COLUMBIA — Columbia residents soon will have another construction zone to navigate while downtown.
A request by Origin Constructors to close sidewalks and parts of Fifth, Sixth and Elm streets downtown to accommodate construction of a new apartment building overcame a roadblock during Monday night's Columbia City Council meeting as council members voted unanimously to approve the closures, starting Tuesday.
Mayor Brian Treece had proposed an amendment to the budget for fiscal 2017 to begin charging fees when developers close streets and sidewalks. Monday's approval of the closures means any future approval of that amendment will not apply to the project at Sixth and Elm streets.
Origin Constructors, formerly known as Trittenbach Development, asked for permission to close the streets and sidewalks, as well as an alley, to allow construction on the apartments and related parking on the former site of Bengals' Bar and Grill and Casablanca Mediterranean Grill. The closures, which at times during the next year would completely block parts of Elm, South Fifth and South Sixth streets, will begin Tuesday and continue in phases through Aug. 15, 2017. City staff detailed the requests in a report to the City Council.
The council voted to approve the closures while it considers Treece's budget amendment, which calls for charging 20 cents per linear foot of sidewalk and 30 cents per linear foot of street closed per day. Because the amendment is tied to the budget, it wouldn't take effect until Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
Several council members brought up the idea of conditional permits, which would have allowed Origin to begin closing streets without charges but force it to reapply for closure permits if and when the council approved the budget amendment. City Counselor Nancy Thompson, however, said that would require terminating and reconsidering all street closure agreements in the interest of fairness. That prompted the council to shoot down the idea.
Fifth Ward councilwoman Laura Nauser said she didn't believe a conditional permit would be fair to the developers.
"I just don't think that's the way we should be doing business," Nauser said.
First Ward Councilman Clyde Ruffin agreed. "It seems a little bit unethical to treat them in this way," he said. "Plus, Ms. Thompson said that we would have ... to treat everyone the same. It's not just this one project. And that seems to be opening a can of worms that we don't want to deal with."
Origin spokesman Jack Cardetti said the company had no problem with paying fees for sidewalk and road closures on future projects.
"We'll gladly play by the rules as you guys set them," he said. "We just want to know them ahead of time."
Treece during the council debate lamented the situation.
"I guess I'm frustrated that this council sent a very clear message nine weeks ago that we wanted a street closure policy, and instead of a policy we get another street closure," Treece said. "... I also don't want to legislate through the budget, so when can we have a policy?"
City Manager Mike Matthes said that the public process inherently takes time and the staff had hoped to have something in place by the end of September, mirroring the timeline for approving the budget.
The apartment building is exempt from a moratorium on new multi-family housing in the central city because Origin received its construction permits before the council approved that measure in May, city development services Patrick Zenner said.
The developers said they have taken on sewer and stormwater drain work on site. They have also pledged to expand the sidewalks from 5 to 10 feet. Origin hopes to open the new six-story, 261-bed apartment building by fall of 2017.
Supervising editor is Scott Swafford.
