thebillshark

How is it that the naysayers already know about these hearings and submit dozens of letters in opposition beforehand and people inclined to support growth never hear about things until after the review packet has been compiled or even after the hearing is over?

My latest blog post: https://cincinnatiideas.com/shared-use-path-along-westwood-northern-boulevard/

I agree that the streetcar will have capacity issues but I disagree strongly with the assertion that the stadium is too far away from the streetcar route to be a significant factor. From Liberty&Elm stop it is one block west using Wade Street. Really what you could do to utilize parking at the Banks is have a whole bunch of shuttle busses lined up in the Riverfront Transit Center that take Central Avenue north directly to the stadium.

The issue is the current streetcar isn’t up to the task. If the city isn’t running all five of these and keeping an eye on route blockages it’s not going to deliver enough people to the game in time. I suggested FCC sponsoring more service (running more than three streetcars) on game days on Twitter but was shouted down by FCC super fans who said the owners are already paying $200 million for the stadium and the city should have to pay for that. If the team wants to take a laissez faire approach towards parking, I’m OK with that, it’s better than tearing down a whole bunch of historic buildings to throw up new garages insensitive to the urban form. Has the gravel lot on Central Parkway north of Sam Adam’s brewery and Findlay Street that is used to store semi truck trailers been considered for a garage? With all the development in the market area (particularly with the rehabbed Film Center building) I would say that’s a “not too scary” place for suburbanites to park & walk and also could serve the market.

We’ll soon see if this road brings much anticipated prosperity to Portsmouth... by diverting travelers away from Portsmouth.

They really need to post the findings (maybe some kind of abbreviated minutes?) of the HCB for those following along at home.

Mt. Auburn flatiron building getting renovated. Awesome!

Idk. Is commuter rail enough to support ToD in a Midwest city? (I assume Milwaukee has experienced some “job sprawl” like Cincinnati has?) As opposed to light rail that goes in both directions at all times of the day?

Actually I would say that’s still a good deal. There’s huge well maintained mansions not far from there going east on Dexter. Now with the MLK exit open and it being along the strong I-71 corridor that area is ready to shoot up in value. There’s no geographical barriers to keep the wealth in East Walnut Hills from expanding north through the intact street grid into Evanston. It’s really nice housing stock too.

The study was a complete joke, more insightful analysis is available on this website for free.

Latest blog post: https://cincinnatiideas.com/gondola-at-the-banks/

^Newport on the Levee seems crowded with families almost every time I’ve been there or passed through. I wouldn’t call it a total failure or even a failure by any stretch of the imagination.

^Cranley suggesting music venue go onto Lot 24 (the big one that can support other development) after the county already moved heaven and earth to make a deal with the Bengals to put it in Lot 27

Very interesting, but of course there are no structural advantages over the good old shuttle bus until they can function without an operator. And that may be decades away

I really hope it is something more than just a garage! Doesn’t look quite big enough to support a standard garage (two side by side parking bays are 120 ft.) With parking minimums repealed, a 500 space garage opening across the street, and streetcar proximity this would be a good spot to try out a residential/mixed use building with very limited parking like the Eighth and Main building in development...

Interesting nugget. Parking study included 500 spaces from a new Hamilton County garage at Liberty and Central. But also this: “Hamilton County is considering a second garage constructed on the area of Findlay Market. Since the exact size and location of the second garage is unknown at this time, it is not included in this inventory.” Where would that go?

I have seen people sled ride there after a snowstorm but that of course is very infrequent.

One major shortcoming of the packets is that they only contain the recommendations of the historic conservator (Beth Johnson) to the HCB, and not the rulings of the HCB itself. Also, once something has to come back for another hearing it is difficult to tell what new information is added and the latest recommendations (yellow and green highlights are not a clear system, perhaps they could date new material and label it "update.") So, I don't know what the conclusion was in the case of 1518 Race Street, it is especially difficult to tell since the Conservator said they don't object to the density, then it says they recommend to the HCB denying zoning relief while recommending granting a certificate of appropriateness. https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/buildings/historic-conservation/historic-conservation-board/november-5-2018-staff-report-and-attachments/ In any case, the unit density from a four story building with unit square footages of 420-775 square feet as in the case of 1518 Race Street is entirely appropriate for Over the Rhine (and for almost any urban area really.) It is disappointing to hear NIMBYs object to this, it seems to me the upper class homeowners are effectively excluding the "hordes" of the middle class from the neighborhood so they can keep their (misguided-even-for-pursuing-their-own-self-interest) control over what happens there, to the detriment of entrepreneurs opening new businesses that need customers. Are the NIMBYs going to go out and eat extra dinners or pay extra taxes to make up for the housing units and added population they are permanently excluding from Over the Rhine?

At one time the proposed development on Howell Avenue included space for the CCAC and I wonder if this is still a possibility. In my opinion this would connect the CCAC infinitely more to the Clifton community if it was part of their walkable neighborhood business district. The location would be abutting the well activated plaza on Ludlow Avenue. In contrast putting it in Burnett Woods pretty much guarantees everyone will arrive there by automobile instead of walking. This will in turn almost eliminate the possibility of new people discovering the center and what it has to offer by chance. There was a proprosal for a smaller camping education center to build a facility in Burnett Woods and I think I would be in favor of that instead. I would not be in favor of developing the woods themselves. I think natural settings like Burnett Woods (even just viewing them from the outside such as from Good Sam Hospital) contribute to human psychological health in ways we don’t understand and also the trees may be filtering the air pollution coming up from the Mill Creek valley for the hospital area.

Except we’re horrible at this and everyone would complain about the architecture anyway

They are a few years old now, but I found these power points regarding the riverfront on the City of Covington's website: http://www.covingtonky.gov/forms-documents/view/covington-riverfront-opportunities-plan

I have a contrarian opinion on the caps. I don’t think they’re necessary or at least not a high priority (blog post coming soon.) I think the reason the Banks has struggled to build out the initial plan is scale. It requires a big developer to spend big money and take a big risk and plan a big project to fill in an entire big block above a big parking garage. Add in the fact that the site is county-government-owned and you have a recipe for inaction. In a slower growth market it just hasn’t happened. Compare this to the situation in OTR where 3cdc has had great success. Their projects were smaller and spread out, and due to the smaller scale of the neighborhood many other companies and individuals had the means and opportunity to build on that success with buildings and businesses of their own, something the little guy or even the medium sized guy can’t do at the Banks. The CBD to some extent has the same problem of scale as the Banks but not as bad because not every site requires working with the county to build on top of a parking garage. As far as caps providing connectivity to the CBD, I don’t see the CBD as an active node right now with pedestrians waiting to spill over into the Banks if it only weren’t for the highway. Both the Banks and the CBD need to work on building their existing population and street level activity, something that can be accomplished at far less cost and risk than building out the caps.

County commissioners reach agreement with Bengals on music venue at The Banks; could pave way for new indoor practice facility http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2018/11/14/team-and-commissioners-have-signed-memorandum-understanding-which-bengals-have-agreed-allow-proposed/2000534002/

2,470 surface spots is completely disproportionate to what the Bengals are qoute unquote “giving up” by allowing the music venue. Sounds like the county got had again. Will that quota prevent development on the rest of the Banks project? Did they even think to ask to lift remaining height restrictions on development?

I just do not buy “creative class” theory. Who are these supposedly elite-Olympic-athlete-level corporate employees that will toil way happily in NYC but would not come to Columbus OH for any amount of money? If they are “superstars” aren’t they spending most of their time at work instead of taking advantage of restaurants, nightlife etc.? Especially if you’re talking about engineers (who tend to be more introverted from my experience) and not fashion designers? I suppose there’s a threshold of cosmopolitan-ality to meet, but I have a hard time believing that most mid-sized cities in the US are below it. I saw a tweet that mentioned parts of Long Island City are in the new federally designated “Opportunity Zones.” Are the HQ2 sites simply places where Amazon can maximize their real estate investment?