White River Vision Plan entering final phase, consultants to present design ideas

The final phase of community meetings launches Tuesday, Jan. 29 for The White River Vision Plan, a community-driven effort led by the City of Indianapolis, Visit Indy, and Hamilton County Tourism, Inc. to enhance 58 miles of the White River in Indianapolis and Hamilton County.

Public meetings during the “Action” phase of the White River Vision Plan will present design ideas and recommendations while gathering feedback from the public. Participants will help prioritize the ideas and focus areas that could include destinations, recreational opportunities and accessibility opportunities. New destinations and recreational assets will focus on areas with ecological, historical, cultural, significance and important neighborhood adjacencies. The draft and final plan, delivered in spring 2019 to stakeholders and community organizations, will incorporate feedback from these meetings in addition to a comprehensive, action-oriented plan for the next 30 years.

Organizers say community participation is the most important part of the White River Vision Plan. As a nexus to connect Central Indiana communities together like never before, this is the first time that the community will see the big ideas and recommendations mapped out for the final plan.

While this is the last general public meeting before the plan is finalized, the opportunity to provide feedback doesn’t end here. On the WRVP website, the team will provide ongoing calendar updates about community input events. If residents haven’t already done so, they can check out the interactive map and share thoughts and ideas about opportunities for the river. The WRVP team encourages the community to follow along on social media or tune into their local news for more ways to provide feedback on the third phase of the plan and the draft and final plan documents.

The Agency Landscape + Planning team includes:

  • Applied Ecological Services (ecology)
  • Christopher B. Burke Engineering, LLC (hydrology)
  • Land Story (connectivity)
  • RATIO Architects (local architect)
  • HR&A (governance/economics)
  • Heritage Strategies (history/heritage)
  • DAVID RUBIN Land Collective (public space)