Reconnecting to Silver Creek

Today, two quality of life projects aimed at reconnecting our city to Silver Creek were presented to the Board of Public Works and Safety. These projects are designed to provide residents of New Albany with new, safe, and easy access to Silver Creek, helping reconnect the City to our river heritage. Silver Creek connects to the Ohio River, and at various points provides beautiful scenery, wildlife, and fishing in the middle of two populated communities. 

In recent months, the City of New Albany has also announced and taken steps to reconnect residents to the Ohio River with the final construction phase beginning of the Ohio River Greenway Project in the city.  The Ohio River Greenway Project, along with other quality of life initiatives, have been undertaken by the City of New Albany during Mayor Jeff Gahan’s administration.

"We will remove barriers and encourage access to some of the most scenic and natural areas of our waterways," stated Mayor Jeff Gahan. "Silver Creek has long been a place of natural beauty, and these measures will allow more residents to enjoy them."

Mayor Gahan would like to thank the City Council and the New Albany Redevelopment Commission for their support of these quality of life initiatives that will make New Albany an even better place to live.

Spring Street Silver Creek Access

1. Pedestrian Gathering Area and Overlook Access
2. 2-way access off of Providence Way
3. Streetscape Improvements (trees, bollards, traffic calming)
4. Potential Art or Education Opportunities, Murals
5. Staircase providing access to lower creek
6. ADA path
7. Overlook, access point to creek
8. Existing man-made path (to remain)
9. Gathering area
10. Parking, sidewalk access to Creek Access area
11. Additional Parking with turn-around, ADA parking
12. Stone seatwalls for seating and bank stabilization

Armstrong Bend Silver Creek Access

1. Widened road for safer vehicle maneuvering
2. Dedicated parking area
3. Trailhead with scenic creek views, shade, seating, signage
4. Potential secondary trailhead, for exploration and possible access to lower creek areas

Discussions Underway Concerning Public Housing

Over the last several years, the City of New Albany has been analyzing the local public and private housing inventory and needs of the community.  Just recently, Mayor Gahan and his staff worked with the New Albany City Council to develop and pass legislation requiring rental units to be registered within the City limits.  However, the existing stock of public housing also needed to be examined.  During this review process several areas of concern arose:

The facade of a public housing unit in New Albany.

1.    The current physical condition of our public housing units is in need of improvement, with estimates for such repairs being nearly $138 million.

Tarps cover the roof at a public housing unit in New Albany.

2.    The current concentration of public housing units is too high and their proximity to each other is too close. According to officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), New Albany has a very high number of public housing units (nearly 1100), especially for a city with a population of only about 38,000.

3.    The residents of the New Albany community deserve to live in healthy neighborhoods with access to quality education, job opportunities, reliable transportation, and other amenities.

What is the City of New Albany doing to help?

It is the City’s intention to begin the process of addressing these concerns in order to bring a higher quality of life to the residents and the community.  

First, Mayor Gahan brought these concerns to the New Albany Housing Authority Commissioners and the Director.  He has met with the Commissioners and Director on several occasions to discuss the current state of public housing and a vision for the future.  Then, with assistance from Senator Joe Donnelly’s office, Mayor Gahan and other city officials traveled to Indianapolis to meet with officials from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.  The Mayor and his staff along with the various officials discussed the areas of concern and began to develop a plan to address these issues.  In order to ensure proper requirements are met to address the concerns, the City retained public housing experts from Faegre Baker Daniels who have experience in dealing with HUD to help develop strategies to move forward.

“We are committed to working with the New Albany Housing Authority Commissioners and Director in order to develop a long-term plan and strategy for public housing – one which invests and preserves some crucial public housing units, reduces density by moving to a more scattered site model as adopted by HUD, and assesses our ability to provide and maintain current levels of quality public housing units,” stated Mayor Gahan.