Explanation
Background: This ordinance authorizes the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to accept a grant from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) and enter into contract with American Structurepoint to provide professional design services for the Olentangy Trail - Northmoor to Clinton Como Project.
The MORPC grant acceptance will be for the amount of $3,458,321.00. This ordinance will accept the grant and authorize the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to enter into a grant agreement with MORPC. The grant funds and local match will be appropriated at a later date, in a separate ordinance, since the development and engineering phase for this project is expected to take approximately 2 years and the grant can be used for future construction only. Part of the grant acceptance requirements are that the Stage 1 plans contract be in place when the grant is accepted. The professional service fees for Stage 1 plans through American Structurepoint are not to exceed $271,252.00 and will come from the Recreation and Parks Voted Bond Fund 7702.
The preliminary development and engineering phase includes alignment study, environmental inventory reports, public and stakeholder engagement, feasibility and permitting analysis, interaction with private owners, and state and local regulations. Preliminary engineering is estimated to be completed in early 2021. At that time, a second piece of legislation will be submitted to appropriate the grant and to modify the engineering contract to perform Final Detailed Plans. The project is set for construction in 2023.
The Olentangy Trail is Central Ohio’s most heavily used greenway trail. Recent trail count data shows over 4 million trail miles per year are traveled on this path. In 2018, Recreation and Parks applied for and received grant funding from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission to construct the final gap of the 14 mile Olentangy Trail, from Northmoor Park to Clinton Como P...
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