okay I'm gonna Corral folks into our
room I'll
if you could please join us in uh in our
council chambers
Elena
Brian
basic questions
good evening good evening all right
thanks so much for joining us for our
Columbia
Plaza slash Commonwealth Park Workshop
I'm going to introduce you to my great
colleague Mike Price your Recreation and
Parks director who's going to introduce
the rest of our team
well thank you welcome thank you
everyone for coming hope everyone got
the letter we're trying to make sure we
communicate as much as we possibly can
on this project so it's great to see
everyone here today
um obviously we're really excited this
is a part of the year of the parks
effort that the city has undertaken in
2023 uh obviously Commonwealth Park is a
focal point of our Park system so we're
excited about some of the projects we're
looking to get accomplished this year at
Commonwealth Park and have gotten
accomplished over the last year
um a little bit about the meeting
um the goal of this is sort of update
the community on what's going on uh with
Commonwealth Park update kind of where
the master plan that was approved in
2018 fits into that where what projects
we've accomplished within the 2018
master plan and what we want to kind of
do going forward in 2023.
um we're going to do some overview stuff
at the beginning and then the workshop
that will focus on the Columbia Plaza
will do at the end
um but that'll be sort of the layout for
this meeting obviously the goal is to
get feedback from the community on on
the Columbia Plaza
and also make sure you guys have
information as to what we're sort of
thinking about so with that I want to
introduce the team obviously everyone's
I think familiar with mayor Kessler
appreciate uh mayor Kessler's um Vision
he's the brainchild of the year of the
parks his vision and support of the park
system is uh has been greatly
appreciated so thank you mayor
um Elena Andrews
there she is Ellen Andrews is with um
Spruce landscape design firm
um owner operator
uh principal
um and uh she is also uh taking on
project management of the year of the
park so she is really working helping us
oversee everything that we're doing with
you at the park so thank you Elena for
being here
um
uh Ryan Schultz and uh Maya Mia Mia
sorry Burkhart with mksk are overseeing
the um design portion of uh the Columbia
project so they will they'll walk us
through that here in a second
um
Brian Kent Jones with Jones studio will
be here shortly he's on his way in and
Brian marzick is here with um uh Joan
Studio as well Joan studio uh oversaw
the master planning process for the
Commonwealth Park and they have done the
design work on the Follies that we'll
get into in a little bit that's it we'll
sit at the south end of uh Colombia
um I think I covered everyone that's
here with the team
um I was only given I think 93 seconds
to get this accomplished all right
um
so what we're going to start out with
we're gonna have mayor Kester he's going
to come up here and give us an overview
of the other parks and then we'll move
on to uh Brian uh Jones is here shortly
we'll move on to his part where he will
give us a refresher on the master plan
um and then I will give a quick update
on the athletic field project which some
of you probably have seen occur over at
Commonwealth East and West Elena will
then walk us through the pond Arboretum
walk and botanical garden design that
has uh received approval from both
um the tree and public garden commission
as as was the rec board uh uh Brian and
Brian marzick and Brian Jones will take
us through the um Follies just give a
quick update on that and then uh mksk
will take us through the
um Columbia Plaza design so with that
mayor Kessler if you want to come up
thank you thank you Mike Price I'm
public servants
all right so I want to just real quickly
walk through
what is the year of the parks
actually there we go
we're good okay still
I actually can't I cannot claim
ownership of this concept this was this
is really um kind of birthed out of a
conversation with uh tree commission
leadership and uh folks from Bexley
Community Foundation who really
encouraged us to take a lot of these
plans that we've been working on and
agitating around and and executing parts
of and have a really big comprehensive
push on our Parks projects so the idea
is to radically transform our Parks not
based upon
um the whims of today for the most part
but based upon long-term planning
exercises that we've been doing over the
past several years
um and in doing so to really grow and
strengthen Community ties because one
thing I think we all knew experienced
through covid was just how wonderful it
is to have those outdoor spaces and I
think we've identified a lot of ways to
help support our community Through
outdoor spaces so I'm going to just real
quickly give you a highlights reel some
of the projects that are a part of what
we're calling year of the parks I do
want to say we have already completed
some of our projects even as early as
the end of last year some of these
projects will Trail into next year as
well so you have the parks is more of a
aspirational term as opposed to that
12-month calendar we're working at a
splash pad at Schneider Park Schneider
Park is the park along Alum Creek South
of Main Street and we'll talk about a
couple of projects there this the splash
pad will be next to the picnic shelter
in the community gardens our natural dog
park which is under construction uh just
near The Astor connection part of
Schneider Park the trail itself which is
connecting to Main Street you can kind
of see the progress if you're to walk
along the trailhead at Main Street today
a pedestrian bike bridge at Astor which
is part of Schneider Park as well
and then Mike and his team are looking
at a skate and bike playground uh in a
section of Schneider Park as well so
Schneider is getting a lot of love as
part of you're the parks we're also
looking at natural play area at Jeffrey
or maybe even two natural play areas of
Jeffrey
um in conjunction in partnership with
the Bexley Library a main street and
torontamat the synagogue a Main Street
Reading Room an outdoor Gathering space
in what is currently the driveway to
Nowhere if you if you know just west of
the library and so that's just a
beautiful design that we've been really
enjoying the partnership with the
library on that
the rendering here this is a top-down
view but a Plaza on Main Street across
from the Drexel Theater that would host
our future Community Christmas tree and
Menorah would have a small little stage
lots of seating maybe some outdoor ping
pong and foosball tables just a great
Gathering space if you see kind of the
circle up at the top that's maybe a fire
pit in the winter so a good Gathering
space right there on Main Street and
then a unified park signage project
where we're looking at bringing in
signage throughout our parks to make it
really clear how to find your way around
them and that you're in one of our
Bexley Park system parks
and I'm going to skip past the
Commonwealth stuff because I don't want
to I don't want to give away the plot
and Brian Kent Jones has just joined us
in what he may or may not know is he's
going to give you guys about a one to
three minute overview of the
Commonwealth Park master plan so Brian
you get one slide to work with that's
your slide if you want to come on up
ladies and gentlemen Ryan Kent Jones
thank you
thank you mayor for the long
presentation you know preempt here thank
you
um yeah gosh it's it's been a few years
since uh the master plan has really kind
of emerged it's exciting to be in the
midst of seeing some things underway
um you know really gosh has it been
three and a half years I think since uh
since that exercise and starting to see
the infrastructure and the place occur
and uh Elena probably could speak to the
details on that better than I can but I
think some of the things that we have to
share tonight are really looking at you
know the next steps of that so
um you know the improvements at either
end are beginning with The Pavilions
that will house restrooms
um and then you know really really
diving in and taking a look at some of
the programmatic elements that could
occur really in the central space
um around that around that Central media
and then really looking for engagement
and and comment and and uh Community
input
anything else mayor
okay
absolutely okay yeah okay
all right um
as the mayor mentioned some of the work
that we've already has already been
started and for those that live along uh
Commonwealth know uh the two athletic
fields that come with West and East have
been completed
um a little background that obviously as
I think everyone's aware we're
landlocked we have very little Athletic
Field space uh especially to meet the
demand that we have within our community
uh Schneider Park was a big part of
adding Athletic Field space for our
community we added a full-size uh soccer
field at Schneider Park which has helped
uh relieve some of the stress on these
fields because this takes the brunt of
our Athletic Field space within our
community but the reality is these
fields were never really built in a way
to support the sort of demand that is on
them so there's there's never any
infrastructure there was just they
happen to be grass there and sometimes
there wasn't even grass there so um you
know looking at improving the quality of
the athletic fields was a project that
the city council supported very early on
after the master plan was approved uh in
the spring of 2022 we redid Commonwealth
West test and it opened in the fall of
2022 Commonwealth east's Athletic Field
was redone in the fall of 2022 and will
open this spring we added a drainage
system there's no drainage system there
at all and irrigation are the two major
components and obviously removed and
replaced all the sod so we have a much
better soil makeup we have the
infrastructure to support it and Council
also approved a robust maintenance plan
for it in the 2023 budget so we're
really excited about these fields and
our ability to maintain them at a much
higher level and and also to repair them
when you know when tough Seasons come
along uh with with Schneider Park we'll
be able to rotate off them as needed so
we're excited about those improvements
and with that I am going to uh pass it
back over to Elena who's going to talk
to us a little bit about our freedom
feature on the west side of Commonwealth
West
all right I'm going to stand up here
because I like to point at stuff so and
since we don't have a pointer so um with
the and I think we'll have a couple of
other slides wait can we stay here for
just a second
um so one of the things we were talking
about in terms of Commonwealth West and
East obviously North being up the
Arboretum feature and um botanical
gardens Bexley is an arboretum as we all
know right and so it's something there's
really no place and no area that you can
actually go to the city and learn about
that people kind of sometimes hear about
it they sometimes don't and so we wanted
to have a location where we could
celebrate that and we figured that
Commonwealth was an excellent part to do
that so in this area on the west side we
had basically kind of designated that as
being a woodland Garden so we had a
diagram of kind of like passive-space
active passive active and then passive
we're focusing on this end over here we
started to have
um if a feature that we could say okay
here are some trees but can we also
bring in some shrubs and different
materials here that would actually
actually make it quite beautiful and I
think this should work right Ben all
right so with the athletic fields just
to show a couple of these pictures
um and so this is actually then looking
at the field kind of a before and then
and after with that so when Mike talks
about the irrigation system that's
underneath that it's actually very
involved it's it's very similar to what
you would have underneath a professional
football field right where there are
these herringbone patterns that are
actually trying to bring as much water
as possible and take it out away from
that field so we can drain it it can dry
out and it won't stay as muddy one of
the things that without the drainage
there that's why everything got all you
know kind of torn up with all of that so
that's basically kind of what it looks
like you know if you lifted up the hood
so to speak and then now we have you
know beautiful grass and then
maintenance to try to make sure that
it's thick nice grass that all the kids
can use and for athletics
now with the Arboretum walk and
botanical gardens this is a relatively
diagrammatic because this is not the
focus of this but a couple of points to
kind of pull out with this is one is it
is going to have a pond feature on the
West End there are no open bodies of
water in um Bexley and so just to be
able to have something that can be
beautiful and contemplative and have you
know the reflection of the trees and the
plants around that so we're looking at
having a pond that will have a bridge
going across it some stepping stones
through it an island in the center that
will have a beautiful ornamental
Japanese maple tree and then a huge
variety of different types of shrubs
perennials and new trees that are coming
into here that the city doesn't
currently have we also are starting to
do an introduction of some Pathways if
you recall in the previous master plan
there are some paths that we want to
start to connect all the different
components within the park so that you
don't necessarily just have to walk
around on the sidewalks if you choose
you can have an accessible path that
would be compact gravel that you can
actually move throughout the trees and
have some different options or just you
know walk across the grass I mean
there's always point A to point B is a
straight line so the pond itself right
now is actually out to bid and the bids
are due March 17th and so that's
something that we're hoping that we're
going to have
um contractors be able to bid on and
then start construction sometime this
spring and then the landscape will come
in after but most likely in the fall so
those are all things that are currently
kind of moving on right now which is
very exciting
and then just some evocative images of
what we're hoping it's going to look
like
and then now we go to the Columbia
Gateway or is this the Folly do you want
me to continue to talk about the Follies
Brian or do you want to come up and say
a couple of words about the Follies
okay since I'm here
programmatically so the two Follies are
on the south end of the park and so on
the east side so the side that you're
looking at now is actually going to be a
a single-use restroom so unfortunately
we're getting rid of the porta potty
that's there I know that that you know
has probably really grown to be an
object that people emotionally are
attached to so we're actually
we're getting rid of that and so this is
actually going to be a um an accessible
restroom so this is kind of flipped but
up at the top and so and then the
opposites
South is top now yes so this side is
going to be a restroom this side is
programmed to be a pump house and that
has all of the mechanical equipment for
the irrigation system within the park as
well as electrical for the park right so
we have one that is going to be a
utility structure and then one that is
going to be a um restroom and they are
designed to try to actually emulate we
were looking at a lot of the things I
mean sessions Village and then the
columns and all the different things you
want to jump up with the architecture
um yeah I think you know Ellen is really
hitting the programmatic pieces but you
know when you look at sort of the
stylistic architectural elements really
trying to draw from the community and
and really from you know deep dives into
you know slate types and thicknesses and
and really trying to keep the structures
really quite diminutive so they feel
more like Garden walls where things
maybe happen behind them and even when
you sort of look at sort of see a dashed
line sort of hidden halfway behind the
Garden Wall
they actually the the that uh yeah where
Eleanor's pointing is actually kind of
the the larger room that's behind this
Pavilion uh that is that is housing the
restroom as well as on the other side
the uh mechanical equipment for uh for
the irrigation but you know from Stone
types to mortar to you know just really
a deep dive on the ingredients so
hopefully these feel like they've been
there for you know 120 years and and uh
and and I think really you know these
are pretty strong architecturally in the
presentation on the wall but the hope is
that they really recede into the
landscape and uh I think the way that
they're tucking into some of the
existing tree structures as well as sort
of future tree plantings to occur we
think they'll be pretty pretty tame in a
couple of years
all right good F good evening everyone
my name is Ryan Schultz I'm with mksk
Landscape Architects all these amazing
projects that we've been hearing about
leading up to this point we've been
tasked with kind of combining all this
and tying it all together in a Central
Plaza space uh tying West and East sides
of uh of uh Commonwealth Park so is
who's
so uh just to kind of start off again I
think you all know where we're at here a
lot of you live in the surrounding area
so this is just an aerial kind of
identifying this location uh next slide
um so we just before we started with all
this what we wanted to do oh perfect
thank you
uh what we wanted to do was just
Identify some of these items that we saw
as uh either either exist we call it an
existing site analysis existing trees
existing conditions uh one-way streets
two-way streets everything's two-way
streets parking that's along the South
Edge uh existing uh the the existing uh
porta potty that Ellen already brought
up just all these different items we
just wanted to really get an
understanding of the site and how it
cohesively comes together in the middle
so um I guess I can do this there we go
so with that being said we've gone
through the process of really trying to
understand how this how this Central
Plaza comes together and we see it as a
Gathering Place a real a really great
place to celebrate the city of Bexley in
the middle and combine the East and West
sides so this this plan gives you an
idea of how this Plaza fits within the
the greater uh the the greater threshold
of the site around it so we'll we'll
zoom in here and get a little closer and
I'll start to kind of break this down a
little bit a little high level and we'll
go in a little bit deeper but what we're
showing here is really a north south
connection you can see the brick with
the red really defines that north-south
connection but that's interrupted by
this by this carpet if you will of of
the gray area which is a plaza that
would extend East-West and what that
does is that ties in Brian's design for
what we're calling a Pergola structure
right now that would flank each side and
so again we have structures on East-West
we have structures to the South which
was the Folly structures that we saw
earlier and then to the north there
would not be any larger structures but
we'll talk about that a little bit more
so diving into the streetscape
specifically we're looking at this in a
couple different ways so we're showing a
center median just to give you an idea
that Center medium be about 14 feet and
then you're showing a 10-foot Drive
aisle and then you have parking which is
roughly nine feet wide and then you're
transitioning into a tree lawn which is
similar to what you have today without
the street parking six foot sidewalks
shown on each side and again we're
mirroring both sides to make it
consistent uh to the north
um we show that what you kind of see an
image in the middle there of a kind of
stippled pattern uh for using bricks as
a crosswalk but not painting it actually
incorporating uh White pavers into it to
kind of make it go away as much as we
can we're proposing on the North side to
kind of complement the South maybe some
smaller stone structures that would
complement Brian's Follies and um and
his other pergola structures
um what we would have the bottom left
image there would show parking what we
like to see there is utilizing permeable
pavers so that we're taking advantage of
storm water conditions and and being
able to do that in a conservative way
street tree trees large Street trees on
each side there's American Beach Street
trees there today which are beautiful we
hate to see those go we'll try to bring
something back to replace those uh the
center tree could be a great you could
see a small section on the far left
there to kind of give you that idea but
we see those as sort of multi-stem
flowering ornamental trees and all these
trees the thought there is to kind of
uplight these and really make them a
focal feature at night
this is just flipping to the South
similar condition
um with the street again the median the
street the parking Tree Lawn uh and the
sidewalk the obvious different
difference here is the Follies to the
South what we've done is we've tried to
cohesively connect the sidewalks into
those Follies so the left one or the one
on the right housing the restroom you
obviously want a sidewalk connection but
we've eliminated on the left I don't
think anyone's too interested in seeing
irrigation controllers and bump rooms so
we're just trying to really make that an
accessible area where it's necessary
um like this is the section I mentioned
earlier this gives you a sense of the
scale
the street trees on the on either side
the ornamental trees in the center
median what we see a couple a couple
ideas that we're having is playing with
materials when it comes to curbs I think
everyone knows the 45 degree brick brick
curb detail that you see around the
neighborhood we think that'd be great to
try to incorporate something like that
and certain ass on certain edges here
but there are other options with granite
curves that you can explore there's a
lot of different ways to do that
um planting in the middle would be a
nice strong something like a boxwood
hedge with flowering uh shrubs in the
middle
um and then probably turf grass on the
free lawn so that you're not walking
into uh shrubs and hedges that sort of
thing
this is just some more uh imagery to
support that
um again a lot of brick material
different patterns you can really play
with a lot of different ideas there uh
the detail the Bexley detail on the
bottom left
um we've we've played around with some
other ideas of incorporating brick
sidewalks into this we can talk about
those ideas but right now we're just
kind of thinking it's a concrete
sidewalk for now
and then getting into some of the site
character and the planting imagery again
you have this Cadence of Street trees
carrying down the street really making
it a grand kind of La entrance through
the park uh the central median in the
Middle with layered layered tiered
planting uh you know beautiful tulips
just to add color throughout the year
there's ways to do that and then you can
see the uplit uplit trees on the right
just to give it a soft glow not a not a
heavy light but just a soft glow to give
it some ambiance
so what we've done then is you take
think of it we've taken the street and
we've basically placed this Plaza over
top of it and what that does is that
really creates that connection from the
East to the west and that would
potentially be a different material from
the standard brick of the streets that
we're seeing one idea that we're seeing
is is really beautiful shades and
different uh patterning of granite that
we see that can really have a strong
strong look that you see in the photos
below and what without pointing it's
hard to show but you can see the bands
that run yeah the the bollards
yeah so what we're saying is those would
be Ballers like in the image in the
middle below that would be chained
predominantly across to prevent just
from a safety standpoint we don't want
people walking that is a street but it
would be open in the middle to allow
people like a pedestrian Crossing if you
will
um that carpet that centralized kind of
rectangle in the middle symbolizes more
of a carpet that would almost serve as
The Pedestrian Crossing as you cross the
street instead of using different color
paints and other other paver colors
um The Pavilion or the pergolas that you
see on each side are pretty clear I
think in this area we're definitely
creating this landing pad for those that
that Brian's developed and his team and
surrounding those with boxwood hedging
or something that's really easy to
maintain but definitely
clear and concise around the edges one
thing that Elena mentioned earlier is
that is this trail system that's working
around the park itself it's a little
hard to see but those dashed lines
coming into the ends we're creating a
bit of a a landing pad if you will so
that those those are those Pathways
aren't just coming into the side of the
pergola or into some random spot it
really feels intentional
um and then something else about those
edges I'll bring up in a minute here um
is
oh yeah
yeah
oh sorry yes yes
yeah we're seeing we're seeing like Cafe
tables and chairs Bistro style small
tables small chairs nothing nothing
heavy or Monumental well there's some
good imagery I think we have some over
here and we'll come to that slide here
in a moment
yes thank you uh great Point Ellen I
just made the bottom right image is
actually
um it's uh it's CCAD right now what the
city of Columbus is able to do is create
these traffic tables and that's what
this band actually also serves as so it
slows down traffic coming through there
but without being a speed bump nobody
likes speed bumps but this is
essentially a large wide speed bump that
serves the same purpose so that image to
the bottom right it's a little hard to
tell but you can see the curve starts to
disappear as it slowly transitions up
yeah exactly
right so that's this whole bit this
whole gray bar that you see is serving
that purpose yeah is that similar to
yes I think are you thinking at CCAD uh
said um
yes exactly that's that's actually where
that image is from so exactly
I can now let's do you want to speak to
your buildings here
yeah perfect I'm gonna invite Brian up
now tag you're right
you know and just you know in the
interest of you know transparency I
think you know this is investigative
right and we're really at the early
stages of just trying to you know really
investigate program and think about
scale and form and and you know how the
spaces are used I think as a team we are
you know kind of looking at some of the
previous Master planning things that uh
you know that were part of the earlier
exercise and I think
you know as a group feel like some of
the scale of some of the Pavilions that
were outlined in that in that were
probably too big
um and we really want to make sure the
park is a park and the way that it's not
you know it's not a it's not a canvas
for structures more or less so you know
one of the things that's hard at this
stage looking at these drawings is
really sort of getting a sense of scale
but
um you know afterwards we can kind of
look at drawings on on the boards but
really trying to look at just a real
kind of domestic scale to some of these
Pavilion structures so and I say
Pavilions but we're imagining that
they're really predominantly open air
and uh you know and and I think one of
the subtleties as we kind of have done
some of these in the past is making sure
that they're you know that they don't
become attractive nuisances right over
times like think about winter right it's
like when you have a when you have a big
structure it gathers leaves and you know
so so one of the things we're sort of
looking at the the image on the um we'll
start maybe with the image on the right
um when you sort of see that you know
Pavilion on the upper right hand side
that would actually be about a quarter
of one of the overall structures itself
so when you kind of look at that
elevation down below it sort of the idea
that maybe those structures on either
side are bookended with you know pretty
small little Pavilions that hold an open
air trellis between even even smaller
yet is sort of the notion on the left
where maybe that open space in the
courtyard presentations you sort of see
that Ryan that Ryan has shared
um you know maybe bounce back to that
just that overall plan scheme if you
could Ryan
um you know where where you see those
funny round circles with the jaggedy
four things coming out of them you know
it's like you know maybe The Middle's
open and maybe there are you know kind
of simpler quieter Pavilions left and
right where in the middle there could be
a seasonal tent or something that kind
of gets erected for you know music
events or or what have you other other
solutions that we're sort of looking at
include you know just letting it be a
very simple open trellis that is that's
thinner and and uh you know is a little
bit more delicate on the on the
landscape but that's sort of that's the
kind of the quick overview of some of
the investigations that we've been
looking at and uh you know yeah go
please
yes
it's moved in about five to seven feet
from the current sidewalk that's right
on both sides seems like there's wide
white
yeah yeah that's about it yeah
yeah please please
yeah that's a great that's a great um
that's a great scale I mean those are
those are pretty long and you know
they're they're within a you know very
Civic infrastructure but if you kind of
look at the uh like those alongside a
mile are probably
you know three or four times the length
of the the guy on the left bottom left
um but they're probably commensurate
with the one on the right sort of in
terms of of length and and dimension
yeah actually there are sort of three
different options sort of um yeah so the
so there's the one on the right uh which
is really the largest which is about a
20 you know about a 24 by 40 ish 48
um open air Pavilion
the one on the upper left is about 12
feet by about 42 feet so that that might
be a little bit more like the Scioto
mile and then the then the one on the
bottom is the notion that maybe they're
these you know 12 by 20-ish
a pair of them that cap an open space
tear space in between
please please
absolutely yeah
surrounding it or inside
specific time yeah the idea and Brian's
kind of showing it here in his
renderings but the idea is that we would
incorporate some really nice lighting
inside the actual pergolas to create
light with inside within inside that and
then also incorporating lighting like I
mentioned earlier with the street trees
uplighting those and then when you
actually start to really incorporate all
that light together including the street
lights which we'll need to incorporate
some of those traditional street lights
that are there today I think the the
lighting will be sufficient for security
purposes but not overpowering for the
surrounding neighbors so that's the
impact
and I'll just flip through a couple more
we just have some good I think the board
that you're seeing here on the left up
or my left here is showing a lot of
these but just some just some character
imagery here to kind of convey Brian's
intent with some of the structures the
the materials the wood some of the and
the lighting up there on the top right
you can see as well
um and then just going back to the
landscape really trying to just capture
some just classic simple clean
um
landscape I mean English garden Style
with you know hedging boxwood hedging
some floral color with with lavender or
something like that hydrangea and then
you have uh potential for Vine growth up
on the structures uh just just to really
create a nice soft inviting uh
environment for everyone
and then going back a little bit to what
we were what what we were asking about
earlier some of the tables and chairs
just to kind of give I don't want to
call it a Central Park feel but a little
bit of an open Park feel where you can
feel comfortable coming in have a cup of
coffee read the read your newspaper you
know check your email whatever you need
to do
um it gives you that little space to do
that
um as you can see in the in the left
side there and then also I think I think
Brian might have mentioned it as well
but the structures are kind of set up
and I'll flip back here just a minute
where
if you're in that if you're in the
Pavilion you can kind of engage
inward into the into the plaza itself
for a smaller more intimate
um
you know a jazz concert whatever
whatever is going on like that but then
flip to the other side especially on the
east side where you have open grass here
it could be utilized for a little bit
larger concerts or put your put your
blankets on on the lawn put your chairs
out there and engage in something like
that so that's what some of these images
are showing here on the right just to
convey that message
um and then closing just this is a
rendering that we've done but just
really as you can see with the
surrounding context the existing trees
the Arboretum ass feel of this whole
site is we love that we absolutely love
it and to be able to kind of engage this
space into that is just an amazing
opportunity so when you see it here it
really does kind of hone this all
together and tie it all together across
the East and West sides and really
provides a great uh space for everyone
so
thank you appreciate your time
that would be looking from the south
looking North
well I and I'm not 100 sure how many
spaces are there today but this would
still provide street parking 12 spaces
you have four three three car Bays I
think today there's
maybe 16 or 18 spaces I I couldn't I
can't be exact on that but it would it's
reducing it by a bit
yes yes it would that I mean it would
have no effect on on the North or the
south east west streets yeah
part of this was some discussion about
traffic
um
yeah and I think
alive
trees and
that sort of talk to us about
their uh yes now well uh back to your
traffic calming comment the the gray bar
that stretches across the the intent of
that is actually to ramp that up
gradually so think of it as basically a
very wide
speed bump that will slow traffic to
that point I think the width of the
streets and I think you're concerned
about trucks and cars going through with
the trees and the clearance I think the
trees that will select the trees that
we're thinking of will be trees that are
particularly limbed up and and would be
free and clear if Trucks and Things
passing through so it's a little bit of
a catch-22 because you're providing
trees
just
to comply with the streetscape idea that
we're showing but we're also narrowing
the streets we've prided a street that's
not so wide that cars go flying down but
it's still wide enough that it provides
the clearance that you would need for
delivery trucks and Amazon and whoever's
coming through so
I don't know if that answers I don't
know if that answers
yeah yeah
so this sections of this section kind of
speaks to that that question there so
the media in the middle is 14 feet wide
now in itself
right right
typically the medians in the street
trees will calm the traffic in itself
and then the 10 foot wide Drive aisle is
sufficient for trucks but not so wide
that it's a it's a Parkway where cars
are flying down and then when you add in
the traffic table it kind of creates a
combination of solutions for that
problem
so just sorry to take it back after that
so when we're allowing the same industry
we're going to need to use the cloud of
these
smaller Cloud are far larger dump truck
plows will not fit not quite a time we
want that a little bit of that turnpoint
Adventure that it slows down
so loud
that's
foreign
the parking Lanes will be very clearly
defined and then just single layers
right into it there's no parking
initially
that's right exactly so
right and we've extended that curb cut
on both ends to kind of prevent that
from being too close to the
intersections so you can't enter in that
too quickly and it also provides a lot
more green space on a buffer to soften
that those entries from the North and
the South
I would actually be be curious to kind
of hear from you all in terms of
appropriate site Furnishings for the
area
um you know a lot of times
people could potentially
um you know we could have Bistro tables
the city right now is actually looking
at creating kind of a site Furnishing
package where we have teak benches or we
have metal bistro tables that we can
start to kind of pepper all throughout
all of our different areas of the park
but in terms of you know using this
space I think one of the beauties of
Commonwealth is that it really is eighty
percent of the time a very passive space
right where people are just kind of
sitting and walking their dogs around
the perimeter
um
uh may not going through it
um and so I think I'd be curious to hear
from you all how you envision people
would use it like would bistro tables be
helpful or would you think that kind of
you know Adirondack chairs that people
can kind of move around or more
appropriate or seat walls I mean I think
one of the ideas of having it open out
to the community on either end is that
when games are playing you know people
can put their chairs there and kind of
sit and then watch their kids play
soccer and then you've got another
little kid running around doing
something who's not necessarily playing
right so there needs to be a lot of
flexibility for the activities that do
come there but I'd be curious to hear
from you all what you think appropriate
site Furnishings would be Marley first I
want to say thank you guys work
the tables
about my first spot is that somebody's
missing
like but we've all had the experiences
on our screen that probably a big
statement from our eyes
so I you know
yeah so that would be my concern so I
like the idea of it but I'm wondering
[Music]
yeah yeah so um our our motto with site
for institutions is don't live in fear
and it's worked out really well for us
so far
yeah we do um I don't know first off the
bistro tables that they're speccing
we're talking about like a landscape
form sort of like they are heavy like no
if you go if in fact I think this exact
model if you go to the um last time I
was there the the back patio portion of
the downtown library same same ones are
there and they're not walking off there
either
um they're heavy they don't they're not
comfortable to just sling over your
shoulder so they're designed that way
the same with any Adirondack chairs they
would be like the the lull like the
the it's almost like an engineered
deposit yeah composite and it's they're
heavy as well they would take Quite a
feat and it would be very visible having
said that for example we have you know
teak Furnishings throughout our Parks
some of them are fast and some aren't
Bexley North and South Community Gardens
we have many years of experience of
really nice Furnishings not walking away
and even in areas where it could be
pretty tempting to easily take a picnic
table down next door and hang out so
um our our sense is that like yes there
might be loss here and there but I think
the the that liability is outweighed by
the value you bring to the community of
having really nice Gathering spaces
outside
um driving up and down the Colombia when
we are
children with the families
are adults
processing you're creating this space to
frost right
and I'm just worried that it's creating
even more of capacity
as if it's almost encouraging it yeah I
see what you're saying
and I think
sure
right
I'm also wondering about the
um
yes yes
there's a huge SUVs you can't see
you're very nice
uh for us
and now the
um
is that going to be an exact position of
the stone structure yes that's actually
the Folly's gonna be being built over
top of that structure so yeah but
my concern was something yeah no I
understood and we and we agree and I
think we're trying we're doing our best
to address that I think one way that
we're addressing that crossing of the
East-West condition and it's a little
hard to see in a in a 2d plan view like
this but those those Ballers those will
have chains between them and they'll be
a very clear we think it's going to be a
very clear definitive line to say this
is not a Crossing just to be come and go
as you please it's really a defined
location and there's also going to be
what they call detectable warnings it's
the it's the I think in Bexley they're
all the red little bumps that all the
Ada Crossings at the corners those will
be extended across north south so it'll
be a very clear definitive uh boundary
if you will to prevent people from
crossing over the street without
realizing they're crossing the street
the other thing I'd add to that at least
my experience over there is if
if people are and it doesn't happen
often but people are moving east to west
they're doing that now without any sort
of safety conditions in place right if
I'm playing it on the Westfield and I
decide I want to go to the east field
what we're not seeing people do is walk
down to the south and north and cross
the crosswalk they they'll take the path
of least resistance so at the very least
understand that's happening now this is
going to hopefully provide a safer
condition and that Vehicles will be
going slower there'll be identification
of that that process that's happening
there now anyway and the median itself
is a term it's a clear deterrent but
um we'll have hedging plant edging it
always deters people from Crossing if
there's and we could we're also
exploring some curves and some metal
maybe some low metal fencing that'll
create a clear barrier so from Mike's
Point it's there's three real distinct
points of Crossing as opposed to just an
open and openness group it's it's hard
to really like exactly over emphasize
how we don't actually have an analogy
right now in Bexley for what this will
feel like you basically this project is
taking every single traffic calming tool
there is
and throwing it at this Plaza section in
a good way
um I think the the the design of this is
not to stop people from Ever using the
street but I think that you will find
that people are going to be discouraged
from using Colombia as a north-south
pass-through because when you hit
these choke points you know these the
bump outs the the raised traffic table
that's going to have a different
material it's going to be a little
bumpier to drive on it's going to feel
like you're in the middle of like some
sort of European city that you might
have driven in where you're you're kind
of driving like this looking all around
yeah not even German Village has
anything quite like this this really
takes all of the different tools and and
throws throws it at a uh the problem
which is what we're trying to do is
unify both sides of the park so that yes
it feels more comfortable Crossing and
it will but also the vehicles that are
driving it every engineering trick is
being thrown at this to make them feel
very cautious to add to that mayor and
and I think when Ryan when Ryan was
describing those there are just you said
it better than I can but so many of
these pieces that are been used over the
years are really being integrated in
this but but the objective is to not
make them engineering but to really
create that you know create that create
that place and one of the most recent um
projects that mksk that I'm that I'm
familiar with where there's sort of a
local experience of this we were just
transformed what was a state route which
was State Route 161 that then became was
Dublin Granville Road is that that main
old 161 that goes through New Albany
where there's the school on one side and
now a major connection through to the
market square area it's just that that
whole street was it was such a
thoroughfare east west through that
whole community and just that you know
that raised table it now feels like when
you're when you're in a car you're
actually entering like a pedestrian
world and it just it changes the way
that the the way that the street that
would be a local recent local project
that they've done that I think is has
some has some reference not nearly as
good as what's this is going to be I
think in terms of the soft this is going
to be soft and garden like but I think
that that really transformed a road to
give the badass history and the the
priority
yeah
um
so Ellen has kind of landed on um the
kind of the new
so so like language architectural
language is funny but those those little
Folly Pavilions that are housing the
restrooms
um they are they're going to be stoned
and slate roofs
um and uh we
and and actually I haven't shared this
with the with with the team yet but I
think we have a have a source for
um some antique slate that's come off of
a you know an 1880s uh Church
um in Fairfield County that there there
could be enough slate that we could
actually use slate that actually is old
and patinaed and has that thickness so
these feel like they're they're really
you know they've been there for a long
time
thank you
well I'm happy to announce that we
haven't had any real major issues with
the porta potty so that's a good so
those concerns did not come to fruition
which is wonderful
um obviously we will look at
um whether we want to sort of carry on
that sort of approach where whereby the
um
the affordable restroom now is only
accessible by permitted users who have
access to a lock to unlock it so when a
team is out there using it they have a
code to be able to get in and then they
lock it at the end of the night I I
would expect this to be more uh Park in
nature where it maybe has specific hours
when our Park is open where it is
unlocked but have a locking mechanism
system that allows it to be locked in
the evenings when when it's not intended
to be in open space anyway
yes I follow that up with um
you know maybe it's part of the lovely
for them all to hang out so far but I
also know some of them
um
at night and just wondering how that's
more important yeah what sort of stuff
for you you're sorry
no personal
well I mean I guess one thing I will say
is our our park rules Dondo dust will
still be what will be in place for
Commonwealth regardless of whether
there's up Lighting on the trees or some
ambient Lighting in the structures so
from that perspective the intent is not
for it to be used after hour after after
dark excellent Juvenile Diversion
program whenever uh officer uh whoever
so to the to the extent that we would be
lucky I would I was sort of expected to
be following that sort of schedule
so the pond is inspired by
Parks throughout the world but also our
local analogies would be Schiller Park
and Goodale Park
um where those ponds have been part of
those those Parks uh for I think most of
their history
um
there is a uh most of the pond is going
to be really shallow it's gonna be like
a two or three foot section but then
there will be some parts that go a
little deeper as deep as
five feet so certainly just like with
you know any other Alum Creek or uh
ponds that occur throughout different
neighborhoods naturally like parents are
not going to want to have toddlers
wandering around unsupervised just like
in any other Park but it's it's I guess
what I would say is it is analogous to
any park that you see that kind of
aspires to have this sort of Botanical
slash Arboretum concept anywhere in any
of our communities
um and we do have waterways in every
other Park that we have
except for Commonwealth and Havenwood
that's true so those conditions exist
s
about that
um but I love it
and is amazing love it
I love starting to watch the geese I
love the baby geese
those babies and mamas leave a lot we
desired what they leave behind how we
need to have a conversation about that
because it's something that I most loved
about Commonwealth is in sitting on my
back patio and this thing to all
eventually babies playing you know on
the field in their fleece there's
nothing better and I don't want them
taking fun with them and have we talked
about that at all we're gonna talk the
shepherd
actually
come on actually it's funny we have we
have that issue at uh along Alum Creek
by the pool by the green space down
there
um that's where we see most of the geese
when we see him at Jeffrey Park and we
actually had our last opra convention
it's a big uh there's at least three
companies that are will bring dogs out
to shoe off the geese so so there are
you know there are ways if that becomes
a nuisance that we need to address there
are some I think different approaches
that we can look at
um it's a little bit of a smaller
landing spot for a geese in terms of the
open space so I'll be I'll be interested
to see whether we see a lot of that
happening there
um but it is something that I think you
know that we can obviously there's
there's a number of ways to try to
address that if it becomes an issue so
if it's a small thing that you won't be
playing hockey we will not well based on
based on our winners I'm not sure
there's gonna be a lot of ice there
um yeah
yeah I mean we'll have to deal with
receptacles for trash train cycling as
well yep
and we'll obviously make them match the
aesthetic of the park so
yes
for the game our living apartment
teachers from how long we've either do
they have the lead right of the game or
somebody who walked I guess I want to go
to the enhancing our cousin to leave the
car there we're going to take us apart
from somebody else
there are no there are currently no
parking restrictions in terms of hours
of parking
um on Commonwealth on either side on any
side
um
we don't we don't have a lot of
back-to-back games that have
um
that have a lot of viewers Spectators
there so I while if it if it is an issue
we can look at addressing that with with
um parking regulations but it's not a
condition or an issue that we've had a
lot of you know we do have times where
it's really dense the parking is really
dense there but it's usually not one
right after the other after the other in
which that rotation becomes important
yeah
when will this be completed
great question which part
so
um the Follies are going to bid here
soon we're waiting on a couple's last
minute last final revisions to the plans
um Pond has gone to bid we're hoping to
have the pond started uh this summer and
completed late spring early summer yeah
by the fall uh with the botanical
gardens Falls a great time to plant
um trees in general most trees and then
the plaza itself so we we have a state
of Ohio opwc Grant and um
Loan program for and you guys will get
more information those of you who live
on Columbia about the water line project
that will be occurring so you get a nice
new shiny water line underneath the
street
um we're hoping to do the street portion
of this block in this this summer fall
probably so we're hoping to wrap the
plaza I would say uh it would either be
late fall or early spring of 24. that's
the rough timing there are other
components of the master plan that
aren't addressed by anything that we're
talking about for example if you could
see some of the additional walks and in
the Arboretum feature that is destined
in the future on the east side of the
park far east side of the park so those
aren't part of the scope and that that
does not yet have a defined soundline
and
[Music]
you know encourage people to do that
because if you're adult people up in
their producing it's going to be nothing
you need to provide that I mean maybe
one in each other
yeah I mean I think obviously we could
look at adding dog stations on the
perimeter currently dogs are not
permitted inside the park at
Commonwealth or Jeffrey
um so
a little bit of do we want to send a
mixed message of here's some you know
but yeah I mean we we will
yeah
um
so we're going to continue to try to
educate the community on where dogs are
permitted and we're building a dog park
right now at Schneider Park obviously
Wolf Park is another great location for
in terms of being in the park obviously
walking on the sidewalks the dog not a
problem at all
um and we will continue to try to
educate the community about cleaning up
after their dogs and you know again as
as we talked before obviously if we see
conditions change as a result of this
then we can look at how we might want to
address that or need to address that in
the future whether that's
um you know the little bags and the you
know the dispensers for for dogs as well
the trash cans yeah
so one of the things that's you know
comes up we've had these conversations a
lot of different contexts about dogs uh
Jeffrey specifically is the uh impact on
the wildlife
um when people don't have their dogs on
a leash especially we've had a couple
very close calls where those dogs end up
chasing deer through the woods and those
deer end up running through the
playgrounds because they don't have
boundaries
um and had some really close calls and
so there's some real safety concerns
that we deal with at Jeffrey as relates
to dogs being there when they're not
supposed to and the impact on the
wildlife and then the potential impact
on the young kids and the you know the
the masses that we have using the park
so that's one of the reasons just as
we're talking about it that's one of the
reasons uh why why dogs at Jeffrey is is
definitely a concern that we continue to
try to educate the public on
so wander around
so one of the things I think that's
important to all of us is that if you
you know as you sort of digest this
right if you have ideas or thoughts or
things that you you know even if it's as
simple as material that you think is
right I mean just the point of this is
to collect feedback is to hear from the
community about what this will be
because this is as it was presented this
is a initial draft it's not by any means
fully uh conceived so we want to
you know here continue to hear from the
public please let neighbors know uh they
can reach out they can reach out to
myself at Michael mprice bexley.org and
I'm happy to pass that along to the team
as we continue to work through this
process now I will say timeline
um where we want you know you want to
talk a little bit about the timeline for
trying to get to a finalized design plan
yeah sure I mean I think we're talking
about the initial schedule right now
right and yeah so I think right now
we've gone through this process for a
couple months with the with the city's
group here and I think at this point
we're really aiming for trying to get a
final design by the by the end of
it's really by the end of this month end
of this month early early April so
that's it's a very quick process right
now so that's that's about where we sit
and then from our internal process after
that so the this the the final plan is
still kind of a it's a draft final plan
um subject to then going before the rec
board
I imagine we also talked about tree
Commission because it involves
right-of-way so it'll have plenty of uh
opportunities to continue to uh
deconstruct and talk through all the
same issues we're talking about tonight
um and then prior to any sort of tweaks
being made through that public process
uh and then that that would get
finalized so I would imagine that that's
those are sort of like
May April May meetings and then hoping
to get uh somewhere where we can
um have the final final finals in May
June
Mr Sharp
yes from your contribution Richard
where's it all coming from that's great
how is the soup getting made so um
as you can imagine we have a variety of
sources for finding various components
of this particular Park
um the street work is is covered by the
open
opwc project for the underlying
structure not the ornamental piece
um the Follies are encompassed in our
2023 capital budget the Arboretum uh and
Botanical Gardens and pond is we're
essentially looking at we have a big ask
out to the Community Foundation and we
could you know the way that it's
structured The Lion's Share of all that
is Community Foundation dollars
um the way the reason I'm saying it like
that is because we've sort of put our
eggs in that basket and capital fund is
doing some other components of parks
projects and the Tiff is covering a lot
of the Main Street stuff
um and then the uh the softer finishings
and the street portion of the plaza are
probably Road and Alley fund funded and
then the plaza itself so what we're
calling the you know the pergolas
whatever ends up being that sort of
Plaza area is also also in the 23
capital budget
so lots of different baskets for uh
funding for the for this project
that knows they have more Improvement we
have a no we have a state capitol grant
for the bridge at Astor
yeah
we have a whole funding Matrix if anyone
wants to talk to me about it it's a uh
it's like an hour-long presentation I'd
be happy to walk through it with you
no
um
so the pond is fed by our Municipal
Water Supply
um and gets topped up infrequently but
it'll have all sorts of
mechanisms in place to make sure that
happens well yes so
um the pond is actually the the intent
is that the perimeter of it will be
constructed with large stones and the
stones will then kind of you know on the
East End that's the shallow end and it
kind of comes down and then where you
see the little red kind of tree that's
the deeper end and water will be fed
into it using the well we have to fill
it up fill it up one time and then there
are going to be basically think of it as
um almost like a pool where there will
be
places for water to fill in on the east
side that will push the water across and
on the West Side there's actually going
to be like a spillover that sucks the
water in and we're going to be having
the water moving at a high enough rate
so that it can basically kind of suck
the leaves off of the the surface of it
and so it doesn't get Mucky so the idea
is that we want to be able to keep this
Pond as clean as possible so you can see
the bottom and so it just doesn't become
this kind of like well I don't know
what's down there right
um fish hopefully can go in there the
idea is that we're not going to
necessarily have chemicals in there we
don't want to use any kind of chlorine
so it's going to be a natural pond and
um there will be on the kind of the on
the West Side there's going to be a
built out where you're actually going to
have to once a week or once a day
actually during the fall most likely the
arborists are going to have to come and
like clear out that filter get the
leaves out and then put it back in and
the intent is also then having the depth
is so that if while life isn't there
that the fish can actually hibernate
during the winter because it needs to be
of a deep enough thing in case it does
ever freeze here again that um that
there's enough space that the fish can
actually go down there and burrow now
Heron and things like that part of the
what the intent of the design is is that
there will be shelves and kind of large
Boulders that will be built into the
base of it that the fish can kind of
hide from and you know kind of have
little nooks and crevices so the fish
can actually go underneath it but in
general the pond has just you know we
dig it out there's a big solid massive
rubber base that goes in and then we put
natural rocks on top of that and then
fill it up and then kind of stair step
it out onto the sides and that's a key
point on the edge so in the deeper part
which is near the tree that's planted in
the middle there will be still stair
stepping so it's like it's not going to
be like a wall where you would fall in
it's going to be it's going to be and it
could be walked on you could climb out
of it yeah designed for that
the water is going to be constantly
moving and so the mosquitoes aren't
gonna it's not like it's a you know just
a big giant rancid you know rest yeah
we'll just hope it get some slime on the
top of it just maybe it smells good so
it can kind of waft into Lori's backyard
when she's up there
for the mosquitoes nice
mosquito positive design
I think the dogs eat the mosquitoes
all right well thank you so much for
joining us this us this evening
um and I want to give a big round of
applause to our team you guys are rock
stars and thank you so much hurling
young so
and
and thank you to you all for for coming
here and like Mike said if you have any
questions any follow-up feel free to
give any of us a call email us and uh
we'll keep talking thank you