Committee to revitalize Switchyard Park, bring community another park

Soil contamination, hydrology and road extensions topped the list of items the Switchyard Park consulting team presented to its steering committee Wednesday
afternoon.

The group of about 20 committee members and half a dozen consultants met at City Hall in the Showers Building to wrap up the analysis phase, the second phase in a four-step plan to revitalize a 58-acre stretch of land on Bloomington’s west end known as Switchyard Park.

Since the 1850s, the switchyard property belonged to the railroad industry, harboring tracks and a maintenance area that supplied the industrial west end with supplies and parts.

But when those factories relocated in the 1970s and 1980s, the railroad was abandoned, leaving behind an empty plot of land.

Director of Parks and Recreation Mick Renneisen said the city had been trying to purchase the switchyard area since the 1990s.

In 2005, it finally secured the switchyard corridor, the 3.1-mile stretch of railroad track that was recently converted into the B-Line Trail.

In 2009, the city purchased the surrounding land, which is referred to as the switchyard.

Parks and Recreation Operations and Development Director Dave Williams serves as the project manager.

He said the city sees this undertaking as a way to revitalize the area and bring community members another public park.

“We want to see if we create a new park, will it recreate opportunities for valuable reinvestment in these areas?” Williams said.

During the first phase of planning, the inventory phase, the consulting team and the steering committee analyzed the site as a whole to get a feel for what they had to work with.

The analysis phase included looking at the possibilities and constraints of the area.
Kevin Osburn, principal-in-charge at the Rundell Ernstberger Associates Indianapolis office, leads the multidisciplinary team of consultants, which includes experts in hydrology, economic development, civil engineering, landscape architecture and environmental remediation.

Members of the consulting team emphasized the importance of factoring in floodways and flood plains once the third, park design phase begins.

They discussed the possibility of extending Hillside Drive through the park to reduce traffic at the intersection of Walnut and Grimes streets during peak hours.

They said it would also serve as way to systematically draw people to the park.

Several members of the steering committee, which is comprised of stakeholders from surrounding neighborhoods, businesses and organizations, expressed concern that the consultants were focusing too much on vehicle traffic and too little on foot and bike traffic.

The issue that received the most attention was the remediation of the area.
For more than 150 years, the railroad cars had dispersed coal ash and cinder across the switchyard property, contaminating its soil. The city faced the same problem while constructing the B-Line Trail, but Osburn said it shouldn’t be difficult to fix.

“The contaminants are only dangerous if there is a lot of contact with the
materials over a prolonged period of time,” he said.

The city will have to seal off the contaminated areas with asphalt or soil. The depth of the seal layer is federally regulated depending upon the intended use of the land.

“The B-Line in so many ways was a case study in how to remediate in the public venue,” Osburn said. “We will design the remediation to reflect the reuse of the property. The point is to prevent direct contact to the public.”

Osburn said the public can do this by planting obtrusive brush and plants to keep people off certain areas of land.

The design phase will begin in May, and the consultants will have the master plan finalized by fall 2012.

The consulting team and steering committee still welcome ideas and input from the public, which can be shared online by emailing Williams at williamd@bloomington.in.gov or by visiting the project’s Facebook page.

Williams said the parks department’s top priority for the park is to build an outdoor music venue or amphitheater.

“That’s something we have a need for,” he said. “Whether this is the right location or not for that, we’ll find out.”

On April 26, the consultants will hold open public meetings from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Council Chambers and from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the atrium.

Community members will have an opportunity to stop by and talk with the consulting team in an informal setting about the project’s progress and Switchyard Park’s future.