Public forums seek input on future of Orchard Downs
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu Keep the trees, the garden plots, the hill where children go sledding in the winter, the multi-use paths that even Urbana’s wild turkeys reportedly use – but especially keep the international families and the diversity they bring to the neighborhood. Add a convenience store or small grocery store for residents, but not businesses that attract outsiders, unless access is from Windsor Road only. Those were a few of the suggestions that Urbana residents, UI faculty and staff members, retirees and students had for the real estate developers who hope to be chosen as the master redeveloper of Orchard Downs. More than 100 people attended the second in a series of public forums about the project Oct. 25 at The Forum at Carle in Urbana. Southeast of campus, Orchard Downs is home to about 1,500 people, predominantly graduate students with families, many of them international residents. The 160-acre property – bound by Florida Avenue, Race Street, Windsor Road and Hazelwood Drive in Urbana – contains 780 one- and two-bedroom apartments that were built in the 1950s and 1960s and lack amenities such as air conditioning and carpeting. Chancellor Richard Herman’s vision is to create an intergenerational magnet neighborhood that will include a retirement community, upscale condominiums, parks and the UI’s newly founded Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a program for adults older than 50. Kathleen Holden-Pecknold, director of the institute, also chairs the Orchard Downs Advisory Committee, which sponsored the forum. In September, the UI Board of Trustees approved five candidates – Devonshire Developers, Champaign; Fox Development/The Atkins Group/Vermillion Development Corp., Champaign; Broadacre Management Co., Chicago; Royal Properties, Champaign; and Snyder Corp., Bloomington – to proceed with creating comprehensive plans. Royal Properties has since dropped out. The university may use one of the plans or integrate features from various plans. Redeveloping Orchard Downs is expected to generate additional revenue for the university, which would retain ownership but cede management to an outside agency, and the city. Fred Coleman, director of capital development for Orchard Downs, and Renee Romano, vice chancellor for student affairs, said that the university would “address any shortfall” in student housing at another site. But many people were concerned that the amount of affordable housing available to students, the area’s cultural and economic diversity, and the services provided to international families would be diminished. “The university has not solved the problem of the graduate students and where they are going to go,” said Dale Steffensen, professor emeritus of cell and structural biology. “It really has to be resolved before you start the plans.” Stephen Kaufman, professor emeritus of cell and structural biology, pointed out there are no students on the advisory committee, which comprises UI faculty and staff members, city officials and Urbana residents. Kaufman urged them to refurbish – not destroy – Orchard Downs, to select an alternate site for new facilities and ensure the project is compatible with the redevelopment that is occurring on South Philo Road. Ingbert Floyd, a student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and father of a 5-year-old son who lives with him during summers and vacations, said that the family-friendly atmosphere of Orchard Downs, even with its deficits, “makes all the difference in the world.” “It’s the only place in all of Champaign that’s explicitly for families. If you get rid of it, there’s no place,” said Floyd, who has lived in Orchard Downs for more than two years. “With Orchard Downs, I’ve got a park behind my house. If I lose that housing, I don’t know where I’m going to go.” Some speakers also were concerned that a retirement community at the site would compete for residents with Clark-Lindsey Village, which is southeast of Orchard Downs at the corner of Race Street and Windsor Road. Diane Marlin, coordinator of the Southeast Urbana Neighborhood Association, called the project “the most exciting thing that’s come along in Urbana in decades,” but, like several speakers, cautioned that the development should be sustainable. Gary Cziko, a professor of educational psychology, urged developers to use local experts to make Orchard Downs a showcase for green technologies. Robert Finley, a geologist with the Illinois State Geological Survey, suggested that the candidates review innovative solutions that were used in redevelopments at Austin, Texas, and Chapel Hill, N.C., such as a partially underground parking garage. He also suggested that they use geographic positioning system technology to confer about identifying and preserving valuable trees – and make their plans publicly accessible on the Web. “I think the success of these plans will depend on some very specific features and mechanisms,” Finley said. “The devil is in the details. And I, for one, will be looking with considerable interest for details of this type in the plans that you prepare for us.”
