Construction begins on second Madison County ‘anchor park’
Work is beginning this week on a park in Madison County’s Perkinsville. As IPR’s Thomas Ouellette reports, the park is the second so-called “anchor park” the county is developing to increase river access.
Audio Transcript
The anchor park will sit on land owned by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources that has been used as a longstanding river access point. It’s being paid for by federal American Rescue Plan funds, with $4 million split between two parks.
Ben Orcutt is president of the Madison County Parks and Recreation Board. He says the area will see upgrades including paving the dirt road, improving the existing boat ramp, and expanding the parking lot.
“There will be some nice prairiescape and paths within the woods, as well. There’s definitely talk about what we can add to it long term.”
Orcutt says there is currently no plan to connect this anchor park to the other one located at Eighth Street Road and Layton Road. But, he wants to see an out-of-county trail development linking them in the future.
“In this moment, we have neither budget nor plan to connect these at all,” he said. “That being said, if we sort of zoom out a little bit, you can see that Delaware County and Hamilton County have been working along the White River for decades now. So, the idea that we’re not going to end up as part of the larger trail network here in East Central Indiana is something I would push back against.”
The parks were originally planned to serve as anchor points along a large trail system between Anderson and Strawtown. Orcutt says the board planned to apply for multiple grants to help fund its construction, but nationwide cuts to park support made acquiring funds more difficult and the trail project was ended.
Residents of Madison County also voiced opposition to the trail system, stating concerns that the trail would encroach on their property. Orcutt clarified in multiple meetings that the planned trail did not go through any property lines and had no intentions of doing so.
Construction on both parks is estimated to be completed in September.
Thomas Ouellette is our reporter and producer. Contact him at thomas.ouellette@bsu.edu
