00;00;00;01 - 00;00;25;04
Stephanie Wiechmann
According to the YMCA presentation, a large new Y headquarters would sit on the current green space in Tuhey Park next to the currently city owned Tuhey pool and playground in the Riverside Normal City neighborhood. A new playground would be added and parking lots would be poured on both sides of the pool's current space. YMCA CEO Chad Zaucha says the nearly 150 year old Christian recreational organization needs to remain downtown.

00;00;25;09 - 00;00;38;18
Chad Zaucha
Locating a new Y, a social gathering hub, a place where we can deliver on whole person health in the center of a community, to strengthen our core and our heart, is where we need to be, because that's where we can deliver on the most impact.

00;00;38;23 - 00;01;05;04
Stephanie Wiechmann
On screen at the livestreamed presentation to comply with Covid safe practices, community partners like tech firm Accutech, Ivy Tech Community College, and Ball State University gave their support for the proposal, calling it an exciting partnership and needed in downtown. In the live videos, online comments, community members watching, including those that live in the neighborhoods surrounding the city park, repeatedly said they don't want the organization to privatize a public park to meet its goals.

00;01;05;09 - 00;01;25;03
Stephanie Wiechmann
They want the YMCA to expand its existing downtown location or build near Muncie Central High School and the fieldhouse. Some also say they already can't afford to join the Y. The Muncie Parks Board approved the YMCA plan in October. Additional city boards will need to consider the plan, though. A design firm showed a bird's eye view proposal Monday afternoon.

00;01;25;05 - 00;01;31;03
Stephanie Wiechmann
Zaucha says the plan isn't beyond a concept right now, and that includes raising the money to fund the proposal.

00;01;31;07 - 00;01;42;26
Chad Zaucha
We really can't go out and raise any capital for the project, or ask a donor to come out and support this until we know where it's going to be, what's going to look like, how we're going to serve the community.

00;01;43;03 - 00;01;54;22
Stephanie Wiechmann
Zaucha is asking the community to email him to continue the conversation. A Friends of Tuhey group online is asking people to email Muncie City Council members. In Muncie, Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR news.