for increasing housing density. The Comprehensive Plan, building codes and zoning ordinances should work in accord to promote land preservation and conservation, and to maintain the present low density. Orderly development should be consistent with these land preservation, conservation and low density goals in order to minimize the impact to the fragile dune ecosystem.

Also, Beverly Shores has the only publicly owned Lake Michigan shoreline in Indiana where one can drive along the lakefront.

Climate

Beverly Shores lies within a humid continental climatic region. Maximum precipitation occurs in the months of May and June, and minimum precipitation normally occurs in January and February. No long-term climatological records are available specifically for Beverly Shores, but mean annual precipitation for the surrounding region ranges from 32.5 inches per year at Michigan City, to 42.0 inches per year at LaPorte, Indiana.

Mean annual temperatures vary from 49.3 degrees Fahrenheit at Hammond, Indiana, to 50.5 degrees at Hobart, Indiana. July is generally the warmest month with a regional mean monthly temperature of 73.3 degrees, and January is the coldest month with a regional mean monthly temperature of 24.4 degrees.

The presence of Lake Michigan has a moderating effect on the climate of the area. For example, the normal frost-free growing season in the coastal region of southern Lake Michigan ranges between 170 and 190 days, while the normal frost-free growing season in the Kankakee River basin south of the coastal region is less than 160 days.

The proximity of the Lake to the Town also results in a micro-climatic decrease in precipitation. Although these climatic factors tend to produce localized rain and snow, “lake effect” precipitation, in the “LaPorte weather anomaly”, Beverly Shores is only infrequently subject to this “lake effect” precipitation.

Hydrology

Surface waters in the Town consist of standing water in marshes, ponds and ditches. Currently, only the immediate lakeshore area is considered to be flood-prone although the water table is very high in many areas.

Currently, groundwater is obtained by individual wells from the Calumet aquifer, a variable, unconsolidated water table aquifer, generally less than twenty feet in thickness. The maximum local withdrawal rate is less than 5 to 10 gpm per well. Wells are generally shallow. The aquifer is recharged by local precipitation and the variability of the strata has resulted in dry wells in the town.

Presently, the National Park Service is plugging ditches that once drained water in Beverly Shores in order to restore wetlands south of Beverly Drive. The effect, if any, this will have on Beverly Shores is yet to be known, but the water level in the wetlands north of Beverly Drive appears to be rising.

Surficial Geology

The topography of the area is quite varied compared to most of Northwest Indiana. It is precisely this variation which gives rise to the uniqueness of Beverly Shores and the challenges faced in developing and living within the dunes environment.

It includes poorly drained level areas and gentle and steep dune slopes. Where human activities have disturbed slopes, considerable effort has been expended to prevent slumping of the dunes. Steep slopes are subject to slumping, are a hazardous area for road or construction cuts, and are hazardous for winter driving.

Beach Erosion

Another environmental phenomenon of concern to the town is that of beach erosion. Significant fluctuation in lake levels occur and are an ongoing concern. From 1927-1956 the rate of erosion, as measured by retreat of the bluff scarp, was between 2 and 4 feet per year depending on exact location.

In 1997 the Plan Commission held special meetings to discuss the East Unit National Lakeshore Development Plan. At that time, due to high levels and the ensuing erosion, it was felt that erosion was a critical issue facing the community. It was felt this issue was not properly addressed because a beach nourishment plan had not been given top priority. The continued erosion has abated (because of lower lake levels), but remains important because of the reduction in size of our beaches by at least one acre annually. One solution to this problem was viewed as the placement of a permanent slurry pump at the Michigan City harbor. This expenditure would not only protect the Town and the National Park Service’s current investment, but would economically add land to its existing holdings.

A revetment 13,200 feet long was completed by the Army Corps of Engineers as a temporary measure in 1974 and was augmented with 227,000 cubic yards of beach sand. This sand has subsequently been removed by erosion and an appropriation of $1.5 million was made for an additional 80,000 cubic yards of beach nourishment in the summer of 1981. The Corps of Engineers placed another 920 feet of revetment in six specific locations from Broadway to Drexwood in 1998.

The current revetment prevents natural replenishment of the beach through undercutting of the bluff scarp. There are three important reasons for finding a long term solution to the beach replenishment problem: (1) the present method of replenishment is very expensive, (2) loss of the revetment would mean the loss of Lake Front Drive which is the only means of access to many of the homes fronting upon it, and (3) continued erosion would mean loss of public beach ownership and could lead to acquisition of an adjacent strip of land by the National Lakeshore if a public beach was desired.

Soils

The predominant soils within the Town, as classified by the United States Soil Conservation Service are Oakville, Maumee, Adrian and Houghton Muck. The Oakville soils are sandy and very porous.

Current Town ordinances mandate that individual sewage disposal systems and water wells shall be located and installed in accordance with the State of Indiana and Porter County Board of Health regulations. These regulations allow for excavation of these soils to create a large enough level area to install a sewage disposal system.

The Adrian and Houghton Muck soil types are deep, very poorly drained soils in bogs within lake plains. They have severe limitations for soil absorption wastewater systems, and are generally found in the lowland areas of the Town. County regulations do not allow for soil absorption systems in this soil.

The Maumee soil is somewhat poorly drained soil having severe limitations for soil absorption systems. County regulations require one acre building sites for soil absorption systems and the Valparaiso soil is somewhat poorly drained soil having severe limitations for soil absorption systems. This soil is found in some areas along US 12.

IV. POPULATION

Based on the 2000 Census, there are currently 708 residents who claim full-time residence in the Town of Beverly Shores, a 13.8% increase since the 1990 Census. This coincides with the Porter County growth rate of 13.9% in the same 10-year period. There are currently 443 single-family residences, and 12 multi-family residences in the town. This information is summarized within Table 1.

The Town of Beverly Shores, as of June 2001, had 33 reservations of use with an estimated population of 56. By the year 2010 all reservations of use will expire. The result of the expirations should have little impact on the overall population of the Town.

While the number of reservations of use has diminished in recent years, the number of new homes has added considerably to the housing stock of the Town. The net impact has been a modest increase in resident population in the 1990-2000 decade. Also shown quite clearly in Table 1, the community is “graying” or aging with an increase in the median age over the 1980-2000 period from 38.4 to 50.8 years.

P O P U L A T I O N

BY SEX	1970	1980	1990	2000
Male	n/a	461 (53.4%)	312 (50.1%)	371 (52.4%)
Female	n/a	403 (46.6%)	310 (49.9%)	337 (47.6%)
TOTAL	946	864 (100.0%)	622 (100.0%)	708 (100.0%)

BY AGE	1970	1980	1990	2000
Under 18	n/a	161 (18.6%)	79 (12.7%)	81 (11.4%)
18 to 64	n/a	595 (68.9%)	398 (64.0%)	468 (66.1%)
Over 65	n/a	108 (12.5%)	145 (23.3%)	159 (22.5%)
Median Age (yrs)	n/a	38.4

Table Of Contents

PREAMBLE

Community Changes