BLOOMINGTON – The Great Lakes Park Training Institute (GLPTI) recognized Switchyard Park with a Great Lakes Park Award on Feb. 27 at its annual conference in Angola, Ind.
“Switchyard Park was, and remains, the largest park development project in the city’s history,” said Parks and Recreation Director Tim Street. “Not only is Switchyard Park a free and accessible space for the benefit of our community, it is an economic driver that supports local people and small businesses.”
According to Layne Elliott, Assistant Director of the GLPTI, awards are given annually by the GLPTI’s Board of Advisors to recognize parks, facilities, and programs representing the cutting edge of the park and recreation profession in the United States.
“Rundell Ernstberger Associates is honored to have led the design of Switchyard Park and helped oversee its construction,” said Cecil Penland, Partner and Landscape Architect for the Indianapolis-based urban design, planning, and landscape architecture firm. “A legacy project for both the city and REA, Switchyard Park is truly worthy of the honor awarded by the GLPTI that recognizes parks and facilities that are driven by community input, and those which are innovative and impactful.”
Significant environmental remediation occurred throughout the park grounds to remove coal ash and cinders, control invasive plants and trees, and daylight a creek buried in culverts a century ago to allow railroad development in the former switchyard. Community members actively shaped the park’s landscape by providing feedback in open houses, attending design workshops and charrettes, and serving on the master plan’s technical review and steering committees.
Penland said, “Switchyard Park is innovative in its amenities, its use of sustainable materials, and its stormwater management. The transformation of this legacy industrial site into a beloved destination park has already impacted the community’s environmental, social, and economic health and well-being.”
