The Columbus Parking Commission is looking for guidance on the city’s downtown parking situation.
The commission has voted to authorize the next step of Nelson/Nygaard’s parking study, which calls for updated recommendations on downtown parking.
The firm is conducting an update to its 2013 downtown parking study at the request of the parking commission. However, due to the commission’s inability to contract or receive funds, the work is being funded through a $19,470 grant from the Columbus Redevelopment Commission to the Columbus Board of Works, with the latter serving as the contracting entity.
The original study cost almost $85,000 and was also funded by the city’s redevelopment commission.
According to a presentation from Project Manager Tom Brown at the parking commission’s previous meeting, the firm has already completed its project startup and coordination phase, as well as stakeholder engagement. The third and fourth tasks included in Nelson/Nygaard’s scope of work call for the firm to provide updated recommendations and “meter procurement guidance.”
“These two tasks are really where I think most of the work in the contract lies,” said City Engineer and Executive Director of Public Works Dave Hayward. “And it’s where things will get interesting.”
He said city officials plan to move forward one step at a time, getting the recommendations first and moving onto meter procurement later if they decide that’s the right thing to do.
City officials have said in the past that they could decide at the end of each phase if they were ready to move forward to the next. If, at any time, the officials decided not to continue, the remaining funds for the project would return to the redevelopment commission.
Hayward said that the authorization of the updated recommendations phase was subject to redevelopment commission funding, which has already been approved for the entire study.
He is scheduled to give a “Downtown Parking Commission Update” at redevelopment’s 4 p.m. meeting on Monday. The presentation is listed simply as a discussion item on the agenda.
The city engineer said it is his understanding that redevelopment doesn’t feel the need to sign off on authorizing the next step but merely wants to be updated as the study moves forward. However, the parking commission will likely wait until after Monday’s meeting to contact Nelson/Nygaard about moving forward with the next step.
