Plans to replace a playground at Tarkington Park are getting pushback from an environmental advocate.
Clarke Kahlo, who also lives near the park, said the focus should be on maintaining the existing playground rather than building a new one. The project would include removing two redbud trees and an oak tree.
“Let the existing facility stand,” Kahlo said. “Let it be.”
The playground, which is on the northwest corner of the park, is about 20 years old. Alex Cortwright, a spokesperson for Indy Parks and Recreation, said the playground’s age puts it near the end of its lifespan.
“It’s a fairly straightforward project,” he said.
Along with a playground, plans submitted to the city show a replacement shelter and sidewalks to make the north end of the park more accessible.
The $1 million project is funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment to Butler University, which is working with the Parks Alliance of Indianapolis. The Parks Alliance is leading the project.
Kahlo, who used to work for the Hoosier Environmental Council, was also part of a push against a road that would have run through Broad Ripple Park.
“I’m sort of used to making my voice heard,” he said.
A public hearing for the Tarkington Tark project was scheduled for Sept. 10 with the Metropolitan Development Commission hearing examiner. Kahlo, 78, filed a request to delay the hearing.
A hearing is now scheduled for 1 p.m. Oct. 15 at the City-County Building, 200 E. Washington St.
Cortwright said he doesn’t expect the delay to have an impact on the project.
Construction would start in the fall, with most of the work done in the spring of 2027.
What about the trees?
Nancy Stockton likes the idea of an improved playground at Tarkington Park. She babysits her 2-year-old great-grandson and takes him there whenever the weather allows.
“He’s 2 and happy with anything,” Stockton said while her great-grandson played on the southern play area, which opened in 2017.
But Stockton, 84, said she wishes the work could get done without cutting down trees.
The original project plans showed 11 trees being cut down. Now, that number is three. There were also 30 trees removed to build a football field at the park.
David O’Rourke, vice president of collaboration and marketing at the Parks Alliance, said the playground project design was reworked to preserve more trees.
“We worked hard to make sure it was as few trees being removed as possible,” O’Rourke told the Indy Parks board in September.
Project plans also call for planting new trees.
But Kahlo wrote in his 13-point summary of opposition that it will take years before the new trees provide the same benefit as the ones that would be cut down.
And as he climbed a ladder at the north playground, Kahlo doubled down on his stance that the equipment is still in good enough shape.
“These handrails are all solid,” he said.
In other spots, Kahlo said, maybe a wire brush would be good to get rid of some rust.
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Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
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