For nearly a year, city officials, national project coordinators and community organizations have partnered with the goal of transforming 58 miles of the White River in Marion and Hamilton counties. Now, equipped with a grand vision, they’ll spend the next few months figuring out how to make it happen.
Through the first two phases of the project — Discovery and Envision — the White River Vision Plan team came up with numerous projects and ideas that could change the way residents interact with the river. Ropes courses, rock climbing, boardwalks and new trails — these are the things that could give new life to a river that, as it is right now, doesn’t have a positive reputation with its dirty water.
Brad Beaubien, Indianapolis’ administrator of long-range planning for the Department of Metropolitan Development, said he’s met many people throughout this process who had never even thought of the river as something they could get to and use. A project of this size could change that.
“The river was here before us, and it will be here after us,” Beaubien said. “It’s this timeless thing that we all share.”
The White River Vision Plan is a joint effort between the city of Indianapolis, Hamilton County Tourism and Visit Indy’s philanthropic arm, Tourism Tomorrow. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consulting firm Agency Landscape + Planning is leading the project. The plan is made up of nine guiding principles — respecting the river’s history, restoring the environment and ecology, drawing people to the river, etc. — and imagines the river in six sections. There are seven specific regions within those sections, including downtown Indianapolis and Broad Ripple, where the plan shows the possibilities for different amenities. The plan is not concrete, though, and the team is still taking community feedback on its website, mywhiteriver.com.
Some of what the plan will try to accomplish, including increased connectivity to the river, will require a healthier river to attract people.
“A fundamental idea is that in order for us to improve the ecological health of the river, people have to care about it,” Beaubien said. “In order for them to care about it, it has to be a meaningful part of their life at some point.”
Brie Hensold, an urban planner and co-founder of Agency Landscape + Planning, explained she wanted to be part of the White River Vision Plan because she saw the river as a “jewel.”
“The river is a shared asset,” she said. “… It’s been such an important part of building Central Indiana’s history.”
The White River Vision Plan aims to preserve and display some of that history. For example, the river used to be a segregated swimming spot, so African-Americans had access to only a portion of the beach and water. Beaubien said he would want to honor that history.
Part of the plan also involves making the river safer for people and wildlife. Dams in the river are dangerous for people swimming or kayaking because they create cyclones at the bottom. They also make it so species can’t migrate. The dams are necessary for different functions such as water intake for power plants, but it would be desirable, Beaubien said, to create a series of smaller dams that would be safer.
As Beaubien told a group of citizens at a meeting earlier this month at Central Library, the White River Vision Plan is moving into its toughest stretch: the Action phase. How much of the grand vision will come to be? Where will the money come from? How difficult will it be to coordinate communities across almost 60 miles of river? As for funding, Beaubien said he could imagine local governments pitching in, as well as state resources and even federal help.
One of the pieces of that grand vision is already a sure thing. A group of arts organizations received $50,000 in November 2018 to build a floating stage, along with outdoor lighting. The goal is for shows to start this summer.
Ambrose Property Group is developing a former General Motors stamping plant on the city’s west side with the goal of making the river more accessible to the public. Mali Jeffers, director of marketing and community initiatives at Ambrose, said the development will be mixed-use and could include “anything you would find in a downtown,” including residential area and workspaces.
“I think the river wouldn’t serve as much of a physical and mental barrier as it does right now,” Jeffers said of the possibilities for more similar development along the river. “Traffic flow and connectivity will become easier … and the neighborhoods like The Valley, Stringtown, Hawthorn and all of west Indy won’t feel as disconnected.”
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
The White River Vision Plan is reimagining the way residents in Marion and Hamilton counties could use the river. This rendering of the downtown area shows a series of safer dams, trails connecting to the river and a floating stage. (Photo provided)
