Columbus Parks and Recreation Department’s Current Projects
Public Urban Forest Management Plan and Street Tree Inventory
The City recently contracted the services of the Davey Resource Group to 
perform a partial tree inventory for trees in the right-of-way (commonly referred to as street trees) for the area known as the “Big Block” (generally from 25th Street south to 2nd Street and from Jackson Street east to Central Avenue). A total of 4,009 sites were recorded: 2,984 street trees, 180 stumps, and 845 planting sites. The data collection included, location, tree species, size, and condition. With that data, Davey Resource Group was also contracted to provide an analysis of those trees and to create an Urban Forest Management Plan for public street trees.
A management plan is intended to help develop a prioritized maintenance and proactive inspection and pruning cycles based on the inventory data to improve tree health. Other elements of a street tree management plan include developing a tree planting program to mitigate necessary removals, increase canopy cover, to develop a public outreach program to understand the benefits of urban trees, and to explore the many ways the community can help support the City’s overall urban tree canopy.
The Management Plan and Street Tree Inventory was initiated by the Tree Canopy Partners which is a group made up of Columbus citizens, the Columbus Planning Department, the Department of Public Works and the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department. The Plan was funded by a 50/50 matching grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Community and Urban Forestry program (IDNR CUF) in cooperation with U.S. Forest Service (USFS) through its Urban and Community Forestry (U&CF) Grant Program.
The Commons Playground Public Input & Design Study
The Commons Playground Public Input & Design Study will evaluate public input and summarize a vision for the future development and redesign of The Commons Playground. Columbus Parks and Recreation has engaged Hitchcock Design Group to lead a public input and design study for The Commons Playground. The design team has gathered feedback from stakeholders and playground users through an online survey and public input meetings. This information informed design concepts that were presented to the public for comments. The final deliverable will be a preferred design that will be used to guide future development at The Commons Playground.
Community Golf Evaluation
Columbus Golf Course Report – 2020 (Final Updated Report)
Columbus Golf Course Report – 2020 (First Report)
City of Columbus Golf Course Information Session Presentation Link
