Toyota Trinity Stormwater Park is awaiting next steps. Bordered by Court, Vine, and Northwest Third streets, the site of the former Holy Trinity Catholic Church is to be used for stormwater infrastructure as well as park features.
Now that the Evansville Water & Sewer Utility has finished underground work – which took about two years and $11 million – the timeline to establish a park depends on fundraising, according to Evansville Parks and Recreation Executive Director Danielle Crook and Erin Lewis, executive director of the University of Evansville Center for Innovation and Change.
Toyota Indiana got the ball rolling with a $350,000 donation, but UE wants to raise much more for the Downtown amenity. The university is leading the fundraising. The city owns and maintains the land, which is open to the public.
The green infrastructure concept was crafted by Benjamin Bosse High School and UE graduate Robert Lopez, who now is the office operations coordinator for the Center for Innovation and Change.
What the park will look like depends, again, on how much money is raised. UE wants to incorporate materials salvaged from the church building into the design. Some features – wetland plants and a pergola have been proposed – could be in place by fall 2025.
“The design Robert has been working on for years is about a $1 million park,” Lewis says. “So, he’s working hard to raise the additional $600,000 to $700,000. We’ll focus on that for a few more months, and then start the bidding process with what we have in hand.”
