Urban renewal project focuses on sustainability

Defunct industrial buildings, contaminated land and abandoned homes dot the blocks surrounding 22nd Street and the Monon Trail just north of Downtown.

It's not exactly a vision of sustainable development, but that could change.

Neighborhood renewal leaders picture a landscape of energy-efficient homes, cozy shops and restaurants bustling with patrons, a light-rail station and plentiful manufacturing jobs -- maybe even jobs making solar panels to power nearby homes.

If they succeed, an area that stretches from about 16th Street to 30th Street between College and Keystone avenues could become the first of a new breed of urban renewal projects designed to turn Indianapolis' brownfields green.

"We have these places all over town that have seen better days," said Brad Beaubien, who is helping to lead a redevelopment initiative in the area. "We're treating this as a new model."

Beaubien, director of Ball State University's College of Architecture and Planning in Indianapolis, is among a group of experts and local leaders who have begun holding meetings to gather ideas from residents and refine their vision into a plan. They are armed with a design team and accompanied by city officials who say they have identified federal money that could help attract private investment. Like successful revitalization efforts such as the Downtown Canal District and Massachusetts Avenue, the project likely would include new retail and residential development. But the buzzword for this project is sustainability, both economic and environmental.

The area was chosen as a renewal pilot in part to help clean up the large number of brownfield sites, or patches of contaminated land that are remnants of the former industry there. A study of 540 acres within the site, which spans about three-fourths of a mile, showed about 40 brownfields that needed to be cleaned up before new development can take place.

The area also is well-positioned as a transit hub. A stop along the proposed light-rail line from Noblesville to Downtown Indianapolis, near 25th Street and the Monon, has been discussed, and the Monon itself is an amenity that leaders say can help draw more people to that part of the city's core.

"If we have another neighborhood that's a destination in the Downtown area, it has a huge impact on quality of life in the city," said Kären Haley, the city's director of sustainability.

The national design group American Institute of Architects Sustainable Design Assessment Team picked Indianapolis late last year for the project. It will be one of about 40 sites where the group has done similar assessments since 2005. Indy was one of several cities to apply for the assessment, supported by a $15,000 grant from Citizens Energy Group.

After its visit later this month, the team is expected to release its plan by early next year, when city leaders and partners at Ball State and neighborhood development groups can start to implement the goals.

Doing so will require both public and private investment. Chris Harrell, brownfield redevelopment coordinator for the city, said he's identified some federal funds that could be used, but no city dollars have been identified.

The goal, project leaders say, is to avoid displacing residents and to keep them engaged in the process.

"Our hope would be that the area would improve in such a way that it would encourage new development and support existing residents that are there," said Mike Peoni, administrator for the city's division of planning.

Some experts say that will be a challenge. David Reingold, a professor and associate dean for Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs who studies low-income housing, said few communities in the U.S. have been able to maintain mixed-income housing.

Also, attracting higher-income residents to the area will depend upon whether there's enough of a market in Indianapolis to support a green community.

"It sounds like it's an 'If we build it, they will come' approach," Reingold said, "but it's a big unknown."

Among the possibilities for keeping residents in the area is creating new jobs, Beaubien said. For instance, if solar panels are installed in the neighborhood, jobs where such panels are made could be brought to the area.

Other pushes could include extra bike lanes and improved sidewalks, sustainable agriculture, an arts and design district and mixed-income housing.

Lisa Miller, who grew up in the area and owns Fat's Variety Store at 25th Street and Dr. Andrew J. Brown Avenue, said more recreational activities for children in the neighborhood and better housing would help revitalize it.

 She said the addition of new businesses also would help hers thrive by driving more people to the area.

"There are a lot of empty lots," said Miller, 38. "(Redevelopment) would help."

That's also the hope of residents such as Phyllis Walker, 47. Like others in the neighborhood, her family long has been invested in the area. Her grandfather planted the trees that now stand in her front lawn in the 2000 block of Cornell Avenue, which is down the street from two abandoned houses.

She remembers when the block was thriving with well-kept homes -- and hopes renewal can make it that way again.

"Anything to make the neighborhood look better," she said. "There are so many good memories here."

by Francesa Jarosz

Courtesy of Indianapolis Star