Republic file photo The Columbus People Trail between 25th Street and Lincoln Park connects the nearly 30-acre Lincoln Park to several highly populated neighborhoods. The path now passes under 25th Street and continues south along Haw Creek to a 107-year-old historic steel truss bridge over the creek, relocated from eastern Bartholomew County, which provides direct access to Lincoln Park.
Columbus Parks Director Mark Jones feels positive about the park department’s progress as it embarks on the next phase of determining community priorities.
Jones recently presented a progress report to the Columbus Parks Board on how the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department has worked toward the goals of its 2017-2021 master plan.
The top five “high priorities” that arose as part of that plan were new parks spaces; indoor recreation; bikeways and trails; natural areas and experiences and improving the existing system.
“Those were the ones that popped up that the community wanted to see as a high priority,” said Jones.
In discussing new spaces, Jones mentioned NexusPark, the city’s joint venture with Columbus Regional Health to turn FairOaks Mall into a health, wellness and recreation center. The two entities partnered to purchase the property in 2018. Officials plan for NexusPark to include the new headquarters for the city’s parks department, with spaces for both administration and recreation — including an athletic fieldhouse to boost sports tourism.
The 2017-2021 master plan mentions FairOaks Mall in its section on indoor recreation, noting that participants in a visioning workshop discussed “the viability of retrofitting under-utilized big-box retail locations for parks and recreation usage.” Both the mall and a property at 3110 North National Road were identified as locations worth looking into.
There have also been smaller property additions over the past five years. Jones said that the Discount Tire on U.S. 31 donated property to the department.
“They donated about three acres just north of their building, which already ties into our Everroad Park,” he said. “So it just adds to our Everroad Park numbers, and hopefully a future trailhead, trail connection to the existing trail.”
Jones estimated that the department has about 1,000 acres of park land, with about 700 of those acres being mowable.
“So basically, we added 3%, maybe a little more,” said board president Mark Levitt. “…That was one of our long-term objectives, to keep up with population growth.”
STATS Indiana estimates that Columbus’s population increased 2.3% from 2017 to 2020.
Jones said that the department is still focused on northward and westward expansion.
Another work in progress is an update to the city’s bicycle and pedestrian plan, which is a collaboration between multiple departments. Jones said the final version of the update could come out this year or early 2022.
He also noted that the department added the Clifty Trail Extension and State Street Trail in 2019. The 1821 Trail and the Riverfront project, which both involve extensions to the People Trails, are still ongoing. Jones expects that trails will continue to be a top priority in the next master plan.
In looking at upgrades to the existing parks system, Jones said that more than $6 million has been spent on capital improvements over the past five years.
Overall, he felt positive about the department’s progress from 2017 to 2021.
“Our staff’s very dedicated,” Jones said. “We really paid attention to what the community said or what they wanted. And we tried to go after that, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job over the past five years.”
The department is currently seeking input as it develops an update to the Park System Master Plan and Strategic Plan. A public survey is available through Dec. 17 at imagineyourcolumbusparks.com, an ADA-accessible, multilingual crowdsourcing site. Translated copies of the survey can be requested through the parks department.
“Since this survey will inform a long-term plan, answers to the questions should be answered in pre-COVID conditions,” said marketing coordinator Leslie Stuckwisch.
Jones said that a very rough draft of the 2022-26 master plan will be finished in January and sent to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The final version will be completed in April and then go to the parks board for consideration.
Additionally, Sports Program Manager Brady Buckley said that a survey from the department’s adaptive committee will be coming out soon.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to do some more adaptive programming next year,” he said. “We wanted to put a survey out to the community to get feedback on what programs we should offer.”
