Explanation
To authorize the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to sign a sponsorship agreement with the City of Akron to implement a stream restoration project funded by the Ohio EPA. The project will occur on CRPD parklands along West Broad Street, on the city’s far west side, along the Clover Groff Ditch. All of the project funding will come from the Water Resource Restoration Sponsorship Program, which has funded two prior stream restoration projects on this same watercourse.
Background: Clover Groff Ditch is one of the Big Darby’s most polluted tributaries. The final design and permitting process will be complete this year with construction of stream improvements to happen in 2016. The impact of the restoration will be improved ecological conditions and water quality throughout the Big Darby watershed, a nationally recognized scenic river. The Department of Recreation and Parks secured $1.7 million in Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Water Resource Restoration Sponsorship funds to pay for design and construction of the project.
This is the third phase of improvements to Clover Groff and covers approximately 2/3 mile. Once complete, the three phases of improvement will have restored over forty percent of Glover Groff Run.
Fiscal Impact: All of the project funding will come from the Water Resource Restoration Sponsorship Program.
Emergency Justification: An emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Recreation and Parks Department in that it is immediately necessary to sign a sponsorship agreement in order to close on the property by the end of the year to meet grant requirements for the preservation of public health, peace, property and safety.
Title
To authorize the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to sign a sponsorship agreement with the City of Akron to implement a stream restoration project funded by the Ohio EPA; and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, it is necessary to authorize the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to sign a sponsorship agreement with the City of Akron to implement a stream restoration project funded by the Ohio EPA; and
WHEREAS, it is necessary that the project funding come from the Water Resource Restoration Sponsorship Program; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Recreation and Parks Department in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director to sign a sponsorship agreement in order to close on the property by the end of the year to meet grant requirements for the preservation of public health, peace, property and safety; now, therefore
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department be and is hereby authorized and directed to sign a sponsorship agreement with the City of Akron to implement a stream restoration project funded by the Ohio EPA.
SECTION 2. That the project funding will come from the Water Resource Restoration Sponsorship Program, which has funded two prior stream restoration projects on this same watercourse.
SECTION 3. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.