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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWith the opening of the Geist Waterfront Park in three weeks, public access will be granted to Geist Reservoir for the first time since the man-made lake was developed in 1943.
It’s an important development because central Indiana has so few public access points for water recreation—a distinction that will make the park the kind of “placemaking” amenity that economic development leaders say is necessary to attract the new residents needed to fill Indiana’s labor gap.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and his administration deserve applause for keeping the project moving over the past three years and for the vision to potentially build upon it in the years to come to continue to draw new workplace talent.
As IBJ’s Daniel Bradley reports this week, the $16 million first phase of the park includes a 100-yard-long beach that will open in late May along a cove that connects to Geist Reservoir.
Other attractions at the 70-acre park include an elaborate ship-themed playground, kayak and paddle-boat rentals and a few trails.
Tentative plans call for two additional phases of park development.
Creekside, the second phase, would cost $5.7 million and could include a boardwalk stretching over wetlands, trails, a waterfront nature pavilion with a fireplace and an outdoor adventure course.
The Uplands, the final phase, would cost $5.3 million and involve the restoration of native woodland and prairie ecosystems, an overlook plaza and a non-motorized boat launch.
Add it all together and the result is an amenity not often matched in land-locked central Indiana, unless you venture to Eagle Creek or Morse reservoirs.
Even the initial opening of the park is a giant step forward in offering more water recreation for the public, the kind of “blue space” that many social scientists believe helps relieve stress, promote social interaction and encourage physical activity.
Not only could the park help our mental health, it promises to boost our economic health as well.
It strongly answers the call by Gov. Eric Holcomb and Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers for communities to develop the kind of “placemaking” attractions that draw new residents.
Such developments are sorely needed to help stem a labor shortage that state leaders see as a huge impediment in attracting more high wage jobs to the state. And, unfortunately, a recent report by Ascend Indiana shows that the pandemic only widened the state’s gap between the number of high-skilled jobs and available and trained workers available to fill those positions.
Obviously, Indiana doesn’t have coastal beaches or towering mountains. But Fishers is showing that there are clearly steps communities can take to make the most of the natural resources they do have to add to Indiana’s already attractive business environment and relatively low cost of living.
That’s why we hope Indianapolis continues to make progress in cleaning up the White River and doesn’t give up on the vision of creating some sort of beach along its banks.•
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