A group of Morristown community members are wanting residents to attend a meeting next week that will help decide specific details on a new park that they hope to install as a result of a gift from Blue River Community Foundation.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Morristown Town Hall to continue plans for a pocket park, a smaller park that can be used by the community as a meeting place, with potentially a gazebo or benches, Dede Allender, a Morristown resident, said.
Allender ran Monday’s meeting, which four other residents attended to discuss ideas. She said that BRCF, which will be celebrating its 30th year in 2018, reached out and said it wanted to give a gift to all four corners of Shelby County.
The foundation wants the gift to be used on creating a pocket park in each community. A pocket park is smaller than a baseball field, Allender said.
Prior to hearing from the foundation, she said she came up with the idea of improving the town on her own.
“I love driving through New Pal and all the pretty lights and landscaping and railings and it just looks so nice,” she said. “I said, ‘Why can’t we do that for Morristown?’”
After talking to a friend, she started working with Morristown’s visionary committee.
“They’re in favor of it,” she said. “They’re working with us and coming up with some ways to improve the town.”
They made a list of areas they wanted to improve in the town, such as street lights and sidewalks. Their first agenda item was putting a sidewalk at the elementary school, which she said the school was receptive to.
The foundation reached out and informed her of what it wanted to do with pocket parks.
During Monday’s meeting, the group discussed locations in Morristown where the park could be placed. Allender provided a list and the group narrowed it down to three – a lot next to Long Branch Saloon, a lot next to Hauk-Spencer Mortuary and in front of the elementary school.
Allender and those who attended Monday’s meeting were hoping for a larger crowd. They promoted the meeting through Facebook and by signage.
“I was kind of disheartened about tonight,” resident Don Smith said during the meeting. “I expected more people to be here.”
He noted that people sometimes complain about decisions made but don’t attend meetings open to the public.
“I know I’m not physically able to do (certain) things, but I’ve still got a brain and that’s what I try to tell people,” Mary Ann Toll said. “There are things that we can all give back to our community.”
“I’m not ready to give up by any means,” Smith responded. “It just would have been nice to have (more people attend).”
The group discussed what could be included in the park, including a gazebo, a Veterans memorial, permanent benches, attractive landscaping and a drinking fountain. They could also sell memorial bricks, they said.
They also went through the pros and cons of the three potential locations.
Next week’s community forum will start mapping out more specifics on the park, including the size of the lot, and the size of a gazebo, if that will be included.