McCordsville residents give input on town center

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MCCORDSVILLE — People studied the board, casting their votes by planting stickers and post-it notes upon dozens of brightly-colored photos adorning the walls.

Dog parks, farmer’s markets, playgrounds, water features, community amphitheaters. The possibilities for developing a downtown McCordsville are endless, but its those who live there who must decide what they want their town to become, officials said.

McCordsville leaders and Context Design — a landscape and architectural firm designing a new town center for McCordsville — hosted a public presentation and open house Wednesday to give locals a chance to speak their minds on what improvements they’d like to see within their community.

The meeting was the first of several that will provide residents with an opportunity to share ideas and offer input a the project that will ultimately come to define the town, said town manager Tonya Galbraith.

McCordsville Redevelopment Commission earlier this year announced plans to construct a central area in the heart of the town, and members have been crafting a master plan for the site.

Many residents have already been active participants in planning process, and the general consensus is downtown McCordsville should have a sort of village vibe, which should be reflected in its architectural style, said primary design partner Fred Prazeau.

McCordsville residents want the town to have a main-street-Indiana feel to it, so that’s what designers are going to shoot for, Prazeau said.

The most popular elements and activities supported by residents who attended the open house were space for new local businesses, walking and cycling trails and a central park area to serve as a venue for community events. Hancock County’s connectivity is a critical component of how the final downtown plan will be drawn, as well. The firm is focusing on traffic flow through the town of McCordsville, and needs to adjust their plans to accommodate for how cars will navigate through town and how that will affect pedestrians in the town center area.

Prazeau assured those gathered Wednesday that they want to focus on adding to what already makes McCordsville great. They aren’t going to tear down iconic buildings or businesses just to make room for fresh ones, he said.

“The most common request that I’ve gotten from residents so far is to make sure Tim’s Bakery isn’t going away,” Prazeau joked.

Wednesday, residents got to share more of their ideas with the designers and the town’s leaders.

Randy Mohr, a McCordsville resident of 11 years, said he doesn’t want to see the town center develop into a purely commercial district.

“I’m looking for places where people can interact, a place where people can come together on purpose, whether that’s a community green area or an amphitheater,” Mohr said. “That would bring so much more livability to this whole community.”

French native and now McCordsville resident Virginie McNamor said that the town would benefit from adopting European influences with respect to its architectural and business design styles.

“I love back home, where we have kind of a central town plaza and a middle place where we could gather,” McNamor said. “It could be cool to put a little gazebo in the middle, and have a sort of American and European mix. It doesn’t have to be fancy; I come from a small village where you can eat outside, hang out and just meet with people.”

Resident Brian Wayman said that with the development of McCordsville’s downtown district, the town will likely end up growing quite a bit, and with growth comes change. It’s important that they develop the area in a way that encourages commercial and residential growth alike, he said.

“Right now, I think we’re real focused on bringing rooftops to McCordsville,” Wayman said. “That’s fine; but to get us to a level of Westfield or Plainfield, if you look at the way that those towns are developing, it’s really smart. There’s lots of green space, lots of parks. That attracts families.”

“As we develop, we will create kind of our own kind of town image,” he added.

Context Design will host a similar open-discussion format meetings with the town at McCordsville’s Trunk-or-Treat event Oct. 27. They will also hold another public open house event Nov. 14.

Galbraith said that they’re doing everything they can to encourage citizens to get involved because one public official or contractor is not going to determine how McCordsville evolves.

“It’s a community project,” Galbraith said. “That’s the bottom line. This is not a vacuum, this is going to be a plan for years and years and years to come. So it’s not a person or a company’s vision. It’s the town’s.”

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McCordsville residents can give input on the future town center from noon to 2 p.m. Oct. 27 and from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at McCordsville Town Hall, 6280 W. County Road 800N.

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