Columbus: Whittier Peninsula Park Plan

[rider]

Audubon Center breaks ground
Thursday, April 24, 2008
DAVID J. CROSS, ThisWeek Staff Writer

Officials from the Grange Insurance Audubon Center celebrated the groundbreaking for a new facility Tuesday with an Earth Day tree planting.  The 18,000-square foot center, located at Scioto Audubon Metro Park on the Whittier Peninsula, is expected to be completed late spring 2009.

The event also marked the start of the not-for-profit's fundraising campaign. To date public and private donations have contributed about $13-million to the center's $14.5-million goal. The organization is looking to the public to help close the funding gap.

Read more at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?story=sites/thisweeknews/042408/GermanVillage/News/042408-News-529146.html

[rider]

'Green' features to help Audubon center blend in with park
Monday, May 5, 2008 - 6:31 AM
By Mike Pramik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The $14.5 million Audubon center will sit on 5 acres in the 84-acre Scioto Audubon Metro Park, which is under construction on the Downtown peninsula.  The purpose of the 18,000-square-foot center revolves around the environment.  One of the primary examples is the site's use of rainwater.  Improper storm-water runoff can flood sewer systems and erode streams and rivers.  The Audubon center will reduce runoff by directing it into a rain garden just off the main walkway into the building.

Rain from the building's roof will be directed to the garden by four open downspouts that will run under the walkway and empty into the rain garden.  From there, water will be sent to a manmade wetland.  Bioswales, or shallow depressions, will collect excess rainwater from the parking lot, which will be made of a permeable material painted a light color to reduce heat.  Other "green" aspects of the building include:

• A roof that has vegetation growing in parts, which slows the absorption of water and reduces heat.

• A narrow building form, which maximizes ambient sunlight, allowing for reduced energy costs.

• Sloped portions of the roof, which will accommodate future solar cells that can power the building.





Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2008/05/05/ZONE0505.ART_ART_05-05-08_C10_8LA3FEO.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101

[rider]

^ The Grange Insurance Audubon Center on the Whittier Peninsula won a Columbus AIA green design award...

DesignGroup honored for 'green' design
Business First of Columbus
Brian R. Ball, Business First
Friday, May 2, 2008

The Columbus chapter of the American Institute of Architects recognized the firms April 29 with Designing Toward Sustainability awards.  DesignGroup won for the Grange Insurance Audubon Center under construction west of the Brewery District downtown.  DesignGroup beat out six other entries of unbuilt projects with its 18,000-square-foot nature education center, part of a bird sanctuary and park being developed by Audubon Ohio, the Columbus Department of Recreation and Parks and the Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District.

The education center, set for a mid-2009 opening, will include a geothermal heat exchange and feature a rooftop garden designed to reduce heat reflection and absorb rain water.  The center also is being built using recycled materials.



Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/05/05/story13.html

[rider]

Nice update of the Audubon Center under construction on the Whittier Peninsula site just south of downtown Columbus from CapCitySavvy.com

Link: http://capcitysavvy.com/2008/06/04/whittier-audubon-center/


And there's also a website up for the project at http://www.grangeinsuranceauduboncenter.org/index.htm

[noozer]

Metro Parks budget includes work on new park, trail
Monday,  November 24, 2008 1:52 PM
By Mark Ferenchik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Franklin County Metro Parks plans to spend $35.6 million next year, a 24 percent increase over this year's budget.  Major projects are to include continuing to develop the Scioto Audubon Metro Park and constructing a 7-mile trail in western Franklin County.

Metro Parks will spend $1.5 million on the new Scioto Audubon Metro Park south of Downtown. Projects could include a new boat ramp, shelters, more trails and a climbing wall.

The property tax, the single largest source of revenue, is expected to generate $12.7 million next year, a 12 percent drop from 2008.  Grants and state money are other main sources of income.

Read more at http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/11/24/parkbudget24.html?sid=101

[CMH_Downtown]

Here's the latest rendering of the Scioto Audubon Metro Park:



I think it looks fantastic. It would be nice to have such a varying range of activities so close to the center of town.

[jking222222]

That is pretty cool - A disc golf course downtown??? Awesome... Right next to the train tracks??? Awesome...
Won't have to drive all the way out to the suburbs to play a little Frisbee golf anymore.

[J.Remy]

are we seeing the new 70/71 configuration here? 

The only thing I do not like about this park is that it doesn't seem too accessible, it seems to be out of the way.

[rider]

Some photos and a update on the Grange Insurance Audubon Center at the Whittier Peninsula from Columbus Alive...

Whittier Peninsula construction update
http://blog.columbusalive.com/RiotAct/2009/03/nature_notes_whittier_peninsul.shtml

Front view of center from Whittier Street



The rear view from Whittier Street



Wetland cells to the east of the building were put in last year

[rider]

Grange Insurance Audubon Center on track to open this summer
Business First of Columbus - by Jeff Bell
Saturday, April 4, 2009, 12:01am EDT

Heather Starck is counting the days until windows are installed in the library on the north side of the Grange Insurance Audubon Center.  “It’s an awesome view of downtown,” said Starck, the center’s director, as she peeked through the covered window frames.  Besides the city skyline, the library will offer visitors views of wetlands, a nature trail, geothermal well field and green space in the new Scioto Audubon Metro Park when it opens this summer.  The view opens the window on what the park is meant to be: An 84-acre nature area anchored by an educational center only a mile from the concrete and steel of downtown.

The park will be one of the first in National Audubon Society history to bring a nature conservation area and education center into the core of a major city.  It‘s being built on a former industrial site on the Whittier Peninsula along the Scioto River and next to the city’s vehicle impound lot, which will be relocated to clear more space for the park.  “It’s a neat place to talk about stewardship of the environment,” Starck said, “because the two – nature and an urban setting – coexist on the site. That’s really a strong message for us.”

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/04/06/story2.html#

[rider]

SLIDESHOW

Here's a close-up view of the "bird pattern detail" on the Audubon Center's windows.

Caption: Looking as if he’s surrounded by birds in flight, glazier Michael Comer seals windows on the Grange Insurance Audubon Center.  The windows are actually etched with images of birds.  The $7.8 million center will anchor the Scioto Audubon Metro Park on the Whittier Peninsula, which is scheduled to open on Aug. 28.

[rider]

Autos still on the Audubon
Columbus can't move city impounding lot before park opens
Thursday,  May 7, 2009 - 3:14 AM
By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

When it opens Aug. 28, the new Scioto Audubon Metro Park will offer visitors spectacular views of birds, aquatic wildlife and the Downtown skyline.  And rows of dented, rusting cars in the city's impounding lot.  That view might last a while.  The city doesn't have the $4.6 million to build a new lot south of Rt. 104 between the Scioto River and S. High St., Joel S. Taylor, finance and management director, said yesterday. 

The $7.8 million, 18,000-square-foot Grange Insurance Audubon Center that anchors the park is nearly finished, said Heather Starck, the center's director.  Audubon Ohio raised $14.5 million for the center, Starck said.  Beyond construction, the money will pay for start-up and operating costs.

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/05/07/audubon.ART_ART_05-07-09_B1_PFDPJBP.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101

[rider]

Replying to the "Autos still on the Audubon: Columbus can't move city impounding lot before park opens" article I posted above.  

I am normally sympathetic toward to the difficulties government has in getting big projects done, like the Whittier Peninsula Park.  But I am not willing to give the City of Columbus a free pass on this news.  The construction of the Audubon Center and the planned relocation of the city impound lots have been known for years.  The City has already purchased the new impound lot property.  But now they can't scrounge up the cash to move the lots when the Center and Park are finished! 

I know the City's got budget problems, but were aren't talking about I-70/71 split costs for a new impound lot.  A new impound lot consists of a gravel parking lot, a chain-link fence and a utilitarian building.  For this the City estimated $4.6 million.  That seems way too much.  But even if we accept the City's high-ball estimate, they still should live up to their commitment. 

The other groups involved with this project lived up to their commitments.  Audubon Ohio came through with $14 million.  Franklin County Metro Parks came through with $10 million.  They've got limited budgets to work with too.  But they got the job done.

The City has the least to do.  They just need to move the cars off the property.  They don't even need to clean up the old impound lots.  Metro Parks will be doing that.  All the City needs to do on this project is to get out of the way.  And the City couldn't even manage that!  Plain and simply, the City of Columbus screwed up on this one!

[rider]

Area projects win Clean Ohio awards

Two central Ohio projects have won 2009 Clean Ohio Fund Impact Awards, the Ohio Department of Development announced last week.  The Gowdy Field-Time Warner Cable regional headquarters project won the award for best site redevelopment in a major city.

The second award, for best environmental stewardship, went to the Whittier Peninsula project, a Metro Parks effort in Columbus.  The city and Metro Parks included the property in the 2000 Riverfront Development Plan that included commercial and residential development as well as a park project.  Five years later, Metro Parks received a $742,500 grant to help clean up the site.  Now, the peninsula is being developed into an urban park.

Read more at http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/05/18/monday.html?sid=101

[WalkerEvans]

New Audubon Center Nears Completion
By Walker | July 14, 2009



Construction on the area around the new Grange Insurance Audubon Center has been over three years in the making, and the long wait is about to finally pay off. The new conservation and nature center will be hosting their Grand Opening on August 28th. The 18,000-square foot center marks just a small piece of the larger ongoing redevelopment of the Scioto Audubon Metro Park that will eventually take up nearly all of the land west of the railroad tracks on the Whittier Peninsula.

We recently chatted with Heather Starck, Director of the Audubon Center, to find out more about what to expect from this new urban amenity.

READ MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/new-audubon-center-nears-completion

[rider]

Grange Insurance Audubon Center opens
Business First of Columbus
Friday, August 28, 2009, 11:08am EDT

The 18,000-square-foot Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus’ Scioto Audubon Metro Park opened Friday, following years of development and fundraising.  City, state and private-sector officials, including Gov. Ted Strickland, Mayor Mike Coleman and Grange Mutual Casualty Group CEO Phil Urban, were set to attend a grand opening celebration at the center Friday morning.  The education facility is the anchor of the 84-acre Scioto Audubon park, a former industrial site on the Whittier Peninsula along the Scioto River.

Plans for the park and the center have been in the works for much of this decade, a major milestone coming in 2006 when Grange donated $4 million to the project to secure naming rights to the center.  Other major donors to the $14.5 million project include American Electric Power Company, Franklin County and Limited Brands.

The project was devised by Audubon Ohio, Franklin County Metro Parks and the city.  Its key focus is on educating children in area schools with the help of classrooms, nature exhibits and outdoor programming.  More details on the center are available at its Web site http://grange.audubon.org/.

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/08/24/daily34.html?surround=lfn

[kingfish out of water]

That's a neat-looking facility, and completely accessible from the bike path. Very cool.

[rider]

Nature's new showcase: Scioto Audubon Metro Park, visitors center open to public
Saturday,  August 29, 2009 - 3:09 AM
By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

The new Scioto Audubon Metro Park and Grange Insurance Audubon Center opened yesterday along the Scioto River.  Metro Parks has spent more than $11 million on the park, including $8.5 million to clean up the former industrial site, demolish buildings, renovate the boat ramp and clean up the wetlands.  The remaining $2.5 million was used to buy property.

There's still work to do.  Metro Parks plans to finish a climbing wall by fall.  Other attractions, including teaching areas, are pending.  But there are trails and an observation deck where visitors spotted nine herons yesterday.  And the center's gift shop and library are open.  It's unclear when the city will move its impounding lot off the peninsula.  Parks officials hoped it would be gone by the end of next year, but Mayor Michael B. Coleman said yesterday that he wasn't sure.

Grange Insurance spent $4 million for the naming rights to the Audubon center.  Franklin County provided $1.5 million for the $14.5 million project, as did American Electric Power.  Limited Brands contributed $1 million, and the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, $810,000.

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/08/29/SCIOTOAUDUBON.ART_ART_08-29-09_B1_7QETH8K.html?sid=101

[rider]

Nature's new showcase: Scioto Audubon Metro Park, visitors center open to public

Photos from the above article:


A ceremony marks the opening of the new Metro Parks site on the Whittier Peninsula.  The Grange Insurance Audubon Center includes a library, gift shop and observation deck.



Nick Yocca plants a green roof at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center.
     


GRANGE INSURANCE AUDUBON CENTER
505 W. Whittier Street - http://www.grangeinsuranceauduboncenter.org
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
ADMISSION: Free

SCIOTO AUDUBON METRO PARK
395 W. Whittier Street - http://www.metroparks.net/ParksSciotoAudubon.aspx
HOURS: Open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. through September and 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. in October.
ADMISSION: Free

[CMH_Downtown]

The completed building looks great; even better than the renderings. I'm anxious to check the place out in person. Looking forward to when the grounds of the entire park is completed.

[rider]

Some more photos of the brand new Grange Insurance Audubon Center.

 
Two views of the Center's signage and entry from Whittier Street.


 
Two views of a low stone wall leading to the Center's entrance walkway.



 
Two views of the entrance walkway leading to the front door.

 

 
Two types of unique rain downspouts at the Center.



 
Interior views of the Center.



 
Views from the interior toward downtown through two different types of windows.



 
View toward Downtown Columbus from the Center and an observation deck over the Scioto River next to the Center.

[WalkerEvans]

Nice photos!

[rider]

Thanks.  The Scioto Metro Park and the Grange Audubon Center are really great places to visit.  If anyone has business downtown or is visiting downtown, the Audubon Center and the Metro Park are now wonderful nearby sites that offer a change of pace.  Fascinating views back to the downtown and a place to enjoy nature.  It's good now, but I only see this getting better in the future. 

It is managed by Central Ohio Metro Parks.  Metro Parks is arguably the highest quality public organization in central Ohio.  The Scioto Audubon Park is one of 15 parks managed by Metro Parks in the central Ohio region.  For more information on Metro Parks see this thread.  This is their first "urban-style" park.  But they are getting this park started using their standard pattern for all their other parks.  It's a methodical step-by-step process that starts with land acquisition, fund raising, long-range planning, building initial facilities and then is followed up with continued maintenance and continued improvements and additions to the park. 

That's why I'm so positive about the future of this center and this park.  Metro Parks is a top notch professional organization that takes care of their properties and is always looking to improve their properties and the public experience.  As good as this park is now, it will be even better in 10 years. 

[rider]

And one more piece of good news for the Scioto Metro Park and Grange Audubon Center.  As was reported earlier, the City of Columbus was not able to move its impound lot before the park opened.  However, it now looks like the City is getting their act together and has announced a date for the impound lot to move from the Whittier Peninsula.  See the excerpt from yesterday's article below.


Impound-lot move is back on
February 2011 new target for exit from Whittier Peninsula
Wednesday,  September 23, 2009
By Robert Vitale, The Columbus Dispatch

Six months after the original target to open a vehicle-impounding lot on the South Side, Columbus officials are beginning to plan the move.  The new timeline to vacate the Whittier Peninsula, home to the recently opened Scioto Audubon Metro Park and Grange Insurance Audubon Center, is February 2011.  On Monday, City Council members approved a $4.6 million construction contract for the new impounding lot, which will be about 2 miles south.  The move will allow the Audubon park to more than double in size from its current 70-plus acres. 

Full story at http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/09/23/impoundlot.ART_ART_09-23-09_B1_8HF5K8I.html?sid=101

[LAsam]

I can't believe they STILL haven't moved that impound lot... rediculous.  Very happy though to see Whittier Peninsula getting fixed up, and I agree that Metro Parks is an amazing organization!

[rider]

From http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/whittier-peninsula-climbing-wall-to-open-next-week-nov-7th-maybe

Whittier Peninsula climbing wall to open next week