NEWS

Iroquois overlook will have a more natural feel

Bailey Loosemore
@bloosemore

More than 200 people who replied to a survey concerning the restoration of Iroquois Park’s Northern Overlook knew exactly what they didn’t want included in the project — concrete.

A concrete viewing platform was removed from the overlook earlier this year, and residents told Louisville Metro Parks they want it replaced with a more natural landscape.

On Tuesday, Metro Parks and Olmsted Parks Conservancy staff members presented a design that eliminates concrete and takes the overlook down to a more “human size,” as dubbed by consultant Meg Storrow with Storrow Kinsella Associates, a planning and urban design firm.

The design includes restructuring Downill Road to limit vehicle access, restoring a wooded trail, building a new asphalt overlook platform and adding a parking lot near Sullivan Grove.

Metro Parks and the conservancy sought residents’ input on the design earlier this year while planning the $1 million project, designed to curb erosion and create a better atmosphere for visitors.

Previously, rainwater would flow down the concrete platform and a closed switchback trail, causing the hill to deteriorate. The concrete platform was also a common spot for vandalism. Okolona resident Larry Kramer said the whole area just seemed neglected.

Metro Parks Director Mike Heitz said the city has not neglected Iroquois Park, having spent $14.6 million on 30 major projects there since a master plan was created in 1994.

However, the large Northern Overlook project was not funded until last year, when the Louisville Metro Council budgeted $500,000 to match the same amount raised by the conservancy. Olmsted Parks Conservancy marketing director Liz DeHart said the organization is about halfway to getting the needed funds.

Heitz said consultants will finish designs for the project after hearing more comments from residents, and officials hope construction will be completed by this time next year.

Construction will include creating a mulch path that will run parallel to Downill Road, which will be open to pedestrian traffic only after the new parking lot.

Seven regular and two ADA compliant parking spaces will be built in the lot, and picnic tables will be added to the Sullivan Grove area, which will become a trail head where the Downill path, Corbly Trail and the the unnamed trail connect, Storrow said.

Stone stairways will be built to connect Corbly Trail, which circles the outlook, to the Downill path.

The new outlook will be a 26-by-32-foot elliptical with two levels. Visitors can stand at a low stone wall on the top level, or walk to the bottom to sit on stone blocks.

Rain gardens will be placed to one side of the overlook to catch water so that the newly stabilized hill does not erode again, Storrow said.

Lyndon resident Julie Brill said she visited the overlook as a child and is excited to see it renovated. She thinks officials have done necessary studies to come up with the best plan and appreciates their decision to cut traffic off from the viewpoint.

“I just want it to be done right so it will last forever,” she said.

Reporter Bailey Loosemore can be reached at (502) 582-4646. Follow her on Twitter at @bloosemore.

To Donate to the Iroquois Overlook Restoration Project

Call the Olmsted Parks Conservancy at (502) 456-8125 or go to www.olmstedparks.org and designate a donation.