Summer is officially in full swing, and the City of Crown Point has its schedule packed with outdoor events to bring the community together for some good fun under the sun. From events such as weekly car cruises, farmer’s markets, concert series, the Taste of Crown Point, and much, much more, there’s sure to be something for everyone this season happening around the Square and Bulldog Park.
With many high-profile events on the horizon, large crowds are expected to pack the city streets. The community has noted its excitement about what’s to come, but the high influx of people has raised some concerns in regard to parking. People have voiced that there may not be enough close, available parking for everyone on these event days in the downtown area.
Crown Point Mayor Pete Land and his team have heard these concerns loud and clear and have taken measurable steps to assure all event participants can navigate the Square and surrounding areas with ease to enjoy everything the city has to offer. This includes a series of renovations completed over recent years around the Square.
“Over the last two years, we've completed some major parking improvements and enhancements to the east side parking availability,” Land said. “We've created new parking lots—we just finished a project where we had an existing municipal lot and post office lot, and we combined those to increase the number of parking spots available.”
These additions also assist the other current parking options available, including street parking alongside Bulldog Park, a municipal lot across the street, and other smaller lots sprinkled throughout the area.
“On the east side of the Square, we have the two municipal lots, and then we also expanded the on-street parking in addition to those projects. We do have some smaller, ancillary, municipal lots surrounding the Square that are also available for parking,” Land said.
Land also noted that more projects are in the works to expand parking options later this year. These additions are expected to help further improve the parking options in the Square, as well as other nearby popular event spaces.
“On the west side of the Square this season, we'll be building another new parking lot right across the street from Bulldog Park,” he said. “There's an existing municipal lot there now. We're expanding that and creating an adjacent parking lot, so that will assist in the Square parking itself and also for events at Bulldog Park and the Cal Ripken fields right there. That has not started yet, but that parking lot will be done this season.”
Those driving through the city will soon also notice a few other new additions to the landscape out of their windows as well. Crown Point is also looking to include more visible signs throughout the Square that will let everyone know where the parking is and how long the spaces are available.
“We do know that a lot of people who frequent Crown Point are not from here, so they may not know where all the lots are. Part of our parking improvements is that we're increasing our signage so people know we're creating new systems and installing them at all of our municipal lots in the downtown area,” Land said. “They’re a lot bigger and easier to see so people can see that, yes, that's an all-day parking lot, or that they have an hour or a two-hour lot. That'll be done this season as well. It's easier for people to recognize—as they see the signage—the municipal parking lot and that they're free to park there.”
The current updates have already proven to be a great investment for many throughout the city. More spaces for event parking have also been a great asset for the local businesses lining the Square and surrounding areas, as it allows for more people to come visit and expand clientele before, during, and after the events happening downtown.
“It's a win for the city that we're hosting all kinds of great events, and it’s a win for our business owners because they see an increase in their bottom line when we have these events,” Land said. “We want to make sure that we have enough parking for our people and our business; that's why we're spending the dollars that we're spending to make sure that that happens.”
Taxpayers have also been another group to benefit from the renovations and updates. No additional charges or increases needed to be made to existing tax rates as the funds for the projects were provided by a bond from the city.
“With respect to all the improvements we have done and are doing now, all that money came from a bond that the city took out, so there's no new or additional tax rates or tax increases,” Land said. “We've been able to pay for all of this while keeping our existing tax rate, so that was definitely a win for our taxpayers.”
An interactive map of the different types of parking in the Square can be seen at the link here.
For more information on the City of Crown Point, visit crownpoint.in.gov.
