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Funding for Riverwalk's future phases cut short
County rejected for federal grant that would have helped finance Phase 2
By Robert Annis
Indianapolis Star (Indiana)
November 21, 2008
NOBLESVILLE -- The first section of the Riverwalk project is nearing completion, but no funding is in place for future phases, officials say.
Primary construction of the first phase, a short path connecting the county parking lot on Conner Street and the Government and Judicial Center, is complete, save for a few weather-dependent tasks, such as laying down sod and landscaping the surrounding area, said Brad Davis, director of the county highway department.
The county hopes to caulk and treat surfaces with a special anti-graffiti coating sometime in the spring.
A 2002 master plan prepared by designers and architects Rundell Ernstberger Associates called for the $3.2 million Riverwalk pathway to be completed in phases. The second phase would link Riverwalk with the White River Greenway from an existing pedestrian bridge off Eighth Street to Conner Street.
Phase 1 cost $961,981. Of that, $875,000 were federal funds. Phase 2 is slated to cost $2.2 million, but the county was turned down recently for a $1.5 million federal grant.
Plans for the second phase will be shelved until the needed funding is secured, said County Council member Steve Schwartz, who chairs the Riverwalk Committee. With the federal government tightening its belt in hard economic times, further funding could be hard to come by.
"We'll just keep working on it; that's the best we can do," Schwartz said. "It's expensive, so we're going to keep looking until we find the right funding, whether it's grant money or something else."
Both Schwartz and Davis said the county would probably reapply for the federal grant at the next possible opportunity, probably near the middle of next year.
Although County Commissioner Steve Dillinger has suggested that a large portion of the project could be funded through private donations, Schwartz disagreed.
"It's such a big project, it's going to take more than private donations," Schwartz said. "Private funding will be used for the nice touches, like benches, handrails and trashcans."
Although funding for completing the project is in limbo right now, Schwartz dreams of taking the trail south at some point.
"We decided when we first started to keep it as small as we could, and get a real nice section done," Schwartz said. "I'd love to see it go south and connect to the Midland (Trace, a planned greenway connecting Noblesville and Westfield). That's my ultimate goal."
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