Explanation
Background: The Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization Program has planned to construct streetscape improvements on North High Street from Smith Place to 11th Avenue as the completion of improvements to the Short North NCR district. The project was put on hold in 1999 until plans for the South Campus Gateway were finalized as they would address improvements from 9th to 11th Avenue.
Phase I of the Gateway construction, which primarily included underground roadway and underground utility improvements, has been completed. Phase II, which consists largely of streetscape improvements to the right-of-way, will begin construction early in 2005. The NCR program had set aside $1 million of capital funds for improvements on High Street from 9th to 11th Avenues. These funds are to be transferred to the Gateway Area Revitalization Initiative (GARI) to defray the design and construction costs of streetscape enhancements associated with the Gateway Area Public Improvements between 9th and 11th Avenues.
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, a non-profit affiliate of Campus Partners. Once final engineering was complete, the scope of work had been significantly expanded by the City to include the addition of a completely new water distribution system and the total reconstruction of the roadways. The Public Utilities Department provided for partial reimbursement of these system-wide sanitary and storm costs. Higher than anticipated costs were also incurred to bury the many overhead utilities located in this area, and GARI was also required to incur the significant 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. Because the additional proj...
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