Planners Shun Proposal for Greenspace Preservation

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The opinions expressed in these articles and features are those of their author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of McANA or the opinion of its Directors or Officers.

Planners Shun Proposal for Greenspace Preservatioon
by Clarke Kahlo
[Protect Our Rivers Now; McANA's NATE Committee Co-Chair]

Contrary to the urging of a number of neighborhood and environmental groups, a revision of the 1994 Greenways Plan was adopted by the Parks Board on January 23rd. It now will move to the Metropolitan Development Commission for a public hearing on February 19th.

Greenways preservation advocates have urged the Greenways Committee and the parks staff for more than a year to strengthen the provisions of the plan related to reducing the adverse impacts of soon-to-be developed properties along greenways. One example is the property near Broad Ripple at 1111 E. 61st Street on the Monon Trail. The neighborhood won a hard-fought rezoning battle last June in an effort to prevent unnecessary commercial development along the trail in an established residential area. The parks planning staff responded to the expressed need for a more prescriptive plan by preparing a chapter entitled ‘Development Considerations Along Greenways’. Although not as detailed and definite as desired by some advocates, the new chapter represents a vast improvement in what had been previously proposed.

The other major area of hoped-for improvement, which unfortunately the Greenways staff and the Parks staff vigorously opposed, is the addition of more definitive language related to undeveloped properties which are prime potential park sites and which should be proactively investigated and acquired before the owners sell to developers. The former St. Maur Monastery site and the former Patterson site (both on White River) were prime sites lost to development last year alone.

The city has countered that the newly-forming "blue-ribbon committee" for parks, which the TPL (Trust for Public Land) Report recommended, should eliminate the need to have a more definitive greenways plan. That is not palpable-- the TPL report/implementation process has dragged on with little fire from the Administration. Whatever their motives, the delay buys more time for more properties to be developed.

Neighborhood representatives should immediately call their Council representative and urge them to pressure the recalcitrant city administration into reversing their rejection of the reasonable and straightforward language recommendations supplied by the preservation advocates. Otherwise, the proposed plan provides very little foundation for the city to proactively pursue acquiring fast-disappearing riparian lands which are wildlife lifelines and important floodwater storage basins in addition to the numerous recreational benefits.