Board members named to RAPID 5 effort to link major Franklin County waterways with trails

Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch
·3 min read
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A board has been named to help guide RAPID 5, the nonprofit created earlier this years to link Franklin County's five major waterways with trails and create economic development and attractions to lure people to the water.

The 18 members of the board are:

  • Dr. Amy Acton, RAPID 5 president and CEO and former director of the Ohio Department of Health

  • Keith Myers, board chair of RAPID 5, vice president for Ohio State's Planning, Architecture and Real Estate, and chair of the nonprofit Urban Land Institute

  • Tom Katzenmeyer, RAPID 5 board vice chair and president and CEO of Greater Columbus Arts Council

  • Mark Wagenbrenner, RAPID 5 board secretary and president of Thrive Cos., a Columbus real estate development firm

  • Kerstin Carr, PhD, RAPID 5 board treasurer and chief regional strategy officer, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission

  • Frederic Bertley, president and CEO of COSI science center in Columbus

  • Michael Bongiorno, vice president of AECOM, an environmental engineering, green design and transportation design company

  • Michael Corey, executive director of the Human Service Chamber of Franklin County

  • Melanie Corn, president of Columbus College of Art and Design

  • Greg Davies, CEO of Columbus Downtown Development Corp.

  • Brian J. Ellis, president and chief operating officer of Nationwide Realty Investors

  • Jonathan Kass, president of development at Continental Real Estate Cos.

  • Tim Moloney, executive director of Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks

  • Bill Stanley, director of The Nature Conservancy in Ohio

  • Dr. Andrew Thomas, interim co-leader and chief clinical officer at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

  • Janica Pierce Tucker, Columbus partner-in-charge at Taft Law

  • Hannah Wexner, founder of BlockTrain and daughter of Les and Abigail Wexner

The goal of RAPID 5 — which stands for Rivers and Parks + Imagination + Design — is to create and implement ideas for improving links among the Big Darby Creek, Alum Creek, Big Walnut Creek and Scioto and Olentangy river corridors and a unified greenways system. There are more than 200 miles of trails in Franklin County and 146 miles of rivers, creeks and tributaries.

Ducks paddle along Big Walnut Creek at Creekside Park in Gahanna in September 2020.
Ducks paddle along Big Walnut Creek at Creekside Park in Gahanna in September 2020.

During an interview at Scioto Audubon Metro Park, where board members were meeting late Monday afternoon, Acton said RAPID 5 would begin its strategic planning process next year and would visit other cities to see what they've done with similar efforts.

Acton specifically mentioned Atlanta and its BeltLine effort, a system of public parks, trails, transit and affordable housing along a 22-mile rail corridor.

She also talked about the Scioto Mile Downtown, studying what has worked and what hasn't.

"It's about quality of life, literally change the conditions so we can have longer, happy healthier lives," said Acton, who was named as RAPID 5's executive director in May.

Acton said some of the board members had reached out to the group, asking to be part of the effort.

Tucker said she wanted to see RAPID 5 help link communities such as Gahanna, Whitehall and Columbus' East Side with the environment.

"RAPID 5 is going to use nature to bring you together," Tucker said. "The pandemic taught us that being outside is not a bad thing."

Thomas said he had expressed an interest in being on the board after talking with Myers, who had been Ohio State vice president of planning, architecture and real estate until his retirement in June.

Thomas said that as a physician, he believes that increasing access to natural spaces improves psychological well-being.

In June, RAPID 5 named Jennifer Peterson, who worked for seven years with Steiner + Associates as chief executive at Easton, as a chief operating officer.

Peterson said RAPID 5's role would be to help raise money for projects for governments and groups.

"We don't see ourselves as grant (writers)," she said.

Myers said that the developers on the board see economic development potential for the region. He believes project will emerge over the next year.

In August, local developer Thrive Cos. donated $1 million to RAPID 5.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: RAPID 5, aiming to link Columbus waterways, trails, names board