By Ann Craig-Cinnamon
If you venture to the area around 101st and Cyntheanne Road, you’ll see lots of activity and a big pile of dirt. That’s where Fishers newest and most unique park is being built. On April 22, city officials broke ground on the park, which Fishers Town Manager Scott Fadness promised would bring something diverse to Fishers. “Our parks help preserve the lauded quality of life here in Fishers and the offerings in this park will bring something new, and inclusive, to our community,” he said.
The year-round park will offer mountain bike trails, more than a mile of walking trails, tree houses, a fishing pond and a 50 foot sledding hill. The tree houses and sledding hill are Americans with Disabilities Act compliant and will be accessible to all ability levels.
Twenty acres of the 60-acre park will be dedicated to reforestation with reforestation areas located near the entrance to the park and throughout the bike trails. The sledding hill is being created through a partnership with local developers who donated dirt from houses under construction. In fact, when it is completed, the hill will contain 20 basements worth of soil that was repurposed to develop the hill, which complied with the sustainable goal of the new park.
John Weingardt, Fishers Town Council president, said that the town recognizes the importance of parks and greenspaces in the community. “Not only do improvement projects like this one increase property values and attract residents, it also brings visitors into Fishers and can have a positive economic impact on our community,” he said.
Town officials hope the park will be so unique that it will become a regional destination. The park should be open by spring of 2015 with sledding hill ready for action by this winter.
