INDIANAPOLIS GREENWAYS DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF PUBLIC MEETING – March 18, 2008

5 p.m., City-CountyBuilding - Room 118

Voting Members Present:SILVER, Chair, HENNEKE, MYERS, MOONEY,and VOLLMER

Voting Members Absent: HICKS, KLEIN,MOONEY, QUINN, SCHULSTAD, SHIKANYand SOMMERS

Others Present: Karina Straub (IndyParks Greenways Manager) and Lori Hazlett (Indianapolis Parks Foundation Development Director)

Chairman SILVER called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

There were no minutes to be approved. Karina said she would have the December 2008 and March 2009 minutes ready for the April 2009 meeting.

UPDATES

Lori Hazlett from the Indianapolis Parks Foundation came to talk about the 3 year Greenways campaign that Mayor Ballard launched to raise money for the Pennsy Trail. Karina explained that we are in need of approximately $8 million dollars to complete the construction of the trail and Cindy Porteous and her team (including the Parks Foundation Board and Trustees) were up to the challenge. Lori explained that they are in the process of laying out the campaign strategy and will be working with Parks and Greenways staff to start understanding the project and who the key players are. Chairman SILVER expressed his gratitude to the Foundation for all of their hard work and that the Foundation’s support moving forward is much appreciated.

Karina distributed the new trail user guide and commented on how excited the Greenways staff is to have a new updated marketing tool. Karina said she plans to distribute the Trail User Guide in all of the Parks Family Centers that are close to our Greenway trails such as Christian, Garfield, Ellenberger, Thatcher, Riverside, etc. Karina asked the IGDC members to take as many as they want to distribute to family and friends.

Karina shared the Pennsy Trail construction sequence schedule with the Committee and explained that they are making great progress and are already ahead of schedule. Karina plans to visit the construction site next week and will have pictures to show at the April IGDC meeting. Calumet Civil is the contractor on the project and they are not too far away from concrete prep!

Karina shared some exciting news about the Monon Trail being inducted into the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame. The Rails to Trails Conservancy started the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame in 2007 to recognize 25 exemplary trails around the country—the kind that have set the “tone” for the rail-trail movement. They are naming the Monon Trail the 10th member for March, and they are very excited about working with us for an event later in the year to recognize the distinction. So far the program has been a great success, and it has generated wonderful publicity for the trails and for trail development around the country. As part of the award, they offer free signage that can be used as trailside markers or larger markers for trailhead. Karina said she is working with the PIO and Marketing Assistant to coordinate an event in late summer with Rails-to-Trails and she would keep the Committee posted. Chairman SILVER suggested that we get the original committee back together for this event whenever it gets scheduled.

Karina went through the list of projects impacting greenways for the 2009 Lilly Day of Service. Lilly Day of Service will be on Tuesday, May 20th. Indy Parks is another lead City agency on coordinating projects with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. Areas to be enhanced or receive upgrades include…

  • Pleasant Run Parkway Restoration (500 trees and water control project)
  • HARMONI Area’s 8 park properties (general park maintenance and tree plantings) – Broad Ripple, 61st and Broadway, Canterbury, Tarkington, Andrew Ramsey, Black/Fairview, Central Canal Towpath and Monon Trail

Washington, Orange, Oscar Charleston Parks (general park maintenance and tree plantings)

  • Two art mural projects (Westfield retaining wall between 65th and the White River and Roger’s Pool building at 64th and Monon)

Overall, we will have approximately 1,250 trees planted on or near a park! Thanks Eli Lilly and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful!

Karina talked about the South White River Greenway and our challenges with CSX to move forward with an August letting. CSX – we need boundary surveys to attach to the purchase agreement that the Parks Board approved. CMT is doing that with CrossRoads Engineering (see memo attached). Once those surveys are done, we need to go back to Dan Murphy at CSX and have their legal department redraft the language to say that this easement covers two bridge right-of-way issues. We need to then pay CSX the $15,000 once the agreement(s) have been signed off on…we are getting two easements for the price of one with CSX. Once we find out who the property owner is on the third railroad trestle (it is not CSX), we need to come to an agreement with the owner and absolutely make sure that we don’t need to have an agreement with anyone else that might have rights to the property as well. Last thing on the LPA is that it’s still acquiring signatures at the State level. All of this needs to be done by May 6th to stay on INDOT’s August letting.

Lastly, Indy Parks is having a Summer Kickoff celebration the week of June 10th – 14th. Here are some highlights…

  • Indy Parks on the Circle – June 10th
  • Philharmonic Orchestra Pops Series – June 11th
  • Indy Parks Activity Day – June 12th
  • Mayor’s Bike Ride and Dedication of Spray grounds – June 13th
  • Farmers’ Market at EllenbergerPark – June 14th

NEW BUSINESS

PENDLETON asked Karina to please post the time of the meetings on the top of the agenda in the future. Chairman SILVER said that he would make a conscious effort to contact all IGDC members to make sure they all attend the meeting in April in hopes of increasing attendance. No other new business was addressed, and the meeting adjourned at 5:50 p.m.

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be televised and is scheduled for Wednesday, April 15th at 5 p.m. in City-County Building Room 118.

Respectfully submitted by Karina Straub.