Elkhart River Alliance - Elkhart River Restoration Association Inc.

133 Pages·2011·10.56 MB·English

I thank you.
I would like to pay tribute to my in-house Advisory
Committee, George Young and Matt Potteiger.
My special thanks to John Russell who not only has been
a warm steady source of wisdom and support, but drove two hun
dred miles to view the site contributing a rich personal
understanding of the project content. He carries with him
an inner positive feeling that is contagious to people who
surround him.
My thanks to Art Bleau whose enthusiasm and grasp for
the project kept the goals and objectives on a realistic route
in the Goshen Park system.
Also, a thank you to the good people of the City Engineer's
Office who had a part in getting me headed in the right direction.
And Chuck Lehman of LeRoy Troyer and Associates, to whom
I was just a student. He more than once dropPed everything and
took time to guide my thinking and was like a fountain of
information. To this busy professional my sincere gratitude. I
hope someday to have the opportunity to return the favor to a
new aspirer to the field of Landscape Architecture.
Goshen
Anyone who has lived in Goshen over ten years
acclaims the fact that it is a unique place to live.
It is not simply a group of people who have chosen
the same place to live. Like other places it is a
current of life, but Goshen goes further. It has a
heart, a soul, a spirit. It is people who care about
each other and make it a big neighborhood, not just a
community.
This is what brings the special atmosphere of
warmth which characterizes it. I see a center of this
sociable spirit, this easy comfortable friendliness that
maintains itself in even a growing city. Industry and
the population have grown in this city but it remains
a warm town and could be greatly enhanced by this
picturesque delightful center along the waters edge of
Goshen.
Heather Hardie
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background 1
Assumptions 5
Goal 6
Objectives 6
Inventory and Analysis 8
History 10
Size and Location of Elkhart River Basin 15
Drainage 16
Soils 17
High River Flows 23
Water Pollution 23
Mean Monthly Temperatures 25
Mean Snowfall 26
Monthly Precipitation 26
Kind and Location of Wetlands 30
Fish and Wildlife Resources 31
Archeological Importance 32
Urban Centers and Their Influence 33
Areas of Recent and Current Growth 34
Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Plan 36
Shanklin Park 38
New Park 38
Rogers Park 39
Hydraulic Canal 40
Goshen Pond Area 40
Activities in the Goshen Recreational Area 40
Goals and Objectives 43
Project Site Potentials 47
Lincoln Avenue Traffic Data 48
Hydro Electric Power 51
Environmental Issues 55
Hydro-electric Potential 56
Hydro-electric Facilities 57
Power Generation 63
Costs 66
Federal Jurisdiction 68
Program Statement 77
Proposal 82
Location 83
Goals 84
Inventory and Analysis 85
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Continued.)
Dam Pond Island 87
Site Inventory 88
Concept Development 89
Site Design 90
Isometric 92
Sketches 93
Appendix 94
Background
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The riverfront of Goshen, Indiana, and. the connecting links to the
city proper, have long been ignored as having value to the city. As interests
grow in the community to expand. recreation and open space activities, so does
the need grow for a concentrated study of the Elkhart River and its relatlon-
ship to downtown Goshen.
BACKROOlID
I spent 18 years growing up in Goshen, which has given me a feel for the
community both psychologically and physically. The time in Goshen bred a
familiarity with the Elkhart River and spawned a desire to make the river a
more valuable ani respected. part of the community of Goshen.
Goshen is located approximately halfway between Ft. Wayne and South Bend
in north central Irrliana. Goshen acts as 1;.he junction point for U.S. JJ
(that runs east-west from Ft. Wayne to South Bent) and Indiana 15 (running
north-south from Warsaw to Michigan).
1
As has been the case with many cities in the past, Goshen's urban core
has experienced a loss of vitality due to the increasing appeal of shopping
on the city's periphery. Linway Plaza, located just 1/8 mile west of the
Lincoln Avenue bridge, plus the Kroger shopping center just west of Rogers
Park, have taxed the effectiveness of the central retail core. While some
revitalization work has been accomplished in downtown Goshen, there are areas
adjacent to the river and canal that have potentia~as well, for furthering
that revitalization effort and providing a similar character that exists in
the central business district.
Currently existing along the riverfront site is a scrap metal yard heaPed
with old cars and rusty metal that poses as an eye sore. On the south side of
Lincoln Avenue is a ten foot fence hiding large equipment. It is my assumption
that the quality of the space presently occupied by the dump yard. is far
superior than the quality of a dump yard. space should be, considering location
and views onto and off the site.
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2
This area of the project is a pivot point interfacing two areas of the
city: the traditional and the new. The site is an important connection
point that has become a distaswful.visual barrier between the east and the
west sides of the city. Due to the present use of the site as a junk yard
and equipment storage, it has failed the city functionally, aesthetically,
economically and socially. Along with being a pivot point between the city's
east and west sides, it is also at the pivot point between Goshen's Park
system (Shanklin Park to the south and Roger's Park to the north). The
development of the site would reinforce Goshen's future plans of a green belt
running north-south through town.
Functionally, the site cuts off Pedestrian circulation by creating an
unappealing route from the central business district to satellite shopping
centers located only 1/4 mile from the heart of the downtown area, crossing
the river in route.
Aesthetically, the site is a blemish in the urban fabric. Buildings that
border the site range from new to old and well kept to neglected and vacant.
The river runs around the junk yard and equipment storage creating a "penninsula"
of the site.
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