My South Bend Parks & Trails

South Bend has always been a city thriving on vision: vision that transformed the bend of a river into a center for trade, that pushed to be a leader in heavy industry, that sought to operate as a 21st century city and that positioned itself as a hotbed for technol­ogy and innovation.

With every generation comes an opportunity to have a significant impact in crafting the future of our city. For well over a decade now, you’ve dreamed, inspired, planned, and envisioned your South Bend parks and trails.

This holistic overhaul of the South Bend parks system is an opportunity to fundamentally transform our entire city and to access the shared spaces provided by every citizen for every citizen and further them into sources of unity, pride, and economic development. Inspired by the community’s request for an improved parks system, My South Bend Parks & Trails projects were developed by South Bend residents through thousands of pieces of feedback, hundreds of hours of public meetings and dozens of resident engagement sessions.

Park investments include increased park and river­front connectivity, restroom modernization and ADA compliance, additional park security and lighting, new playground equipment and splash pads, renovated recreation centers, irrigated soccer fields, a new ice rink and event space, new nature trails and biodiverse areas, new community centers, riverfront windows, and much more.

“In response to the community’s feedback, this will be the most significant investment ever made in our city’s parks system,” said Mayor Pete Buttigieg, “It will transform the landscape of our city, address shortcom­ings in equity and safety, provide economic and health benefits, and improve ecological standards. The plan will pay particular attention to neighborhood parks and green spaces as anchors of our community.”

In addition to the community forums, neighborhood meetings and focus groups, My South Bend Parks & Trails evolved from the results of the City Plan, Trust for Public Lands’ Park Score, Parks Master Plan, Coal Line Trail Plan, Riverfront Parks and Trail Conceptual Framework and various neighborhood plans.


Entire plan information can be found online at mysbparksandtrails.com, including a full project list, city plans, park study results, project renderings, construction schedules, public meetings, event schedules and more.

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