After years of letting the property sit empty, Bargersville officials broke ground on the new 19-acre park planned at County Road 144 and Saddle Club Road.
Construction on the long-awaited Kephart Park is officially in motion after the groundbreaking Friday morning, and crews will start work on the project in the coming days.
The park project, which is situated near the Morningside subdivision, is estimated to cost between $4 and $5 million and be completed in one phase. The expected completion date is set for May 2023, developers from Crossroad Engineers said Friday.
Designs include a new inclusive playground, eight pickleball courts, a splash pad, two shelter houses, restrooms and 2,000 linear feet of trails, called Morningside Path. Kephart Park will also be the first park in Bargersville with WiFi, as part of a fiber internet expansion with Metronet and Johnson County Fiber.
“This is going to be a first-class park,” said Keith Cecil, Bargersville parks board president.
Town officials, including the town council and parks board members, and contractors involved in the project, attended the groundbreaking to celebrate this new endeavor for the town.
“Our goal for the park is not only to strengthen our community’s quality of life by promoting recreation and wellness, but also promoting a gathering space to create lifelong memories for our residents and visitors,” said Susie Qualls, town council member.
It was a long road to get to this point. Bargersville bought the land for the park back in August 2015 for $124,195, according to property records. The town had purchased the land for a park specifically, and chose the name Kephart after the family who owned the property.
However, the project sat idle for five years without any movement on it. The only thing on the property for years was a sign labeling the site as the future home of Kephart Park.
Plans began moving again in late 2020, and funding was decided this year and last year.
In April, the town council approved the town’s $1.8 million allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act. ARPA is a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package that, among other things, delivered direct relief to Americans and distributed billions to states to respond to the pandemic and to give to cities, towns and counties to respond to the pandemic.
The rest of the park is being funded by park impact fees. The fee is collected from developers for each house built in the town. The new fee is $1,580 per home or apartment unit developed and is projected to raise $3.3 million by 2030.
Julie Young, Bargersville’s town manager, said she is excited to see the park move forward after these few years. It took time to get here because town officials were trying find the best way to fund it, she said.
The work toward the town’s redevelopment and focus on quality of life amenities is now paying off, she said.
“We’ve been working on these projects for a while, and we’re really think we’re starting to see them come together,” Young said.
