Minutes are adopted.

Mr.

Andrews.

We appear to be a one item agenda, however, 16 million dollars.

Yeah, one item let's not try and screw this up, right?

Okay, so good afternoon, council.

This item is requesting to establish the budget for the 2026 B warrant series.

Last year, go back a couple of weeks to uh December 9th.

We proposed an item for reimbursement resolution that would allow us to go ahead and start work on two projects in the elevate uh bond issue, the upcoming elevate bond issuance.

Those two were the Northern River Walk phase two and then Greensboro Avenue.

That was passed through finance committee.

We have since drafted the reimbursement resolution, and it will be on next Tuesday's city council agenda for full approval.

And so in conjunction with that, we are asking to create the budget for those two projects as well so that OCE can move forward on some of the uh design work for the two projects.

So that would create a budget of 10 million dollars for Northern River Walk and six million dollars for Greensboro Avenue that is in um accordance with the LA tenure plan.

Any questions?

Does that reimbursement um motion that we approve does that allow us to go through the whole 16 million reimbursement?

No, sir.

No, there's a five million dollar spend up front.

Okay, and then I do um I I know we've talked some on the Greensboro Avenue project uh on the um the river walk, uh Mike or Bill.

I'll give y'all your option if there's an update from that, or if you want to just give a um a thumbnail overview of what's going on for 10 million dollars.

Yes, sir.

So uh the Northern Riverwalk, not to repeat anything folks may have heard during projects committee, but the stage we're at there, we are near completion with design.

Uh what this budget allotment will allow us to do is the final portions of the design, basically the last 10% of the design completion, as well as uh get under contract all of the services that we would need from the consultant throughout the construction project.

Like what?

Uh so that would include uh inspections in the field, so making sure that our technical expertise that designed the project is in the field, watching the construction and making sure it's built to the quality that we need, making sure that specifications required for paving installation are meeting the requirements of the technical specifications.

So those are the types of services that McGifford, our consultant will provide throughout the construction phase, and that's what will be under contract, and we can go to that phase with this budget allotment that we're talking here today.

Okay, and and I know Mr.

Crowe's followed that closely and uh been all in y'all's uh all that.

Yeah, so I feel pretty comfortable on that.

I uh I would like does anybody else either members or non-members have any questions on the river, the northern river walk, please.

Well, I I do want you to there has been some some moving about on the Greensboro Avenue project, and um you know we've had citizens' meetings, we've had meetings with you and I and the engineers, the lawyers out on the streets.

We've had meetings with the mayors, not plural but singular.

Um the it's a big project.

Apparently it got 50% bigger since the last sighting I had of it.

How about updating us as to what's going on there and what's changing with it?

Sir, so um for the Greensboro A Streetscape project.

This is two blocks uh south of University Boulevard on Greensboro app, so from Greensboro to 7th Street, and the intent of that project is to try to increase the pedestrian and walkability within that uh economic footprint.

And so the project intends to accomplish that by eliminating some of the paving that's there.

The we've done some analysis on the traffic throughput in that area.

It really does not warrant or need two lanes of traffic each direction to accommodate the traffic that is really using that section of Greensboro to get to downtown rather than through downtown.

Um so the the objective of the project is to take some of that paving and turn it into uh more of a pedestrian experience to that downtown area.

Uh the phase that we're at with that project, we were near completion with the design.

Uh, to your appointment to get some really valuable input from merchants in the area, uh other stakeholders that have some experience and vested interest in the area downtown.

Uh clued us in on some things that have not been in the design that will accommodate deliveries.

So things like uh Uber Eats, uh Bama Theater entrance.

So demoth theater operations that are unique to their environment where there's buses, other things.

So some scenarios for deliveries that we we benefited from the feedback and have made some adjustments to the design.

So now we'll have some some areas that are better established for loading zones and deliveries and all those scenarios that we were uh provided from the merchants in the area.

Mr.

Chairman, yeah, go ahead.

Um that's what I was can you tell me a little bit more because I had I know there was a group of merchants, including the mamma theater manager that were going to come address the council as being opposed to these changes.

Is there have y'all I haven't I heard from them over the weekend they were what usually they could come.

I said, look how hard it's only we meet every Tuesday when but um so are did y'all make some adjustments as far as the they were especially concerned here they all those school shows right so that sometimes they can have four or five buses at a time and then they load in for all their productions, all their you know, and I can understand certainly the concerns that they have there.

But did y'all come to uh we we came to some understanding of some changes that need to be made for a wide range of delivery and and operational concerns uh for the bus scenario?

I think there's gonna have to be a combination of efforts.

There's gonna be infrastructure changes that will allow better staging of vehicles that are making deliveries, but 6th Street, 7th Street, some of those adjacent streets that might be better suited for things like two to three buses at a time.

We're gonna have to work with the individual uh business owners to make sure that we're addressing things through infrastructure as well as some operational changes in those areas.

And so I'll I'll chime in there, Bill, because I got uh dipped pretty well in this.

The the original, and by the way, Brennan, you've been deeply involved in this.

You're you're welcome to jump in as well.

The original plan briefed, I don't know, two or three four months ago, uh, primarily to some of the residents and merchants downtown, involved reducing the traffic lanes from two lanes each direction down to one lane each direction.

I objected to that.

Several other I'll I'll call us old time residents objected to that because the wide boulevards in Tuscaloosa have just traditionally been part of the aesthetic, whether it was Greensboro Avenue or University Avenue and University Avenue.

We did put the medians down there, and we've done the landscaping on the sides.

Uh I went out there and walked with Mike and Bill up and down the couple of blocks involved and talked with the other merchants.

And I I'm overgeneralizing a little bit, but the merchants concern was more focused on being able to get their stock loaded in and loaded out.

We did we did hear uh of the Bama uh theater piece, we did look at it, and we talked about it.

Uh again, um overgeneralizing a little bit, but for the most part, we felt like we we happily volunteered chief, threw him under that bus.

Uh we decided that was more that was more better dealt with um uh supervision of the event at the events rather than purely to redesign the structure for the events.

Um the other change that that the engineering folks came up with, and Mike or Bill or Brendan, jump in if I'm wrong.

But where we did reduce two lanes to one lane, we compensated by building part-time um loading zones, right?

That will be designated with different color paints and can be used for parking or I guess travel when it's not being used as a loading zone.

Yeah, we're we're gonna refine how we describe that and exactly what the parameters are.

But the intent is for both of those blocks on each side of the road, there will be an area that's marked appropriately for deliveries, so that during the right times of the day when deliveries are happening, it's available there, so the deliveries can be off to the side of the road, not blocking the lane of traffic, which was the major concern for good reason.

And so that that'll be there and available for them at the right times of the day, and then some discussion of whether there's a time where okay, at the end of the day, that turns back into parking for residents that are visiting the area.

And then some discussion of whether there's a time where okay, at the end of the day, that turns back into parking for residents that are visiting the area.

But the primary concern was making sure that there was something there for the deliveries.

The other things that came up as a part of that were there'll have to be a certain amount of training going on as we get people used to it, both delivery uh merchant uh delivery vehicles and just regular citizens.

The as it is right now, particularly on Fifth Street.

You get you you get one delivery vehicle who decides to load and unload right there.

You you shut down Fifth Street from 23rd Avenue to Greensboro Avenue.

You can anyway.

Um I I was particularly interested in where this grew out of.

That was one of the most astute questions I thought asked at the Citizen Committee a few months ago.

And Brendan, I'm gonna let you phase in after this.

This apparently spawned from a consultant we paid to come in here before I was even on council, so seven, eight years ago, I think that uh you know the mantra was a pedestrian downtown is a vibrant downtown.

I personally am attached to the old look, but I have to admit the days of downtown being the vehicle heavy traffic to come in shopping have diminished as it's become an entertainment center, and we've got Lurling, you know, six or eight lanes of Loreline Wallace Boulevard a block down.

Um so there will be some changes, Brendan.

You want to touch on kind of three different elements.

We'll we'll start with the consulting side with Mr.

Speck from probably to your point eight to ten years ago.

That was one of the genesis of the discussions.

The next probably iteration was um Miss Kright's team and our group looking, and obviously engineering public works, looking at sidewalk cafes, spacing, ability for pedestrians to move around, and we do have some compressed areas that came up two to three years ago.

That was another genesis of it.

And also, too, you did have a handful of the restaurantur type business owners.

You know, your Mr.

Morgan's, you're kind of you know, really a lot of the individuals that helped Mr.

Sperlins that helped kind of revitalize downtown, were very pro on having water sidewalks and water sidewalk halfway spaces.

So I think that that fed into it as well.

Um to uh council president Tiner's point and Council Busby to your point, uh big credit to the engineering staff.

Um they met with the Bama Theater and with the manager and specifically went through where we're loading in this door, where we're changing here and accommodated them by actually adjusting the plan set to make sure it could work for the Bama Theater's unique needs.

So I think that that area should have been adjusted.

We actually had a one-on-one personal meeting.

Uh Mr.

Duncan was there as well.

And so yes, sir.

And so those items I feel like have probably been addressed.

The other thing, which Councillor Busby was able to see when I would butcher the terminology, um, but the engineering staff has probably done a masterful job in that tight area in providing what I would think of as the larger delivery trucks, not your UPS or FedEx, which the merchants can work a little bit easier with it for deliveries and drop-offs.

But your larger things Cisco trucks or like type vehicles, they have accommodated space to now where they can easily access the business, not impede traffic, allow passing lanes to where they can easily load and unload without disrupting the merchant business, which was fantastic job by our design consultant and engineering staff.

So I feel like for this project, we have kind of whittled down those concerns or complaints.

I mean, there is just the general conceptual idea of going from two to one lane, but if we were going to take this approach and one lane it, they've accommodated as much as possible, even down to public safety and alleviating some of their concerns to make sure access was provided.

So they have gone through the due diligence to make sure it will meet the needs of the merchants in that area.

Is the parking in front of the BAM?

Would that all be gone?

No, sir.

Okay.

No, sir.

Actually, I would argue for the BAMA, this should be a highlight because one of the things they stressed was you think about um large event or uh a dance kind of uh event, they have a lot of families out front.

This will actually allow wider sidewalks, appropriate ballers for pedestrian safety and protections to where actually you can have more space for those families out there, and also too, if they they mentioned they won't have the space for the photo moments with the kids and families, it will afford more space for that as well.

One of the items that was mentioned by Bill that we will have to adjust is that if you have three buses there, they may have to rotate around, and we can work with them from an event management standpoint not to block the roadway to find appropriate locations, and I think that's something we can easily work with Amethvis AMA theater staff andor school systems to resolve.

That is one of the it's a very important operational issue, but can be very easily overcome, at least through our research on it.

It'll just take some slight tweaks and changes with the bus drivers.

So I do think for the BAM it will provide them much more latitude out in front of the facility.

And I'm very excited, just to be quite honest about the pedestrian elements from a safety standpoint that as those families are out there congregating after an event, before an event, they will have a little bit more space and some higher added level of pedestrian safety.

So that's very important to us as well.

So two other things obviously I want to mention.

Um the landscaping y'all talked about, Bill.

What is that plan solidified yet?

When will we see it?

Uh we've we finalized the decisions for the plan.

I don't know that Duncan Coker has completed the changes accommodated with those.

So I expect within a week or two, they'll have those drawings finalized, and we can share those with you.

The other thing is, and and we could we could I expect that what we'll see in the coming two to three years is I expect this city is going to add essentially two more fully vibrant high retail blocks.

That uh block between um was it six and uh but between the courthouse and the Bama Theater on both sides, west and east.

Both will be activated.

You know, that's um that's got lots of potential that has not been achieved.

And I think between the infrastructure changes and some of the ownership um shifting that's going on there.

I think we're gonna see those two blocks open up.

Get your space while it's hot.

Um last thing, Bill.

How do we go from four million to six million?

The last fighting I heard at that meeting was four million ish, and what's in this budget is six million.

Yes, sir.

So four million at the start of the meeting was the estimated cost for construction.

Six million that's it is a conservative but appropriate number for some of the changes that we're talking about that will require some additional construction.

So some of those uh delivery areas we're talking about that'll require some more demolition that wasn't part of the original plan, and then some of the safety aspects we talked about, things like pedestrian bollards installing those at the appropriate corners and the appropriate amount of coverage that'll increase the construction cost as well.

So that's the reason for the change in the budget amount.

Okay.

Uh any of the committee members or any non-members have any questions or comments?

This won't affect the church.

Yeah, yeah, it won't affect that at all.

It's not that black at all.

I'm gonna be asked.

Yes, sir.

No, sir.

It'll it it stays without um outside of really a lot of the faith based users on Greensboro Avenue and also for the county courthouse that those areas will be affected.

All right, no, I appreciate I'm I'm glad to hear what you told me.

Uh I'm uh I'm like the colonel here.

I much like I like the broader streets too.

I hate to see those all go kind of really go away.

We're old kids.

I don't disagree with you, but we're old.

Yeah, well, it's not anything to do with age, it's just growing up here.

It was sure.

Well, that's what I mean.

I remember named Broad Street because it was and um it it's it's pretty some of the changes, but you know, I I remember too the all the major parades they had when they could all march together and not have to go this way this yeah.

Stood out in the middle of those parades and directed traffic, I understand.

I think one of the I think one of the moments to celebrate within this project and doing stakeholder engagement for for nearly two decades is that it is a rarity uh when you're dealing with this type of projects, the merchants are dealing with business owners and property owners.

Oh, no question.

Generally, to get the level of consensus among them to support the project, um, and then us obviously being able to adapt and accommodate through some design changes their needs.

Um, that to me has been one of the most impressive parts of the project because the um businesses and owners in what I'll kind of describe as that impact area where the most of the construction will go on are all for it, and they're bought in, and that's something that we don't always see for large construction projects.

So that's something that tells me we're on the right track.

So to their point, I think we all see the much more foot traffic down through here than we ever have.

And I do think the council point you do have a handful of individuals if this project were to move forward, probably planning some private sector redevelopment and also revenue generating uses to this point as well.

Great great little stat I'll give y'all, which is always nice, is that uh approximately through our downtown revitalization.

I'm gonna rough it out with river walks in the courthouse.

We did roughly about a hundred or a little over a hundred million between federal funds to and public and city of Tuscaloosa funds for downtown improvements and things along the riverfront.

That's resulted in well over a half billion.

We're probably up to six hundred million dollars in private investment.

Uh, you really can't ask for a better return.

So we do have a proven track record in downtown where public investments do spurge for a minuto amount of private investment.

I think Mr.

Eatman and I are probably getting ready to get to talk to a couple projects about that as well.

So those public investments do make a huge difference.

Okay.

Any other questions, comments?

Thank you.

Not is there a motion?

Motion.

So all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Item is approved.

Any other business would be brought before finance committee exactly?

Not is there a motion to adjourn?

Motion.