FORTVILLE — LandWorx Engineering provided an update of a master plan for possible improvements to Landmark Park during the Jan. 16 town council meeting.
It was said that LandWorx Engineering had worked with Fortville Action INC and the redevelopment commission a little more than a year ago on what all should be included in the master plan.
Since then, Ben Houle, civil engineer and owner of LandWorx Engineering, said at the meeting that they had gathered background information such as existing trails, monuments and utilities concerns, and also met with multiple people, including the parks department, town manager and stakeholders who were located near the park.
At the local church across the street, they hosted brainstorm-like sessions where individuals were able to express their opinions on items and ideas to include or to not include in the new master plan and concepts for the park.
“We took that input and formulated a couple ideas and concepts from that,” Houle said.
Also getting the input of several others, they had a social media survey available at SummerFest that approximately 200 filled out, with 80% of those people living in Fortville.
After gathering all the input, Houle said some items they wanted to maintain as a priority were enhancing the safety, maintaining line of sight and adding amenities, such as newer playground equipment.
“Being able to update those to something maybe both a little safer and maybe a little more fun,” Houle said. “A little bit more nature oriented — that kind of thing — to be able to put something there that’s still usable on a daily basis for those families that do that.”
Another amenity that would be possibly added is a performance venue where there would be opportunities for small summer concerts, outdoor church services or even a classroom taking a field trip to have an outdoor class.
“We’re more about a community area that can be utilized by the folks in the community but also be there for when you have a Kammy’s Kause or SummerFest,” Houle said.
There would also be plans to improve the bridge along the waterway and the pathways in that area, adding restrooms to help other amenities such as renting a shelter.
Erik Muehlhausen from Prince Alexander Architecture said that, as far as the architectural aspects, they had a lot of communication with stakeholders on the style components of these new amenities and what they may look like.
Muehlhausen said that after putting out many different styles of samples for what amenities may look like, they found that a historical look was favored and more fitting with the rest of the park compared to a more contemporary look.
“It also does a nice job of tying in with a lot of the vernacular architecture of the town,” Muehlhausen said. “Take some of that Main Street vibe and connect it to that architecturally as well as physically.”
Muehlhausen said if they moved forward with the process, they would do more digging deeper into the specifics of the stage, but having the stage toward the back of the park would allow for the sound to be projected across the park and toward Main Street.
Other amenities would feature the historical look and compliments pulled from structures throughout the town to connect to the park, making it feel like a part of the town.
As far as costs, the total would be estimated at $2 million. Houle said they went a little high on estimating costs to cover price changes if this project would be done in phases. Houle said they also estimated higher due to smaller unknowns such as what material for sideways they decide on and those kinds of items.
Breaking down by items, Houle said that pedestrians walks, bridges and playground improvements would cost about $450,000; the veterans memorial and gazebo improvements would cost $300,000; performance stage and storage would cost $700,000; restrooms and picnic shelter would cost an estimated $300,00; and park entry and gateways would be about $250,000.
Keri VanVlymen, a landscape architect with LandWorx, discussed potential funding sources that would be available to help pay for the park if the town applied for it. Those funds include the Land & Water Conservation fund, Indiana Trails Program, and Next Level Trails.
“These are all potential funding sources for future investments in your parks,” said VanVlymen, with the Indiana Trails Program and Next Level Trails both being a 20% match by the town.
VanVlymen said that the Land & Water Conservation fund, a matching assistant program offered through the Department of Natural Resources, can provide up to $1 million in funds but requires a 5-year parks and recreation master plan adopted by a park board, something Fortville currently does not have.
In order to qualify for the Land & Water Conservation fund, a parks board would need to be created and approve of a 5-year master plan prior to the April 15 deadline for adoption of the 5-year master plan. Applications for the grants are due by Aug. 1.
Tonya Davis, said that they need to discuss the pros and cons of having a parks board, something they haven’t had for a while.
“I think we need to take a close look at it before we make a decision like that,” Davis said. “Especially on the financial side.”
Davis said with the information presented and given, it is something that the council will need to discuss and see where they can go as far if they decide to create a park board and apply for grants that could help pay for the possible Landmark Park improvements.
