"Impossible" Parks

The West Lafayette Downtown Plan approved by city council on March 2. 2020 features color-coded blocks, each color indicating a certain style of proposed development. There are lots of red, purple, and orange; but not much green.

Council blocked a proposed sale of Tommy Johnston Park to a developer. But the grounds of University Lutheran church became The Rise. The public green beside Lambert will become a Public Greens restaurant. Ironic?

Business owners at the plan’s public hearings all protested their love for urban parks, and then went on to protest their properties being included in the plan as possible urban parks. You would have thought we were siting an oil refinery.

Which makes the creation of green space in the Chauncey Village area seem impossible.

Here are six ways we can build those impossible parks.

1) Grants

It will cost 12 million dollars to replace the Newman Rd. railway bridge. Funding for the project came from the Indiana Department of Transportation (at first it was to come from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation), which provided $10 million, and Purdue Research Foundation, which committed $2.5 million. Lafayette Transitional Housing Center recently received a $1.25 million grant from the Bezos Day One Families Fund. Perhaps there is funding for an urban green space out there.

2) Corporate Sponsorship

Think about a “Chase Plaza”. How about the “Muinzer Park” or "South St. Capital Lawn"?  Naming rights are a regular part of urban redevelopment.

3) The Rise of Conscience

I am a retired Episcopal priest. Within our denomination there are numerous examples of our members (Eli Lily – Indianapolis, George Procter – Cincinnati), particularly as they age, having their consciences awakened with significant results for a community. Some of our business leaders may have a religious experience in the future.

4) The Big Deal

Want to go a little higher with your project? Want to lower the number of parking spaces you need? We’ll trade you for a dog park. The park can be on your property, or somewhere else downtown.

5) The Little Deal

In the days of Sonya Margerum, Buzz Grady, and Katy Bunder, Lincoln St. got a pocket park. It took a non-profit with property and a vision, city dollars, and a reasonable rental corporation, to create a park. It may not have been exactly where the parties first thought it would be, and the parks department did have to overcome its reluctance to maintain a small space, but there it is. No one’s property values appear to have been ruined.

6) The PD

“PD” stands for planned development. No zoning changed with the new downtown plan. You can build whatever you want “by right”; i.e. what your zoning allows. The thing is, almost all recent land purchases in the village are in fact an investment gamble, a real estate speculation. The hope is to buy something small, then build something big. Spend some money now, make a fortune later. But the city zoning stops you at about three stories. There are parking requirements. Old right-of-ways must be vacated. You need to have your development plan move first through the Area Plan Commission, and then to city council for approval. Any ideas as to what we on council might be looking for in a “PD”?

Finally, please, if you like urban green space, you must speak up. In spite of the efforts of Councilor Thomas and myself, the only person to support downtown parks on March 2^nd was Redevelopment Commission member and owner of “The Pint”, Patrick Hagmaier.

That’s how we will get an impossible park.