BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- In the growing art of people moving, local groups are trying to snag a magnum opus.
The Butler County Regional Transit Authority is working with others to score a $5 million federal grant for two job training - transport centers in Fairfield and Liberty Township.
The centers would have it all, said Amy Terango, executive director of the transit authority.
They would include day care, job training, Head Start, park-and-ride facilities and Cincinnati Metro bus depots, where disembarking riders could be shuttled to jobs.
"It's been a fantastic regional effort to pull together resources to see what's best for the community," Ms. Terango said. "One of the biggest problems in transit is dealing with low-income individuals who need to get from home to work or home to day care to work."
Both pieces of property would have room for commercial development for dry cleaners, drug stores or news stands, she added.
The first site is 12 acres in Fairfield at Ohio 4 and Ohio Bypass 4, she said. The state owns the property but is considering giving the land to the coalition, she said.
The other spot is in Liberty Township at the intersection of Cincinnati-Dayton and Yankee roads. It is already owned by the county's Transportation Improvement District, one of the partners with the transit authority in seeking the grant.
Other partners include the Butler County Department of Human Services, Head Start and the Butler County Private Industry Council - Employment and Training Administration.
The grant would pay for two years of services. Once the money ran out, the costs would be picked up by the transit authority, the federal government and lease income from the commercial property, she said.
The groups expect to know by mid-August whether they will be awarded the grant, Ms. Terango said. After that, it would take about 18 months to get the centers up and running.
The project differs from the temporary park-and-ride lots that the Southwestern Ohio Regional Transit Authority envisions for Butler County to reduce traffic on highways during downtown construction, Ms. Terango said.
The centers would not only allow carpooling for those living here and working in Cincinnati, but buses would also bring city residents to jobs here.
The need for the exchange grows as more people and jobs relocate to outlying counties and leaders search for innovative transportation so one can reach the other. "In today's society, there are a lot of jobs in the suburbs," she said.
If successful, the coalition wants to capture another grant to build a third center in Union Township.
Chris Wunnenberg, development director with Schumacher Dugan Construction Inc., said he'd love to see a center at the current 25-acre site of AutoNation USA.
The Florida-based chain of used-car superstores announced in March it was closing its vehicle reconditioning center in West Chester in a nationwide effort to move its work to individual stores. Schumacher developed the property and sold it to AutoNation. Mr. Wunnenberg said the spot west of the Union Centre Boulevard interchange would be perfect for businesses moving here and struggling to find workers.
"We'd love to get a good user out there," he said. "We have no major transportation hub."
Debbie Ball, spokeswoman for Republic Industries Inc., the parent company of AutoNation USA, said it is not known when the site might be put on the market nor what plans are in mind for its future.
