Crown Point Mayor Pete Land delivered his annual State of the City address to a packed crowd at Bulldog Park on Tuesday, June 3, touting the city’s growth in 2024 and offering updates on upcoming projects and events.
Land built his address around the city’s motto: “building a stronger community from within.” To capture this theme, he highlighted achievements and developments across the city’s departments, offering insights on everything from the police and fire departments to the IT and wastewater management teams. One of the most notable updates he shared is that the Crown Point Police Department’s officers are now equipped with body-worn cameras.
“Thanks to Chief Ryan S. Patrick’s leadership, we were finally able to get this program implemented,” Land said. “This is a $600,000 investment, which will help reduce risk and liability to themselves and the city. This program will capture all interactions between our officers and residents.”
Other developments included the ongoing expansion of the Veterans Memorial Bike Trail, the addition of new legal representatives to advocate for the city in Indianapolis, and four new firefighters who graduated from paramedic school. All 52 of the city’s full-time firefighters are now licensed paramedics.
“This is pretty rare for the Region,” Land said. “Most cities do not require their EMS and police personnel to be paramedics, but we do, to their credit. The department had 6,204 calls for service, and 4,457 of those were for medical emergencies.”
He also confirmed that two fan-favorite events added to Crown Point’s calendar last year, the Wine Fest and New Year’s Eve Ball Drop on the downtown square, are set to return this year. The city is also continuing its rapid ascent as a Midwest sports hub, with the NSA Fastpitch World Series, National Wiffle Ball Championship, and the Cal Ripken 10U World Series all scheduled to return this year.
“Crown Point is a huge, sports-dominated community,” Land said. “Annually, we have over 800,000 visitors and players using our Sportsplex every year. It serves our local community, and hosts regional and international events.”
Land saved two of the biggest updates for last, revealing first that the long-awaited Sauermann Woods stormwater improvement project is expected to finish this August. The city is planning a public ribbon-cutting for the overhauled park, which will feature a 3.5-acre lake, a nearly 1.5-mile lit walking path, a large boardwalk, a separate fishing pier, an open-air pavilion, six sand volleyball courts, six pickleball courts, and an all-inclusive 6,000 square-foot playground.
The second project, the new skate park announced at last year’s State of the City, is now deep into construction. The layout will feature a 14,500 square-foot skateable area, three street-style lanes, a 5,000 square-foot flow bowl, and a peanut pool.
“We’ll be launching a grand opening event for that in the near future and you’re all invited,” Land said. “It’s going to be a state-of-the-art facility.”
The mayor also continued a State of the City tradition, distributing an array of awards to standout residents and businesses. He began by honoring Crown Point High School students Cohen Webber and Aseel Al-Quadah with the Youth Community Achievement Award. Both students earned $500 for serving a combined 524 volunteer hours around the Region.
Next up were the business longevity awards, recognizing businesses committed to the city for many years. This year’s honorees were Doppler Construction, Artful Garden, Gasparis & Zembillas Law Office, Fricke’s Recreation and Larry’s Barbershop.
Land then recognized Tim Heidbreder with the Excellence in Development, and honored Bonnie Meyer with the first ever Community Impact Award.
The mayor closed the evening by thanking the city’s employees for all the work they do to keep the city running, and reflected on all the events, programs, and facilities that make Crown Point the community it is.
“Tonight I’ve presented a lot of facts about Crown Point and talked about projects we’re doing for not only the present day, but for our kids,” he said. “I’ve provided updates on our infrastructure projects and developments and our great quality of life amenities. Each of these are vital to the success of our city. They keep it a place where people want to live, work, and open a business. All of that takes a team, a team that works together to make our city the fantastic community we all know it is.”
For more information about the City of Crown Point and to keep up with its latest events and developments, visit crownpoint.in.gov.
