RiverEdge Park Phase 1 - Music Garden(Master Plan Excerpt)
On Tuesday, the Aurora City Council voted 9-2 to increase costs by about $332,000 up to $1.7 million for Phase 1 of the proposed 10 acre "RiverEdge Park" on Rt. 25 (Broadway) that is primarily to include a "music garden" to host events such as Downtown Alive.
$1.7 million is the cost of the design and "public outreach," not the actual construction, which is expected to be approximately $12 million for Phase 1.
4th Ward Alderman Rick Lawrence reportedly questioned the increased design cost since the vast majority of the project includes walkways, landscape and a stage with a small building. He cautioned against the pace of spending.
City staff member Stephanie Phifer, who says there has been extensive public input and public meetings into the park design between staff and "stakeholders" told the Aurora City Council the design costs were reasonable, they will seek donors toward the project later and renderings of the designs would not be available until a donor package was ready.
According to the Daily Herald, the City Council approved various land swaps between the City of Aurora and Fox Valley Park District to provide for a contiguous land parcel for the park. The City of Aurora will also pay ComEd about $1.3 million for various electrical work.
As part of the deal, Fox Valley Park District would get free use of the park and music garden for their own purposes 8 times per year at no charge. Downtown Alive, which is being moved to Galena Boulevard in 2009, would be moved to the new park's music garden with an estimated capacity of 8,500.
The original design included large tension structures and other amenities that have since been changed and/or reduced by recommendations by a "committee of stakeholders" that has apparently been meeting and selecting what should or shouldn't go into the park.
One of the unknown factors related to the park involves the donors who were supposed to have funded most of the cost. Thus far, donors have not stepped forward for the park as expected and city staff claims it will be necessary to build Phase 1 first and then seek donors.
NOTES:
>Daily Herald on land swaps
>According to viewers, City Council members voted as follows: Alderman Lawrence and Alderman Irvin voted NO. The rest of the City Council asked no questions on the increased costs and voted YES.
>Downtown Alive will move to Galena Boulevard in 2009
$1.7 million is the cost of the design and "public outreach," not the actual construction, which is expected to be approximately $12 million for Phase 1.
4th Ward Alderman Rick Lawrence reportedly questioned the increased design cost since the vast majority of the project includes walkways, landscape and a stage with a small building. He cautioned against the pace of spending.
City staff member Stephanie Phifer, who says there has been extensive public input and public meetings into the park design between staff and "stakeholders" told the Aurora City Council the design costs were reasonable, they will seek donors toward the project later and renderings of the designs would not be available until a donor package was ready.
According to the Daily Herald, the City Council approved various land swaps between the City of Aurora and Fox Valley Park District to provide for a contiguous land parcel for the park. The City of Aurora will also pay ComEd about $1.3 million for various electrical work.
As part of the deal, Fox Valley Park District would get free use of the park and music garden for their own purposes 8 times per year at no charge. Downtown Alive, which is being moved to Galena Boulevard in 2009, would be moved to the new park's music garden with an estimated capacity of 8,500.
The original design included large tension structures and other amenities that have since been changed and/or reduced by recommendations by a "committee of stakeholders" that has apparently been meeting and selecting what should or shouldn't go into the park.
One of the unknown factors related to the park involves the donors who were supposed to have funded most of the cost. Thus far, donors have not stepped forward for the park as expected and city staff claims it will be necessary to build Phase 1 first and then seek donors.
NOTES:
>Daily Herald on land swaps
>According to viewers, City Council members voted as follows: Alderman Lawrence and Alderman Irvin voted NO. The rest of the City Council asked no questions on the increased costs and voted YES.
>Downtown Alive will move to Galena Boulevard in 2009
42 comments:
$1.7 mln for design costs?
Wow! How did one manage a bill of that size?
My architectural firm would have definitely done it all at 35% of your cost.
How does one get selected for providing design services for these huge projects.
I do wonder, what's the 'payback' for these projects?
Given turmoil times, I believe there surly are better projects...
Ok, how much more is my property bill going to increase just to build another park for the mexicans?
Lets see now, jobs are being lost, income is down, taxes are already too high and the assholes on the council want to spend more on a monument to the WHIZZ, and give property away as in the next post. Whats wrong with this picture? Hint:you voted to keep the status quo.
Am I missing something?
Who voted this silly park project in - a few incompetent people or the entire city?
I'm wondering - what's the job description for the Aurorian City Council because it appears that 'strategy' as a skill is clearly missing...
Be prepared for higher taxes folks. They may have to confiscate your homes for money... but at least there's a new park to camp out in - sorted!
This is just plan NUTS!
It proves to me that Kifowit is a moron once and for all and has no political future with votes like this.
Lawrence always thinks of the taxpayer first and he has done well on the council. He should have continued his bid for mayor.
Irvin may becoming back and giving us some hope here.
I almost wrote him off completely this last election, but he does have some promise and this No vote shows that.
As for the rest of the council, They should all be sued for attempting to use a brain without a license. Can you sue city council for malpractice?
This losers need to be relieved of their duty, They are more the problem than TOMMY boy! I mean his is a loser liberal political hack. The others are just plan leaches on society, collecting a check from out money and doing nothing but dragging this town down and backwards in the process.
Are pissed enough yet people to finally wake up and do something?
I predict Aurora will have higher taxes than Chicago by the end of TW's term.
Where was all this public outreach??? I never heard anything about it and I consider myself aware.
Do you have to be friends with Wally Mundy to be part of the "committee" or can you be a normal taxpayer?
$1.7 million design fees for mostly grass, sidewalks and trees???
What? Please tell me someone is making this up and the real number is $1.7 million for the whole park.
Why does the city expect taxpayers to foot the bill for all this nonsense if the donors are willing to do so?
This park isn't "necessary" like a police station or library. In fact, the Fox Valley Park District already owned some of the land and they should have been given the entire land parcel, so the costs would have been incurred by everyone who lives in the park district, which includes people outside of Aurora.
This park design is silly. If they really want to increase attendance for Downtown Alive, creating a venue with limited capacity and no parking is not the way.
What kind of idiots are on this park committee?
I'm sure the mayor had good intentions with the park but it's going to be a flop for several reasons.
Putting in THAT location doesn't work at all. That prime riverfront land would have been much better for condos across the train station.
I was at the city council meeting last night. Stephanie Phifer, the city staff person who was defending the waste of money, is terrible and didn't answer questions in a straight-forward manner.
I agree Weisner probably had good intentions with this park, but you've got all kinds of people looking to cash in like Wally Mundy.
Lawrence was the only one, as usual, sticking himself out for the best interests of taxpayers. The rest of the city council sat there like complete mutes.
Schuler, Garza, Kifowit, Peters, O'Connor, Saville, Hart-Burns, Mervine, Keith and Elmore are all completely useless. Irvin didn't say a word, but at least voted against the increased costs.
Kifowit is turning out to be such a hypocrite.
Why does the Fox Valley Park District get 8 events for free each year? Who's stupid idea was that?
Did one have to be "invited" to be part of the park committee? Who's on this so-called committee?
Where is the list of them? Were all their meetings published and open to public, pursuant to the Open Meetings Act since my taxdollars are being spent on it???
Can't claim there was all this public outreach when nobody in the public seems to have been included unless you are one of the "chosen" few.
If Aurora wants to transform itself and invest funds, do it with something like a bold library.
The park should have been a joint project with the PARK district. Otherwise, why do have the park district???
Didn't we already spend money for a band shell in the park across from the Police station? What happened to that park and band shell? I think they used it at least once back in the early 80s now where is it. Wasteful politicians paying off their buddies. never stops.
12 million for a 10 acre park.
1.2 million per acre for mostly grass.
Yep, this park is going to a momument to wild spending.
I'm all for a nice park somewhere (this location is idiotic), but the park is not the first priority. We are spending far too much on a police station.
I'd much rather see investment into a new library for downtown that will serve far more people than a tiny music garden. Instead of pouring all this money into a park or police palace, we should be investing in making Aurora into a center for knowledge instead of monuments to crime and drunk people listening to cover bands.
I'd much rather see these funds put toward a state-of-the-art library, hotel and convention center on River Street. We then need to start dismantling the decaying structures around downtown and allow for 21st century design.
The city has many better things to spend money on than this park. Weisner is looking for a spot to put his name and this park is it. Wake up alderman. How can you cut anyones budget when you spend money on silly projects like this.
Hey openline, wake up! The Mayor's race is over and Weisner won -- by your account "by a landslide". We have already spent most of the money and this was an additional $330K. What would you like? An unfinished project? Sounds like to me the residents have spoken very clear -- keep Weisner, keep spending money, keep the park and Shodeen. It's Rick Lawrence who has to realize that he didn't run for Mayor nor will he ever be Mayor.
Can we just rename this blog to "I LOVE RICK LAWRENCE"? It seems appropriate.
What happened to the new AHA head? She doesn't go to her office any more and Jean Federman is Acting E.D.
Hey Rick, you weren't so concerned when you were sucking up to Weisner before the election or going to his fundraisers. Now the election is over, you're going to grand stand again? Typical phony.
Kiffy was alleged saying, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
I guess you're on your own Rick.
It is amazing that this city can build new parks, condos and other things and not really better the city. Here it is summer time and on the East side we have people walking up and down the streets selling cotton candy. Even though the city thinks they have made all landlords get licenses for their properties in the city we still have people renting out rooms to who knows. This city ignores the East side. Just as some has mentioned in the Beacons Openline you can go down certain streets with cars lined up and down the streets. Single family homes with dumpsters out for trash pick up. Many cars in the driveways blocking the side walks daily. We had a US Senator calling out the East Aurora School District violating the NCLB ACT and the community just turns their heads.
What we get is a RiverEdge Park that is going to cost taxpayers more than they said it would when we have a high foreclosure right in Aurora. Just look at all the foreclosures in the Hometown subdivision that was suppose to help district 131. Do you really think that land Bigelow gave to the district is going to be worth now what they said.
Before we build anything else in this town lets make it someplace where people really want to live.
11:20 - actually Rick wanted to spend even more. At the previous city council meeting he kept saying he could not believe he was saying this but maybe they should consider spending more to make sure this was THE definitive suburban park.
Rick is a good guy, but he has his head up his ass on taxes and spending at times. Remember he not only voted for the MASSIVE school tax increase he he railroaded it through.
How does one sue the government for not acting responsibly? Time to turn this over to global media to highlight where the 1.8 gazillion dollars is being buried... literally.
Aurora, someone's smok'n grass out there....
Better put in some bridges so the bums and homeless that are attracted to Aurora have something to sleep under to keep the dew off them.
11:52 you are so right! I remember Rick saying that. He wanted to spend more money so that it looked like Millenium Park and when it doesn't look like it now he's complaining.
I'm trying to understand something.
At Tuesday's city council meeting, Stephanie Phifer kept screaming a bunch of things about the park as if she was trying to cover-up the reality.
Has the park design dramatically changed from the original plan and, if so, why???
Who is making these decisions?
Yes, the park design was actually scaled back and made cheaper. Last council meeting, Rick Lawrence wanted the more expensive design. He's a flip flopper.
Rick didn't say "spend more money" at all. He said let's do this right if we are going to do it at all. Anyone who was at Tuesday's city council meeting, which was at capacity, can tell you Rick was the ONLY one speaking up to protect taxpayers.
The park was supposed to be $15 million for the first phase and had a very elaborate design.
The new design is radically scaled back, but still costs $12 million.
Kifowit was against the park during the campaign. She's the flip-flopper. She voted for that stupid Elks Club deal, too.
If the design is being downsized by 75%, shouldn't the costs be downsized as well? From what I can tell, this is a very simple park that maybe should cost a couple million total with everything, including design.
Where's Wally Mundy in the middle of all this? Is his landscaping firm the reason this is still going to cost so much?
Isn't it a conflict-of-interest for him to be involved in the planning and then be a contractor?
Here's my solution to the park.
Go back to the original design (or better) instead of this useless one.
Before we waste a ton of money on construction, move the entire site to where the Shodeen project was supposed to be (and will never happen). That would allow us to recoup the millions we've spent trying to clean up that site without any return.
Build the park in five phases with the initial one to make a clean slate. That site will have much more room (17 acres vs. 10 acres).
Then, take the current park site and open it up to bids from private developers to build a master-planned condo development directly across the train station. Let Shodeen get a shot at it, too.
That way, we will have both a park and condo development on the east side of downtown MUCH faster. Vantreese made River Street Plaza happen in less than two years. He proved you could do a successful mixed-use development fast and if he does on the east side of downtown what he's started on the west side, we have transformation all over.
The area across the train station is too narrow for a park. The Shodeen site could actually be more like Millenium Park and is actually bigger by 1 acre.
There you go, Aurora. No charge, but if you proceed with this RiverEdge Park where it's being planned, you've destroyed your best opportunity to develop on the east side of downtown forever.
Here is what the park should be - a nice well manicured stretch along the river with some oak trees or something. The citizens should be able to see the river and enjoy some shade - end of story. The current design has a giant sound wall to stop the traffic noise from mixing with the concert noise - that just obstructs the view. Traffic does not flow in downtown, parking is limited, this is a stupid, stupid idea.
Hey 5/28/09 11:15 AM the campaign is over, this is what the people want. Wasting money Weisner. The park was already approved (Kifowit voted against it) but if it's a done deal what's the use of voting against it???
I think the Elks Club deal sounds like a decent deal. Rick Lawrence just likes to vote no.
I like Burnham's idea. It makes more sense than anything else I've heard. Move the park to the Shodeen site and let the area across the train station be developed into condos or just keep it open for now.
The flood plain across from the train station would make condos impossible to build. To be honest, that ground is terrible for any building to be on. The park is a good use for that site; however, the Shodeen site will never be used and common sense dictates to put a park on contaminated land. However, the point is that nothing is going to change where the park is. Maybe if Weisner didn't get reelected (and he did thanks to Vantreese and Lawrence's help along with the other pay-to-play guys) then we might have been able to make sense in this City. But Weisner is in for another four years so quit bitchin and live with it.
Can anyone explain to me why the city should have a downtown alive or a park that is for anything other than enjoying nature? If you want to see a concert go see one at a place designed for the purpose that was built with private money - try Vegas for instance.
What a brilliant idea putting a park on the flood plain. Probably won't be able to get insurance on it either and then every so many years will have to rebuild and REPLANT it..great.
Thanks Lawrence, Vantreese, Mundy Landscaping and everyone who helped elect Weisner. It's Weisner's plan.
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