COLUMBUS, Ind. — Results from Columbus’ new downtown strategic plan were unveiled Monday night before a large crowd at city hall.
Now, the idea is to begin work on the implementation of some of the recommendations as determined by three community teams over the next couple of months.
Consultants enlisted for Columbus Downtown 2030 discussed recent findings from two recent community engagement activities before providing a sampling of their recommendations for the future of Columbus’ downtown.
The presentation is available on the city’s website. The slide presentation and executive summary of the findings are also available on the Columbus Redevelopment Commission’s website and via the city’s social media pages.
The final recommendations in report form will be available by September at the latest, according urban planning and design firm Sasaki, who partnered with subconsultants SB Friedman and Storyboard over the past eight months in the plan’s inception.
The plan itself is more than 100 pages and includes more than 50 recommendations that also come with ideas for funding sources and suggested policy changes to local code, zoning, urban design or public realm guidelines.
City officials said the utility of the plan is somewhat similar to that of the recent housing study in that it will serve as a road map and means of attracting potential developers, while providing a sense of what the community is seeking.
The three consultants, along with their city counterparts, have held a number of pop-up events, surveys and community input sessions to get feedback from the community over the past several months, with attendees totaling 500-plus and survey responses in the 3,600-person range.
Top desired uses for downtown activation, according to community feedback, included more restaurants, entertainment venues, an expanded farmer’s market, splash pad, and as always, a downtown grocery store.
Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon talked about how the recommendations will be prioritized and put into action with the help of three separate implementation teams, each focusing on real estate and economic development, public realm and infrastructure, as well as programming and activation.
The mayor said the work of the implementation teams will play out over the next several months, and involve looking at all of the recommendations that fall within their particular pathway and determining which ones make the most sense.
“By December, we want to have some really high-level priorities that inform the work of these three teams, and then talk those teams into working through at least the next August seeing them through,” the mayor told The Republic.
For the complete story and more photos, see Wednesday’s Republic.
