GAMBIER — Gambier Village Council has agreed on a formed and stained wall design for a retaining wall, with native plants filling the center of the roundabout.
This moves the construction of the highly-anticipated roundabout one step closer to reality.
Previously, village officials met with the Ohio Department of Transportation project leaders to discuss how the concrete retaining wall would be patterned, with either stained or stone-like lines being placed on the exterior.
Ian Smith, Vice President for Facilities, Planning and Sustainability for Kenyon College, said from the college’s perspective, the school is interested in having actual stone on the concrete wall. For 2,500 square-feet of stone, the could we be approximately $600,000.
“Our thought is from a college perspective; it’s a gateway for both the village and the college,” Smith said. “We really want to be as happy with it long after everybody in this room is retired.”
Smith then asked if the village would be interested in making a nominal contribution if the $600,000 in stones were to be realized. It could be seen as a symbolic partnership gesture to the dual gateway of Gambier and Kenyon College, he noted.
Council member Liz Forman brought up the amount of upkeep needed for stonework, such as repointing the stones over time.
In return the question was asked, who would pay for the maintenance cost?
Regardless of what option is chosen, maintenance of the retaining wall would be the Gambier’s responsibility, Village Administrator R.C. Wise said. A decision on aesthetics also needs to be made, otherwise project delays would be likely.
What if the college paid for the stonework?
Smith later posed a hypothetical question to council: If Kenyon College board of trustees were able to approve $600,000 for the stone face on the retaining wall, would council be interested?
“Would the college then put money aside to help the village do the maintenance on that?” Village Fiscal Officer Diane Steinmetz asked Smith.
“Because even if the college pays for that, that’s a huge savings on our budget — but then we still have to budget for maintaining a different kind of facade, right?”
Council member Morgan Giles said he wasn’t opposed to the stone wall in theory, if the college were committed to maintaining it.
“The logistics of it is that they will leave a blank wall,” Wise said. “With that approach, they will leave a blank wall and then some future council or future administration will make that call.
“If we can’t agree at that point, unless their money is thrown into escrow, somehow it’s going to be a blank wall that all of us hate. Unless we have the money set aside pretty much in the next 48 hours.”
Council member Natalie Wright said she was “skeptical of taking on additional maintenance cost” if the stone wall was a reality.
“If Kenyon wants something aesthetically that we don’t strongly hate the aesthetics of the stamped wall, Kenyon does, I would not want the village to take on additional maintenance costs. And I don’t fully trust the college to say we’ll do the maintenance for the perpetuity and actually do it,” Wright said.
What’s next in the roundabout pipeline?
The roundabout/shared used-path projects are getting close to the finish line on the design phase, Wise said. Estimates have the final design reaching completion by October.
“At that point, unless there’s something glaring or something missing that someone catches, that should be the final design,” Wise said.
The project will then go to bid with an expected start date for the roundabout and shared-use path of June 1, when the college’s academic calendar ends.
“(ODOT is) planning to package it together so that the shared use path and the roundabout are sold at the same time, meaning one contractor could possibly do both projects,” Wise said.