Tag:Garden Court
Garden Court Board Position
Culver Garden Court
I’ve written about Garden Court here numerous times. Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has a long relationship with them starting with the construction of Argos Garden Court in 1998. That was a new, stand-alone facility. In total we’ve built seven stand-alone facilities for them and completed remodeling work on four of their other facilities. (See projects here and here.) The last new facility they sponsored and we built was Culver Garden Court. Unfortunately the HUD program that they used as a funding vehicle was subsequently reduced. The HUD offices were moved out of Indiana to Chicago and Indiana became less of a priority for the remaining funds.
Bourbon Garden Court
Garden Court, Inc. was organized in 1972 as a not-for-profit to provide housing and supportive services for the elderly of Plymouth and the surrounding communities. They presently own and manage twelve housing communities. Their twelve housing communities have a total of 333 apartment units. Their board of directors consists of volunteers from the community. They always try and find representatives from the communities that they serve.
It was through Garden Court that I met and became friends with Ron Liechty. Ron worked tirelessly for the organization. It was one of the many causes in which he believed and consequently dedicated his time and personal support. While technically Easterday Construction was employed by Garden Court, Inc., we always worked as partners to provide the best facility for the money allocated.
Argos Garden Court Entrance
I attended a Garden Court, Inc. board meeting last week to discuss a potential future project. At that meeting I learned that they are short board members and are looking for volunteers. One position they would like to fill is a Culver Representative. It would be a conflict of interest for me to serve, but I told them I would put the word out in case someone is interested. They have a bi-monthly meeting in Plymouth.
Have included a link to a booklet they give out titled “Introduction to Garden Court, Inc.“. You can find a PDF here.
If you’re interested in joining the board or just want more information, contact Jim Causey, Board President. His email address is: jimncris1107@gmail.com
Blast From the Past – LaPaz Garden Court
Ran across this ad in the Pilot News the other day. LaPaz Garden Court was completed by Easterday Construction Co., Inc. in 2010. It was the 6th Garden Court facility we built from the ground up.
Due to a late start, this project got caught by weather and was shut down for several months through the winter. Despite that we were still able to make the completion date without extensions.
We are proud of our association with Garden Court and are fortunate to continue to count them as a client.
Dr. Ronald Liechty
Rev. Dr. Ronald Liechty
Easterday Construction Co., Inc. lost another good friend last week with the passing of the Reverend Dr. Ronald Liechty. As President of Garden Court, Ron was a client through the seven Garden Court projects Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has completed. As often happens with good people, Ron also quickly became a friend. You often hear the accolade, “He’s a gentleman and a scholar.” That was Ron.
Along with our interaction on Garden Court projects I also had the opportunity to work with Ron through our mutual involvement in PIDCO, MCCF and the Community Resource Center. Among various other groups to which Ron volunteered his time, Ron set the bar very high in his examples of volunteerism, philanthropy and community leadership. I had the opportunity to attend his retirement party when he left the Presidency of Garden Court and his 80th birthday party. The number of people in attendance at both events and the uproaring of goodwill shared there was testament to how he had touched many lives in the community. Ron’s ability to lead and to find amicable resolutions will be missed. I counted Ron as a personal friend who will not be replaceable. I want to extend my personal condolences as well those of the Easterday Construction Co., Inc. family to Ron’s family. I’m sure they’re aware of how many lives he’s touched but this is just a reminder of how he touched ours.
Culver Garden Court Ribbon Cutting in Culver Citizen
Taken from the Culver Citizen, April 27, 2012. Article and Picture by Jeff Kenney. Thanks Jeff!
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MacKenzie Ledley - Executive Director, Pulaski County Public Library
Best Laid Plans… Culver Addition
August 28, 2023
Kevin Berger
Commentary, Culver
Community, Comprehensive Plan, Culver, Garden Court, government, Rants, The Dunes, Volunteering
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men… No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it. The saying is adapted from a line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”
We were involved with finding a site for Culver Garden Court. It was challenging and we were pleased when Wade McGee stepped up to work with us. Those discussions began around 2010 with Culver Garden Court being completed in 2012. The picture to the right is from the “As-Built” survey of the Culver Garden Court property, dated 2-13-12.
One of the things included in the negotiation was a provision for ongoing and future access to the remainder of Mr. McGee’s property. The quality of PDFs 12 years ago wasn’t what it is now, so this may be a little hard to see. Squint and imagine… I’ll fill in the gaps.
From North to South, Culver Garden Court is across from Tampa Street, an improved alley and Batabano Street. Since we were carving out a new lot and creating a 2 lot subdivision, we set the north property line of Culver Garden Court in line with the centerline of Tampa Street. Then we provided a 50′ wide ingress/egress easement along the north property line. There were extensive discussions with the Plan Commission and Town Council about this. Even though this put the drive of Culver Garden Court off center from Tampa Street, it would be low traffic and not an issues. It was more important to give Mr. McGee the ability to line up with Tampa Street with any future development. The ingress/egress easement would effectively allow Right-of-Way for a future street extension. Until that time, we extended the Culver Garden Court drive to the west property line for Mr. McGee to use for property access.
Given the above, I was a bit surprised to see the plans for The Dunes showing “West Tampa Street” adjacent to the Culver Garden Court Drive. This seems to be the WORST of both worlds. Now we’ll have a misaligned Street right next to a driveway. On those odd occasions where someone is sitting at the West Tampa Street stop sign and someone is sitting waiting to come out of Culver Garden Court… who has the right of way? If they’re turning, they won’t be able to see the signal when it’s on the opposite side of the car. So many issues…
I am not looped in on these things. All I’ve seen is what’s presented in public meetings. The plan to the right is not the current plan, but the most recent plan I saw, presented at the Town Council meeting on August 22nd, still shows the misalignment of Tampa Street.
Culver Comprehensive Plan
As I’ve stated here before, I don’t particularly have any issues with this project; Towns are either growing or dying, so better to grow. But it is a bit frustrating when the planning of the past is ignored. I don’t fault the developer of The Dunes for this. This is clearly a Town of Culver issue. The extension of Tampa Street needs to be re-evaluated and correct alignment should be pursued. And as stated here, a fix for the South Main Street/Davis Street intersection should be considered. It’s particularly frustrating to be serving on the current comprehensive plan steering committee and see the previous comprehensive plan ignored. (Ignored may be a strong word, since as previously stated, I’m not looped in, but it seems that way.)
Plans are just plans. Plans can and often have to change. That doesn’t mean the time and effort put into past plans should be disregarded without proper consideration.
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