FORT WAYNE RIVERFRONT MONEY PIT WELFARE QUEEN EXPENSIVE BEAST

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http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/local/Council-delays-vote-on-riverfront-design-work-to-address-accountability--funding
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DUKW BOAT/ D-DAY AMPHIBIOUS LANDING CRAFT/ TRANSPPORT VEHICLE
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By Kevin Leininger, kleininger@news-sentinel.com

Wednesday, July 20, 2016 7:35 AM

It will be at least another week before City Council acts on a $1.71 million contract to design the first phase of Fort Wayne's riverfront development project. But the questions raised before council voted 6-3 to delay its anticipated approval will take longer — and be more difficult — to resolve.

At the suggestion of Michael Barranda, R-at large, council deferred a vote on a contract with Design Collaborative Inc. so representatives of the city and the Fort Wayne Community Foundation could develop a mechanism to represent and perhaps attract private donors. Barranda is also a board member at the foundation, which has pledged $3 million of the $12 million raised or pledged to date.

The first phase, however, is expected to cost about $20 million — and Parks and Recreation Director Al Moll said only $3 million or so of that initial $12 million will be available for construction. That means millions more must be raised from various sources, such as the city's Legacy Fund, the Capital Improvement Board, the state's Regional Cities program and private donors like the Community Foundation.

"We had been pushing (the creation of an independent) commission (to manage the project), but I don't think that will fly. But maybe we can form an advisory committee (to give donors more of a voice," Bennett said. About half of the foundation's original $3 million pledge has already been committed on building demolition, improvements to vegetation along the banks and the purchase of two boats that will provide cruises on the rivers: A $550,000 replica of the boats that traveled the Wabash and Erie Canal in the mid-1800s and an amphibious craft that can operate on land or water.

"We'll decide what our next role will be in August, but we won't stop with $3 million," Bennett said.

As The News-Sentinel first reported last month, the $20 million first-phase construction estimate represents a considerable increase over the original $8 million estimate. But when quizzed by council Tuesday, Moll said the added cost reflects a larger, more ambitious project.

"We could have built just a promenade for $8 million, but there would be nothing planned for the north shore (of the St. Mary's River). "The community wouldn't settle for that," Moll said. "People ask, 'Why haven't you turned a shovel yet?' I can't remember anything that has had more community support, but this is a complex project. ."

Current plans include not only a promenade but a park pavilion, event lawn, entry plaza with sculpture, an educational water feature, streetscape improvements, a central plaza, riverfront terraces, an elevated boardwalk, dock and children’s play area. Sweetwater Sound will provide funds for bandshell.

But the relative lack of private investment to date generated questions from Council President Russ Jehl, R-2nd., who noted the current plans lack the entertainment venues envisioned in the city's original $500,000 conceptual vision. "We don't want to build a dead end," Jehl said. "Where do you eat or dink?"

"If we knew it would already be developed," Moll said. "But this is the lynchpin that will set the table for private development. When we built Parkview Field, who knew we would get the Ash center?" Moll added that riverfront improvements should boost the planned redevelopment of the Columbia Street "Landing" just a few blocks from the river, and Ron Dick of Design Collaborative said he's exploring development potential "at the edges and beyond" phase one. Dick also told Jehl parking concerns are being reviewed.

The city is concentrating its effort on public spaces now in part because it cannot use its power of eminent domain for private development. The $20 million construction budget does not include the city's cost of land acquisition, some of which is being challenged in court. But if all goes well, Moll said, construction could begin next summer with completion by late 2018.

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