Still no money spent from Columbia public inconvenience fee
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Nearly eight years into the city charging developers for closing streets, sidewalks and parking downtown, Columbia has not spent any of the money collected.
Records obtained by ABC 17 News show that the city now has more than $258,000 from developers performing projects downtown. The money, which must be used to make repairs to streets, sidewalks or parking, has not yet been spent. That includes $10,189.55 in the street fund, $221,287.81 in the sidewalk fund and $27,310.80 in the parking fund.
The Columbia City Council implemented the fee in December 2016. The city charges developers a fee per linear foot of street or sidewalk closed and for each parking spot taken during construction projects. The council at the time said the additional fee would help speed up projects that inconvenience the public downtown.
Since then, though, none of the money collected has gone toward its corresponding projects. Public Works spokesman John Ogan said the funds simply don't have enough money to be put to use yet.
"At this time, we're still waiting for the fund to grow before any decisions can be made," Ogan said.
Matt Jenne, co-owner of Addison's downtown, can see a road and sidewalk closure out of the front windows of his restaurant on Cherry Street. Companies have done work on the roof of the Tiger Hotel since Aug. 12. Jenne said he wasn't notified of the closure when it started, and hoped to get better communication from the city on when a crew needed to close the road or sidewalk near them.
"If we could've put signs on the corners saying, 'Hey, we're still open,' that would actually help us make sure that our customers realize that when they get to the 'Road Closed' sign, that there's still an opportunity to get through and come to us," Jenne said.
While the city did warn the public about the closure from Aug. 19-23, Ogan told ABC 17 News that his office wasn't notified by the city's right-of-way specialist about the closure the week prior.
Some of the public inconvenience fee money could go back to helping businesses inconvenienced by the work, said Downtown Community Improvement District director Nickie Davis. Such a measure would require the council to expand the current allowed uses of the money. She said lengthy construction work can take a toll on businesses in or near the construction zones that may deter people from even venturing to those parts of downtown.
"While we love to see our city grow, it's definitely hard for our businesses to survive during those times," Davis said.
Jenne said the Downtown CID could tap those funds, if allowed, to help market the downtown area to residents. He said he felt downtown has developed a reputation as an area geared more toward college student experiences, and that some marketing could help bring people back that might be avoiding the area.
Jenne said the city might consider using the sidewalk fund money to help businesses expand or establish outside dining options.
"The goal is to improve downtown, to make our district, our downtown area, to be attractive to as many people as possible," Jenne said. "And if those funds are available, hopefully that's the spirit of what they're trying to accomplish."
