Muncie’s Mayor Is Buying Land For An Urban Nature Park. But Improvements Will Have To Wait

The Muncie mayor says he’s purchasing land for an urban nature park along Buck Creek.  But as IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, money for improvements to make the space a functioning park will have to wait a few years.

According to Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour, within six months or earlier, Muncie will own 13 acres of land on South Tillotson Avenue, along Buck Creek.

“I’ve already paid the earnest money, the option money.”

The land was offered by a developer who Ridenour says will put shops and restaurants in next door, which are intended to service the new county Justice Center down the road.  The urban nature park concept includes an about 5.5 acre lake that Ridenour wants to turn into a fishing spot with several piers, surrounded by a walking trail.

“I didn’t want it to become a ‘pay lake,’ a private pay lake.  I like an urban fishing lake with lots of trees and paths that walk through the trees.  And, if we can get lucky, maybe come up with some funding for a nature learning center of some type.”

Ridenour will pay for the land out of the economic development tax fund, commonly known as EDIT.  Because the purchase price is $25,000, he says he doesn’t have to get city council approval for the purchase.

That fund will also pay for the improvements to make the site a park. But not right now.

“I have been told how much what I envision would cost, and so we may have to scale it back a little bit.  My EDIT funds are really pretty much – they’re tied up for the next three years on the four parks that we’re doing major improvements to.  Unless we were able to put together through grants or some foundations a way to do it sooner.”

The mayor announced the move the same week that another city park is in the news, after a proposal from the YMCA to lease Tuhey Park to build its new headquarters there.  It’s a proposal Ridenour supports, but that many residents spoke out against at a public meeting.  Ridenour says the opportunity to buy the land on South Tillotson came up in February or March, and he says he didn’t hear about the YMCA proposal until May.