Master plan hearing offers look at city parks’ future

Flush with a surplus of available miles of trails and soccer fields, the Greencastle Parks Department remains deficient in playgrounds, multipurpose fields, recreation centers and community centers, a glimpse at the parks’ five-year master plan reveals.

A public hearing on the proposed master plan Wednesday night at City Hall, heard HWC landscape engineers Rebecca Mahoney and Catherine Puckett both praise and question city park facilities and recreational offerings.

“Trails are something Hoosiers love and want more of,” Mahoney acknowledged in noting that outdoor walking, hiking and jogging has been the most popular Indiana activity since 1995. “You’re doing well with your trails.”

The existing local trail system “is phenomenal and something to be praised,” she added in addressing park strengths.

Through People Pathways and other avenues, Greencastle offers “an incredible 8.8 miles of trails,” Mahoney said, while noting that the city nonetheless falls short on the walkability scale.

The master plan notes that 51 percent of the Greencastle population (approximately 10,000) live within a 10-minute walk of recreational facilities, which is “much lower than the national average,” Mahoney noted.

Showing a walkability map, she added that areas lacking such services include the section northwest of the downtown, another north of Deer Meadow Primary School on the city’s northeast side and the area around Ivy Tech, ironically a site once designated as Rokicki Park.

In addition to 8.8 miles of trails, the city park inventory includes nine parks with a total of 127.5 acres offering five playgrounds, 14 soccer fields, six pickleball courts, three tennis courts and more.

The master plan revealed that the five most popular activities and available local amenities are: 1. Walking, jogging, exercise (74.8 percent), 2. Swimming, aquatics center (64.9 percent), 3. Time with family and friends (57.3 percent), 4. Playgrounds (54.2 percent) and 5. Special events and festivals (51.9 percent).

Meanwhile, the top five reasons respondents do not use city parks were listed as: 1. Outdated amenities (29.5 percent), 2. Lack of restrooms (27.1 percent), 3. Lack of awareness (20.5 percent), 4. Safety (20.5 percent) and 5. Being too far from my home (14.8 percent).

Topics deemed deficiencies were listed via outdoor and indoor varieties with inadequate playgrounds and multi-purpose fields topping the outdoor list and a lack of community center and recreation center space leading the indoor issues.

“Some of these deficiencies,” Mahoney observed, “will be addressed with the new Putnam County YMCA.”

The master plan also points to the most-needed facilities improvements as: 1. Restrooms in parks and along trails (57.4 percent), 2. Indoor fitness center/weight room (36.4 percent), 3. Trail signage and mile markers (34.9 percent), 4. Natural areas for hiking, nature viewing and picnicking (33.3 percent) and 5. Additional shade at parks (32.6 percent).

Top programming needs are listed as: 1. Community events (56.9 percent), 2. Indoor recreation opportunities (45.4 percent), 3. Fitness classes (44.6 percent), 4. Swim lessons, aquatic programs (40.8 percent) and 5. Nature programs, environmental education (40.8 percent).

With more community events desired, the report notes that a vision for the future could include becoming a destination for parks and recreation events and tournaments as well as helping retain the younger generation in Greencastle through parks and recreation.

The plan suggests that parks are lacking in overall opportunities for teens and such ideas as social spaces, Wi-Fi access, climbing equipment and programs such as teen park ambassadors could be effective in reversing that trend.

Meanwhile, with Greencastle ahead of the curve on providing pickleball court access, the sport’s enthusiasts have asked for more resources to be committed to the activity such as wind block netting, shade tarps and ensuring that drinking fountains are working.

Listed as the top desired capital improvement projects are: 1. Update and add playground equipment (38.2 percent), 2. Expand pool facilities (32.8 percent), 3. Update and add lighting to parks (32.1 percent), 4. Update park appearance (25.2 percent) and 5. Add trails for walking/jogging/biking (24.4 percent).

Respondents would also like to see the quality of parks and trails increased along with updating facilities at Robe-Ann and Jaycee parks, conducting an ADA evaluation of parks and programs and better promotion of recreational offerings through social media, the newspaper, a newsletter or signage.

One possibility for adding recreation space and providing it in the area northwest of downtown was suggested as the old Jones School site, which is owned by the county which has considered the property for development of a courthouse annex. While the plan suggested the city purchase the site, Park Director Greg Ruark told the Banner Graphic that leasing about 30 percent of the site for park property would be the preferred outcome.

Two teenagers in the audience were on hand to address the need for more outdoor basketball facilities in the local parks.

Ruark explained that Phase II of the Robe-Ann Park renovation project includes a full-court basketball set-up with a new surface and new goals at the existing location between shelterhouse No. 5 and the tennis courts. The site will be reconfigured to prevent vehicles from parking on the courts and restricting play in the process.

The park director also noted that the vandalized glass backboard at the Big Walnut Sports Park basketball courts has not yet been replaced but will be in the near future to put that court back in play.

Meanwhile, another audience member addressed the walkability topic, noting that without any crosswalks, she feels as though she takes her life in her hands when she tries to cross U.S. 231 while walking to and from Robe-Ann Park. She suggested having white, painted lines on the streets to indicate to drivers “someone might be walking across there.”

It was also noted by Councilman Vince Aguirre that there is no crosswalk at the main entrance to Robe-Ann Park to alert traffic to the presence of pedestrians in the aftermath of the U.S. 231 renovation.

While crosswalks are not the purview of the Parks Department or City of Greencastle in regard to the highway, it was suggested that some lobbying with INDOT officials might be beneficial.

The next stop for the five-year master plan document is adoption by the Greencastle Park Board (its next regular session 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 6 at the park office), which can modify it as it wishes, before the plan is submitted by April 15 to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Passage of the plan helps maintain the city parks’ eligibility for grants programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and other applicable grants.

The master plan is available on the Park Department website via www.cityofgreencastle.com.