Workshop gathers community thoughts on downtown Columbus

About 100 people attended a workshop yesterday, giving their thoughts on a new plan for downtown Columbus.

The Downtown Columbus 2030 plan is meant to guide the city planners and developers in several specific areas. The plan will expand on previous efforts such as Envision Columbus, which was completed in 2018. Mayor Mary Ferdon said that the goal is to develop actionable items at specifically targeted spots in the city.

The efforts kicked off in November and the city has contracted with the Sasaki engineering firm from Boston and a Chicago financial firm, SB Friedman, to take a fresh look at the city efforts to revitalize the downtown area.

The workshop at the Commons yesterday included the public giving their thoughts on specific problem areas, what they use the downtown for and what they see as the role of downtown. Results from the workshop will be compiled and will guide the new plan, city officials said.

Representatives of Sasaki said that the workshop signals the wrapping up of the analysis and needs assessment phase of the project. next will be the development of the downtown plan in February and March. The study is expected to be completed and presented to the city in June.

You can get more information at downtowncolumbus2030.com.

Photo: About 100 people took part in a workshop to develop a new plan for downtown Columbus Thursday. White River Broadcasting photos.