The city is in the middle of a five-year parks master plan and finalizing a riverfront development study. Plus, the mayor is crafting his first budget.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun addresses these issues and more Tuesday from city hall. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: We are on location in Fairbanks Park, across from the YMCA, to talk about a major point of emphasis and a long-term project you're now getting your hands on.
Sakbun: We've got a strong parks department, but we're also in the middle of our park five-year master plan. We are finalizing a Riverfront Development Study, and Fairbanks Park is nestled on the river. So it's kind of bringing in the best of those two worlds, those planning spheres that are in operation right now, and we're really looking at unlocking some of our parks these next couple of years, and once that master plan is complete, that'll help us with some funding conversations.
Of course, with those casino dollars coming in, that's always a conversation we like to be a part of. But Deming Park is always known as our crown jewel. The Herz-Rose Park, they're getting a complete remodel. Those bids will come in here in a couple of weeks, and that's a $2.5 $2.6 million renovation of one of our inner city parks.
Hren: The project is called Turn To The River, because it's so fitting. Former Mayor Jim Lienhoop of Columbus told us a long time ago, the river was not seen as an amenity. It was a mode of transportation or it was dirty. Now cities are saying, let's turn turn this around.
Sakbun: I kind of credit a lot of that to the late Mayor Tom Henry up in Fort Wayne and what they were able to do with their riverfront. And what I like about the city of Terre Haute being nestled along the banks of the Wabash, that is potential. There's some nearby private property owners that we're working with to get some some testing of the soil, what needs cleaned up.
Of course, we have The Mill our concert venue, and they're looking to invest in that project, and we're looking to invest in Fairbanks Park in our YMCA. They've applied for some Lilly grant funding. Those are some good projects to show the private sector that the public sector is also taking interest in the river to do some of those public private partnerships. So it's a model that we've took to that's been successful across the state, the Midwest, and, honestly, the United States.
Hren: What are the initiatives?
Sakbun: How do they update the amphitheater? They're looking at doing the seating and some of the exterior, because amphitheaters are expensive to renovate and they've got a smaller budget. We're looking at all the playground equipment. We're looking at updating our shelters this year, handling some of those projects with this year's budget, it opens the conversation for next year doing true additions to the park.
Mayor Duke Bennett, the former mayor, had a very good Fairbanks conceptual designs done last year. Those are very costly to implement. So we'll come through some of those, see what opportunities there are. And of course, our YMCA staying strong with them, looking at their possible renovation. On top of that, we've got our nonprofit Wabash Valley crew. They actually want to put a boat house on the river and activate the sport of rowing.
Take the Survey: Submit your feedback about what you'd like to experience along the Wabash Riverfront
Hren: When I think about the river, is it clean? Can it be used for recreational activities? Is it used as a resource?
Sakbun: There are some other aquifers. Indiana American Water is our largest utility provider in the area. And then we do have some individuals still on well water. People go out very frequently, not just to fish, but to take motorized boats like Wabash Valley crews. So there's a lot of potential for recreational activity along the river.
Hren: What about the river wildlife habitat, environmental conservation, and the dangers of a river, maybe being too deep. So there's a lot to think about.
Sakbun: Great question and that's part of the reason why we partnered with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to really look at the conversation around bank stabilization and water levels. And it was a pretty foreign concept to me, right? I thought, you know, Riverfront Development, little bit of green space parks, and they're like, aha, young man, there's other sides to this. And our local soil and water conservatory, Vigo County, they've been very good to help us through that conversation as part of our Riverfront Development Study.
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Hren: The Wabash River also runs between Lafayette and West Lafayette, and water issues have become a major concern for residents up there in the wake of a proposed pipeline to transfer water from the region down to Lebanon. I believe it's called the LEAP pipeline project. Are you familiar at all with that and does it concern you?
Sakbun: There's always concern. State Senator Greg Goode and Tonya Pfaff our state representative, did a good job of ensuring that the IFAS could do a study in Terre Haute, a part of that study to look at the water concerns. So they've elevated our concerns at the state level, granted, we are not the main front on this battle, of course, that's north of us, but we're downstream of the river.
So we appreciate their efforts in getting us just a part of that study to get the data to really say, hey, if you do pipeline alpha, it will cause X effect on our river. So, I'm waiting for the data to really have a strengthening argument or no argument.
Hren: I know you have a housing update, and some feedback from Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson's homelessness initiative?
Sakbun: I had another strong month in July. July of last year, only six new residential units were pulled for construction. That's not including rehabilitation of housing units. This year, we had 14. So you know, that's just showing that our growth patterns are continuing. Equally as important to the conversation is the folks who are unsheltered. We have a lot of agency providers here in the area so part of that is using our social worker, kind of like a point guard on the basketball court, working through the referral system, getting people connected to the agencies that they need assistance from some folks. They need a PO box, you know, they just need to be able to receive and get mail.
We have strong partnerships with Habitat for Humanity. They're doing a lot of work for our redevelopment office, and we thank them for that partnership. They're doing, I think six units. I asked new 12, and they're like, Mayor, oh, we've already doubled. Veterans Village, which is a project from the Terre Haute area Association Realtors as well as our local unions. They're doing work for $0 to support homeless veterans. And that's helped fundraise that project. They went to thrive West Central Indiana for a small grant as well.
