Explanation
Background: This ordinance authorizes the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to enter into a grant agreement with the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) for the McNaughten Road Greenspace Protection Project. This ordinance will also authorize the appropriation of the grant and matching funds. The grant amount is $620,120.00 and the local match amount is $224,880.00. There is a total of $845,000.00 available for this project being authorized by this ordinance.
The Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) accepted the Recreation and Parks application for the Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation program. OPWC administers statewide grant funding to preserve natural areas and greenway corridors and this ordinance authorizes an application for 2023 Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Program grant funds. This grant will be used towards the fee simple acquisition of various sites in Columbus, including an eight acre greenspace on McNaughten Road in the City’s Far East Community. In July of 2023, Recreation and Parks applied for Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Funds for property acquisitions for the project, Ordinance 2103-2023.
This project will also acquire two parcels along the McNaughten Road corridor in the Far East Community of Columbus for greenspace preservation and a neighborhood park. The residents along the two and a half mile stretch of McNaughten Road, from East Broad Street to Livingston Avenue, have no parkland or protected natural area. The past three years have seen a substantial number of apartment development projects proposed or built. These parcels are among the last remaining in the entire corridor that are possible for greenspace preservation. This parkland is on the south end of the McNaughten Road Corridor, near East Main Street. In 2019 and 2023, Columbus Recreation and Parks studied the McNaughten Road area as part of a citywide land plan. These neighborhoods rated among the City’s least served for parks and open sp...
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