Columbus City Council members have designated an additional $54,000 for consultant work to be performed by Naperville, Illinois-based Hitchcock Design Group for the city’s Riverfront project to reflect modifications sought by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Hitchcock is designing the Columbus Riverfront project, an $8.6 million conceptual plan calling for several overlooks of the East Fork White River downtown, connections to the People Trail system and an in-water recreation area.
Randy Royer, Hitchcock Design Group, requested the additional funding after the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) required four modifications to the city’s original design, delaying the overall process and incurring extra costs.
The city previously allocated $496,000 for the consultant work last spring, but Royer said each time the city and Hitchcock have met with DNR, new modifications have been suggested, putting them behind on their original schedule.
The additional $54,500 that Royer requested Tuesday at the city council meeting would get Hitchcock through the permitting phase at the end of October.
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
