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College-led downtown plan welcomed but city warns against changes that could jeopardize ODOT/federal streets funding
Summary
College of St. Joseph representatives outlined downtown design ideas including mid-block crosswalks; Engineering Director Mike Dolak cautioned that the city's ODOT/federally funded streets project and planned signal removals must proceed as scoped or the city risks losing grant funding.
College of St. Joseph representatives presented a downtown improvement concept and said they are coordinating engineering justification for mid-block crosswalks and pedestrian improvements. Jacob Imam told council, "you will see something transformative in the downtown area," and the college said it had contracted licensed engineers to prepare supporting documentation.
Engineering Director Mike Dolak emphasized the constraints of a federally funded ODOT project that will remove signals and reconfigure Washington Street. "We have to follow the federal process or we lose our grant funding," Dolak said, urging council to keep the federally funded work on schedule and treat additional streetscape elements (trees, mid-block crossings) as later, justified add-ons. Council discussed sequencing: carry out the ODOT scope first (signal removals, center turn lane, safety reconfiguration) and then pursue additional pedestrian-focused features if engineering studies justify them.
College representatives said they do not expect the college-funded elements to use STRAND (ODOT) dollars and that they will provide the required engineering justification for mid-block crossings. Staff asked for the college’s technical memoranda to be routed to the city engineering office for review.
