For years, members of the United Garden Hills Neighborhood Association have met monthly at the fire station on Paula Drive to discuss community improvements, especially in response to ongoing construction.
That longtime meeting space has been unavailable since October.
On Oct. 12, the association announced on Facebook that there would not be a neighborhood meeting until Jan. 19, 2026, due to extensive remodeling surrounding the station.
“You know with any kind of improvements, you have to deal with a little bit of inconvenience, and we have been fighting for this for years,” former United Garden Hills President Amy Revilla said in an interview with CU-CitizenAccess.
City of Champaign Part of the Garden Hills Drainage Improvement Plan. Photo from the City of Champaign website.
The pavement at the intersection of Mattis Avenue and Paula Drive was completely removed in November to make way for storm sewer construction entering phase three of the Garden Hills Drainage Improvement Project. It has since been repaved.
The entire area around the fire station became part of the construction zone this past November.
In a recent construction update, the city announced the temporary closure of the intersection of Paula Drive and Mattis Avenue through Cynthia Drive to vehicular traffic. The closure began Oct. 16, and is expected to last six to eight weeks, depending on weather delays.
During construction around the neighborhood, some residents along the street often park outside the construction zone, as access to individual driveways is temporarily removed.
Not only are the roads disappearing, so are the sidewalks.
Mazie Gierat A sidewalk was removed on corner of Paula Drive and Cynthia Drive in Garden Hills. Photo by Mazie Gierat
A five-minute walk from the missing roads and sidewalks on Paula Drive is Garden Hills Academy.
The front lawns lining the streets of Garden Hills are decorated with toys, play sets and signs that read “Children at Play.” Just across the street from these homes is the fenced-in, massive water detention basin filled with heavy hauling equipment.
Mazie Gierat Heavy hauling machinery left in the water detention basin alongside Hedge Road. Photo by Mazie Gierat.
The urgency of safe recreational space in the neighborhood is underscored by recent data from the adopted Garden Hills Strategic Neighborhood Action Plan. Nearly one-third of Garden Hills residents are under the age of 18, according to the action plan.
Award-winning park replaced by a hole — for now
City of Champaign Kids play at the Hedge POP! Park in Garden Hills in Champaign. Photo from City of Champaign Facebook page.
The need for a designated recreation space prompted the City of Champaign to conduct a trial. In 2022, the city introduced Hedge POP! Park, which consisted of a temporary basketball court and half a soccer field.
The project was widely successful, even winning an award from the Illinois American Planning Association for its creative use of engagement within an underrepresented neighborhood.
The trial run of the park proved to city planners that young residents were positively impacted by having a nearby recreational space. This success drove the city to implicate a permanent park in its construction plans.
The new Hedge Park is the centerpiece of the $32 million second phase of the ongoing Garden Hills Drainage Improvements Project. The permanent park’s construction plans include a basketball court, a reading circle, turf, modern playground equipment, and an interactive exercise and play wall.
According to the city, this design was shaped by “significant input” from neighborhood residents, including multiple engagement events at the temporary park and a design session with youth at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church.
City of Champaign The final Hedge Park design after significant public input following the temporary park. From the City of Champaign website.
However, the work to build the basin and the new park meant the temporary Hedge POP! Park was removed in late August 2023 to prepare for permanent construction.
Alex Nagy, assistant city engineer for Champaign Public Works, said in an email the Hedge Road detention basin is “expected to be substantially completed by the end of December 2025 and fully completed by early summer 2026.”
The work still remaining in phase two includes storm sewer installation, street reconstruction, retaining wall construction, excavation, park component installation and landscaping.
A long fight
Mike Rock Yard lights in the Garden Hills neighborhood illuminate the street. The City of Champaign’s SLEEP program added hundreds of lights to the Garden Hills neighborhood between 2022 and 2023. Photo by Mike Rock.
City officials had originally projected the work wouldn’t begin until 2030, but American Rescue Plan Act funding enabled them to launch the project in February 2023.
Despite facing traffic inconveniences, neighborhood residents have said they are enjoying elements of the project as construction progresses.
Revilla has lived in Garden Hills nearly her whole life. As the former president of the neighborhood association, she pushed for these improvements for years before the project was approved by the city.
“You have to fight for what you want, and we have done a lot of fighting,” Revilla said.
The SLEEP program, which added hundreds of lights to the neighborhood, was the first permanent piece of the improvements residents are able to enjoy.
“The lights are beautiful. And they have been fighting for the lights long before I ever got involved,” Revilla said.
“Sadly there’s a couple of gentlemen who we all deeply love who have since passed away before they could see this happening, and they started the organization and they fought for it, and we finally got them,” Revilla said.
Jim Knoke and Fred Holy founded and led the neighborhood association prior to passing the torch to Revilla. The men had been pushing for the improvements for several years before plans were approved by the city in 2023.
“They would be so proud,” Revilla said. “It’s not only beautiful, but it makes the neighborhood feel safer.”
According to Nagy, phase three of the project is expected to be complete in 2027, but weather could impact the timeline. Work remaining includes storm sewer installation, street reconstruction, landscaping and restoration.
Comments are closed.