Residents in south-west Champaign will soon have a new park. A three-hundred and forty thousand dollar grant from the Department of Natural Resources will allow the Champaign Park District to begin development on Porter Park located at the intersection of Windsor and Rising Roads. Project Planner Terri Gibble says that Porter Park will be different than most other Champaign parks.

“The park actually is one of our first parks in recent years that isn’t highly developed. We hate to compare it to Meadowbrook Park, because Meadowbrook Park is its own entity. It’s kind of like Champaign’s answer to that.”

Meadowbrook Park, located in Urbana, has features such as nature trails and restored praries.

Phase one of development of Champaign’s park will include the construction of a pond, trails and a parking area.