Chandler park planners will present their final design this week for a 113-acre, $22 million park, wetlands and police substation at Chandler Heights and Lindsay roads.
Construction on the project is set to start Aug. 1 and is expected to be finished by the end of 2007. City parks officials will present their final plans during a public meeting on Wednesday.
The plan includes a riparian habitat developed around recharge basins designed to return reclaimed water to the ground.
The habitat is expected to be home to several water fowl and other wildlife, which is good news to local bird-watchers.
“This will be such a welcome addition,” said Chandler resident Delores Jenisch, who visits Gilbert’s Riparian Preserve about once a week with her
husband, William.
The couple moved to Chandler about a year ago after retiring and have been avid bird-watchers for several years, she said.
“Birders are good people, mostly,” Jenisch said. “You have to be semieducated to know how to identify a bird.”
The habitat will also include man-made holes where burrowing owls, forced out of their habitat by development, can be relocated.
Ironically, there are owls living at the site that will have to be moved to make way for the project.
“The owls are just so fun to watch,” Jenisch said.
Plans call for walking trails, picnic areas and a fiveacre fishing pond to be situated among the wetlands.
The 20,000-square-foot police substation will eventually double police coverage in southeast Chandler, increasing the police beats from three to six, said detective Livi Kacic, a police department spokeswoman.
“It will be more convenient for officers,” Kacic said. “If they need resources from the current station, they have to drive all the way to downtown Chandler.”
Project meeting
What: Public meeting to unveil plans for park, wetlands, police substation
When: 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Basha High School, 5990 S. Val Vista Drive
