The City of Ripon takes pride in downtown.

So much so that the Ripon City Council recently gave the green light to City Administrator Kevin Werner to sign the Second Amendment to the General Services Agreement with GHD Inc. to finalize the Downtown Circulation Study and Streetscape Improvement plan.

Cost would be paid via the Street and Road fund.

This is a plan that’s been in the works for quite some time. In 2018, elected leaders moved forward with obtaining a consultant to identify the scope and phasing of improvements in downtown, with the focus on streets, sidewalks, alleys, on-street parking, and streetscape improvements, to name a few.

Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart said in his June 8 report that the purpose of this plan would be used to determine future capital projects in the area. One possible funding option, he noted, may be the Street & Road Reserves.

Zuidervaart added that having a master plan available would be important in an effort to pursue grants for those downtown improvements.

The City contracted with GHD Inc. in 2019 to design and compose a downtown circulation and streetscape improvement master plan.

Since that time staff has been working with the consultant in developing the plan.

Staff received direction from Council at the May meeting to have the consultant make a few minor adjustments to the plan and to finalize the plan for approval.

GHD, upon review of the changes, discovered that those suggested changes will put the plan slightly over on the initial budget of $36,200 – for that, a Second Amendment to the General Services Agreement was needed, with the additional cost at $3,200.

Due to COVID-19 restraints, the consultant spent more time than anticipated preparing for an online virtual workshop, according to Zuidervaart.