Speaker: Mark Westermeier
This talk will cover the construction and comprehensive water management strategy for the Carmel Clay Parks' Central Park. It will highlight the inventive design which remains noteworthy after many years of the park serving the public.
Mark Westermeier is the retired Executive Director of the Carmel Clay Parks Department. He currently is on the board of the Monon Center.
Sponsored by Roger Hurlbut
Program: Construction and Water Management of Central Park in Carmel Speaker: Mark Westermeier, former Director (retired), Carmel Clay Parks
Introduced By: Roger Hurlbut
Attendance: NESC: 63, Zoom: 30
Guest(s): Uavvy Elstro, Rod VanDeworstine
Scribe: John Peer
Editor: Bill Elliott
Talk’s Zoom recording found at: https://www.scientechclubvideos.org/zoom/03022026.mp4
Our presenter today was Mark Westermeier, retired Executive Director of the Carmel Clay Parks Department. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Monon Center. Central Park started construction in 2024. It is unique is that it is a separate entity independent of local government, which allows it to avoid short term political wishes, and allows it to focus on the long term. As such, it has its own Board of Directors. In addition to Central Park, the organization now manages all the Carmel Clay parks.
Central Park itself sits on 181 acres between 111th and 116th Streets and from College Ave on the west to the old Interurban route, not quite to Westfield Blvd, on the east. The original grant, approved by the Carmel City Council in 2004, was for $59 million. Their Vision statement:
Central Park will be an environmentally, financially and socially sustainable jewel of the Carmel/Clay Park and Recreation system, fully accessible to the full spectrum of community residents and providing a broad range of innovative recreational and educational programs, events and features set in a stunning natural setting.
Their guiding design principle is making it sustainable:
Central Park should be built and operated as an ecological, financially and socially sustainable gem, serving as a model for green, sustainable design.
The focus was on creating and preserving an ecosystem. The design focuses on a lagoon and water features flowing as naturally as found in nature. They quickly decided on a prairie motif. Financially, prairie costs $1/1000 sq ft /yr to maintain while perennial plantings cost $700-2300/1000 sq ft /yr and turf costs $55-95/1000 sq ft /yr to maintain. The prairie roots are 6-8 ft deep and act like a sponge which is great for water management.
Central Park houses the Monon Center, a very busy community recreational center. The roofs and buildings along with surface parking creates a lot of water runoff. This is guided into bioswales to capture, filter, and retain the runoff. The Park receives 19.7 million gals of stormwater /yr and another 5.8 million gals of
greywater. By capturing this water, the Park saves more than $20k /yr in sewer charges. The main lagoon is a wetland that absorbs much of this flow. The water is filtered as it settles in the lagoon. As the water rises, it is well filtered when it flows over the weir. The only water that leaves the property is through a 3” pipe beneath the 8-foot old Interurban berm on the east side of the park. With that high berm, there is enough storage capacity for a 500-year flood.
The 6 ft tall prairie vegetation forms natural guardrails preventing exposure to the sides of the waterways. This discourages geese (they can’t see potential predators), kids playing, and cars driving too close. In addition, native plants like milkweed have been planted to attract monarch butterflies. Maintenance is minimal, but they do have to control invasive species such as garlic mustard and honeysuckle which crowd out native species. Cattails can also be a problem.
The success of Central Park has been nationally recognized. Its “cost recovery” is 79% vs a US avg of 29%. The success has been applied by re-engineering other Carmel/Clay parks and is being used in many other parks beyond Carmel.
Thanks to Mr. Westermeier for a very informative talk.
Mark Westermeier
