A Virginia boy, Scott Martin loves the outdoors – hiking, whitewater kayaking, camping. So it was no accident that he found a way to make being outside and developing world class parks his career.
But moving to Kentucky wasn’t perhaps so obvious a choice for Martin, who came here in 2010 to be the Park Director for The Parklands of Floyds Fork.
Martin felt the call of the mountains like many young outdoorsy-types. So, he ventured out west to the mountains to study at Boise State University. He got two degrees from the university, spending summers as a park ranger in the National Parks system before graduating and eventually working for the Boise Parks and Recreation Department.
He was lured back to his native Virginia to work on the leadership team overseeing economic development, parks and recreation, tourism, and open space conservation programs in Franklin County. After eight years back in Virginia, Martin was asked to come to Louisville for a job interview.
Instead of a standard expensive wooing dinner to convince him of the merits of moving to Louisville, Martin and his wife, Jennifer, were treated to $3 cheeseburgers at Cunningham’s along Harrods Creek.
“That was the cincher for us,” Martin said.
Turning 4,000 Acres into a World-Class Park
Martin said he liked the idea of working on one of the largest new urban park systems in the nation. He was attracted to the challenge of taking nearly 4,000 acres and turning it into a world-class park.
And while “in the parks world, (Louisville) is not as sexy,” Martin says he knew he was moving to a place that understands the value of parks because of its history with famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
“Louisville is one of the only places in the country where you can drop Olmsted’s name and people will know what you are talking about,” he says.
“He Can Really See the Future of Parks”
Beth Doughty, Executive Director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, who worked with Martin in Virginia, says Martin is the perfect fit for the Parklands project because of his energy and intelligence.
“He’s on the cutting edge,” Doughty says. “He can really see the future of parks. It’s the correct sandbox for someone to be in who is so forward thinking.”
Doughty says ideas that Martin brought to the table in Virginia really shaped the way that community thought about parks as it relates to both economic development and lifestyle enhancement. People still reference things that Martin started in the work being done there now, she says.
But beyond the vision for how parks can shape a city, Doughty says Martin also brings the dedication needed to get the job done.
“He’s a visionary who combines it with the hard work,” she says. “He’s got a lot of energy.”
An Entrepreneurial Attitude
John Freemuth, an environmental policy professor at Boise State, noticed Martin’s energy right away. Whatever Martin got involved with, whether it was a project or his track and field pursuits, he was passionate about it.
“He was always excitable, never a down moment,” Freemuth says. “His personality is that way.”
And that has served Martin well, says his former professor who Martin describes as a mentor. “You need an entrepreneurial attitude” for a project like the Parklands, Freemuth says.
Perks of the Job
Meeting Martin, it doesn’t take long for it to become completely clear how much he loves his job.
“It’s the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on,” he says. And when things get tough or stressful, he said “I just go take a walk in the park.” That’s a perk of the job he said he appreciates a lot.
Developing a park via a private, non-profit corporation is at times a daunting task. All five sections of the Parklands will be substantially complete by this Spring, Martin says. But that will in no way be the end of Martin’s work or challenge.
While he’s enjoyed the development of the park, “what gets really exciting is when it’s built,” he says. “It never stops. It’s one thing to build a great park, we have to build the culture of support. Will the community step up and sustain a world-class park?”
Martin praises the team he works with at The Parklands, saying they are some of the brightest and most dedicated people he’s ever worked with. And that keeps the job challenging as well, because everyone pushes each other to be better, he says.
A Meaningful Outdoor Experience
Part of Martin’s goal for Louisville is that when residents recap their weekend activities, more and more they will include adventures outside, at The Parklands, instead of recounting what restaurant they visited or shopping excursion they took. “It’ll be a generational shift,” he says.
Each day, Martin says he has five goals for the park, that it’s safe, clean, beautiful, efficient and fun. If those things can be achieved, he says, visitors will come, enjoy the experience and come back.
One of the things Martin loves about The Parklands is how much it has to offer, all within a 20-minute drive from downtown Louisville. The park has trails, as well as paved running and bike paths. There are spray grounds and playgrounds. There are opportunities for kayak and canoe trips. A visitor’s center offers educational exhibits. There are some very woodsy and remote sections of the park to explore.
In order to get a meaningful outdoor experience, “you don’t have to think about going somewhere far away, you can do it 20 minutes away,” he says. “We are an urban park. It’s where people meet each other. I’m just lucky to be here.”
