UAC Community Bits: {SPAM} Columbus City Council Highlights

COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

For Immediate Release:

September 16, 2013

For More Information:

John Ivanic, (614) 645-6798

SERVING VETERANS: Councilmember Hearcel F. Craig, the chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, is sponsoring ordinance 2147-2013 to allow the Development Department to modify a contract with Community Development for All People relating to the Better Municipal Care for Veterans-Home Fund. The program, which began as a pilot on the South Side and has now be expanded City wide, provides targeted financial assistance to eligible homeowners who have served in the military. The ordinance will allow the social service agency to complete home repairs for the rest of this year.

WIC SERVICES: The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program provides nutrition programming for women (pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding), infants, and children under the age of 5 years, and provides invaluable assistance for families during their children's period of growth and development. Ordinance 2086-2013, sponsored by Priscilla R. Tyson, chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, will allow the City of Columbus to lease space at 4550 Indianola Avenue for clinic space. The City will receive a grant from the State of Ohio that will cover the cost of the lease.

BIKE PLAN: Ordinance 2007-2013, sponsored by Public Service & Transportation Committee chair Eileen Y. Paley, will allow The Department of Public Service to enter into a $400,000 contract with Alta Planning + Design for the purpose of updating the 2008 Bicentennial Bikeways Plan with a focus limited to education, encouragement, evaluation, and engineering standards. This project will also include research into pedestrian education and encouragement and data collection on bicycling and walking levels. This effort and its results will be coordinated with and incorporated into an upcoming and likely concurrent effort by the City to develop a Complete Streets Thoroughfare Plan for the City of Columbus. An education and encouragement communication plan and one year of bicycle/pedestrian counts will be implemented with this project.

BROWNFIELD CLEANUP: The economic development along South High Street continues with ordinance 2076-2013, sponsored by Development Committee Chair Zach M. Klein, that allows

the Director of the Department of Development to enter into an Agreement of Understanding and Access with The Annex at River South II, Ltd. and to file an application with the State of Ohio to participate in the Clean Ohio Brownfield Fund. The application would support the environmental cleanup and demolition of The Trautman at 203-213 and The HUB Buildings and 221 South High Street, respectively. The current development design is for an eight-story, mid-rise mixed-use structure that will cover the entire 0.538 acre site, LC RiverSouth Phase II. The project will consist of 106 top quality apartments, street level retail space, and a partially subterranean parking garage. The building is configured in a “U” shape around a center courtyard which will open to Rich Street and feature more than five thousand square feet of outdoor urban green space. The Annex at River South II, Ltd. will invest approximately $20,900,000 in the project for property acquisition, site preparation and construction.

PREVENTING DRUG ABUSE: Local and state law enforcement and health care professionals recognize prescription drug abuse is a serious problem affecting all segments of the community. Safety Committee chair Michelle M. Mills is sponsoring ordinance 2029-2013 to allow the City to appropriate $5,000 for the 2013 Law Enforcements Grants-National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators, Inc. (NADDI) to provide funds to support increased enforcement and education in the prevention of prescription drug abuse. The money will be used for specialized training resources for the Columbus Division of Police Narcotics Bureau to access valuable prescription drug diversion information and educational seminars which address current and emerging criminal trends.

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JOHN IVANIC

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

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