New park planned at Allison Lane and Middle Road in Jeffersonville

Clark County

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The City of Jeffersonville began clearing a field at the corner of Allison Lane and Middle Road on Monday to make way for a new park. Staff photo by C.E. Branham
Mike Moore

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May 7, 2012

New park planned at Allison Lane and Middle Road in Jeffersonville

Cost pegged at $100k; city to do much of the work

By DAVID A. MANN david.mann@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Mon May 07, 2012, 11:13 PM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — A vacant lot at the corner of Allison Lane and Middle Road, where a shuttered gas station long stood, will become Jeffersonville’s newest city park.

The city issued a press release Monday announcing plans for the six-acre property. It will include a parking lot, a walking trail, a community garden and other green space. The land was purchased last year by the Jeffersonville Redevelopment Commission.

The gas station had been closed for decades. City Parks and Recreation Director Paul Northam estimated it closed sometime in the mid-1980s, though Mayor Mike Moore said it might have even been earlier than that.

In any case, the station and the underground storage tanks have since been removed. What remains there now is overgrown grass, trees and a large mound of dirt from a lake that was dug nearby.

The city started clearing the site Monday. The design phase of the project, which will be handled in-house by the city engineer’s office, will commence in the next few weeks and the park should be completed by fall.

“It’ll be an interesting property once it’s all cleared out,” Northam said.

City crews will be doing most of the work. The total cost is estimated at about $100,000, to be paid for with tax increment finance district revenue.

“This is an exciting project that is long overdue. It will have an immediate and positive impact on residents in the area,” Moore said in the release. “As I walked neighborhoods last year, people were eager for the city to clean up this vacant lot that’s been an eyesore for years.”

He indicated a parking lot would be built where the gas station formerly stood. A community garden located there would consist of small parcels of land — maybe 8 feet by 12 feet, Moore said — which residents could rent for about $40 for gardening space.

Moore said he liked the idea because it gets neighbors to take ownership of the park, as well as other benefits.

“You’re growing friendships and you’re growing vegetables,” Moore said.

VISSING PARK BIDS

In other parks news, bids for the Vissing Park project came in between $4.5 million and $4.8 million last week.

The city plans to build two new softball fields, basketball courts, shelter houses, a dog area and other amenities at the park, which is off 10th Street.

Parks officials opened the bids Thursday afternoon. AML Inc. was the low bidder on the project with a $4.5 million offering. Three other companies — PACE Construction, MAC Construction and Woodbine Construction — also submitted bids. Northam expects a contract to be awarded for the job by the end of May.

“[The bids] were right on target from what we anticipated,” Northam said.

He was, however, surprised there were only four companies submitting offers.

The four companies each submitted a base bid — which includes the two ballfields, a concession stand, a parking lot and a walking path — as well as individual bids for other project alternatives — the dog park, playground equipment, basketball courts, lighting and more. The $4.5 million to $4.8 million figures represent the entire package with the alternatives.

In recent months, city officials — including Northam — have talked about doing the project in phases. The base bid would be phase I, completed this year, and the alternatives would be phase II, completed next year.

However, doing the entire project this year is not entirely out of the question, according to Mike Hutt, president of the Jeffersonville Redevelopment Commission. He said a scenario is being discussed in which the redevelopment commission would put up $1 million for the project; the Jeffersonville Parks Authority would put up another $1 million; and the balance would be bonded.

“It makes a lot of sense to do it all at one time,” Hutt said.

That way the city doesn’t have to tear the park up next summer after the first phase is wrapped up this year. Officials plan to discuss that prospect at a meeting later this week, Hutt said, though a time hasn’t been set yet.

Moore said he wants to get the project finished this year if possible but would not support a bond if it meant higher taxes.

The project started during the administration of then-Mayor Tom Galligan. Protests ensued when the city cleared 15 acres of dense woods in order to make room for the project in October 2010. Construction started in August 2011 and it’s since faced manpower and budgetary issues.

“The city council seems destined to complete this park,” Moore said. “I think it will be a very nice park once it’s completed. I think we owe it to the neighborhoods around there to get it finished.”