An Olmsted School for Niagara?

 

The old DeVeaux College campus, formerly owned by Niagara University, may be the site of the Olmsted School ?EUR??,,????'??? if plans pan out.

How does the name ?EUR??,,????'??Frederick Law Olmsted School of Land Design and Planning?EUR??,,????'?? sound for a college? Just such a college is in the planning stages by a collaboration of several groups, including the Niagara Beautification Commission and the Niagara Frontier Wildlife Habitat Council.

The proposed site for the school is the old DeVeaux College campus, formerly owned by Niagara University. In May 2000, New York Governor George Pataki announced the state?EUR??,,????'???s purchase of the DeVeaux Campus and its 51-acre property. The site became “DeVeaux Woods State Park,” New York?EUR??,,????'???s 159th state park. Here the public enjoys five acres of forest, acres of open space and two ball fields.

The proposed Olmsted School is on a 51-acre state park called DeVeaux Woods.

A petition is circulating to gain public support for the school and the school organizers will submit an application to the Niagara River Greenway Commission to determine if funding is available through the New York Power Authority?EUR??,,????'???s greenway program. The school will need about $1.7 million in funding to get started. If the funding comes through, the college could open as early as 2010.

The Olmsted School would be a small private institution of graduate course work emphasizing land design and planning, sustainability and biodiversity of natural resources and modeled on the Conway School of Landscape Design in Massachusetts.