What you must understand
- $7.5 million in state funding will fund long-awaited improvements to General James Taylor Park and adjacent Festival Park, with Corporex Companies serving as master contractor.
- Community-driven design shaped the project through park board meetings and public input sessions.
- Strict oversight and accountability measures are in place, including a do-not-exceed clause, city approval on all decisions, and compliance with state procurement laws.
Newport is making progress on the $7.5 million General James Taylor Park renovations.
After multiple Newport Park Board meetings to support design proposals, the park, which is situated at 100 Riverboat Row on Newport’s riverside, has finally been completed.
According to Newport City Manager John Hayden, “we’ve been talking about festival park for the past 20+ years, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that we’re going to have a completely transformed riverfront between now and two years from now.” Thus, the notion that we will complete that, followed by the creation of a world-class park at James Taylor, will significantly change the banks in Newport.
In order for Corporex to serve as the project’s master contractor, Newport collaborated with the company in 2006. The project was given a first reading at the Newport Commission’s meeting on August 18 and was funded in part by $7.5 million from the state’s legislative budget.
During the meeting, Assistant City Manager Brian Steffen stated that he wished to dispel any suspicions regarding the city’s collaboration with Corporex.
Steffen said, “I heard this rumor, and I’m sure everyone else has on the board. This did not give the park away.” Corporex did not receive the park as a result. This contract reflects the fact that Corporex is constructing the park for a price.
Festival Park, which is next to General James Taylor Park, is part of the project.
After the city secured the grant from the state, a parks committee started meeting every other week beginning in March. The committee consisted of residents, business owners, Corporex representation, Cincinnati-based Hub+Weber Architects, and folks from the National Park Service.
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Josh Tunning, a Newport Municipal Specialist, assisted in forming and directing that group. According to Tunning, the group hosted an open house for more than 100 people at the end of June to get more input.
According to Tunning, the concepts we developed today for James Taylor Park and Festival Park truly reflect what our neighborhood’s citizens, local business owners, and community want to see along our riverside. Therefore, it truly is a park that was created by our community and is not just for us.Items that are being considered for the park are rendered. Image courtesy of Newport
According to Steffen, the contract specifies that the city has the last say over any construction in the park. Additionally, Corporex must follow state procurement regulations, which regulate how state governments buy products and services from private companies. Additionally, the contract does not offer Corporex the freedom to use the $7.5 million grant however it pleases.
The new Fourth Street Bridge’s construction is one of the problems the city has encountered and is still resolving during the park project development. According to Steffen, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 6 has stated that they will be barging in a large portion of their operations and will no longer attempt to access the bridge through the park. As a result, they are circumnavigating the bridge rather than traveling through it.
According to Steffen, when discussing the Fourth Street Bridge project with District 6, also referred to locally as KYTC, they discussed access south of General James Taylor Park and the city’s intention to keep working to install a second floodgate or another access piece south of the Fourth Street Bridge.
According to Steffen, the cabinet-level KYTC representatives expressed their willingness to carry on the discussion with us, but they made no definite promise to collaborate with us in identifying alternatives and funding sources for that access aspect.
The quantity of wild cats that live in the park is another matter the city is investigating. According to Steffen, he is trying to figure out the most compassionate approach to get the animals out of the way of a construction site.
Andrew Vecellio, Corporex’s vice president of development, has been collaborating with the city on the upgrades of General James Taylor Park.
“I think the community really came together, and it was really a joint effort,” Vecellio said, adding that it was a pleasure to attend all of those [park board] sessions. We can’t wait to see the park. We can’t wait to get going as soon as possible.
On Monday, Vecellio assured the commission that they could complete the project for $7.5 million.
In order to make sure that everything was being done within the allocated budget, Hayden took the commission through the extensive checks and balances the city would go through during the construction.
He claimed that every item would be examined by several pairs of eyes in the city building. First, the finance department will check to determine if the money are present and if the item matches what they have been told. After that, it will proceed to the city manager’s office, where Steffen, Hayden, and the city’s building officials will review it.An illustration of the site layout. Image courtesy of Newport
Hayden stated, “They [Corporex] don’t just send a paper and say, We want a million dollars now.” A form detailing their actions and time spent must be submitted, and supporting documentation must be included. All of this will be put out to bid before we ever get to that, and the state’s model procurement credit code must be used for this.
“If there are problems with the bids, like items coming in higher than they could cut items or change how they designed something,” Hayden said, “the city will know what those bids entail at the very beginning of the process.”
According to Newport Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr., there is a do-not-exceed clause in the contract, meaning the project cannot go over $7.5 million.
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