The city is keeping its promise to improve conditions for people renting downtown parking spaces in a city lot at Sixth and Franklin streets.
Columbus Board of Works approved hiring a design firm to come up with a plan to improve what is known as Lot 10, one of two lots designated to be improved after the city increased rental rates for the parking spaces in 2015.
The other one, Lot 3 at Fourth and Franklin Streets, received improvements including resurfacing and drainage repairs in 2015, said Mary Ferdon, Columbus executive director of administration and community development.
The Columbus City Council had appropriated $275,000 for design work and resurfacing several of the city’s lots, including Lots 3 and 10, and is now moving ahead with Lot 10, she said.
Hitchcock Design Services has been chosen to do the design work at a cost not to exceed $18,400, Ferdon said. Funding is being taken from the 2017 Streetscape budget, part of the city’s overall budget.
In May 2015, council members approved using city general fund money to hire the city’s own garage workers to do the work, eliminating the need for proposals or bids, according to the city’s Parking Implementation Committee.
The city began receiving complaints about its downtown lots in early 2015 after customer rates were raised from $35 to $65 monthly for a parking place.
Some people who rented spaces in the lots complained of poor lighting and landscaping, potholes, lack of snow removal and an excess of bird droppings, said Councilman Dascal Bunch, who chairs the parking committee, in an earlier interview.
The city hopes to repair the paving, curbs and concrete bollards on Lot 10 and alleviate drainage issues, along with revisiting landscaping complaints.
Because of the trees which surround the lot, some of the lights have lost their effectiveness because they are hidden within the foliage, city officials said.
Ferdon said because the money was not used in 2015 for Lot 10, the city will likely have to have an additional appropriation to pay for the parking lot improvements after the design is completed.
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Hitchcock Design Services will complete a design concept for Parking Lot 10 to improve the pavement, curbs, concrete bollards, drainage issues and landscape.
After the design is submitted, a request for an additional appropriation to pay for the renovation work will be submitted to the Columbus City Council, city officials said.
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