Tag: planning

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Business Development News Politics

Blue Ash City Council spurns COAST during airport vote

The Blue Ash Municipal & Safety Center was the scene of high political drama Thursday night. After 90 minutes of public comment, with zero Blue Ash or Cincinnati residents speaking in favor of Blue Ash rescinding its 2006 agreement to purchase 130 acres of the Blue Ash Airport from the City of Cincinnati, by a 6-1 vote Blue Ash City Council did just that.

Ordinance 2012-41 authorizes Blue Ash’s city manager to rescind the 2006 transfer of title of the Blue Ash Airport from the City of Cincinnati. On August 29, that title will be briefly transferred back to the City of Cincinnati and Cincinnati will return approximately $6 million in payments it has received to date from Blue Ash. After appropriate paperwork is signed, Blue Ash will immediately return the $6 million to Cincinnati and title will be returned to the City of Blue Ash. After the airport operations cease on September 1, Blue Ash will gain full possession of the property and can commence construction of a long-planned park.


COAST leader Chris Finney takes notes as the City of Blue Ash voted against his personal wishes. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

This unusual procedural step is necessary because after the cities of Blue Ash and Cincinnati signed their 2006 agreement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted Cincinnati’s use of the proceeds. Specifically, the FAA prohibited Cincinnati from using any of the $37.5 million for non-airport capital improvements. Since 2007, Cincinnati has planned to use $11 million of the Blue Ash Airport sale to fund construction of the Cincinnati Streetcar, with the remainder programmed for roadwork and other capital improvements.

At Thursday’s meeting, Blue Ash City Council scolded the local media for not having informed the public that it was the FAA who suggested that Blue Ash rescind the sale as a way for both parties to achieve their goals on schedule. The paperwork to be filed on August 29 allows for the avoidance of an estimated two years of litigation in federal court, meaning Blue Ash’s annual payments to the City of Cincinnati can continue uninterrupted. Cincinnati can use those capital funds however it sees fit, and Blue Ash can proceed with converting 130 acres of the Blue Ash Airport into a park.

The planned park was promised to Blue Ash voters who approved a .25% city earnings tax in 2006. Revenue from this tax has already paid for construction of a new city recreation center and the new Cooper Creek Event Center adjacent to the municipally owned Blue Ash Golf Course.
The facts of the situation as described above were entirely absent from the 90 minutes of emotional citizen comments that proceeded council’s action.  Speaker after speaker, led by Mary Kuhl of Westwood Concern and various members of COAST, incited the crowd into raucous clapping and heckling of Blue Ash City Council.

Chris Finney, COAST’s central figure, threatened Blue Ash with a ballot referendum that would rescind the rescinding of the 2006 sale of the airport to Cincinnati, creating a legal mess his law firm would no doubt attempt to be hired to untangle.

After public comments, five of the seven city council members explained their rationale for voting to approve Ordinance 2012-41. All voiced frustration with the local media’s inability to factually report the situation and called out Chris Finney and COAST for unethical behavior. Several Blue Ash council members reported that Finney had called them at home, and described his actions as an effort to extort Blue Ash. One council member went as far to sarcastically call Finney “The World’s Greatest Lawyer”, while another simply referred to him as a coward.

After city council presented the facts and context that Chris Finney had distorted or omitted in his week-long media blitz, there was no heckling to be heard as Ordinance 2012-41 was approved.

As council returned to its routine business after the nearly two-hour episode concocted by same man who has brought so much chaos to Cincinnati’s municipal affairs since the early 1990s, the crowd that had been calling for Blue Ash Council’s heads earlier in the evening quietly shuffled out of the building.

The misled public, however, had no opportunity to redirect their ire at Finney since he had left the building more than an hour earlier.

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Up To Speed

Consultant says Covington focusing resources in wrong places

Consultant says Covington focusing resources in wrong places.

MJB Consulting had sobering news for Covington officials when it delivered its report to city officials about how to breathe new life into Covington’s center city. The report stated that there is too much retail and that the existing retail is targeting high-end shoppers that just aren’t there. MJB Consulting also suggested that Covington not focus its energies on the Roebling Point area, and that MainStrasse should continue as a bar destination. More from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Berne strongly recommended Madison Avenue be the focus of storefront-filling activity because it has historic retail advantages over other streets, such as Pike Street, Martin Luther King Boulevard and Scott Boulevard. With resources at City Hall so limited, it’s important for the city to “triage” which areas are helped to rebuild, he said. Both mayoral candidates, Sherry Carran and Steve Casper, said they agree with Berne’s report. So did three city commission candidates.

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News Politics Transportation

Congressman Chabot leaving Cincinnatians voiceless in D.C.

Congressman Steve Chabot (R) campaigned on a promise of focusing on improving Cincinnati’s job climate and bringing jobs back to the region. An exclusive UrbanCincy analysis dives into representative Chabot’s Congressional record since rejoining the House of Representatives in 2010.

Since returning to Washington, D.C. in 2010 Congressman Chabot has sponsored 13 bills, nine of which received the support of co-sponsors. The majority of the bills sponsored by Congressman Chabot are rated by GovTrack as having very little chance of passage due to their polarizing nature. The four bills sponsored by Congressman Chabot that have no co-sponsor include his two largest legislative proposals to date – the Stop Wasting American Tax Dollars Act and the Section 8 Reform, Responsibility, and Accountability Act of 2012.


The Banks [LEFT] development and Smale Riverfront Park [RIGHT] received critical federal investment that paid for the construction of its parking garages and public infrastructure. Photographs by Randy Simes for UrbanCincy.

Stop Wasting American Tax Dollars Act:
House Bill 1345 was introduced on April 4, 2011 and has gone nowhere. The intent of the bill, according to the Library of Congress, was to “rescind any unobligated discretionary appropriations awarded to a state or locality by the federal government that are voluntarily returned to it.”

In a nutshell, Congressman Chabot’s proposal was an effort to accomplish want Republicans wanted to do with money refused by state’s like Ohio over the past several years. In particular, this would have allowed Ohio’s $400 million high-speed rail giveaway to go back to the federal government and be used to pay down the deficit.

The bill, however, would not have qualified for funds voluntarily returned by the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security.

The intent of Congressman Chabot’s bill would have impacted the $53 billion high-speed rail program introduced by the Department of Transportation in 2009. For comparison, the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security had a combined 2012 budget of $599 billion, or approximately 1,030 percent greater than that of the entire high-speed rail program originally envisioned by the Obama administration.

Section 8 Reform, Responsibility, and Accountability Act of 2012:
Congressman Chabot’s controversial House Bill 4145 was introduced on March 6, 2012, and aimed to amend the United States Housing Act of 1937. According to the Library of Congress, the bill would have “prohibited Section 8 rental assistance, including tenant- and project-based assistance, from being provided to any family that includes a convicted felon or illegal alien.”

Furthermore, the bill would have placed a five-year limitation on Section 8 rental assistance, and would have prohibited any assistance for any family with family members 18 years of age or older who were not performing at least 20 hours of work activities per week.

A third substantive legislative effort was made by Congressman Chabot in the form of House Bill 6178, Economic Growth and Development Act. The bill received bi-partisan co-sponsors and has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

According to the Library of Congress, H.R. 6178 directs the President to establish an interagency mechanism to coordinate United States development programs and private sector investment activities, among other things.


The Brent Spence Bridge project will require millions of dollars of federal assistance to become reality.

Depending on what comes out of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, H.R. 6178 may turn out to be the only bill sponsored by Congressman Chabot that has any chance at creating jobs. Whether these jobs would impact Cincinnatians would be another matter.

Congressman Chabot has repeatedly scolded President Barack Obama (D) and Democratic members of Congress since being reelected in 2010 about not doing enough to spur the economy. According to his own record, however, Congressman Chabot has done nothing himself to improve economic conditions or create jobs for Cincinnatians.

“Our economy remains stagnant and unemployment is unacceptably high,” Congressman Chabot writes on his campaign website. ”This Administration has proliferated a hostile environmental that is sustaining that stagnation and high unemployment numbers…we must end the uncertainty small businesses face and start pushing common-sense policies to spur innovation, development and job creation.”

Based on Chabot’s own record, there is no telling what these “common-sense policies” might be, but we do know they will not come in the form of direct federal investment. That would be because Congressman Chabot’s staunch position on not accepting any federal earmarks places Cincinnati at a unique disadvantage to the rest of the country when it comes to receiving critical federal investment that immediately creates local jobs and energizes the local economy.

Such projects that have received such federal help over the past several years include infrastructure at The Banks, Smale Riverfront Park, Cincinnati Streetcar, Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, Interstate 75, Waldvogel Viaduct, Ohio River Trail, and the Millcreek Greenway.

Of course, none of these projects were funded through any help of Congressman Chabot. And as representative Chabot panders to voters about redirecting funds from the Cincinnati Streetcar to the Brent Spence Bridge project, he himself has made no effort whatsoever to help win much-needed federal funding for the $3 billion project.

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Second URBANexchange takes place tomorrow at Moerlein Lager House

Last month the UrbanCincy team launched URBANexchange, a series of informal gatherings designed to engage urban professionals and others interested in cities throughout the Cincinnati region. The second edition of the monthly event will take place tomorrow evening at the Moerlein Lager House from 5:30 to 7:30pm.

“The first URBANexchange was informal in nature and generated some exciting discussion from a diverse collection of people from throughout Cincinnati,” explained John Yung, UrbanCincy’s public policy analyst and the event  coordinator.

The crowd engages with one another at the first URBANexchange held on July 3. Photograph by Travis Estell for UrbanCincy.

The first URBANexchange drew roughly 40 people, a number the team hopes to be repeated tomorrow. Like the first event, the UrbanCincy team will give out a prize to one of the people that sign in or leave their business card. This month’s giveaway will be $25 worth of Christian Moerlein Beer Tokens, which would be well used at the next URBANexchange on Thursday, September 6.

“I hope we continue to see an increasingly diverse group of people show up to URBANexchange as it matures,” Yung continued. “This is critical in ensuring a vibrant platform where different ideas for our city are shared.”

After UrbanCincy‘s start in 2007, the growing number of engaged urbanists in Cincinnati is particularly gratifying for the team.

“The ongoing progress and excitement in Cincinnati right now is truly inspiring,” stated UrbanCincy owner Randy Simes. “Everyday there seems to be new people and new energy that is emanating from the urban core, and it is that kind of environment that will lead to more gains in the future.”

URBANexchange is produced in coordination with The Urbanists, and takes place monthly inside the biergarten at the Moerlein Lager House (map).

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Business Development News

Excess parking at Mercer Commons adding millions to project costs

Project officials broke ground on the long-anticipated Mercer Commons project nearly one month ago. Once complete, the $56 million development will include 154 housing units, 26,000 square feet of commercial space, and a staggering 359 parking spaces.

Leading up to the project’s ceremonious groundbreaking, local preservationists had been concerned about Mercer Commons’ impact on the neighborhood’s historic fabric. But while much attention was paid to material treatment and exterior facades, not much was critiqued of the amount of parking.

According to the city’s zoning code, the development is mandated to provide one parking spot per residential unit, and one parking spot per 400 square feet of commercial space. Had the project merely followed what is prescribed in the city’s zoning code, then it would have had 161 fewer parking spaces.

The financial impact Mercer Commons’ parking is significant. 140 fewer spaces inside the new Mercer Commons Garage would have resulted in approximately $3.5 million in savings.

What’s more is that the portions of the Mercer Commons development along Vine Street qualify for a 50 percent parking reduction for being within 600 feet of a streetcar stop, thanks to a new regulation approved by the City of Cincinnati in June 2010.

Of the development’s 154 housing units, 30 of them will be affordable apartments which are likely to have occupants that cannot afford a personal automobile. Should you factor those two elements into the parking equation, then you would see the cost savings increase by approximately $750,000, bringing the total project cost down approximately $4.25 million.

The City has also recently considered eliminating minimum parking requirements in neighborhoods like Over-the-Rhine entirely.

“Although Over-the-Rhine is a walkable community, and the streetcar is coming, parking still needs to be addressed for residents, tenants and visitors,” explained Anastasia Mileham, Vice President of Communications with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) explained.


The $56M Mercer Commons development will include 154 residential units, 26,000SF of commercial space and 359 parking spaces once finished. Rendering provided.

According to 3CDC officials, some of the additional parking is there to support existing commercial retail in nearby developments that lacked enough parking when they were originally built, and that the parking lot at Twelfth and Vine, Valet Parking, Washington Park Garage, Mercer Commons Garage and future small lots and parking spaces are all considered in future planning efforts.

Mileham also says that their development corporation is also working with city officials to designate specific parking meters as residential only.

“We have gotten some complaints about parking, but when we gathered community input about Mercer Commons, parking was expressed as a need,” Mileham clarified.

The new above-ground parking garage is part of the first of three phases of development at Mercer Commons, and is expected to open in March 2013.