Fortville Parks Department is seeking public input to help draft a new five-year master plan for the town’s parks. A makeover of Landmark Park, at 201 E. Staat St., is among potential future upgrades.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
By Shelley Swift | Daily Reporter - July 24, 2025
FORTVILLE — Fortville Parks and Recreation manager Heath Luther is asking for the community’s help in planning for the future of local parks and related programs.
He recently extended the deadline on a public survey that has been circulating online.
Residents now have through Aug. 8 to respond to the survey at surveymonkey.com/r/fortvillecommunity.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
Luther said it takes just minutes to fill out, but could have far-reaching impacts that affect local parks for years to come.
The responses will be used to help shape the town’s five-year Parks & Recreation Master Plan, which the parks manager said is long overdue.
“We haven’t had an updated master plan since 2001,” Luther said after Monday night’s Fortville Town Council meeting.
Since being hired in 2017, Luther said he has filled out a “fill in the blank”-style form from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources outlining the parks department’s vision, but this will be the first time in a long time the town has invested the time and resources to create an in-depth master plan.
To develop the plan the parks department is working with PROS Consulting of Brownsburg, the same company that is helping create a five-year master plan for Noblesville Parks & Recreation, and did the same for Carmel Clay Parks and Recreation in 2020.
PROS Consulting has also created master plans for various parks departments throughout the country.
An up-to-date master plan not only gives a parks department direction, but also makes it eligible to receive state grants, so long as the plan has been updated within the past five years.
Once the public input phase for the Fortville Parks master plan is done and the plan has been drafted, it will be sent to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for approval before being presented to Fortville Town Council for adoption.
Luther said the department is overdue in updating its plan, but he looks forward to the opportunities a revised plan can bring.
Park leaders have been making a series of improvements in recent years, he said, but there’s a long way to go.
Daily Reporter file photo
At Monday’s meeting, council members approved spending $14,200 for the purchase of four new basketball goal systems, with acrylic backboards and breakaway rims, to be installed in Memorial Park within the next four weeks.
The council also appointed a three-person selection committee to choose which contractor is hired to refresh and redesign Landmark Park. Bids for the project went out July 17 and are due Aug. 1.
Luther, town council president Tonya Davis and town council member Libby Wyatt will serve on the committee.
In other council news Monday, council members voted to double the amount town manager Joe Renner can spend on purchases without council approval, increasing the amount from $10,000 to $20,000.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
Renner shared that many necessary items like lawnmowers and water and sewer repairs were once under the $10,000 threshold, but inflation has increased the cost of many items and services that could previously be purchased without having to wait on council approval.
Many vendors and service providers don’t want to wait two weeks to hear back on council approval, he said, and sometimes by that point a good price or service window can be gone.
The council also nominated a new person to Fortville Redevelopment Commission — Mike Kelty — who was chosen to replace Amy Lawson, who is moving out of town.