 We are here today to provide an update on our plans for Finley Park. We're excited about where we are with Finley Park, but more importantly, we're excited about the people in this room who have worked very hard to get us to this point. So our goal today is to share with you what we believe to be the future design of Finley Park. This design demonstrates a few things. It provides sustainability. We certainly don't desire to design a new park that we don't have the ability to maintain for years to come. So sustainability is incorporated into our concept and our design. Secondly, the vision brings Finley Park back to life. Given the challenges that we've faced in the past, our goal today is to share a renewed commitment. We want a renewed citizenship, engagement, renewed development, opportunities and potential partnerships as well. Lastly, but most important, it will provide an experience. Our citizens truly will enjoy something that they deserve and something that they can be proud of. So thank you all so much for being here today. At this time, I would like to invite Todd Martin, who is our park planner and parks and recreation, and Todd is going to walk us through the actual current design. I want to start this discussion in the center of the park. If you can focus your attention to where we have our stage in this event, event space in the center of the park. We're proposing that we build this new stage into the hillside. This is currently where we have our amphitheater. This stage gives us the opportunity to project noise away from the governor's hill neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods. And it gives us this central green space in the center of the park to host large events. We'll also notice that where we have this central green space, we're filling in the pond in that location and we're going to reshape the pond and create this confluence of water. And this confluence of water is two different streams. We have an amenity stream that could be moving water that flows from the pond itself down along the green space and it would anchor the entry in from the Vista Greenway. And we also have a BMP feature, an overflowed pond, an overflow stream that would flow out of the pond and help us celebrate how we handle the storm water for the site. And it would flow down to a bio retention area at the low end of the site. Now I want to focus your attention to the pond area and the family fountain itself. Starting with the fountain, we believe this is an iconic piece for the city and we want to continue to keep that in the park design. So as we restore the fountain, we would also keep the rapids that flow along the east side of the park down to the pond. And we'd also introduce a new amenity stream. That's the source of the stream that runs all the way to the Vista Gateway. And this stream would run along the west side, along a few plazas, an upper plaza, along a few viewing platforms that you see, and to this overlooked plaza. That's a great area to take in the skyline views of the city. It could also be an informal place where we have vents that we currently hold in our current amphitheater, that scale of vents, and both the overflow stream and the new rapids would flow over this new amenity wall that we have proposed to the park. And it would anchor the pond with these large waterfalls. It would help us celebrate that large scale and elevation change that we have. And this new amenity wall would be solved in by greenery, much like the original wall was intended to do. We believe we can have this green wall with today's construction standards much easier than they could back in the mid 80s. And we also have a series of water walls that you can see on the screen here that would tie it all together. And these water walls are very simple, very thin sheets of water. We want to give that idea that illusion of this massive water feature in this focal point really taking advantage of that scale that we have. The pond itself would be simplified. You'll notice there's no barriers. We want to remove the railing around the central amenity that we have in the park. And we're doing that by raising the elevation, making a more shallow profile and not having the deep pond that we have today. We're also cleaning up the edge, making a very clean edge and making it one level so we can have this waterfall off the fountains. With a variety of seedings, how do we experience this pond? We'll have bridges so it doesn't become a barrier. Multiple seeding opportunities with seat walls and plazas cut in with the white noise of the water of the waterfalls being right on the water is abstract canopy over the top. And we want to have this space so you can utilize it throughout the day, throughout the operating hours, we can introduce lighting to set the mood, to have a really nice experience along this water at night as well. But back to the amenity wall itself, another thing that it brings aside from being a focal point for the park, it provides a much more manageable upper green space. It's essentially retaining the upper plaza, the fountain in the green space on top. And it gives us a green space that's easier to maintain. And it also gives us an accessible path. That's more than just a switchback down the hill, it provides an experience. So you would park in a new parking lot, much like you did a day at the top, that would be to 88 standards. And then you would have this upper plaza, you'd work your way down to this overlook plaza, you would cross this new amenity stream, walk along the top of the of the new amenity wall, cross the rapids. And then finally, you'd work your way down the slope that we have along Laurel Street. And we propose that this could be a place for sculpture, for art, again, to provide this experience as you as you're walking through the park. And then you'll also notice we have a multi-use building that we're proposing along Laurel Street. And this is there because it's a great vantage point, a great view observation. This could be a spot where we have some securities and staff to provide securities and observation of the park. We would put our restrooms in this location. We don't want to have isolated restrooms that we have today, and we want to move it away from the, from the residential area. So we want to provide a multi-use area for the, for staff, for restrooms, for the public picnic, covered picnic areas. We feel like this could be a great location for that. And then as you work your way down to the bottom green space, you notice that we just cleaned that up. We have a central, we just have more green space. We don't want to clutter your view. We don't want to block our main focal point, being the pond, being the amenity wall, the waterfalls. We want to clean that up, that approach from the top of Laurel, down. We want to have that with a nice more art. We want to bring more art into the park, more sculpture, have that nice experience as you approach the park. And then having this green space, with this, what we're calling this hub, this amenity shelter, that could also have restrooms at the bottom of the park. You could have covered seating, maybe storage, maybe it's a good area to have rentals or to program the park with interesting ideas, such as cellboats. We want, again, we want to have a lot of different activities in this park throughout the day, for different, for diversity of user groups. And we see doing remote control cellboats. We see food truck festivals. We see cornhole, quirky items like ping pong. Again, we mentioned art in the park. Oversize seating as you, if you're up on this overlook area to really take in that skyline and experience that. We have this amenity stream that we're proposing, this architecture that would be repetitive throughout the park. And then as we move along, I want to focus your attention back to the top where we're introducing this new parking line, in the same location that we have the parking lot today. But we want to shave some of that plateau off and create a one-way parking, one-way, one-way in road with parking angle towards the park. And by shaving some of that plateau off, we're creating a slope that's much easier to maintain and much more gentle slope. And then on that slope, we're proposing this destination playground. Again, this vertical playground that is very much in keeping with what Robert Marvin designed in the original plan. We want to bring that back and we can have hill slides, timber climbers, towers, bridges, work your way down that walkway from the top of the park down to the bottom of the park and really experience this new destination playground. We'll also notice that we're protecting some recent investments that we made with the playground that we already have and we're building off of that. We have a splash pad, Columbia, South Carolina. You're not going to take your kids to the park in the summer without some sort of water feature. We want to do very natural elements such as bouldering and then right there on the Vista Greenway, which again we want to keep in place, protect that investment. We have this bicycle component that we want to add. We see that as being a very strong component for kids to play. Having the surfacing that's good for ADA accessibility and having this as an inclusive park and inclusive playground is very important as well. So what we have is we have this panoramic backdrop of park activities, destination play, stage, water features, waterfalls, family fountain, art, accessibility and security. We have this central centralized green space with this hub in the center and then it's anchored by this P3 development, this public private partnership that we're currently exploring and we believe that would just offer a sustainable method to operate and maintain the park and really help us to program the park. So what do you point to with that? And that is in the current stage where our stage is today. So we're really excited about the direction that the design is taking and we look forward to hearing your your comments and questions. How much is it going to cost and how are we going to pay for it? I think the right now costs 18 million, so 18 million. Well within budget, the exact structure of how we do it is it's still determined by council, but it's very affordable. We pay for 100 percent. It's important to note that as Todd referenced that we did go to the public procurement process, that white war one, but that nothing that he's discussed today is that all dependent on the private partnership. This is the public part. So that would be as white water is still involved in the talks. Absolutely. It's moving forward and healthy and they may or also I consulted with them when the whole team actively that this is very complementary to what the old law vision could look like that the P3 works, as we expect. Forgive me if I'm misting what you said, there are 18 million within budget. I mean, where does that money come in from? It could be any number of structures, Chris, but the final say as we turn by council, it will be it will be pretty shortly. So there are probably three or four different potential approaches to it. But it's been socialized by council. Lots of dialogue. What kind of timeline are we open for? Once we have final approval from the council, it's a two year process. First year design and procurement go through the construction management process. Second year of the actual implementation and construction itself. So we're talking about a two year process. Two completion, like twenty twenty one, twenty two. Looking at the obviously the current state of the park has some of the concerns that have been raised over the years. Between homelessness, security park, you mentioned a security station, perhaps, is there going to be more of an enhanced present there presence there or what are perhaps some of the measures that might be taken to eliminate some of that element in that part. Do you want to give the official answer and then I'll add to it. Sure. There's a couple of ways we're handling security and the current state that is in. We have this this location where we mentioned being this observation point and we will have more staff dedicated to this park and we're hoping that our P3 development can really bring a lot to the table with that component as well. The main thing, honestly, that we're doing is we're activating the park and we're activating it on a continuous basis. And that's going to bring so much people to the park, bring the community back to the park, make it a regional draw that you're not going to have the activity you have today when it's just. There's nobody there. But is there going to be enforcement of watering? Yes. The mayor may want to chime in. He asked if there's going to be an enforcement of watering. Is there going to be an enforcement of watering in the park? A park is a public space. And a park is open to all citizens. Whether they're sheltered or not sheltered, it's not a place to live. And it's going to be our goal, the highest tale of the grave, an old picture that kind of shows what the original Seaboard Railway looked like. This is going to help you all understand and hopefully it maybe makes its way into your stories. It was once a big home around. Disconnected from the entire city on the eastern side, the city street, which is a highway in many respects, and sometimes the illestry on the southern side, 70 miles per hour heading west. On the north and the west, three-story drop-offs. So what this thing has done and been very effectively, first of all, it's recognizing the connectivity with the revitalized central business history and a vista of what this park was originally conceived of and built. It's also built in long-term maintenance costs and what we call life cycle costs. So the attention given to the design of it, so it's sustainable in and of itself, as well as how you pay for that long-term maintenance. But the most important piece that Todd mentioned is activating the park. The promise of a public-private constant program in the park brings eyes on the park. And that's going to be good. Now, obviously, those things probably weren't contemplated at the bottom of 30 years ago. What was designed, what was conceived was not what was designed. What was designed was not what was built. What was built is not what was maintained, but with a different time-down. And the potential partnerships are real. But it was designed to have a park just like a library, just like the sidewalks for all citizens. And we've got to make sure that everyone is able also to enjoy this incredible public amenity. And that's not the focus. You referred to as Triple P, but the public-private, it's down, I guess, that's Taylor Street at the bottom. I know these things can be sensitive, but what is it? What do you envision those are? I don't remember how much was public. So, obviously, as the mayor mentioned, that we're still technically in an open procurement process. There is a limitation on what we can talk about right now. Obviously, you all know, because they would be responding, and we did publicize that white water responded to the procurement that we had out there. Obviously, we're still in discussions and negotiations with them, and out of fairness to them, we need to allow them to come back with us with clarity on how, if chose, if allowed to move forward, they would utilize that space. The space is there, it could be utilized with any private partner. We've kept the space as it's shown separate from the costs that we've outlined for the other public portion that we've described to you. So, you all know what white water does in other locations, and without me saying specifically what they've brought that with us thus far, you can probably guess as to some of the things that they would incorporate, if it is ultimately white water. Can you tell us if we guessed? No. But the point being, it comes assuming that things come to pass, that's their space. So there's not going to be like with all of the plans and the diagrams shown today, it's not the idea that they would add something to that, like something overlapping in the rest of the park, or it would be No, they would have a significant role. If things goes, we anticipate and program in the park. Which would be awesome. They have role in programming, but it's not like they're going to like drop something else on top of them. No, not in the parks. This is part of the direction that council gave stack and that Theresa communicated to everyone is that that whatever we do there would be agnostic of whatever P3's might have might have merged. And obviously because I know the next question is what do I close off this property? It's it gives us a lot more options. The word that was put into the proposal, the competitive proposal that one ownership of that property that obviously we couldn't talk about for a while until the problem was closed on which really has given us a lot more latitude. There's more space. We're not doing as a landmark. There's more that can be done there. Which really just turns into some really prime opportunities. They've got some things to work with. Public dollars is a long-term lease on the property and we want to make sure that we have a post office present downtown long after we're all gone. But it gives us the opportunity to be very creative and think about ways in which we connect our citizens. We want walkable, bikeable, livable, quality life enhancing experiences for all of our citizens. But it does require some intentionality some long-term planning and thinking some real collaboration with neighborhoods and at least McDonald's are leading and it's just been refreshing. This is always reminding me. If some of you guys have never seen what kind of seaboard would look like way back in the day. It was a whole new ground where switching lines in the whole nine yards but it was you talk about when you're conceiving of and building parks as a real expert here which would be much rare that you would build it in a place that's disconnected and now is very much in the harm of who we want to be and who we want to be. So I just always find it pretty illustrative. I think to Mayor just to brag on this team for a minute the opportunity that council gave us to come up with this is the inside or internal to the city Todd, Randy, Henry Missy all of the team has come together just in the room our CFO as far as this is really has turned out to be much more cost conscious quite frankly for the internal team of the city to have come up with the plan for the public part that is ours that we should be doing that complimenting hopefully what a private partner might also bring to the table. I think the private partner likes that approach from what we've heard and others probably would too to give them some specific space to play with but to your question earlier no they have not really had to weigh in much on the other public part of the part because we've done that and I think that's allowed us to engage neighbors understand from the history of the part what we know and can apply from a cost perspective something that we think is very much so attainable that the council can give us direction on funding so it's doable and we hope to compliment that other aspect what a private partner and I think it's very very necessary for us to say explicitly this is a part for everybody this inclusivity of course becomes an important feature of what this park is going to represent to the city and of course to every community within the confines within the fabric of our city we're talking about a team of folk who develop this this offers us a real opportunity to instigate inclusivity there are issues that we talked about I think you raised one of the issues about homelessness and of course what we've tried to do over the last few months is to get a better understanding of where homeless folk are what we can continue to do for our homeless brothers and sisters and I think you know that the city has been very intentional about its homeless population we have we've included in our budget a million dollars a year for homeless providers triaging assessing and of course moving folk to places of employment and that sort of thing but please I do want everyone to take notice that this is a project of inclusivity everybody this is everybody's part and I think that's in itself becomes a real critical piece of this blanket and this framework and then again Todd has done I mean we pay his salary and we thank God that we didn't have to go outside of home to do that so it presents us with a real creative response to a need that is very necessary for this community thank you thank you one other question when it comes to the private partnership what will be the pitch to a private partner to participate in something like this obviously for them so much of it will be dependent you would thank God for them why should they want to get involved in the revitalization in the park so just being conscious of the process we're already in we wouldn't be making another pitch yet we need to let the process that we're in close out and hope that we close out successfully with the private partner we're in negotiations with and I'll let you take it from there so it's always important remember that public private partnerships are public private partnerships first at the work of the public and then they work for the private sector partner this is some of the hottest real estate in the state this is great real estate the opportunity to engage with citizens in the active silver environment literally that it's downtown is a great opportunity we felt it was when we put the RFQ out some time ago and still believe so it's just a wonderful opportunity to potentially have some complimentary uses that then might be exponentially beneficial for all partners we talk about at the top of this conversation I feel any part once considered the Crown Jewel almost comes to the shape of the God said so much but that was a real thing it was a Crown Jewel in the city park system and it's not anymore so what's different this time how can we assure that we're not back here in another 20 years fighting the same fight I think it's fair to say not but it's obviously glass out full not glass out empty you're building a what will be a sustainable financing structure and the park is indeed connected to the urban infrastructure it will be in perpetuity not just financing but the reality is that the downtown wasn't downtown back then the VISTA wasn't the VISTA back then this is a wonderful opportunity to connect the dots in a thoughtful 21st injury way that reflects the way that all cities are growing and developing and in a meaningful way but the technical terms life cycle cost but really making sure that you build in at the very beginning how the park will be maintained for perpetuity is a key piece of the puzzle and that was not considered 30 years ago council will have to approve this plan or just the financing portion of this plan where's council matters? all they'll have but I would say that the staff has made sure that all stakeholders this has been socialized quite well and I think to say people are excited about it for the own city council we're excited I want to ask a little bit more about the amenity stream when you say that you mentioned sailboats maybe races or something are we talking about people who can get in there and ride tubes down it or what? no it's um honestly we love that but that's not the direction we're taking are you familiar with the tobacco district in Durham the stream they have there is something similar to that where you have plazas by the stream seating, there's moving water it's more of an amenity that runs through the park but it's not something you get in and swim in or anything like that unless you're Christian who here has been on the cover for three times I was thinking about she asked that question I would not be in the slipping slide sliding down anything so he was not going to have we already do another event in the park plays and concerts and movies are we talking about that plus? yes I would love to see we are a college town it's interesting to me and I grew up in Columbia I don't know that all our college students ones that are home grown and ones that come here from away the community is there this is a wonderful opportunity I've had people talk about having dates, nights and bringing their dates out to the park and just getting back to some fundamental quality of life nice easy affordable free access points for students seniors everybody, young professionals to utilize the space in the park of our city that's what we want whatever programming is conducive to that we want to consider it two things Todd can add to if necessary but two questions always come up yes the talented would you have the way to prepare for a long time but whether to make sure it's part of a comprehensive plan the fountain will be activated and secondly this actually represents more park space than we currently have so by changing the way the water moves there will be more public public park space not less that's important to know for people you mentioned sculptures is Busted Club that's okay that's okay what's the logistical next step in this process we said two years start to finish so once it comes to the procurement what's the next step to get the ball rolling I can take that once we have final approval from the council then we would have to begin to engage and also be involved in the procurement process including contracting and construction so once we get final approval from council then we'll start to engage the process from the procurement center and we'd like to have that final improvement from council by the end of the calendar year so council's got a meeting on 11 19 and 2 in December at some point in that process I'd like to be bringing in some funding recommendations to the council so we can move forward and tie them in hey there Mayor Steve Benjamin here thanks for watching this video make sure you give it a like and don't forget to subscribe also while you're here be sure to check out one of our other videos or follow on our social media platforms thanks again and remember we are Colombia