By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington has presented a plan to revamp its park system for the next 15 years.

The plan includes expanding parts of Ewing Park off Towanda Avenue into a larger, central park-concept. Interim city manager Steve Rasmussen told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin he doesn’t believe such an expansion would take visitors away from other parks in the community.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Rasmussem on WJBC.

“We are not detracting from one park, we are providing a facility so more people would use it,” Rasmussen said. “There maybe people that would go as far as Ewing Park to use the park, but they wouldn’t go as far as Miller Park.”

Rasmussen said the plan is only a guide and nothing happens without funding.

“There are big things in there that aren’t budgeted,” Rasmussen declared. ” The real issue is how do you find the money to do those things.”

Rasmussen added replacing the aging O’Neil Pool is a high-priced priority that will need to be addressed at some point.

“That’s probably our number one park issue and that’s a $10 million issue for which we don’t have any money,” Rasmueen said.

The city’s last master plan is 21 years old.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].