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Columbus is undergoing some major changes, especially Downtown. On it’s way to being the next metropolis, city and state organizations are working hard to create some unique and useful changes to downtown. Check out some of the ideas that may place Columbus higher in the ranks of an “A” list city.

VIA COLUMBUS UNDERGROUND

The second public meeting for the 2010 Downtown Columbus Strategic Plan took place this evening, and the presentation focused on 12 ideas proposed as possible catalytic projects that could reshape our Downtown over the next decade. Those ideas ranged from alternative transit implementation to river dam removal to the development of a new sports field house.

The public meeting was kicked off by City Councilmember Andrew Ginther and led by Keith Myers from MSI Design. “Sometimes Columbus suffers from too much Midwest Modesty,” said Myers shortly after taking the podium. “We need to check that tonight and instead be inspirational.”

Myers went on to outline the 10 Principles that were used to lead the process in assembling ideas out of the hundreds of pieces of input gathered from the first public meeting as well as online over the past month:

  • Connect Uses, Districts and People
  • Maintain Downtown’s Status as the Employment Center of the Region
  • Embrace Transit as a Competitive Advantage
  • Control Building Form, Design and the Quality of the Public Realm
  • Increase the Amount and Variety of Downtown Housing
  • Continue to Develop Signature Parks and Public Spaces
  • Invest in Arts and Culture
  • Prioritize Sustainability and the Greening of Downtown Columbus
  • Continue Collaboration Between the Public and Private Sectors
  • Celebrate the Urban Experience that only Exists Downtown

After those principles were laid out, the 12 individual projects were explained in detail with the assistance of maps, renderings and similar projects in other cities.

1. “The Southeast Gateway“- With the reconfiguration of the 70/71 Split and the new jobs and development emerging at Children’s Hospital and Grant Hospital, two new Gateways between Downtown and the Schumacher Place area could serve to connect the southeastern end of Downtown at Parsons Avenue and at Grant Avenue. A new mixed-use neighborhood featuring office, residential and retail would emerge bounded loosely by Main, Grant and 70/71.

2. “Topiary Park Infill” – The parking lots bordering Topiary Park to the north and east have been targeted as a location to consolidate parking into a garage that could accommodate daytime office traffic as well as nighttime residential traffic that would be densely developed atop the garages.

3. “The Creative Campus” – Using the new Columbus Museum of Art expansion as leverage, create a development plan that would consolidate neighborhood parking for the CMA, CCAD, the Jefferson Center and other neighborhood uses to fill in surrounding parking lots with infill residential and retail development. Similar parking garage consolidation was mentioned for lots at Columbus State between Spring & Long that would include additional mixed use development in front or on top of the garages.

4. “Broad Street” – (Rendering Below) Taking a cue from historic photos of Broad Street, this thoroughfare would undergo a “road diet” and shrink from eight travel lanes to five and would receive a dual-median streetscaping similar to it’s original historic layout. The new tree-lined travel areas would be intended for bike and pedestrian use, be constructed with permeable surfaces and rain gardens for making the street as “green” as possible.

5. “High Street” – (Rendering at the top of the page) The focus would be to restore High Street as a commercial corridor. Restore on-street metered parking for retail use, add new green streetscaping for beautification, divert some bus traffic to a transit station for transfers and plan streets for light rail or streetcar usage.  READ MORE