Columbus may spend $7.5M on Scioto Mile Fountain upgrade

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Columbus City Council is set to introduce the idea of spending $7.5 million on one of the city's iconic fountains, and that covers only half of the project’s cost.

On the agenda for Monday’s council meeting is ordinance 2525-2022, which would authorize the city to enter into a partnership with the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation (CDDC) for the Bicentennial Park Scioto Mile Fountain Improvements Project, to the total tune of $15 million, with CDDC picking up the other half. The total would cover the cost of designing, constructing, and commissioning the project.

If passed, the ordinance would bypass the city’s bidding process for the project and set up the partnership between the city and CDDC.

The ordinance’s language says since CDDC is the original builder of the fountain, the partnership will ensure the project is completed in a “top-tier fashion.”

Columbus’ portion of the funding would come from the city’s Recreation and Parks Voted Bond Fund, which voters approved in 2018 to the tune of $100 million. Issue 15 on November’s ballot will ask voters to approve a new Recreation and Parks bond issue of $200 million.

According to the ordinance’s language, CDDC will use the Scioto Mile Endowment, created when the Scioto Mile was being constructed more than a decade ago. It opened in 2011.

A first reading of the ordinance is scheduled for Monday’s meeting, with a vote likely to come at council’s Oct. 17 meeting. The meeting begins at 5 p.m.