City acquires last of land needed for park

After 14 years of slow property acquisition, the last few acres of land have been acquired for the proposed Switchyard Park.

Mick Renneisen, Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department director, said the project is now on the path toward construction.

The city recently secured 6.79 acres that will be devoted to a west-side entrance and parking area for the future park. This makes for a grand total of 65 acres in an area southwest of campus.

A funding source for the development has yet to be identified, but the city is currently doing an analysis of the project’s financial capacity, Renneisen said.

“Different funding sources have different requirements for how they can be used, and that’s what the consultant will be doing,” Renneisen said.

“We know some of those will be able to be used in the park, but until we get the complete plan, we won’t know how much. And then the mayor will have to make a determination on priorities.”

However, the city still has big plans in the works for Switchyard Park.

Situated between Grimes Lane and County Club Road, the park location includes a long strip of land with a creek running along one side and a trail down the other.

Located in the middle of Bloomington, the city has high hopes for the positive affect the park will have on the community.

“Parks add lots of value to people’s individual lives from a health standpoint, mentally and physically,” said Karin St. John, Bloomington Parks Foundation executive director.

“Then you have a community full of healthy employees. So, really, it adds an economic impact as well as having a great park system.”

The Parks Foundation will work to insure that funding for Switchyard is secured, and St. John said she is excited to be part of such an amazing project.

The space between the creek and the trail, which Renneisen called the “great lawn,” will be devoted to a number of uses.

Toward the north side of the park, there will be a stage for performances and special events.

Renneisen said he hopes there will be space in the park for roughly 15,000 people.

“We think that space has great expandable potential for many great things,” he said.

The lawn will also have an active area devoted to basketball, volleyball and informal play.

A community garden, open to the public for growing vegetables and herbs, will be located nearby.

On the opposite end of the park, there will be a few areas for dog parks and connections to the B-Line Trail and Bloomington Rail Trail.

“That will allow people to meander on trail surfaces,” Renneisen said.

“Whether they want to walk or observe the creek or hang out in the shade, whatever, there will be a lot of trail opportunities embedded in the lawn.”

To give a better idea of how he hopes the project will turn out, Renneisen compared the future Switchyard Park to Bryant Park when it was first being developed.

However, he did point out that Switchyard will be almost twice the size of Bryant Park and is shaped slightly differently.

“My belief is that this park’s development, whenever that happens, will transform this part of the community from what it looks like today to something much more like what Bryant Park transformed our community to look like 60 years later,” he said.