New Chauncey neighborhood considers creating park

A meeting to be held in about four weeks will decide whether a 50-year plan incorporating park space in southwestern New Chauncey should move forward.

The Area Plan Commission of Tippecanoe County and the Purdue Research Foundation are exploring ways to rezone a diagonal strip between where Northwestern Avenue meets Fowler Avenue and the intersection of Stadium Avenue and Vine Street. The public was brought into this discussion in three town hall meetings held between early October and early November.

The architect hired by the research foundation proposed two plans, which would be incorporated in the next 50 years. In the first plan, the southwestern area would be entirely high-density student housing. The second plan is to have medium density housing as a buffer between high density housing along Northwestern Avenue and the neighborhood.

Daniel Flavin, a construction manager and New Chauncey neighborhood leader, proposed a third plan.

My neighbors and I got together and this was our compromise to what the landlords have proposed. We proposed they can still develop along Northwestern in these white areas, but were going to have a green area separating all of this new construction thats going to go on along Northwestern between that and our neighborhood, Flavin said.

He compared the plan to Grant Park in Chicago or New Yorks Central Park.

(In Central Park), you see where high real estate is surrounding the park. It was high-dollar real estate even back then, but someone had to have an idea and a vision to go forward with some green space that would serve not you or me, but, going to serve generations to come. And thats what were trying to do with this, Flavin said.

The planned park is being designed by Purdue landscape architects for their senior project and would feature park benches, gazebos, ponds, playgrounds and additional parking for the area. It would also be ambulance accessible.

A park like that would make the values of our property go high, Flavin said. Nobody wants to live next to a high rise.

The park would be in an ideal spot for college and high school students, faculty, residents and kids. It also allows residents of the Hills and Dales subdivision to look out on a park as opposed to high or medium density housing.

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New Chauncey neighborhood considers creating park