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Reader question: When will Moody Park be redeveloped?

"Park masterplans are helpful because, when funding becomes available, you need to know what you’re doing. But having a masterplan is only the first step."
Reader question: When will Moody Park be redeveloped?
A masterplan for Moody Park developed by Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation in partnership with West Central neighborhood.

A reader recently reached out to us with a question about why planned improvements to Moody Park aren’t happening, despite citizen effort and a $50,000 investment from the West Central neighborhood.

“For years and years, West Central has been trying to get upgrades done to Moody Park. We have had planning meetings out the wazoo. Design, all that. Bathrooms, water fountain, pickleball courts, a soccer field to be used by all, but specifically for the many K-8 schools in the Downtown area, where they all have to go out to Kreager Park for a JV 5th grade middle school game, and they could just play in Moody Park…. (A few years ago), we were pushing HARD and took the entire proceeds of the West Central (Home & Garden) Tour and added more to it to put aside $50K, as that is what the city said it would take.” And yet, they said: nothing has materialized. “It is disheartening to have nothing after … significant citizen effort, where we are paying for a significant amount of it.”

We reached out to Parks Director Steve McDaniel to learn more about the status of the Moody Park project and how the process works for neighborhoods to get improvements at parks they care about.


Tell us more about the planned improvements to Moody Park and how the Parks Department began working with the West Central neighborhood?

SM: Over the course of about two-and-a-half years, we worked with West Central neighborhood on a new master plan for Moody Park. It’s not uncommon that, over the course of several years and decades, a park isn’t meeting the needs of the neighborhood like it once did. Neighborhoods and needs change, so West Central reached out to us, wanting to talk to us about improving Moody Park, and we went through a masterplan process with them, where we set up guiding principles based on what the neighborhood brought to us, held an advisory group, and received a lot of public input to shape the nuts and bolts of the masterplan. 

There were 11 things that came out of that process that West Central wanted to see in Moody Park, and you can see those items listed on the rendering to the right.

We like working with neighborhoods on park masterplans because we want to make sure what we put into parks is functional for them, aesthetically pleasing and useful. One of the things we often see is, when we have investment from the neighborhood, it ends up being a positive for us, too, because once we make improvements, they’re there, using the space well and keeping an eye on it. 

Why hasn’t the masterplan for Moody Park been implemented yet?

SM: We are still in the fundraising stage. The masterplan for Moody Park was complete early 2023, and the cost estimate came in at a little over $2 million, so $50,000 only covered a portion, and trying to find funding for a project of this magnitude is not easy. Moody Park was one of five or six neighborhood parks we’ve done masterplans for. The first two, Brewer Park and Packard Park, were able to be funded this year when the city received additional funds through ARPA dollars. But we didn’t have enough funding to implement all of the masterplans we have on hand. When we met with the advisory group for Moody Park and others, we were upfront about that fact that: At this point, we don’t have additional funding, but without a masterplan, we can’t put numbers to the project to figure out what that funding would even need to be. 

So park masterplans are helpful because, when funding becomes available, you need to know what you’re doing. But having a masterplan is only the first step; you need to fundraise after that. We are very appreciative of the West Central neighborhood and their drive for wanting to make these improvements. It’s just a matter of trying to figure that into maintaining the other 88 parks we have in Fort Wayne and all the other elements of Parks & Recreation. 

What other parks have masterplans are ready to go when funding becomes available? 

SM: Right now, we’ve got masterplans for Moody Park, Hanna Homestead Park, and we are working on one for Reservoir Park. We’ve got a couple of other neighborhoods that are interested in looking at a park masterplan, too, but we haven’t taken that next step in diving into it yet because we have others ready to go, and as we start having additional funding, we want to focus on getting those done. 

Last year, the city received a more than $20 million tax surplus from the state, allowing the mayor and City Council to invest about $2 million in 10 parks, with $1.66 million specifically to upgrade playgrounds, which reached completion in July. How does the city prioritize funding for parks?

SM: When the administration or the city has additional funds come to them, the administration is really good about reaching out to all the departments and asking: What are your needs? The last time it happened, I give them a list a page-and-a-half long of all the things we’d like to see in Parks, so it’s a matter of going through that list and prioritizing. I have a feeling the administration wanted to spread that funding around the city, and by renovating multiple playgrounds, they’re able to hit across the city as opposed to just doing one neighborhood park masterplan. But I don’t think it’s because they don’t see the value in Moody Park or others. By having this masterplan, if the city were to get a large sum of funds, this gives us a step up in saying: We’re ready to go with Moody Park.  

The city is currently in its budgeting process for 2025. Is there funding for Parks you see coming down the pipeline to help complete Moody Park and other park masterplans? 

SM: Not so much for 2025, but we’ve worked out a longer-term plan to fund some of these neighborhood parks through our annual parks budget. As the city laid out their budget this fall, they did a five-year plan, and in years 2026-2029, they’ve increased our budget for Parks & Recreation by funding our capital funds from a different source (local income taxes instead of local property taxes). They couldn’t do it for 2025, but our hope is: that future increase in our capital funds in 2026 and beyond will go toward phasing in some of these neighborhood park masterplans.

Keep in mind that: over the course of this month, we still have to present our Parks budget and other city budgets to City Council, and talk through whatever proposed cuts council might have. (Council can’t add to our budget at this point; They can only cut.) But it’s been my experience that City Council is very supportive of our parks system.

If citizens want to raise money for park improvements on their own, how can they go about doing that?

SM: We would like to work with any group that wants to raise money for Moody Park or other parks. I would hate for them to start a GoFundMe campaign without telling us about it. We are open to a discussion, knowing that, as a government agency, there are limits to what we can and can’t do. But please, reach out to us before you start fundraising. Neighborhoods, like West Central, are very passionate, and we just want to ensure their passion is going in a productive direction. If citizens have questions or want to contact us, they can reach out on our Parks website at fortwayneparks.org.