JASPER — Proposed improvements to Courthouse Square in downtown Jasper could cost between $4.3 and $5.9 million, officials revealed this morning at the regular meeting of the Jasper Redevelopment Commission.
Kevin Osburn of Indianapolis firm Rundell Ernstberger Associates reviewed the design with commission members and explained the various components of a project that has been discussed by city officials since the concept was included as part of a downtown and riverfront master plan formulated in 2013.
“This design has evolved to the notion of making the Square more pedestrian friendly and safe,” Osburn said. “It’s much safer for pedestrians.”
The proposal was shown to the public May 24.
In the design, the street surrounding the county courthouse, named Courthouse Square, is reduced to 26 feet wide and made more into a square shape. The Square and streets feeding into the Square are made of brick instead of asphalt currently in place. The side streets — Main Street and Sixth Street — are reduced to 24 feet. The side streets’ intersection with Courthouse Square are at an elevation, with the Square being slightly higher than the streets.
The design includes parallel parking replacing the angled parking on the side streets, though there has been discussion about keeping angled parking; that issue is still being discussed, commission member Andy Seger said this morning.
The sidewalks would be widened. Instead of having curbs, a 6-foot strip of brick would separate the sidewalk from the parking spaces. That strip would be a different color brick and have greenery and small structure acting as a barrier between the sidewalk and street.
“It has a traffic-calming effect that slows the traffic going around the Square,” Osburn said. “Just simply the change in the pavement itself will say to cars and other vehicles that are entering the Square that this is a unique location within the city. This is not simply a standard roadway. This is more of a pedestrian plaza that we’re entering.”
The brick would extend down each side street and include the intersections of Sixth and Newton streets, Main and Fifth streets, Sixth and Jackson streets, and Main and Seventh streets.
The Square would include congregating areas, called nodes, in each corner of the Square as well as at each corner of the county courthouse site. All but one of the eight nodes is designed to have seating. The northeast node, the one closest to Jasper City Hall, is a small street-level stage that could be used for public events; the flagpoles and time capsule at that corner are to remain in the area.
The base design — including the demolition work, improvements to the 80-plus-year-old utilities under the streets and sidewalks, construction and landscaping — is estimated to cost roughly $4.3 million. With the alternate designs that could be added in the project — furnishings for the nodes, and additions like the monument markers at the corners entering into the Square — the cost could increase to roughly $5.9 million.
The commission hired Indiana 15 Regional Planning Commission to write the application to apply for $1 million in grant funding from the state. The Indiana General Assembly created the matching grant program this past session. The program will be available for three years, with the first round of funding, $184 million, to be given out this year. The grant is a dollar-for-dollar match, and applications for the funding are due by July 15. The original deadline was July 3, but the state changed the date, City Attorney Renee Kabrick told the commission this morning.
The city is planning to use $1 million of state local option income tax surplus funding the state is sending back to the city, another decision made by the General Assembly this past session. City officials have also asked Dubois County officials to use $500,000 of the local option income tax funding the county is receiving from the state on the project and to apply for a $500,000 match.
The city is planning to continue with the project, whether or not the city gets the grant funding. The money could come from a combination of different sources, such as the city’s economic development income tax fund and the Jasper LEADs fundraising effort currently going on. Jasper LEADs — which stands for library, enrichment, arts and downtown — is an effort to raise a total of $8 million for those listed components. That effort kicked off in May with a $1.7 million donation from Jasper residents Jim and Pat Thyen.
Rundell has been working on the Square design with a committee of local people representing the city, merchants and citizens since March. The design incorporates some of the ideas proposed in the city’s downtown/riverfront plan, which was finalized in December 2013 and incorporated into the city’s overall master plan.
Commission members agreed this morning to allow Rundell to continue its work with the project. The next steps include finalizing the design and creating specifications for the bid the city will send out to recruit a construction contractor, obtaining needed construction permits, overseeing the construction progress and providing information and outreach to the public. Rundell’s payment for that work, $350,500, must be approved by the Jasper Common Council.
The city council will consider appropriating that money from the city’s economic development income tax fund at its next meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, at City Hall, 610 Main St.
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