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YouTubeOn Jan. 13th, 2009 in Columbus City Council chambers, Council member
Priscilla Tyson will convene a special meeting to consider whether to
allow OSU to build its boathouse in Duranceux Park. If the 22,000
square foot boat/resort house is built in Duranceaux Park it will
cover the center of the park, which has the best view of the river.
The building will have an "all purpose" room with an elevated and
expansive view of the river, a kitchen, an exercise room and multiple
meeting rooms, but only rowers and their friends will be permitted
inside the building.
The city plans to rent the "all purpose room" (with the expansive
river view) to individuals for weddings and other parties (with
alcohol permits). Recreation & Parks and the rowers are telling city
council that the users of Duranceaux Park and Indian Village don't care.
We know so many people enjoy Duranceaux Park and hope to keep it safe
& intact. Now is the time to act. Don't let the city get away with
taking this public land for their exclusive use by OSU and the Greater
Columbus Rowing Association. City Council has changed its mind in the
past when large numbers of citizens have come to council meetings.
Please attend the Jan. 13th meeting to let the city and OSU know that
the boathouse should not be built in Duranceaux Park. City Council
Chambers are at 90 West Broad St., with the easiest entrance on Front
St. The meeting will begin at 5:30PM, but latecomers are welcome. For
more information about the boathouse see:
http://sciotoriverf riends.org/ boathouse/ new_boathouse. html
Help save our children's play area, adult & pets walking/running
areas, greenspace, fishing spots!!!
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
Griggs Boathouse - News & Updates
[384 posts] [41 contributors]
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aimeecakes
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Posted 3 years ago # -
lifeliberty
Here
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JEEBUS!!! Just build the thing already!
Posted 3 years ago # -
Mercurius
First Avenue
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I'm in support of building a new boathouse there. It should ease the political pressure to make it easier to remove a dam a little further down the river. Boathouses can be great if they are designed right.
One of my favorite places in Philly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boathouse_RowPosted 3 years ago # -
michaelcoyote
!seabus
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NIMBY?
Posted 3 years ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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The rowers are sick of waiting for an adequate facility, and few if any of the residents think no new boathouse should be built. The issue at contention here is the location. The City and OSU want it located near Indian Village Camp, and the residents say it belongs on the east "commercial side" with other facilities like the police station and the current high school rowing storage facility.
The original idea was to have a new facility that GCRA would help pay for, to house GCRA and various high school rowing teams, plus accomodate some of the IVC programs. Documents speak glowingly of Griggs as a rowing venue, and the new facility allowing an expansion of rowing in the community.
http://sciotoriverfriends.org/boathouse/NewBoathouse.pdf
But one thing leads to another, and the meeting space could be rented out as an entertainment venue like North Bank Park. So now we're looking at a party house open until 11:00 (or 12:00 for a premium fee) in a quiet park that closes at 11:00. Drive River's Gate Way and Thoburn roads, and imagine wedding limousines and lost guests picking their way through there.
City officials stress that the use of the facility will be negotiable but the plain fact is they will be under considerable pressure to make money on this investment.
Posted 3 years ago # -
joev
Merion Village
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I would support this building project - But it would wonderful for the parks department to offer kayak rentals for the non-rowing club residents of Columbus. We should all be able to enjoy the river without needing to buy a kayak or the means to transport a kayak. I could see them easily recouping their investment within a year.
Posted 3 years ago # -
RealityRob
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Facts: 1995 Griggs Mgt. Plan requires that: Any sale or lease of public land be scrutinized by the Land Review Commission, that competitive bidding occur and a project cost/benefit analysis be performed prior to project approval. The Recreation and Parks Commission WAIVED those requirements in June, 2007. City Council then executed a 40-year lease with OSU under Emergency legislation provisions, meaning, the action received a grand total of one public reading prior to approval.
Contrary to government statements, the Plan DID NOT authorize Duranceaux as a location for a future boathouse. Check the Plan for yourself, it's available from Recreation and Parks to verify.
Traffic in the park WILL increase significantly as a result of facility rentals (projected to occur 125 nights per-year), endangering children, rowers, and general park users alike.
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resouces DENIED the City's application for grant funding for this project in 2000, indicating that "the project would benefit only a small number of people". Contrary to the record, the public has been told simply that "money was not available".
The "benefits" to taxpayers, i.e. park owners, as indicated by the City are: "shoreline access" and "use of the existing parking lot". These are already available and have been since 1904 and 1998, respectively.
Out-of-pocket costs to the City per public documents total $500,000 and which does not include repair costs to Thoburn Road as a consequence of construction, facility staffing costs or operating costs (as would be known via the 1995 Plan's cost/benefit analysis). This, as compared to the pending closure--for budgetary reasons--of 11 recreation facilities.
Indian Village Day Camp participation has dropped 40% since 2006 and Recreation and Parks has budgeted $0 in funding and zero personnel in 2009 for staffing. In order to meet publicly-stated attendance goals, camp participation must be increased 80% while in a global recession.
Indian Village Drive is the busiest in the park and 10-30 Indian Village camp participants of sub-high school ages per-day, will be required to successfully navigate several hundred yards of the Drive to access and return from the facility. Meanwhile, the City has indicated that both collegiate rowers and adults are incapable of safely crossing 24' of park roadway when accessing the water despite no recorded accidents/incidents involving high school-aged rowers who have been doing so since 2003.
The beneficiaries of the facility total some 200 upper middle class individuals compared to the 747,000 (est. 2005) Columbus taxpayers who own the park and who will lose over 23% of THEIR parkland.
Lastly, is the irony of the project itself. The nexus of the 1995 Plan was the destruction of public land by private property owners along Griggs Reservoir and the 30+ legal prosecutions that followed. Now, some 18 years later, the City plans to do the exact same thing...destroy public property and without legal consequence.
Any more questions?
Posted 3 years ago # -
lifeliberty
Here
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Yes, When does construction start? the sooner the better.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Mercurius
First Avenue
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RealityRob wrote >>
Traffic in the park WILL increase significantly as a result of facility rentals (projected to occur 125 nights per-year), endangering children, rowers, and general park users alike.So what you are saying is the park is going to be used much more than it currently is, hum.
RealityRob wrote >>
The beneficiaries of the facility total some 200 upper middle class individuals compared to the 747,000 (est. 2005) Columbus taxpayers who own the park and who will lose over 23% of THEIR parkland.So basically the crux of your argument is filthy rich people with houses on the river are going to deal with more traffic so OSU students can row? Oh the humanity. I guess you better beef up your electric gates.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Mercurius
First Avenue
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Facts: The city is in the midst of a massive $2.5 billion, 40-year effort to modernize its inadequate sewer system. Part of this involves removing the fifth avenue dam, (which currently provides a reservoir the OSU crew uses.) If the university supported the removal of this dam, it would save well over $500,000 in engineering studies.
http://ohio.sierraclub.org/central/SewerColumbusIndex.asp
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/10/29/OLENDAM.ART_ART_10-29-07_B1_1H8AFCP.html?sid=101Posted 3 years ago # -
RealityRob
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Mercurius--
1. Traffic in the park currently is a MAJOR concern for park users and 15% (120-135 cars per-day) are speeders per the City's 2008 study. That is unsafe for everyone, including rowers but mostly, kids.
2. OSU already rows on Griggs and is already situated there so nothing new. What's different is that the PUBLIC loses land identified by the 1995 Plan as a primary area of public park use with no attendant benefit, land used and paid for by the public since 1904.
3. 5th Avenue dam removal? Hardly germane to the discussion. Since you raise the matter though, you should know that OSU fields 2 rowing programs: (1) OSU Varsity Women (who row at Griggs, i.e. Scioto River) and (2) OSU Club (who row on the Olentangy above 5th Avenue and the dam that enables that to happen).
Please do your homework and become better-informed.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Mercurius
First Avenue
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I live at the corner of Summit and First, where there is a school and your worried about 120 cars? What is the speed limit? 20mph? maybe 25?
So when the dam is removed, it sounds like there is going to be need for increased capacity for rowers on Griggs. Sounds germane to me? You still sound like a NIMBY to me.
Posted 3 years ago # -
RealityRob
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Hardly a NIMBY but rather, a regular user of the waterway AND a rower as well. Moreover, I've been hit by a car and so, have firsthand experience on matters of that type.
Here's the math...
Car @ 2,500 lbs. traveling 20 m.p.h. strikes child weighing 80 lbs. What is the result?
A very simple question re the boathouse...
What does the public get in the bargain?
Posted 3 years ago # -
RealityRob
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Incidentally, Mercurious...
If and when the dam is removed OSU Club is up a creek, literally. Why? Griggs "is at capacity" per the City and so, NO ADDITIONAL BOATS at Griggs.
Care to debate yet another "point"? Again, do your homework, become informed.
Posted 3 years ago # -
alison
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Sounds like the public would (at least indirectly) get increased revenue to the city for rental of the facility, while also increasing useage of the park -- which most people would say is a good thing.
I don't like the idea that any public recreation building is not open to the public for free, but it sounds like there are some real positives to this deal.
Posted 3 years ago #
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