BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GREEN TOWNSHIP -- The township's board of trustees today will consider a plan by a grass-roots committee of residents for what they call "sensible" development along North Bend Road.
The public hearing will be at 7:30 p.m. at the township's administration building on Harrison Avenue.
A land-use committee formed by the Monfort Heights-White Oak Community Association has been working for about two years on the land-use plan for the North Bend Road corridor, between the Interstate 74 interchange and Westwood-Northern Boulevard.
That stretch of road, about 1 1/2 to 2 miles, is a mix of residential and commercial uses, and could be considered prime land for development.
"We know there could be a lot of development and redevelopment there," said Peggy Lopez, president of the community association. "We want to make sure it's sensible development, that it doesn't exacerbate an already-bad traffic problem. And to make sure the development enhances the community as well."
Trustee Bill Seitz said the committee has done commendable work, and it has taken into consideration the input from the township, business and residents.
He said the plan has "bubbled its way up" from the committee, which was initiated by residents and the community association, up to township government.
"We are hoping that it (the report) would serve as a road map for the kinds of development that people would view as compatible with the neighborhood," Mr. Seitz said. "This represents the culmination of a couple of years' worth of effort. They took the initiative."
Ms. Lopez said the report addresses residential use in the corridor and future redevelopment.
"For instance, if redevelopment occurs, we want to see something like service roads, so we have one entry to five or six stores (rather than separate curb cuts)," said Ms. Lopez. "All these curb cuts just eat away at a corridor. We don't want that to happen.
"We're trying to be very creative here. We're trying to work with developers. We're not anti-development, but we do want good development."
Ms. Lopez and Mr. Seitz said that if the trustees approve the plan, it would then be sent to the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission for adoption.
"Having a plan is not the same thing as tomorrow the bulldozers move in," said Mr. Seitz. "I think what folks sometimes don't understand is that if you don't plan for growth, you will get bad growth."
Ms. Lopez said developers in the future would use the plan as a blueprint.
"If we don't plan, we're going to get haphazard development," said Ms. Lopez. "We've all seen it, we've had enough of it, we're tried of it. So let's do something right."
