INDIANAPOLIS GREENWAYS DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEEMINUTES OF PUBLIC MEETING -- July 20, 2004 City County Building -- Room 107 Voting Members Present: SILVER, HENNEKE, HICKS, JOHN, VOLLMER, MYERS, PAPENMEIER, PAYNE, DORSA, QUINN, MOONEY, and SHIKANY Voting Members Absent: BARTON and SOMMERS Others Present: Ray Irvin and Lori Block (Indy Parks Greenways) Meeting called to order at 5:06 PM Minutes from June 15, 2004 meeting approved PROJECT UPDATES: BLOCK & IRVIN reported on the following: Eagle Creek Greenway -- Construction is in progress for this 1.8-mile trail, which will connect 56th and 46th Streets. Storrow/Kinsella combined the trail plans with the Pike Youth Soccer development plans, thereby reducing the total project cost. Soccer fields have been graded; Gradex began constructing berms to screen adjacent neighborhoods. Greenways installed signs to inform neighbors about the upcoming trail. Construction should be complete in 2004, pending the installation of boardwalks. Fall Creek Greenway -- Phase I (Monon to Keystone Ave.) is now complete. The new concrete box culvert recently constructed to repair Labor Day flood damage at Tacoma Ave. will prevent future flood damage to the asphalt. Indy Parks will bid out a small retaining wall needed at Millersville Rd. to repair erosion from the railroad tracks. We have partnered with DPW to construct a sidewalk at the 38th Street crossing. Plans for Phase II from 56th to Skiles Test (Shadeland Ave.) were submitted to INDOT for review; bidding will occur in August 2004. Construction should begin in 2005. Indy Parks Greenways and Land Stewardship have undertaken a large restoration project in preparation for the trail. The 1st Annual Upper Fall Creek Cleanup was held on May 22, 2004 to involve local neighborhoods in preparing for the future trail. Monon to Central -- Butler Fairman & Seufert has completed the trail design. A TEA grant was submitted to INDOT for $1.2 million to fund this phase, and if awarded, construction could begin in 2005. Meridian to Stadium Dr. -- This reach of Fall Creek was scoped as part of the Central Waterfront Masterplan Update by the Army Corps of Engineers. Mile markers for the future trail will be staked this year. South White River Trail -- Greenways submitted a TE grant application to INDOT for $1.8 million to fund this project. Ninebark is developing construction documents for this 2-mile trail piece from the zoo to Raymond St.; they submitted 90% review of these plans. The trail will include several interpretive signs at the trailheads. Partnerships with National Starch, General Motors and Eli Lilly continue to facilitate trail development. Pogues Run -- Work continues to open this 40-acre wetland mitigation/flood control project in 2004. Encompassed by a 1.5-mile loop trail, the basin will become part of Indy Greenways as an art and nature park. Greenways is working with local neighborhoods to develop trail amenities and with DPR Planning to resurface the trail. Trail opening is pending 1) a signed Memorandum of Understanding between Indy Parks and DPW, 2) appropriate signage displayed onsite, and 3) a decision about locking the gates every night. A $30,000 grant was received from the Indianapolis Foundation for site amenities. Indy Parks is working toward hiring Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects to complete a site masterplan. Arsenal Tech High School will begin environmental education programs onsite in fall 2004. Other trail partners include Parks Environmental Education staff, Parks Rangers, Indianapolis Arts Council, universities, and the Caleb Mills Organization. Little Buck Creek -- Greenways maintenance cut back protruding brush this month to improve trail use and safety. A bridge from Whispering Hills on Brookville Rd. will be refurbished and utilized over Little Buck Creek to connect the trail pieces constructed by C.P. Morgan. Two pony trusses will be constructed to complete each end of the span. The bridge will cost $196,000 and will go to bid in 2005 due to city budget restrictions and DNR permits. Pennsy Corridor -- The Pennsy Corridor runs from Arlington, east to the county line, south of Washington St. The future Indianapolis Pennsy Trail will connect to the existing Pleasant Run Greenway Trail, the Town of Cumberland's future Pennsy Trail, and eventually east to Greenfield. Nine adjacent property owners agreed to support the trail in meetings last month. The city continues to focus on land acquisition while design team at Storrow and Kinsella Associates continues design efforts for the corridor. Development could begin in 2006. IUPUI Trailcam Project & Trail Counters -- IUPUI has installed a trailcam on the Monon Trail to facilitate trail user data collection. Individual faces cannot be seen from the camera. IUPUI students will merge data from 27 trail counters, which span five greenway corridors all over the county. A grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation made possible the additional trail counters. The IUPUI database is crucial to further greenway partnerships with health and fitness organizations. Volunteer Projects: Monon Alley Cleanup -- In partnership with C.D.D. Crimewatch Group, Indy Parks Greenways, and DPW, community service workers cleaned debris and invasive brush in alleys from 49th to 38th Streets next to the Monon Trail. Residents filled dumpsters with trash and debris at their May cleanup to improve their neighborhood and the alley adjacent to the Monon. IUPUI Summer Volunteers -- A partnership between Indy Greenways and IUPUI allowed 3 volunteers to assist with greenway projects this summer. Projects included landscape beds maintenance, trail repairs, library improvements, and most recently, art murals. Students primed a wall for a Monon Trail mural and will design a mural for 49th St. Central Canal Towpath Closing at 52nd St. -- Due to bridge repair on 52nd St., Canal Towpath users need to detour west from the trail to Lester St., in the Rocky Ripple neighborhood. Greenways Art -- The mural at Gleaner's on 16th and the Monon was featured in a June Indianapolis Star article. We continue to promote the Mayor's Cultural Initiative by promoting and installing art along the greenways. A volunteer artist from the Arthur Jordan YMCA will begin a mural on Ace Hardware's wall near 86th and the Monon this month. A volunteer group from Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation is already planning a mural for April 2005. SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES: Committee membership was reviewed. At the May 18, 2004 meeting, the IGDC delegated members to the following subcommittees: Arts Subcommittee -- SOMMERS (Chair), SILVER Members discussed touring greenways projects and meeting with Greenways staff once per month to advise staff on the subcommittee's respective issues. NEW BUSINESS: Community Health Network Partnership - The Community Health Network held a press conference on the Monon Trail on June 24 to promote health and self-directed fitness on greenways. Attendees included physicians, Mayors from Lawrence and Greenwood, Colts players and cheerleaders, Jared from Subway, and YMCA staff and campers. Meeting adjourned 5:54 Respectfully submitted by Lori Block, Indy Parks Greenways *All IGDC meetings are recorded and aired on WCTY Channel 16, copies available through WCTY. |