Task 5: Connectivity
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Task Five: Connectivity In this task, the team developed an understanding for existing opportunities and gaps related to connectivity along the White River. The team evaluated efforts underway in both Hamilton and Marion Counties, and recommended potential areas for improvement. The following pages detail our understanding of the current conditions and plans for the river. Core Team DEPARTMENT OF METROPOLITAN DEVELOPMENT HAMILTON COUNTY TOURISM, INC. VISIT INDY RECONNECTING TO OUR WATERWAYS Project Team AGENCY LANDSCAPE + PLANNING APPLIED ECOLOGICAL SERVICES, INC. CHRISTOPHER B. BURKE ENGINEERING ENGAGING SOLUTIONS FINELINE GRAPHICS HERITAGE STRATEGIES HR&A ADVISORS, INC. LANDSTORY LAND COLLECTIVE PORCH LIGHT PROJECT PHOTO DOCS RATIO ARCHITECTS SHREWSBERRY TASK FIVE: CONNECTIVITY Table of Contents Adjacent Parcel Documentation 4 Existing Mobility Documentation 8 Connectivity Gaps & Opportunities 18 Cadence of Amenities 22 References and Endnotes 30 4 Adjacent Parcel Documentation Publicly Owned, Publicly Accessible: land owned by state, county, city or other Adjacent Parcel public organizations. Publicly owned and accessible land includes primary and secondary schools, city or state-owned Documentation higher education institutions, public parks, Central Indiana’s economic, social and plazas, open spaces and preserves. environmental health is interconnected and Publicly Owned, Limited to No Access: tied to the health of the White River. Flooding these lands include those that are publicly is not the only detractor from this fine owned but have limited public access like balance; yet, it is often one of the first issues public utilities or utility easements. considered and most directly apparent. Other significant issues include lost cropland, lack of Privately Owned, Publicly Accessible: aordable access to safe housing, poor access Private colleges and private parks that are to parkland and the river, and loss of native open to the public fall within this category. species. All three regional health indicators Privately Owned, Limited Public need to be leveraged in order to address Access: These lands include non-profit increasing pressures on the White River and organizations with entry fees like museums access to it. In the last few decades, both and private education institutions. Hamilton and Marion County have made major Privately Owned, No Public Access: private strides to protect floodplains and wetlands residences, businesses, industries, farms, from flooding and runo. and other privately held land falls within this category. To begin, evaluating land ownership adjacent to the river helped to provide an overall The map to the right summarizes parcels snapshot at the two-county scale and a way to that are publicly accessible to the waterfront understand opportunities for improved river and are either publicly owned or on private access, connectivity, and flood resilience or property. adaptability. Along the river, there are four general parcel types related to river access: WHITE RIVER VISION PLAN TASK FIVE REPORT - 5 LAFAYETTE TRACE PARK STRAWTOWN KOTEEWI PARK FOREST PARK RIVER ROAD PARK NONIE WERBE KRAUSS PRESERVE NEWFIELDS RIVERSIDE REGIONAL PARK IUPUI WHITE RIVER STATE PARK PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE LANDS PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE LAND 0 1 2 4 6 N Miles SOUTHWESTWAY PARK 6 and bridges, there are still many missed opportunities for allowing multimodal access Publicly Owned down to the river edge. Land Only twenty percent of all property adjacent Privately Owned to the White River is publicly accessible and either privately owned/operated or publicly accessible and publicly owned. About four Land percent of land along the river is publicly Within Hamilton County and Indianapolis, owned, but deemed to be inaccessible because about 76% of the parcels adjacent to the river of the nature of its operations – including (within a half-mile from the river) are privately utilities like wastewater treatment facilities, owned. These parcels are primarily agricultural, electrical substations, and lifting stations. industrial or residential land uses – the former two land use types have been shrinking over Overall, only a small amount of land adjacent the past several decades. This reduction has to the river is publicly-owned or accessible. given way to more waterfront residential land Much of this public land also is comprised of uses, particularly close to economic centers environmentally sensitive areas or contains like Downtown Noblesville, Keystone Crossing, major utilities. Consideration will need to be and Downtown Indianapolis. sensitive to privately-owned land, as well as areas where there is regular flooding. Limited access is an issue in certain areas where the river banks are steep, rugged, and Methodology dense with vegetation that oers little or no Data for the public land study and model clear view of the river. While these conditions was drawn from publicly available sources, exist only in certain areas along the study including the State of Indiana and GIS area, they do serve ecological functions. Areas shapefiles from Hamilton County and the dominated by scrub or invasive vegetation City of Indianapolis. Field verification during can be ideal locations for native landscape the fall and winter months of 2019 occurred restoration initiatives and incorporation of with County o©cials, and partially aided in accessible pathways. the completion of this model; discrepancies in owner exempt status and changes in Access to the river from major public rights- ownership may still exist. Property ownership of-way is also an issue throughout the study was deciphered by property type classification area. While bikeways and pedestrian ways codes and tax exempt status. Due to the fact are being incorporated into some roadways WHITE RIVER VISION PLAN TASK FIVE REPORT - 7 that datasets varied in level of detail, publicly owned data within each county’s dataset was simplified into the following classification code organization: 600 - Federal 610 - State 620 - County 630 - Township 640 - Municipality 650 - Board of Education 660 - Park District 670 - Private Academy or College 680 - Charity 690 - Cemetery 800 - Utility 8 Existing Mobility Documentation In conjunction with Task Report One, Strawtown-Koteewi Park and the White River the following summarizes the review of to Cumberland Drive, the main north-south implemented and planned pedestrian, road just west of Koteewi and the Towns of bicycle, and shared mobility infrastructure Cicero, Arcadia, and Atlanta to the north and within the study area. Site visits were west. performed to confirm the accuracy of existing documentation. A primary east-west corridor, 234th Street becomes Strawtown Avenue and winds parallel with the river. At State Road 13, it becomes West 8th Street Road and continues as it Hamilton County winds east and in close proximity to the river all the way to downtown Anderson – creating Non-motorized significant connectivity potential. There are a number of planned projects This area spans between and contiguous to within non-motorized pedestrian and park 146th Street north to the entrance to the spaces which will enhance connectivity within White River Canoe Company approximately at Hamilton County. These initiatives are listed in 170th between River Road and the White River. the subsequent paragraphs. 146th Street is a significant east-west primary arterial in Hamilton County and extends Serving as the northern “bookend” to the between the far eastern end of Noblesville White River Vision Plan (WRVP) study past I-69, Hamilton Town Center’s retail and area, Strawtown-Koteewi Park is currently commercial district, and west through the City accessible via the east-west 234th & 236th of Carmel to the Boone County and Hamilton Street corridor, and oers direct connectivity County line. At that juncture, it becomes to the White River. This corridor is classified County Road East 300 South, and terminates as a primary arterial due to current tra©c at I-65 North after over thirty-six miles. volume. The existing right-of-way width is su©cient for a multi-use trail, which is Within the study area, 146th Street currently identified in the North Hamilton County has separated multi-use trails on both sides. Trail Master Plan. The trail will connect The pedestrian ways need to be widened and WHITE RIVER VISION PLAN TASK FIVE REPORT - 9 MONON TRAIL IN BROAD RIPPLE STRAWTOWN KOTEEWI TRAIL UNDER 234TH STREET. TRAIL AT BROAD RIPPLE ARTS CENTER WHITE RIVER STATE PARK 10 improved, but oer opportunities to provide the White River in Noblesville. Phase III dual multi-use trails, a wide central median, is expected to be completed in 2019, and an iconic bridge structure, other smaller open will complete the final section between recreation areas, public art, interpretive rest Willowview Road and Hague Road. areas, and direct access to the river. Cumberland Road Connector: This connector The 146th Street corridor is located halfway trail is planned between Potter’s Bridge, between Noblesville and Fishers. Any Noblesville, and Town of Cicero along improvements associated with the roadway Cumberland Road. Potters Bridge is located could be shared since there are contiguous just north of 191st Street in Noblesville and parcels in each jurisdiction. crosses the White River. The proposed trail will head north and east from the bridge to Nickel Plate Multi-use Trail, Noblesville, Cumberland Road, just west of Highway 37 Indiana: Plans for the trail extend from and north to Cicero. downtown Noblesville