The city of Muncie has officially purchased land on the southwest side for an urban nature park and public fishing lake.  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, the mayor began talking about the plan last December.

When he announced the plan late last year to buy 13 acres on South Tillotson Avenue, along Buck Creek, Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour said he wanted to save the property’s lake from becoming private.

“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 has now used $25,000 from the economic development tax fund – known as EDIT – he as the mayor controls to buy the property from a developer that’s putting shops and restaurants next door to the lake.

In December, Ridenour said improvements to make the land a functioning park – like multiple fishing piers, a parking lot, and a walking trail – would have to wait for several years if they were to be funded out of the mayor’s EDIT fund.  Ridenour now says those improvements will likely come in 2023.

The city says the park and lake are commonly referred to as Tillpond or Southwest Park, but the official name has not been chosen yet.

This story has been updated.