INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Park improvements are coming to Ensign Graham Edward Martin Park.
Indy Parks announced environmental remediation and park improvements for that park that located on Fall Creek Parkway Drive and West 16th Street.
Improvements are funded with $2.8 million through the Lilly Endowment Grant and federal earmark funds.
Those federal funds required environmental testing, which uncovered previously unknown contamination. Prior to being established as a city park in 1979, the site had a history of mining and was later filled in with material now considered unacceptable.
The city of Indianapolis, along with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, performed a series of environmental investigations and soil sampling.
The results show that some areas have metals and some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – natural chemicals in coal, crude oil, and gas – above the state regulatory limits for recreational sites.
To mitigate the site where this occurred, it will now be capped and have a two-foot layer of clean soil added on top, IDEM said.
The mitigation project will now have several large piles of clean soil to be brought to the park. Graham Edward Martin Park will be closed to the public during the renovations.
Once this is completed and additional testing is done, Indy Parks will then begin working on a project to upgrade the park. The mitigation funds will come out of the Indy Parks capital budget.
The million dollar project will feature a new splash pad, playground, shelter, parking lot improvements, memorial plaza for Graham E. Martin, and a comfort station.
Environmental remediation work is expected to begin soon and be completed by early 2026, with construction on the park improvements to begin later that year.
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