Council concerned over timeline for community center ballot question gjsentinel.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gjsentinel.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The city of Grand Junction and the Downtown Development Authority are taking the next step in developing a downtown plaza space that would be located at the site of the current blocklong parking lot on Colorado Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets.
The city and the DDA are developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which would allow the DDA to convert the east half of the lot into a plaza that could include a stage and other amenities. The plaza would accommodate concerts and events without closing Main Street, DDA Executive Director Brandon Stam said at a joint meeting of the DDA and City Council last week. The proposal would be split into three phases and cost around $1.2 million. It will be funded by the DDA whose funds are restricted for downtown improvements.
The proposed plaza at Las Colonias, which would have included retail and restaurant space, is being put on hold after the Grand Junction City Council and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board would not agree to fund $3 million for the development.
The plaza was proposed as a project of the Las Colonias Development Corporation (LCDC), which was asking the two entities to split the $3 million cost evenly. It would finance another $3 million through a bank. Members of the City Council raised concerns about the project at a joint meeting held Thursday morning.
âI am worried about the project being an LCDC project,â City Council Member Chuck McDaniel said. âA one-off project for the little nonprofit corporation that the city formed back in (2017). Iâm not comfortable with the $3 million of public money that it takes to make this work.â
Local governments, economic partners interested in recovery roadmap program gjsentinel.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gjsentinel.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Next year is shaping up to be full of intriguing projects as local municipalities are investing tens of millions of dollars into infrastructure improvements.
With local budgets now adopted by Grand Junction, Fruita and Palisade, even with 2020 being difficult financially due to the coronavirus pandemic, which will still have impacts into 2021, none of our local governments are sitting on their hands going forward and that should be commended.
Next year we will see major improvements to roads from one end of the valley to the other. Palisade is planning to upgrade Highway 6 near its downtown to make it safer and easier to navigate. In Fruita, a $2 million investment will go to replacing the Pine Street Bridge, while Grand Junction will begin a multi-year project to increase capacity in key roadways. It is beginning along 24 Road and will ultimately invest $70 million in road capacity upgrades.