Shelby County grants fairgrounds easement for bike trail linking 4 city parks

Officially dubbed the Blue River Trail, the planned multimodal pathway will follow the Little Blue and Big Blue Rivers and will connect four of the city’s parks: Blue River Memorial Park, Kennedy Park, Sunset Park and Babe Ruth Park.

A portion of the city-owned trail will go through the fairgrounds, which is owned mostly by the commissioners.

The city needed easements from the county and fair association because a small, three-acre area of the fairgrounds is owned by the fair association and is considered private property.

In addition to the easements, the Memorandum of Understanding also spells out what the city will do in exchange for access through the fairgrounds properties. 

“The parks board asked us to build a parking lot and fix up the bathroom,” Shelbyville City Engineer Matt House told commissioners when he presented the city’s easement request.

Under the agreement, the city will build a gravel parking lot on part of the three-acre tract owned by the fair board, and it will fix up a bathroom facility located south of the horse racing track, between the track and the river.

There were no cost estimates in the agreement for that work.

The fair board OK’d the interlocal agreement. Next it will go before the Shelbyville Board of Works, but no date has been set. The anticipated cost of the proposed Blue River Trail was $8.2 million in a plan drawn up by Ratio Architects in April 2013.

Groundbreaking for the trail head, which will be located near the intersection of North Harrison Street and Boggstown Road, is scheduled to take place this fall.