Explanation
1. BACKGROUND
This legislation authorizes the Director of Public Service to refund the unused portion of deposits made by the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) for the acquisition of right-of-way for the Roadway Improvements - COTA Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.
The BRT is a 15.6-mile high capacity transit project comprised of a combination of BRT services operating in mixed traffic primarily along Cleveland Avenue between downtown Columbus and SR-161, with enhanced bus service continuing north to Polaris Parkway and Africa Road, connecting commuters with various land uses along the corridor through the City of Columbus, Clinton Township, and the Village of Minerva Park in Franklin County, terminating in the City of Westerville in Delaware County. The BRT line will utilize an operational strategy that facilitates the movement of in-service transit vehicles through traffic-signal controlled intersections known as the Traffic Signal Priority (TSP) System, which endeavors to reduce transit vehicle travel times and transit schedule variability while minimizing the impact to conventional traffic using the same road network.
Pursuant to Ordinance 0567-2015 and Ordinance 2967-2016, the Director of Public Service and COTA entered into right-of-way acquisition agreements whereby COTA made deposits totaling $550,000.00 for the acquisition of various property rights attributable to the BRT project. The ordinance also provided for the refund of any portion of the deposits not used for the project right-of-way acquisition after final accounting was performed.
Final accounting determined $521,815.38 was spent on BRT right-of-way acquisition, requiring a refund to COTA of $28,184.62. During final accounting it was discovered payments for right-of-way on another COTA project were charged to the BRT project. This has resulted in a shortage of $7,334.96 in the BRT right-of-way account, which must be corrected to fully refund the money owed to COTA. ...
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