MKSK listens to public input on mall project

People arrive during the first public input session for the future of FairOaks Mall, Donner Park and surrounding areas, Thursday, July 11, 2019 Carla Clark | For The Republic

Local residents crowded into the FairOaks Mall Thursday to give their input on how the nearly vacant property should be redeveloped.

Led by representatives from MKSK and one of its consultants, Perkins+Will, about 220 people heard information about the project and offered feedback to city officials.

About 220 people attended the session and city officials brought in more seating and an industrial-sized fan to accommodate the larger-than-anticipated crowd.

The session featured five interactive stations designed to elicit input from the audience and a 45-minute presentation that covered the overall scope of the project and the approach the firm will take.

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“What we’ve been asked to do is really unique,” said Eric Lucas, principal at MKSK. “Not only is this collaboration between the city and Columbus Regional Hospital unique, but the scope of this project is unique. …We’re building a strategy for this mall. These aren’t final construction documents. We’re also looking at the area around (the mall) and devising a strategy for future land use. We’re looking at how to improve and promote connectivity through trails and sidewalks and other types of facilities to connect (the mall) to other places. We’re looking to optimize the use of Donner Park and Donner Center. We’ll be establishing goals and priorities and policies, and we’ll be making strategic recommendations for how to move the project forward.”

During the presentation, the public could log onto a website via their cellphones and answer a series of open-ended questions that were projected on to a screen.

The questions prompted the audience to give their impressions of FairOaks and Donner Center, as well as their experience walking or biking around the mall site, among other questions. The answers were displayed in a word cloud on the projector, with the most popular answers appearing in larger text.

The public wasn’t shy. When asked what their impression of the FairOaks Mall, the most common answers after 85 people submitted responses were “sad,” “dead,” “empty” and “outdated.” The public also described walking or biking around the mall site as “good,” “dangerous,” “limited,” “poor” and “sufficient.”

The most popular answers for what kinds of uses they would like to see at the FairOaks Mall included “pickelball,” “swimming” and “indoor tennis.”

Additionally, there were five interactive stations for people to provide input. At the FairOaks and Donner Center stations, people were prompted to write down on color-coded sticky notes what they felt were assets, challenges or issues and place them on a map of the two facilities. One note left at the Donner Park station said, “indoor swimming pool for year round use throughout the day.” A note placed on the map of the mall site said, “want to see a buffer of green space here, not a sea of asphalt.”

“There’s no lack of ideas,” said Jeff Bergman, Columbus planning director and member of the FairOaks Development Corp. Design Committee. “I think it reinforces that there’s certainly the desire for those kinds of facilities in the community.”

Uriel Lopez, 25, of Columbus said he came to the public-input session because he lives near the mall and wanted to provide his input.

“Chuck Taylor was born in Columbus. It would be really cool to see that this area gives tribute to who someone contributed so much to basketball shoes,” Lopez said. “That would be one of my ideas. And, you know, it would be nice to have an indoor soccer field or something to do in the winter for young folks in the community.”

Paula Lecher, 38, of Elizabethtown, said she came to the session out of “general curiosity about what they’re planning” and to make a suggestion.

“I wanted to make a suggestion about getting a pool, an indoor pool,” she said. “I’m a physical therapist and I have a daughter with Down syndrome and I’d like to start an aquatics program geared towards children with Down syndrome or other disabilities because a lot of community-based programs move too fast for those kids.”

Andrew Jerman, 51, of Columbus said he attended the session because he was curious about what was going to happen with the mall.

“I think that we definitely need some indoor athletic fields, some turf space,” he said. “I think that we should have an indoor music facility. …We have an incredibly large music venue at Mill Race (Park) that’s never used.”

MKSK and its subconsultants are tasked with working with members of the design committee, community and several other stakeholders to come up with a master plan for what kinds of facilities should be considered for development on the mall site and Donner Center, the character of those facilities and how those facilities will connect with the surrounding areas. This process is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

On May 28, the FairOaks Community Development Corp. Board, an eight-member board that includes Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop and Columbus Regional Health CEO Jim Bickel, unanimously approved a $212,200 contract with MKSK to lead the process of re-purposing the FairOaks Mall into a community wellness, recreation and sports center, as well as exploring new potential uses for the Donner Center and connectivity with the surrounding areas.

According to the terms of the contract, the city will pay 75 percent of the fees associated with the FairOaks Mall site, or $137,498, while CRH will put up the remaining 25 percent, or $45,833.

The city also will pay $28,869 for project fees associated with the Donner Center. CRH will not be contributing funds for fees related to Donner Center.

On June 3, the Columbus Parks Board allocated $183,000 — $166,367 in project fees, plus a contingency of $16,633 — from its cash reserve for the project. The contingency would only be used for unforeseen costs that may arise over the course of the project, city officials said. On June 18, Columbus City Council members approved the Parks Board’s appropriation.

Thursday’s public-input session was the first of four scheduled this year. The next session will be Aug. 13 at the FairOaks Mall, though the specific location inside the mall has not yet been determined.

On Thursday afternoon, the FairOaks Community Development Corp. Design Committee held a two-hour meeting with representatives from MKSK and Perkins+Will at the former J. Nicole Store space inside the FairOaks Mall.

The meeting covered much of what would be presented to the public during the public-input session, as well as similar projects involving the adaptive reuse of malls in other cities that could be used as case studies for potential challenges and opportunities at FairOaks. One potential case study included the One Hundred Oaks Mall in Nashville, Tennessee, where a developer partnered with Vanderbilt University to re-purpose a struggling shopping mall, which now contains a medical center.

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Thursday’s public input session was not the only chance for people to provide input on the project. People also can visit reimaginefairoaksmall.com to comment on the project.

Thursday’s session was the first of four public-input sessions this year. The next session currently is scheduled for Aug. 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the FairOaks Mall. The specific location at the mall has not yet been determined.

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