Monroeville City Council, along with the New Allen Alliance (NAA), announced their grant starting the process of re-building the Monroeville Community Park by starting the Strategic Plan by the Alliance. The groundbreaking took place on Monday, March 25 at the community park.
The New Allen Alliance is a partnership of communities in the Allen County area, generally on the outskirts of I-469. From the website: Currently, the Hoagland, Monroeville, New Haven, Woodburn, Grabill, and Leo-Cedarville communities are active in the Alliance. NewAllen Alliance communities are diverse in their histories and character, ranging from urban to Amish. While their needs and priorities differ, there have been longstanding areas of common interest including the vitality of East Allen County Schools, Allen County governance structure, and regional economic development activities. These areas have served to unify NewAllen Alliance communities and sustain the organization over its 23 year history.
At the groundbreaking for the Park, Don Gerardot, President of the Monroeville Town Council, spoke first announcing that Monroeville was the first of the communities to break ground in the grant that was received for all the various communities. This grant was for the 5-year Master Plan that was prepared by the NAA in 2017.
Gerardot thanked the Allen County Commissioners and the New Allen Alliance for working with the community of Monroeville to improve its Quality of Life.
The new park will feature ADA compliance, 1/2 mile asphalt track, Splash pad, 2 new ADA playgrounds, restrooms, and a fishing pier. It will also feature major upgrades to the drainage system to keep the rain water from pooling in the park during and after heavy rains.
Nelson Peters of the Allen County Commissioners spoke of the grant writing and how it took “an army” of partnerships with all of the collaborations required between the New Allen Alliance & the town councils.
Patty Hayes with the AWS Foundation congratulated Monroeville for the foresight to integrate everyone even if they have disabilities. The integral part of development takes care of the children now and in the future.
The need for new and improved parks showed interest with 85 people showing up for the first meeting mentioned by Kent Castleman, NAA president. “This is what makes communities happen!” stated Kent. It took 3.5 to 4 years of planning to make this possible and this was the first project in Allen County with many to follow!
The project should be completed by July or August.
