City officials on Monday amended an agreement with the lead consultant on the city’s new downtown strategic plan to pay for additional work.
The Columbus Redevelopment Commission amended an agreement with urban planning and design firm Sasaki to pay for $25,000 of out-of-scope work they already did on the Columbus Downtown 2030 plan, which they helped unveil last month.
Sasaki worked with city officials, community members and subconsultants SB Friedman and Storyboard over the past nine-plus months in the plan’s inception.
Sasaki and the two other consultants were officially enlisted during the redevelopment commission meeting in October 2024 for an amount not to exceed $464,820.
The out-of-scope work included an additional visit to Columbus in July to present the plan and extra research. It also reflects how the project schedule was extended from eight to ten months.
The following is a price breakdown of the additional work:
- July site visit (labor and expenses): $12,500
- Expanded research and coordination: $7,500
- Extended project timeline (about 8 weeks): $5,000
Three different implementation teams are currently in the process of determining high-level priorities within the plan recommendations by December and will spend the following months making them happen
City officials said that they plan to provide an update on the work of the implementation teams in October. Updates on the plan are available at downtowncolumbus2030.com.
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.
Top desired uses for downtown activation, according to community feedback, included more restaurants, entertainment venues, an expanded farmer’s market, splash pad and a downtown grocery store.
Sasaki’s Chris Freda said this week that the final report should be out by early next month.
The primary objective of Columbus Downtown 2030 is to identify the best use of more than 20 individual parcels identified as critical, made up of several owned by the Columbus Redevelopment Commission, some owned by the Columbus Capital Foundation, current project areas including the riverfront and downtown entrance plaza and parcels identified as future project opportunities including the Irwin Block Building site.
The downtown plan sets forth a vision that can be actionable within a timeline of the immediate term (one to two years) to mid-term (five-10 years) to long-term (10-plus years), informed by community feedback, city officials have said. It will look for ways to revitalize and activate the city’s downtown, while accounting for a changed climate in the area after the pandemic.
Sasaki and company talked through key elements for the framework of the downtown plan when they unveiled it last month, including embracing urban infill with an emphasis on housing, focus on three different corridors downtown and developing stronger connections directing people to Mill Race Park.
