Last week Marshall County celebrated the designation as 2019 Regional Stellar Communities. This distinction brings more than $14 million of grant fund to the county for the 35 projects already determined.
Argos will have one of the first projects in the Stellar Plan.
Argos Pond Park is an 11-acre park on the southwest side of town that has a large pond surrounded by a large area of green space. The park is across the street from the Marshall County Fairgrounds and in close proximity to the Argos Manufacturing Center, which is home of Sequel Wire and Cable LLC which is currently expanding the facility and will create 120 jobs by 2024.
Another proposed Stellar project in Argos is to develop a multi-use trail that connects Pond Park to the Fairgrounds and neighborhoods east of the fairgrounds. The trail project combined with proposed sidewalks will connect Pond Park to the Town Park and adjacent neighborhoods.
There are minimal amenities in the park currently, and little work has been completed over the last five years in the park. With the location of Pond Park and the proposed community connections, it is critical to provide unique and appealing amenities to park uses. This was identified in the current 5-year parks master plan, and the park board decided to create a site-specified master plan for the park. The master plan calls for improvement including walking trails, fishing piers, gazebo, pavilion, bridge, picnic shelters, a play area, restroom building and parking lot.
Potential uses for the park include family outings, fishing, walking and hiking and events and gatherings such as weddings.
The Argos Park Board was awarded a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant through the Indiana Department of Natural resources to help fund $500,000 of improvements in the park. This includes the parking lot, walking trail, native plantings, fishing piers, picnic shelter and play area.
The Town of Argos owns the property for which the improvements are proposed, and there are no know environmental impacts or floodway concerns. Because Argos received the LWCF funding, this project will be one of the year 1 projects in the Stellar Plan.
