HENDRICKS COUNTY

Brownsburg pursues Community Parks Initiative planning grant for Lincolnwood Park

Brownsburg has been invited to apply for a noncompetitive planning grant from the Lilly Endowment–backed Community Parks Initiative to plan improvements at Lincolnwood Park. Applications are due Oct. 30; town staff will seek council authorization to submit the application on Oct. 22, Current Publishing reported.

BUSINESSINDY BRIEFBy BusinessIndy Editorial StaffCommentsPublished October 6, 2026 at 11:47 AM EDT

AI-generated illustration of the topic: Brownsburg pursues Community Parks Initiative planning grant for Lincolnwood Park — AI illustration · Not a photograph of the reported event.

Current Publishing reports that Brownsburg has been invited to participate in the Community Parks Initiative, a two‑phase program backed by nearly $400 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. Town staff identified Lincolnwood Park as a potential project and the council authorized Amber Lane to assemble a cross‑departmental team to develop an application for the initiative’s first-phase planning grant.

Based on Brownsburg’s population, the town could receive up to $150,000 in a noncompetitive planning grant with no local match required. Applications for that planning grant are due 2026-10-30; Amber Lane plans to return to the council at its 2026-10-22 meeting to request formal authorization to submit the application and obtain required signatures. The planning grant could fund engagement, consulting, studies, preliminary design, cost estimates and long‑term maintenance planning.

WHY IT MATTERS

The Community Parks Initiative uses a two‑phase model: a noncompetitive planning grant phase followed by a competitive implementation phase. The planning grant is meant to pay for the preparatory work towns need to make a clearer, fundable improvement proposal—things like public engagement, feasibility and environmental studies, preliminary engineering and maintenance planning. Those preparatory steps can make a project eligible to apply for larger implementation grants later.

For Brownsburg, winning a planning grant would not itself fund construction. However, the article says communities that receive a planning grant can later apply for implementation grants, and Brownsburg could be eligible for up to $6 million in that second phase, with implementation applications expected in August 2027. Practical next items to watch are the council vote planned for 2026-10-22 and the planning‑grant application deadline of 2026-10-30, which will determine whether Brownsburg submits for the initial funds that would enable a later implementation bid.

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