Explanation
Background: This ordinance authorizes the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to enter into contract with Arcadis to provide professional design services for the Big Walnut Trail - Little Turtle to Cherry Bottom Park, Alum Creek Trail Project. The contract amount is $415,131.75, with a contingency of $28,930.00, for a total of $444,061.75 being authorized by this ordinance.
In June of 2021, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) approved grant funding for the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, awarding federal funds towards construction of a 2.5 mile section of the Big Walnut Greenway on the northeast side of the City. This section will run from the Little Turtle Community to Cherrybottom Park. As part of the grant funding, the Department is obligated to perform the design of the project. The Department solicited requests for proposals and this ordinance authorizes the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to enter into a contract for the necessary preliminary design stage. This stage includes surveying the study corridor as well as conducting an inventory of environmental, cultural, and natural resources. This is also public involvement, an alignment study, permitting, cost estimating; and submittal of a final Preliminary Engineering Report to ODOT as part of this phase. This engineering study and outreach phase is scheduled to last approximately 9 months. Upon approval of the Preliminary Engineering Report, a Stage Two contract modification will be submitted in 2023 for the consultant team to complete the detailed design plans. The project is scheduled to be in construction beginning summer of 2025.
The MORPC grant provides 4.3 million dollars towards building significant trail infrastructure for the communities in the northeast area of the city, including an underpass beneath State Route 161, a direct connection to Blendon Woods Metro Park, a stream crossing to connect Northland area neighborhoods on the ...
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