Purdue vacates portion of Cherry Lane for public use
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. − Potential changes to Cherry Lane's future along with decennial redistricting deviations were introduced at Monday night's West Lafayette City Council meeting.
Representatives from Purdue University, its trustees and the Purdue Research Foundation introduced an ordinance to vacate a portion of Cherry Lane in West Lafayette to dedicate it for public use. The exact wording of the ordinance is as follows: "An Ordinance Vacating A Portion Of Cherry Lane And Accepting And Dedicating To Public Use A New Section Of Cherry Lane In The City Of West Lafayette, Indiana."
This realignment of Cherry Lane would include the construction of a new roundabout.
"The layout of the new area of Cherry Lane is being developed with an eye to improving transportation and actually slowing the traffic speed," Marianne Owen, a lawyer with Stuart & Branigin, said. "How this is gonna happen is, first, a roundabout will be constructed at the entrances to the golf courses to help with the flow of traffic...Then, there will be a tunnel... for golf course pedestrians to move between the two golf courses without interrupting traffic on Cherry Lane.
"Then, along the south side of Cherry Lane, there will be an area intended to tie the city planned trail system that is located beyond...Cherry Lane."
This proposed project will see its second of two readings at the Sept. 6, 2022, West Lafayette City Council meeting. If all goes according to plan, the project will begin in 2026 and fully completed in 2031.
Pedestrian and bike safety is one of the high priorities for this project, as the Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Committee was formed recently this summer.
The concern of safety for those traveling on foot, bicycle, electric bicycle and other similar vehicles was brought up by council member Larry Leverenz during the meeting. This is something those involved in the project assure is among high priority when considering the Cherry Lane project and beyond.
As one person connected to the committee, who preferred not to be named, explained that the stretch of Cherry Lane that will be worked on is popular with pedestrians, especially students and faculty at Purdue for jogging, bicycling, and more.
As such, figuring out a safe and time effective route for pedestrian travelers is apart of future West Lafayette city construction.
Election preparation
The redrawing of the six districts in West Lafayette was introduced Monday night. These deviations are part of the upcoming November elections.
"It's done every 10 years," Nick DeBoer, council member, said. "It determines who represents who in the city council. It's for voting for city council elections."
According to DeBoer, redistricting won't dramatically affect the city as only a few locations will see the most amount of change.
"It's not gonna be like, drastically different than what it is right now," DeBoer said. "It's gonna be like, downtown, dorm district, and then kind of like a larger land area with the remaining students in the western part. And then you'll have the New Chauncey neighborhoods on north...It looks, at least in my mind, pretty close to what the option one map that APC had on the agenda tonight looks like."
Further specific information on redistricting can be found on Monday night's agenda.
The next West Lafayette City Council meeting will be held on Sept. 6.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue vacates portion of Cherry Lane for public use
