Overcoming obstacles
Work on Ontario downtown revitalization moves ahead

By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Thursday, March 13, 2008 1:43 PM PDT

Traffic moves through downtown Ontario Wednesday. A downtown revitalization project appears to be moving forward after city and state officials and a Portland-based consulting firm worked out the details of a monetary challenge regarding costs for a preliminary plan.

Ontario — Despite hitting a recent financial snag, talks between the city, state and a Portland-area consultant regarding the Ontario Downtown Revitalization project are moving forward.

Officials just recently overcame a key financial challenge revolving around the project. The monetary issue erupted when the consultant — Portland’s Cogan, Owens and Cogan LLC, — revised its original price for the planning work on the project.

Interim City Manager Mike Kee cited the barrier in his weekly update.

“We’ve hit a snag on the downtown revitalization project,” he said in the weekly report to the City Council. “It seems that the consultant that was chosen (out of the two who submitted proposals) only provided a “guesstimate” of the total billables. Now that Cheryl (Jarvis-Smith) from ODOT is negotiating with them, the cost suddenly went up $30,000.”

Oregon Department of Transportation Growth Management (TGM) manager Cheryl Jarvis-Smith said Wednesday, though, progress is being made on the issue.

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“We just completed negotiations yesterday,” Jarvis-Smith said. “We submitted the material for the process to the TGM in Salem so that they can put together a formal contract.”

The city’s financial contribution to the project remains uncertain at this point, Ontario Planning and Zoning Administrator Evan MacKenzie said.

“The original price was for $100,000 and does not include in-kind contribution to the city,” MacKenzie said. “It’s fairly unlikely that the city will have to pay. Any city employee who works on the project or costs incurred as part of the project can count as part of the total.”

Cogan has worked with state departments throughout Oregon and Washington. The firm also works with private companies and nonprofit organizations.  Jarvis-Smith said the higher costs involved traffic, graphics and a land use budget.  

ODOT and the city have held a series of transportation discussions since 2006 when it created a transportation system plan for the city.

“It was a broader transportation plan for the city. Now we are getting into the finer points for more specific areas,” Smith said.

One key goal of the project is to create more pedestrian and bike-friendly areas in downtown Ontario.

Jarvis-Smith said the consultant wants to hold a tour of an area bike path and pedestrian walk to give community members an idea of the scope of the project.

“Optimally this will happen in the spring,” Jarvis-Smith said. “The consultant team will conduct the walking and biking tour and coordinate that with the city.

The city manager is planning on biking, and it would be nice to get come City Council representation and support from bike enthusiasts.”

This is not the only way  the consultants will be looking for input however.

“There is an outreach budget,” Jarvis-Smith said. “And other activities to engage the property owner.”

The consultants are also planning a student workshop, where they can meet with students, teachers and schools and learn how to better tie the school’s neighborhoods with downtown. MacKenzie said he is looking toward the future as well.

“We should be able to have this wrapped up within a year,” he said. “However, we may not be able to wrap it up this year because we don’t know when we’ll hit the pavement so to speak. We’re still working on our end here. We’ll have to get multiple subcontractors and review documents. Then the fun begins.”

Ontario’s downtown revitalization project can trace its roots back to 2005 when the city received a grant from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and the Oregon Department of Transportation to hire a consultant and perform a preliminary report on the issue.

After the results of the study were released, city officials decided to pursue a full-blown downtown revitalization and searched for a grants to help fuel the project.