- $7.5 million in state funding will fund long-awaited improvements to General James Taylor Park and adjacent Festival Park, with Corporex Companies serving as master contractor.
- Community-driven design shaped the project through park board meetings and public input sessions.
- Strict oversight and accountability measures are in place, including a do-not-exceed clause, city approval on all decisions, and compliance with state procurement laws.
Newport is moving forward with $7.5 million in improvements to General James Taylor Park.
The park, located at 100 Riverboat Row on Newport’s riverfront, has been a long time coming, following numerous Newport Park Board meetings to aid in design plans.
“I don’t think that it’s unreasonable to say that between now and two years from now, we’re going to have a completely transformed riverfront, and we’ve been talking about festival park for the past 20 plus years,” said Newport City Manager John Hayden. “So the idea that we’re going to get that done, and then what’s going to be a world-class park over at James Taylor as well, is really going to transform the banks here in Newport.”
Newport partnered with Corporex on the project in 2006 so that the company could act as the master contractor, and now, with $7.5 million from the state’s legislative budget to fund it, the project was the subject of a first reading at Newport Commission’s Aug. 18 meeting.
Assistant City Manager Brian Steffen said at the meeting that he wanted to put any rumors about the city’s partnership with Corporex to rest.
“I want to make it clear, I’ve heard this rumor, I’m sure everybody else has on the board, this did not give the park away,” Steffen said. “This did not give the park to Corporex. This simply is Corporex building the park for a fee, and this contract reflects that.”
The project includes Festival Park, which is adjacent to General James Taylor Park.
After the city secured the grant from the state, a parks committee started meeting every other week beginning in March. The committee consisted of residents, business owners, Corporex representation, Cincinnati-based Hub+Weber Architects, and folks from the National Park Service.
Newport Municipal Specialist Josh Tunning helped put together and lead that group. Tunning said that at the end of June, the committee held an open house with over 100 people in attendance for additional feedback.
“I really feel the plans that we came up with today for James Taylor Park and Festival Park really represent what our community, our residents, our local business owners, want to see on our riverfront,” Tunning said. “So it really is a park not just for our community, but that was designed by our community.”
Steffen said the contract states that the city gets the final say on what is being built in the park. Corporex also has to abide by the state procurement laws (governing how state governments purchase goods and services from private businesses), and the contract does not give Corporex the right to spend the $7.5 million grant as they see fit.
One of the issues that the city has faced during the park project planning and is still working through is the construction of the new 4th Street Bridge. Steffen said the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 6 has indicated that they will no longer try to access the bridge through the park, and will be barging in a lot of their operation, so they’re going around and over it instead of through the park.
Steffen said during conversations with District 6, known locally as KYTC, about the 4th Street Bridge project, they spoke about access to the south of General James Taylor Park, and the city’s desire to continue that effort to bring in an additional floodgate or some other access piece south of the 4th Street Bridge.
“The folks from KYTC at the cabinet level indicated that they were more than willing to continue that conversation with us, while they didn’t make a firm commitment, but they didn’t commit to work with us to find options and find funding sources for that access piece,” Steffen said.
Another issue the city is looking into is the number of wild cats that call the park home. Steffen said he is working to find the most humane way to relocate the animals so they are not in the middle of a construction zone.
Vice President of Development at Corporex, Andrew Vecellio, has been working with the city on the General James Taylor Park improvements.
“It was a pleasure to be a part of each and every one of those [park board] meetings, and I think that the community really came together, and it was really a joint effort,” Vecellio said. “We’re very excited about the park. We’re very excited to get started as quickly as possible.”
Vecellio told the commission on Monday that he was confident they could do the project for $7.5 million.
Hayden walked the commission through the thorough checks and balances process the city would undergo throughout the build to ensure what was being done fit within the budget.
He said multiple sets of eyes in the city building would go over each item. Starting in the finance department, who will look to see if the item lines up with what they’ve been told and if the funds are there. Then it’s going to go over to the city manager’s office, where it’s going to be reviewed by the city’s building officials, and Steffen, followed by Hayden.
“They [Corporex] don’t just send a paper and say, ‘We want a million dollars now,’” Hayden said. “They need to submit a form that lays out what they’ve done, the time they’ve spent, and there has to be documentation to back all that up. Before we even get to that, we’re going to have all this stuff bid out, and it has to be done by the state’s model procurement credit code.”
Hayden said the city will know what those bids entail at the very beginning of the process if there are issues with the bids, such as items coming in higher than they could cut items or change how they designed something.
According to Newport Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr., there is a do-not-exceed clause in the contract, meaning the project cannot go over $7.5 million.
