County planner asks: What are your thoughts on the Annex building's future?

In recent weeks, Don Lopp, the Director of Operations and County Planning in Floyd County, has twice joined the blog discussion about the future of Community Park and the North Annex.

July 31: Community Park, North Annex, development and the fog of political obfuscation.

July 15: "Is Floyd County seeking to develop up to 18 acres of Community Park?"
NAC appreciates his willingness to participate, and so I'm moving his most recent posting to the marquee in hopes of continuing the chat. First, I wrote this:

The Annex occupies a very small part of up to 18 acres. The very best idea for these acres is the only one I'm not hearing: Keep them green ... and that's a direct result of the Philistine proclivities of the dudes who sign Don's check.

Don's response:

I appreciate the forum and the response regarding the alternative of keeping the frontage entirely green. I would like to continue the dialogue if I could by asking your thoughts on the annex building. Thanks for the discussion.

Readers, what are your thoughts on the Annex building, and by extension, the topics considered in the ongoing Community Park thread?

Great news about a great woods: The Dr. Sherman A. Minton, Jr. Nature Preserve.

Save a pre-meeting article by Lesley Stedman Weidenbener I haven't seen much ink devoted to it, but the Indiana Natural Resources Commission voted at their May gathering to dedicate approximately 1,300 acres just west of New Albany as the Dr. Sherman A. Minton, Jr. Nature Preserve.

The land is "generally north of Blunk Knob Road, west of Budd Road and east of Ind. 11" and described by the Department of Natural Resources as “a dramatically dissected complex of steep forested hills and mesic ravines" that serves as home to several endangered species including bobcats, gray bats, and various types of warblers. A drive up Blunk Knob Road, which shoots straight uphill from the point at which Budd Road and Five Mile Lane converge, proved the description apt and has me eager for further exploration.

In an email response, Lee Casebere of the Division of Nature Preserves said, "The DNR has owned this property in Floyd County for several years. The recent action by the Natural Resource Commission was to designate it as a 'dedicated' nature preserve. That action establishes a permanent, restrictive easement on the land so that it may be used for no other purpose except as a nature preserve on into the future. Dr. Minton was a well-known herpetologist, and the property has a diverse representation of reptiles and amphibians. Naming the site for him was 'a natural' since he grew up in New Albany."

"The property is open to the public, but there are no parking areas or trails, therefore access is not good. We hope to provide better access in the future, but it could be quite some time before that happens."

With such a tremendous, seemingly pristine resource to the near west and the Loop Island Wetlands on our eastern border, we're reminded that adaptive reuse of the urban core is about much more than the spaces bounded by concrete and bricks.