Kestler
City officials have allocated about $9.5 million to the NexusPark project from various sources, though two council members are concerned about the cost of the project and its funding mechanisms.
Columbus City Council voted Tuesday to approve a resolution authorizing the Columbus Redevelopment Commission to grant up to $6.5 million from the Central Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District to the Midtown TIF. The grant will be used to fund work on NexusPark’s exterior campus, city officials said.
The council also approved the second reading of an ordinance appropriating more than $3 million from various city funds for expenses related to NexusPark.
Both votes were 5-2, with council members Elaine Hilber, D-District 2, and Grace Kestler, D-at large, voting against.
The decision around the TIF funds, in particular, sparked much discussion from city council members, as well as questions from some candidates running for city council who attended the meeting.
Kestler, who is the council’s liaison to the redevelopment commission, also expressed concerns at a commission meeting last week.
“I’ve been in support of Nexus,” she said. “I think it’s obviously a great project. I feel like there’s, maybe the community at wide didn’t recognize — and maybe I didn’t even recognize — how much funding would be flowed there.”
She also questioned whether certain aspects of the project need to be implemented right away.
According to a resolution from the redevelopment commission, the grant will be issued over two years, 2023 and 2024. The funding is for “the implementation of the formal design for the exterior of the 35-acre campus infrastructure, including but not limited to roads, trail curbs, gutters, a park site, utilities and landscaping.”
The commission initially approved the grant at its May 31 meeting, but since the expense exceeds $500,000, city council approval was also required.
In March of 2022, the commission engaged design firm MKSK to create a master plan for NexusPark’s exterior campus and provided a grant of $450,000 to cover the cost.
City Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon said that the city and Columbus Regional Hospital have worked with MKSK over the past year to develop a design for items such as parking lots, a loop road, site utilities, hardscape, landscaping, structures, flagpoles, gates, canopies and an approximately 2-acre park.
The total cost of implementing MKSK’s master plan for the external campus is estimated at about $8 million, said Ferdon. Other aspects of the project include lighting, restrooms, cameras, security and an approximately one-mile trail with green space.
The city will do a lot of the demolition itself to save money, she said. Additionally, CRH will pay for an an area of the plan identified as “Lot 4,” since they need this portion to be done quickly.
“We’ll be using $500,000 from the thoroughfare fund in 2024, which can be used for part of the trails,” said Ferdon. “CRH will be funding their drop-off area, and then we’ve started on the donation piece and hopefully we’ll be able to raise more through donations. So no, $6.5 million will not fund this entire property, but it will allow us to get moving forward.”
She added that the city will continue to look for savings on the campus project and, if necessary, will make decisions about which items to prioritize.
Redevelopment commission president Al Roszczyk told the council that the commission might also be willing to consider further funding for the project, though he added that he couldn’t speak for all of group’s members.
Commission member Kyle Hendricks, for instance, has questioned whether a grant of TIF funds is the best way to fund the piece.
In addition to the grant from redevelopment, the council also approved an ordinance that appropriates $260,000 from the NexusPark fieldhouse fund, $750,000 from the Parks and Recreation General Fund and $2,036,500 from the city’s general fund.
The appropriation from the fieldhouse fund is to cover staffing costs for the fieldhouse, and the appropriation from the parks general fund is for purchasing furniture, fixtures and equipment for NexusPark.
“As we envisioned NexusPark, we went to parks and said, ‘You’re going to have to come up with some amount of money to help cover the FF&E or the turf, whatever,’” Ferdon said at a previous meeting. “And it’s just going to go in a big pot. We can call it FF&E, but it’s going in a big pot.”
Most of the discussion on this ordinance has centered on the approximately $2 million appropriation from the city’s general fund.
“This is for our pledges that the Parks Foundation has received over the next seven years for the NexusPark project,” Parks Associate Director of Business Services Pam Harrell said at a previous meeting. “We want to be able to do the construction while we have a construction staff on hand, but these pledges are going all the way out to 2028 and 2029 to get reimbursed.”
She added that the parks foundation will pay back the city each January with pledges received during the prior year.
Hilber expressed concern about using tax dollars to cover the expected pledge funds.
“I understand that the pledges have been signed,” she said. “But if someone where to move or lose their job or pass away, is there a legal obligation to pay?” Harrell replied that there is not.
