Plan Cincinnati aims to guide city back towards its urban roots

[M II A II R II K]

Plan Cincinnati aims to guide city back towards its urban roots


August 30, 2012

By Randy A. Simes

Read More: http://www.urbancincy.com/2012/08/pl...s-urban-roots/

PDF Plan: http://www.plancincinnati.org/draft/Plan_Cincinnati.pdf

After a three-year planning process, Cincinnati’s first comprehensive plan in 32 years will be shared with the city’s Planning Commission. The hearing marks a ceremonious occasion for city employees that have worked tirelessly on the plan since Mayor Mark Mallory (D) tasked them to work with the community on putting together an updated plan for the Queen City.

- The City of Cincinnati Planning Department will share the 228-page document with the Planning Commission at 6pm today at City Hall. From there the document will move on to City Council’s Livable Communities Committee, and then the full City Council for approval where officials do not expect much, if any, pushback from the nine-member elected body. After formal approval from City Council, the document will become Cincinnati’s policy guide for everything from financial to environmental decisions, and beyond.

- The renewed focus on urbanism in the Plan Cincinnati document establishes 11 goals that range from growing the city’s population, to becoming more aggressive with economic development, to developing a culture of health. One of the key goals set out by Plan Cincinnati calls on leadership to build on the city’s existing assets. To that end, the plan identified 40 Neighborhood Centers that should serve as the diverse, walkable centers of activity throughout the city. Of those 40 nodes, approximately 28 percent are recognized as “urban” neighborhood centers while the remainder are identified as “traditional” neighborhood centers.

- “Our neighborhoods are structured around centers of activity that contain all of the amenities that we need to go about our daily life,” the Plan Cincinnati document states. “We will focus our development on these centers of activity, and strategically select areas for new growth.” From there the plan recognizes which of those neighborhood centers are doing a good job at serving as diverse, walkable centers. Seven are seen as well off and simply needing maintenance; 12 are identified as areas that need to evolve and become more walkable, and the remaining 21 are called on to be transformed with large-scale changes such as infill, redevelopment, and public improvements.

- “We will permeate our neighborhoods with compact, walkable mixed-use development, bikable streets and trails, and transit of all types (such as bus, light rail, bus rapid transit, light rail transit, streetcar/circulator vehicles, and passenger rail),” declares the Plan Cincinnati document. “The development of a Complete Streets policy and adoption of a form-based code are tools that will help reach this goal.” A sobering fact, presented within the plan, is that roughly 22 percent of all Cincinnati households have no automobile, while only a percentage of those households have safe and easy access to the jobs, goods and services they need.

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[LAsam]

Good for Cincinnati. That city has great bones and tons of untapped potential. If they could get Over-The-Rhine cleaned up, I think it would be on of the best urban areas in the Midwest.

[Buckeye Native 001]

If this was written/published in 2007, I'd agree. But this article seems to be about three or four years too late. What's currently going on in Over-the-Rhine and along the Riverfront is nothing short of a miracle, and the inner core has never looked healthier.

[M II A II R II K]

Rebuilding and Preserving: Two Aspects of Preservation


Read More: http://www.terrain.org/columns/30/guest.htm

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Over-the-Rhine, which forms a connecting corridor between downtown and the University of Cincinnati campus and “Pill Hill” hospitals, has been in decline for decades, and has lost 50 percent of the original building stock. The area was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 (just four years after Mariemont), listing nearly a thousand contributing buildings. It is comprised of the nation’s largest collection of Italianate architecture, and is believed by some to be the largest, most intact urban historic district in America. Architecturally, Over-the-Rhine is as distinct and significant as New Orleans’ French Quarter or the historic districts of Savannah, Charleston, and Greenwich Village.

- At its height, the neighborhood had a population of 45,000 (75 percent of which were German or of German descent) and was the second most dense urban area in the U.S. A number of factors contributed to the decline of Over-the-Rhine, among them the anti-German sentiment following World War I and the Prohibition’s closing of the breweries that made up much of its industry and culture. Over the following decades, a pattern of building toward downtown coupled with the construction of interstate highways changed the focus of development in Cincinnati. Although Appalachians moved in as those of German heritage moved out, Over-the-Rhine’s population declined substantially; by 1990, the population was under 9,600, and 71 percent African-American.

- One of the keys to 3CDC's success has been its understanding of what it takes to create “community”. The organization has not simply restored buildings. It has strategically developed neighborhoods and streetscapes, and has worked to diligently bring in the right types and mixes of business. For its part, the city has committed to infrastructure improvements that include underground utilities, a streetcar line, and enhanced public safety measures. Over-the-Rhine’s Washington Park, for years derelict and crime-ridden, has been redeveloped as a centerpiece of the community. Nearly double its original size, the park is built in part atop a parking garage that can serve patrons coming to Music Hall along its western edge. The Hall is the city’s architectural jewel. At the park’s southern edge is the stunning new School for the Creative & Performing Arts, the only public K-12 school of its kind in the nation.

- A Brookings Institution analysis of census results indicates that most large American cities are growing faster than their suburbs for the first time in almost a century. Cincinnati is no exception. Much of the new population of Over-the-Rhine is comprised of young professionals, families, and empty nesters, but 3CDC, the city, and organizations such as Over-the-Rhine Community Housing have worked to assure a place for current residents by maintaining mixed-income and affordable housing. Trying to revitalize a deteriorating neighborhood without succumbing to or relying on complete gentrification is a balancing act, to be sure. But that diverse and eclectic neighborhood character is what remains appealing to so many.

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[mhays]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

If this was written/published in 2007, I'd agree. But this article seems to be about three or four years too late. What's currently going on in Over-the-Rhine and along the Riverfront is nothing short of a miracle, and the inner core has never looked healthier.

Maybe that makes it excellent timing. As electeds, the public, etc., think about it, they have more positive images of what density can mean.