La Porte, Indiana
April 8, 2024
Gary Zoning 911
September 3, 2024Elkhart, Indiana
A Study for the Regeneration and Reconnection of the Benham Neighborhood
Published in July 2024
Case Study Overview
Once a thriving community, the Benham neighborhood was incrementally dismantled through a series of destructive Urban Renewal interventions starting in the 1950s and culminating in the 1980s, when the City of Elkhart used eminent domain to raze the single-family homes west of Benham Avenue in the name of “progress.” This case study proposes to restore Benham West, regenerate the surviving community, and reconnect activity between the neighborhood and the downtown.
Current Status
Plans are underway to launch a program titled “50 Homes in 5 Years.” The initiative will construct new infill housing and assist existing homeowners with renovations, working in close coordination with community residents to minimize displacement as the neighborhood is regenerated.
Aerial Photo Showing the Impact of the Benham Avenue Underpass, Circa 1963
Aerial view of Benham looking north toward downtown after Benham Avenue was rerouted and the underpass was constructed. Note the impact to the adjoining blocks: homes are starting to be removed and not replaced, leaving vacant land. Image source: Elkhart County Historical Society
History
Dismantling of the community began in the 1950s with the construction of the Benham Avenue underpass, which routed traffic from downtown under the railroad and through the community. The impact was immediate as the wide lanes of fast-moving vehicles replaced homes and divided the community in two. In the 1960s, the Housing Authority built Washington Gardens, a housing complex that dismantled many houses in the village, replacing them with barracks-like buildings that were disconnected and isolated from the rest of the neighborhood.
In 1981, through federal funding and eminent domain, the City of Elkhart took the remainder of the village from Benham West and thoroughly eradicated it. Urban Renewal was justified by promoting progress, but it is clear today that it was the erasure of culture and community.
A Vision for Benham
This case study operates at two levels. The first seeks specific strategies to activate the public realm at street level, making it easier and safer to walk in the neighborhood while defining public gathering places or neighborhood centers. The second is an exploration of how to connect isolated pockets of activity throughout the city, especially how to reconnect Washington Gardens back into the neighborhood.
The proposals in this case study identify successful places within the city’s urban fabric, note opportunities to continue the current growth and activity, and provide specific strategies to celebrate and expand upon the best parts of Benham. They consider already existing patterns of building use, density, pedestrian movement, car movement, and green space to recommend both short-term and long-term goals to reinforce existing momentum in the city.
Aerial Illustration of the Proposed Conditions for Benham Avenue
Benham Avenue is currently a wide divisive roadway that funnels traffic through the neighborhood. Design interventions including narrowing the roadway and encouraging infill housing around the brand new Tolson Center for Community Excellence will help knit the neighborhood back together.
View and Download the Full Elkhart, Indiana Report
View the full case study report in detail with high-resolution images and complete recommendations.
This study proposes a vision and action plan for the restoration, regeneration, and reconnection of the Benham neighborhood that both attracts new residents and supports existing residents of the community. This action plan is comprised of four primary layers:
Layer 1
Zoning reform is critical to the successful restoration of the Benham neighborhood. The current zoning code divides Benham into ten zones. Unfortunately, despite these numerous options, the current zones encourage the wrong scale of growth in this neighborhood while also creating a regulatory barrier that leaves many of the empty parcels unbuildable.
Layer 2
As downtown is regenerated and the River District continues to thrive to the north and plans for development at Pierre Moran and Woodland Crossing to the south process, a restored Benham will be ideally located as a central destination within Elkhart. The restoration of this neighborhood will require the streets to be redesigned in a way that connects rather than divides. With the redesigned streets, retail will once again become viable in Benham and pedestrians will be able to safely reinhabit the streets.
Layer 3
Urban landscaping is one of the strongest ways to make connections through a neighborhood. Tree-lined streets provide shade, create corridors of movement, and reinforce parks to provide protected places to gather. Safe streets are enabled by, and enable, a comprehensive landscaping approach. On a broad scale, the proposed design interventions identify a network of opportunities that will draw activity through the entire city while also providing concrete suggestions for engaging the public realm at specific locations.
Design Layer
The plan demonstrates a long-term comprehensive vision for the Benham neighborhood. This plan is composed of a series of individual yet interwoven proposed design interventions. Each proposal serves the dual goal of repairing and/or restoring a disinvested piece of the neighborhood fabric while at the same time reconnecting the fragments throughout the community.
Rendering of the Proposed Public Plaza at South Main Street and Prairie Street with a Recreation of the Kelby Love Mural
With the recent demolition of many of Benham's historic commercial buildings, a redevelopment opportunity on the corner of Prairie Street and South Main Street — in the neighborhood's historic commercial center — would provide a prominent public plaza and small-scale mixed-use buildings along the street to reactivate commerce in the neighborhood.
Existing and Proposed Conditions along 2nd Avenue in East Benham
Roughly 20% of East Benham's lots are vacant, and as many as 68% of East Benham is at-risk due to minimum lot width restrictions in the current zoning code that make it illegal to rebuild on these properties. Comprehensive preservation and zoning measures are needed to incentivize regeneration.
The first step in regenerating East Benham will be to stabilize its historic structures by creating a historic district and enhancing code enforcement for rental properties. As existing buildings are stabilized, attention can turn to infilling homes on the vacant lots. This will require a revision to the zoning code and the creation of a new building culture focused on building homes designed for urban neighborhoods.
These new homes should be scaled and detailed to match the existing single-family homes in the community, but they do not necessarily have to be single-family homes. Missing Middle Housing types, which include small cottages, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and small apartment houses are often the types that create the most fear in existing communities. Yet, these are the very housing types that will provide the necessary housing options to keep Elkhart’s children in the community, as well as attract and retain a skilled workforce to the city.