Flood plain park project is a first for Marion County 3.8.11

INDIANAPOLIS STAR

David Bowers was used to the routine. Heavy rain swelled Fall Creek, then rising waters saturated the forested land on his creekside property in Lawrence, threatening to creep inside his house.
While residents of flood-prone areas warily watched water-covered yards and streets Monday, Bowers, 68, had given up on the flood routine four years ago, when he abandoned his flood-damaged home.
On Monday, Indianapolis and state homeland security officials announced that his home and four adjacent empty lots he owns -- on secluded Fall Creek Drive, near 79th Street -- will be the first Marion County project in a state program that snaps up flood-prone properties from willing owners and converts them to public recreation areas.
Whether more projects will follow is unclear, but late-winter storms have put many residents of low-lying areas in Indianapolis and Noblesville at risk of flooding.
And more rain is on the way, though heavy rains expected this evening and Wednesday -- bringing about an inch to the Indianapolis area -- may not be enough to increase the flood threat, a forecaster said.
Relief is further off for southwestern Indiana, where forecasters say flooding along major rivers may last into early April.
Communities including Spencer and Edwardsport could be in for several more days above flood stage, said Joseph Nield, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Bowers said the high flood risk made selling his Fall Creek property difficult. It had been in his in-laws' family for decades; his wife, Barbara Carson, died about eight years ago.
When the $204,000 project is finished next year, the land will reopen as a "pocket park" for fishing and canoeing, with the land owned by the city of Lawrence.
"I just loved the idea of it becoming a park. It will keep people from getting hurt," Bowers said. "I think my wife would really be excited about it if she was still alive."
Bowers has moved to Fort Wayne, where similar projects through the state's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program are more common. He initiated the project by contacting Kristin Lion, a deputy administrator in the Indianapolis Division of Homeland Security, in 2008.
The city secured a federal grant last year through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, meeting a requirement that local government cover 25 percent of a mitigation project's cost.
The project includes purchasing Bowers' properties at market rate, tearing down the house and converting the land into a park.
Since the program began in the late 1980s, nearly 500 homes across the state have been converted into public recreation areas, said Jan Crider, state hazard mitigation officer for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
Local officials have no firm plans to apply for other properties, Lion said, though a local committee is considering ways to expand the program.
Indianapolis has more properties that repeatedly flood than any other community in the state, Crider said. But it hasn't taken advantage of the program, in part because the local match requirement and maintenance of the resulting open space require financial commitment.
Neighborhoods such as Ravenswood on Indianapolis' Northside and Riverwood in Noblesville were still dealing with floodwaters Monday.
The White River from Anderson through Downtown Indianapolis was expected to crest Monday, about 2 feet below last week's levels, and begin falling.
In Noblesville, Ind. 19 and two other riverside streets were still closed because of flooding. In Fishers, authorities reopened previously closed roads near several tributaries, while Hamilton Proper and Cumberland Road parks remained closed.
With more rainfall expected later today, "the main impact appears to be that the high water will just be prolonged," Nield said. "At least from the current forecast, flooding -- once it ends -- is not expected to return."
But residents weren't necessarily buoyed by such projections.
"We're just hoping that won't be a heavy or hard downpour," said Susie Stamm, a longtime resident of Ravenswood. "We just pray that we're not going to have it."
The Indianapolis Department of Public Works is to keep two sandbag sites open the rest of the week, allowing residents to pick up as many as 50 bags. Those are at 1725 S. West St., open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and at Riverwood Park near Haynes and Crittenden avenues, open 24 hours a day.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110308/LOCAL18/103080325/-1/7daysarchives/Flood-plain-park-project-first-Marion-County