Explanation
Background: The Economic Development Agreement, entered into on December 23, 1999 between the City of Columbus and the Gateway Area Revitalization Initiative (GARI), a non-profit affiliate of Campus Partners, allowed for reimbursements up to $5 million to GARI for the design and construction of public improvements.
The original $5 million estimate for the Gateway Public Improvements was established in 1999, based upon preliminary engineering, as part of the city's Economic Development Agreement with GARI. Phase I, which included underground roadway and utility improvements, incurred higher costs in four areas; 1) the scope of work was significantly expanded by the City to include the addition of a completely new water distribution system and the total reconstruction of the roadways, 2) the Public Utilities Department provided reimbursement for a portion of these system wide sanitary and storm costs, 3) higher than anticipated costs were incurred to bury the many overhead utilities located in this area, and 4) GARI was required to incur the project inspection fees, not contemplated in the original estimates. The net effect of these items has increased the cost of the Gateway Public Improvements from $5 million (as estimated in 1999) to $7 million.
Phase II of the South Campus Gateway, which consists largely of streetscape improvements to the right-of-way, will begin construction in February 2005. Because the additional project cost has eliminated the funds available for the Phase II improvements, the City finds it necessary to provide for an additional reimbursement to GARI of two million dollars, to fund the cost of all of these public improvements.
The Economic Development Agreement, entered into on December 23, 1999 between the City of Columbus and the Gateway Area Revitalization Initiative must be amended from $5,000,000 to $7,000,000 to allow for this additional payment.
Fiscal Impact:
No funding is required for this legislat...
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