INDIANAPOLIS GREENWAYS DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEEREVISED MINUTES OF PUBLIC MEETING -- October 20, 2005 City County Building -- Room 118 Voting Members Present: SILVER, VOLLMER, BARTON, SOMMERS, SHIKANY, DORSA, MYERS, and HICKS Voting Members Absent: PAYNE, HENNEKE, PAPENMEIER, QUINN, JOHN, MOONEY, and MASON Others Present: Ray Irvin, Lori Keys, & Terri Van Zant (Indy Parks), Marvin Brethauer (BAA) Meeting called to order at 5:07 PM Minutes from September 2005 IGDC meeting were approved. PROJECT UPDATES: IRVIN, KEYS and VAN ZANT reported on the following: October Highlights
Morris Kurz, 64th Street Mural - Morris is a mural artist that presented his rendering to the committee a few months ago and has begun to work. Mr. Kurz took it upon himself to supply the materials to repair the building. Art work has begun and is continuing, Greenways supply the paint, but Mr. Kurz donated his work, time and other material for preparing the building for his art. Joshua Wells art mural on Winthrop Supply Co. - Winthrop Supply has completed their repairs to the 120-foot building in preparation for Mr. Wells' mural. The building has been patched and primed. Once the remaining paint supplies arrive, Mr. Wells will begin his work. Central Canal - Indy Parks Greenways partnered with the Department of Waterworks, Veolia Water Indianapolis this summer as well as DPW on the Canal banks from 30th Street to Burdsal Pkwy, working on corridor restoration to provide a service road and eventually a trail. Veolia has already invested $71,000 on this initiative, and has committed to continue their work and dedication. Community Baptist Church raised community support for improvements to the Canal. Other partners in the cleanup included Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, the United Northwest Area, and DPW. The Broad Ripple Canal north terrace between the Monon to Guilford was originally constructed and planted in 2000 with turf grass, rose bushed and low-grow sumac. The area is currently inundated with weeds, specifically Siberian elms. Roses prevented adequate weeding measures. Beginning in June with Greenways' VISTA students, Greenways began restoring the landscaping. Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation volunteers help for an afternoon in September. 30 students from IUPUI Sociology will volunteer to help wrap this project up by completing the weed and rose bush removal, and planting 130 new Chokeberry shrubs, in addition 25 Highschool students from Senator Evan Bayh's office. This project will be completed this spring with the addition of short-grass prairie plants to replace the turf. Fall Creek Greenway - The bid packet for Phase II from 56th to Skiles Test (Shadeland Ave.) was re-bid at the end of May, and Harco Asphalt was low bidder at 1.3 million. All issues at INDOT have been resolved, and staff anticipates having a pre-construction meeting in the next couple of weeks. Project will likely start this year, could possibly have some grading work done, but there will be no opportunity to lay any asphalt. Additionally a bike route is planned between Skiles Test and Ft. Harrison. Greenways staff will be working with the new parks Grant writer to resubmit the TEA grant for lower Fall Creek (Monon to Central Ave.) Pogues Run - Pogues Run Art and Nature Park serves as the north east terminus of the Pogues Run Corridor and trail. The corridor passes Forest Manor, Spades and Brookside Parks and historic neighborhoods; Woodruff Place, Cottage Home along with two schools; Arsenal Tech and Harshman Middle School, with future connection to the Monon and Massachusetts Ave. First artistic amenities are coming next spring, including interpretive signage and art sculptures, three sided kiosk entryway sign. Some illegal dumping has occurred, IPD is patrolling. Indy Parks Greenways has established a partnership with Herron School of Art and Design, and has commissioned 5 benches, using grant funds from Indianapolis Community Foundation. The one and a half mile loop is providing recreational use on the site as well. Local artist Pat Mac has expressed interest in providing artwork for the Park. IUPUI, CEES students were on site September 30, for a service learning project, where they collected native seed, & picked up trash. Form a review panel for the commissioned benches and sculptures, formed from Herron, DPW engineering, Christopher Burke engineering, Parks, CEES and members of the art community. Sean Derry's Charting Pogues Run project was installed last month, recreate historic alignment of the corridor and provide for public awareness and interaction. Consisted of painted blue line and created permanent medallions that were set into the ground along the stream's former location. Eagle Creek Greenway - A ribbon cutting is scheduled for November 4th. and will officially open the 1.5-mile trail-piece connecting Eagle Creek Park to neighborhoods from 56th to 46th Street. This portion comprises part of a 16-mile corridor that would connect to Zionsville to the North and to the White River Trail south of downtown. Trail amenities include mile markers, secondary trails, and native plants installed between the trail and fields. The retention ponds are also vegetated, as required by DPW. Approximately 1/2 of the property that the trail is on is leased from the Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA). IAA's managing partner, BAA, has been a willing participant in the planning and construction of this trail. Small items remain to finalize the construction phase, but to the normal trail user the trail is complete. Pike Connectivity - Road projects throughout Pike Township will connect to Eagle Creek Park, Northwestway Park, Eagle Creek Trail, and Lafayette Rd. DPW is installing a path along 56th St. as part of a road widening project. INDOT's Fast Track project on I-465 at 71st, 79th, and 86th Streets includes sidewalks and paths, adding to the walk ability of the township. Volunteer Project - Jordan YMCA Monon access Joel Myers, Eagle Scout begun work to finish project as established 4 years ago. Received IPALCO grant for $1000 for plant material. BFS donated material, and work. Artist mural added last year. Ace Hardware has donated materials. And YMCA countless volunteer hours and maintains the site. NEW BUSINESS IRVIN, presented the Greenways 2006 budget, as passed by the City County Council. Budget was cut from $825,000 to $543,000 and probably further reductions in character 001 (payroll) as staff realignments occur. Lori Keys has been reassigned to the Planning Department and Jon Gick will be heading up soft surface trail work for the City. SILVER motion to commend Lori's outstanding work with Greenways with unanimous consent by entire committee SILVER commend Jon Gick, with unanimous consent Open dialogue with several members voicing concern over staffing and budget cuts. IRVIN to attend a National Greenways discussion in Detroit, hosted by Community Foundation of South East Michigan. Meeting adjourned 6:09PM Respectfully submitted by Terri Van Zant, Indy Parks Greenways
*All IGDC meetings are recorded and aired on WCTY Channel 16, copies available through WCTY. |