Public gets input on Calumet Avenue plan
DYER | It wasn't an easy task to envision a row of shops, a boulevard, commercial buildings, or even condos along the Calumet Avenue corridor, but a few residents were willing to try Tuesday night.
Ideas and support came slowly during the first of at least two meetings on the Calumet Avenue proposal, as those in attendance expressed both skepticism and hope for the last undeveloped stretch of roadside corridor in Dyer.
"Make it friendly," said Judy Sizemore, a 40-year resident who said she "loved' the new plan. "Don't make it a Merrillville, make it a Dyer."
Town officials said the Calumet Avenue proposal drawn up by Crown Point architect Tarik El-Naggar is meant to do just that. It includes a pedestrian-friendly corridor south of 213th that mixes retail and entertainment, with a so-called big box development and commercial office park, on the southwest and southeast ends of the corridor, respectively, and high-end residential on the extreme west side, along Plum Creek.
It's all part of Dyer's efforts to make south Calumet Avenue a special place and an attempt to focus on one of Dyer's four business districts, which the Redevelopment Commission pinpointed last year.
El-Naggar unveiled his proposal, which he emphasized is only an idea and a rendering, earlier this winter, and Tuesday marked the first of what he has called the public input phase.
Of the 20 or so residents in attendance, several expressed concerns about building a pedestrian "Main Street" concept along a north-south corridor.
After all, Sherrie Bereda pointed out, the Calumet Avenue extension was decades in the making and was supposed to be a major thoroughfare to U.S. 30.
Gus Dovellos also wondered if the area can support the kind of boutique shops town officials seemed to envision.
"I don't see it," he said.
"We have no delusions that a Tiffany's will be here," Redevelopment Commissioner Ed Nowak said. However, Dyer may be able to entice stores and major chains that as yet have no presence in Northwest Indiana or the Chicago area.
Those in attendance seemed cool to the idea of condominiums along the creek, and several Briar Crossing residents had plenty of questions on the community parkland Dyer is presently trying to purchase.
The parkland is roughly 80 acres and abuts the Briar Crossing subdivision.
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