Ever thought about kayaking to work?
Or are you wandering downtown from the suburbs for dinner and a history lesson at the subway stops in central Ohio?
Or steer a mountain bike over rugged local trails to first-class climbing rocks?
Franklin County could be the perfect place to do all that and more with a vision unveiled on Wednesday at the Columbus Metropolitan Club.
The new initiative, the Rapid 5 Project, proposes improved links between green roads and waterways in the area – including the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers and the Alum Creek, Big Walnut and Big Darby Creek corridors – covering more than 200 miles of hiking trails and cover thousands of hectares, much of which are already publicly owned.
The natural arrangement, if coordinated, would place parks or green spaces, including bike paths and pedestrian paths, within a mile and a half of all Franklin County’s residents, said Keith Myers, vice president of the Ohio State University administration and planning, architecture and real estate bureau Planning.
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Myers chairs Rapid 5, an initiative of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and the Urban Land Institute Columbus.
“The idea is to have a unified greenway system, regardless of the owners,” said Myers. “It’s a system across the county … It would be very, very easy if we could develop this system to connect to every community, neighborhood, and get them all within a mile or two of a large regional park system.”
William Murdock, executive director of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, added, “Often times we don’t think we have one of the greatest green ways in the country … Every corner of the community could be part of” this system. That’s pretty exciting. “
The study included online and email surveys from the Neighborhood Design Center for initial comments, which were made available to five local design firms to come up with broader ideas for using parks and waterways to connect Franklin County’s communities .
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The final results, presented Wednesday at the Columbus Metropolitan Club and contained in a 250-page book with additional details on various proposals, were organized by the five waterway corridors that make up Franklin County:
• The Big Darby Creek region, with “the native landscape connects people with the pristine grasslands of the Ohio Prairie and the forest-lined streams of the Big and Little Darby watersheds”. The plan provides connections on 65 miles of trails, along with bus, tram (and possibly passenger train) services, bike sharing programs, seasonal hot air balloon rides, and even a gondola.
One goal was to establish the area as a regional travel destination, similar to the Napa Valley in California, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, or the Finger Lakes in New York, said Brian Bernstein, director and co-founder of the design firm Realm Collaborative design that focused on Big Darby.
“Come for a day, maybe you will stay for a weekend. Do you go to the little villages along the corridor, go to a tavern for lunch and then walk the path? How do we create more mobility in this … ”he said. “I think we’re just trying to redefine thinking. How do we think differently about how we can experience these great places that are huge and big? “
• The corridor of the Scioto River, with connections from O’Shaughnessy Reservoir and Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in the north to Lockbourne and the river’s confluence with Big Walnut Creek in the south. In between, the plan envisages a new inn and event center, environmental learning facilities, an art park, a state-of-the-art rowing training center and a “whitewater adventure”.
Kim Way, Principal and Director of Urban Design and Planning at NBBJ, Columbus’ architecture firm focused on the Scioto, said one goal is to improve continuity within the corridor through what his company calls Scioto Parkway.
“One of the things that we noticed very early in the process is all of the great assets that were already along the Scioto River …” he said. “We wanted to celebrate this as a central theme by taking all of these existing assets and trying to use the flow to connect them together, but at the same time introduce new assets that would be an attraction to the river.”
• The Olentangy River, with an emphasis on Confluence and other existing parks, a new “cultural hangout” on Bethel Avenue, and a riverside neighborhood along Riverside Drive with transit and other connections.
Andrew Overbeck, director and planner at MKSK, a Columbus-based landscape architecture and town planning office focused on the Olentangy, said opportunities are being missed along the corridor to connect neighborhoods on either side of the river.
“There are places where we have to invite people to the river and do a little more than just drive straight back and forth,” he said. “… We need paths on both sides of the river. This is the only way we can connect the districts in the east and west and not only supply those located directly on the river. “
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• Great walnut stream, with restored wetlands, kayak launches, and focus on existing villages and parks, including Friendship Park, the former location of the Big Walnut Country Club, one of the first early African American country clubs in the country.
Timothy Skinner, a partner at The EDGE Group, Columbus’ landscape architecture and planning office focused on Big Walnut Creek, said most of the area was vacant and not easily accessible to residents.
“There’s that preserved natural beauty right there,” Skinner said. “In many ways, the strategy for this corridor was just these simple connection points, these meaningful access points for the communities to the stream, path systems. In many cases, it’s about keeping your hands off it and maintaining this natural environment. “
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• Alum brook, which, along with natural features and connections, constitutes “one of the most racially diverse waterfront corridors in Central Ohio,” with subway stops and the historic Hanford Village, a once “thriving self-governing black neighborhood” that was badly hit by floods in 1959 and the construction of Interstate 70.
Michael Bongiorno, Vice President and Managing Principal Design Director at AECOM, the Alum Creek engineering office in downtown, described the area as a “hidden gem” that deserves more attention.
“Part of our goal was to uncover the hidden gems along Alum Creek, as well as a significant and tormented story,” he said. “… It is the most racially diverse, the most socioeconomically diverse, and it ranks highest in the Vulnerability Index. So we wanted to use this project as an opportunity to increase the benefits of the stream and align them with the needs of the community … “
Murdock said the overall results provide a vision of how Franklin County could use abandoned green spaces and waterways in ways that incorporate water quality, equity and growth in ways that ultimately benefit all parts of the community.
“We’re talking about telling a story, connecting neighborhoods, and driving growth,” he said. “It’s really different and it’s pretty exciting.”
The groups behind the study plan to receive additional public comment. Myers said it was premature to set a price tag or schedule for the bigger hassle.
“Hopefully it will stimulate a lot of people’s imagination,” Myers said. “It won’t be a big project. But there will always be a series of projects associated with this larger idea. It will happen over time … Given the widespread support from the community, I believe many of these visions are within reach. I don’t think there’s anything in central Ohio that we can’t do if we’re going to do it bad enough, and that’s no different. “
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