Center Business Plan - Executive Summary

Introduction

Someday soon, a yellow school bus will pull up in front of a brand new nature education center on the banks of the Scioto River just south of downtown Columbus.   The doors will open, and a group of elementary school students will emerge, having made the short trip from their central city school to the site.   None of the students will have been there before.   In fact, most will never have seen an area like it – serene, leafy, with a picturesque wetland nearby and an inviting building with big windows and decks and nearby trails ahead.   They will hear frogs peeping in the wetland, insects buzzing nearby, and birds calling from the wooded edge of the river.

An experienced nature educator will greet the children and lead them into the building.   It will be a special building – LEED-certified, energy efficient, incorporating recycled materials and an infrastructure to support ongoing waste reduction and recycling.   The classrooms will be small, but filled with materials designed to allow the students to begin encountering nature with all five senses. The trails out the windows will beckon, and the children will soon find themselves out on them, getting their feet wet and their fingernails dirty as they explore a natural world that they did not know existed in the heart of their city.   Their faces will reflect a sense of wonder that they may never have previously experienced.

Audubon Ohio is committed to building this place.   Audubon, however, will not build this place alone. The center will be the product of a truly community effort, in which many – educators, businesses, community organizations, government agencies, neighborhood groups, parents and friends – will play a part.  

In the following pages, Audubon Ohio outlines its preliminary plan for the Center.   We begin by describing the unique partnership among the City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks and Audubon Ohio that has given birth to the center project.   We then review the mission, vision, values and goals of the Center, developed through an extensive process of gathering relevant data and community input.  

Next, we describe the three major components of the center plan – the Education Program Plan, the Site Plan and the Building Plan.   We present these components in this order because we believe that program comes first, and drives the site and building plans, not vice versa.   A committee of volunteers designed each component, bringing several types of expertise to the task.   Taken together, these components, when implemented, will result in a facility that is uniquely “Columbus,” and that will serve our community well for decades to come.

 

The Columbus Audubon Center will be unique among urban nature centers in its proximity to downtown.   We hope that it will inspire similar efforts elsewhere.   It will undoubtedly become a jewel in the crown of our metropolis.   It will make Columbus a better place.

 

Background

 

The opportunity to create the Columbus Audubon Center arises from a remarkable partnership among the City of Columbus, the Columbus & Franklin County Metro Parks and Audubon Ohio.   In 2001 Audubon Ohio initiated discussions with Michael Coleman, Mayor of Columbus; Matthew Habash, Council President; Wayne Roberts, Director of Columbus Recreation & Parks; and John O'Meara, Director of Columbus & Franklin County Metro Parks, to explore the possibility of developing an Audubon Center in the Whittier Reach portion of the City's Riverfront Vision Plan. This Plan called for a nature education facility along the banks of the Scioto River.

 

The area in question, despite its intensely urban look, has special natural features.   Over 200 species of birds have been recorded there over the years.   The area is so special that Audubon has designated this section of the river as an Important Bird Area.

 

On August 30, 2001 City officials, Metro Parks Commissioners, and neighborhood community leaders joined Audubon on a bus trip to visit Aullwood Audubon Center & Farm, Audubon's only nature center in Ohio. That trip allowed our guests to see in concrete form what an Audubon center looked like, and what kind of programs it could provide.   After amicable negotiations, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was approved on March 3, 2003, and signed later that spring. It formalized the partnership and the responsibilities of each party.

 

Under the MOU, Audubon Ohio is designated as the primary nature education provider for the site and will develop the Columbus Audubon Center for this purpose.

 

In order to establish a quality facility with programs that are relevant to the Columbus community and especially adjacent neighborhoods, Audubon has undertaken a multi-faceted process to plan this new nature center.   Staff began planning the project by developing a market analysis and resource assessment for the site. In October 2003, Audubon hosted a two-day planning retreat with over 30 participants from numerous stakeholder groups. This retreat resulted in a vision, mission statement, identification of stakeholders, identification of some overarching goals for the Center and its development, and the core values that should guide the Center's activities.

 

The MOU created a Park Advisory Board, consisting of representative of the City, Metro Parks and Audubon Ohio, as well as other community leaders.   The Park Advisory Board was assigned to create a plan for the development of the new Metro Park in which the Audubon Center would be located.   The Park Advisory Board met multiple times to develop a park plan throughout the fall of 2003 and spring of 2004. The draft plan was presented at numerous private and public meetings for comment and input.

 

Under the park plan, the Columbus Audubon Center is to be located between the Scioto River and proposed new wetlands. Aside from locating the Center, the park plan also addresses many other issues facing the partners in development of a Metro Park and Audubon Center. Some of these issues include brownfield contamination and clean up, floodplain concerns, moving of City facilities, and building on old fill. Each of these issues could have unforeseeable impacts on the park plan and on the actual location and cost of the Audubon Center, but none of them should prevent construction or operation of the Center.

 

Early in 2004, Audubon Ohio convened three committees - a site committee, a building committee and an educational program committee - to aid in development of the business plan for the Center. The committees used their expertise and the previous work to develop conceptual plans. They also developed ideas on marketing approaches where appropriate. Three Ohio State University students also assisted in preparing the marketing section of the business plan.

 

On October 18, 2004, Audubon Ohio hired Heather Starck as the new Director of the Columbus Audubon Center on the Whittier Peninsula.   Starck's role as Director will cover a range of duties, including responsibility for planning, developing, operating and managing the Center.   She will also be charged with carrying out Audubon's conservation mission through the Center's educational programming.

 

Under Starck's direction, Audubon Ohio has continued the process of building the community relations that will allow it to develop the Audubon Center based on a shared vision, while conserving community resources by avoiding duplication of effort and facilities.   On November 16, 2004, a letter of intent outlining the terms of collaboration between COSI and the Columbus Audubon Center was announced.   This is the first such collaboration.   Others will soon follow.