The town of Ellettsville hopes to rebuild and revive the surrounding area through the Envision Ellettsville Vision Plan. First proposed in June 2021, the Greater Area Ellettsville Area Chamber of Commerce and Ellettsville Main Street Inc. worked with the community to put together a plan to create a new vision for the town.
Michael Farmer, town manager and utilities operation manager in Ellettsville, said the town plans to add parks, over two miles of new trails, and build new roads. The plan also includes diversifying its housing options and building apartments and town homes.
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The town will also address the downtown flooding issues through a flood mitigation project. Officials hope solving this problem, the downtown area will be more desirable for business owners. Farmer hopes commercial activity will pick up in the next two years.
“Hopefully, with some mitigation of flooding, people will start commercially populating the downtown areas,” Farmer said. “We’re hoping artists, restaurants, service-type businesses will start coming back to the downtown.”
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Farmer said he hopes the plan will bring its citizens together and help build a complete community that people can enjoy living in without having to travel anywhere else. He said as a town that is close to commercially active Bloomington, Ellettsville provides a more laid-back, rural environment for people to come back to.
“That’s really what we’re trying to create, that gravity where people want to come downtown,” Farmer said. “We’re trying to get the most bang for our buck and reach out to the most people.”