BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The look of the future for Southwest Ohio may lie deep in the heart of Texas.
The growing corridor of economic growth that runs from Cincinnati north through Warren County, Middletown, Dayton and Springfield will resemble the Dallas - Fort Worth boom community early next century, say growth and development experts.
Economic success for the entire Tristate in the new millennium depends on the inter-meshing of independent cities, counties and communities into a regional business collective, they say. The reward for this developing "megalopolis:" Booming growth as experienced by Dallas - Fort Worth.
"One day it will become a single corridor, like the Dallas - Fort Worth area," said Michael Gallis from the Charlotte, N.C., headquarters of Michael Gallis & Associates.
"That's where Cincinnati and Dayton are going," said Mr. Gallis, whose firm has been hired by the Metropolitan Growth Alliance to compile the first comprehensive study of the region that extends in a 150-mile radius around Cincinnati.
The Gallis study, which includes 13 counties in Southwestern Ohio, Southeastern Indiana and Northern Kentucky, is to be completed in April. Mr. Gallis is a national expert on economic growth, planning and architecture.
Tonight, some of the study's preliminary findings will be presented and discussed during two public presentations on the Northern Kentucky University campus. The meetings -- at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. -- will be held in the University Center Ballroom.
Another public meeting will be 4 p.m. Thursday at Lawrenceburg High School.
One of the key links in Southwest Ohio's economic chain will be Warren County, which is the state's second-fastest growing county.
County officials, once content to contemplate growth only within their respective boundaries, now know that future success will rely on regional cooperation rather than competition within the region.
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WARREN CO. KEY LINK
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Warren County is a key link in the expanding growth corridor of Southwest Ohio that includes Greater Cincinnati, Middletown, Dayton and Springfield.
As the second fastest growing among Ohio's 88 counties, Warren's booming population -- now estimated to be more than 140,000 -- and business expansion has placed in squarely in the boom corridor that is increasingly linking areas between the four cities.
Some facts, from the county's regional planning committee, about Warren County's boom include:
The population is projected to reach 163,504 by 2010 and 196,681 by 2020.
The average value of a single family home in the county is $118,600. In 1990, it was $77,600 and in 1980, it was $51,500.
Building permits for single-family residences for Mason, one of the fastest growing parts of the county, numbered 250 in 1995 compared with only 90 in 1991.
Employment within the county increased more than 180 percent between 1980 and 1995. Moreover, among all employees in the county, 32 percent commuted into Warren County in 1980 but 45.5 percent drove in to work in 1990.
Source: Warren County Regional Planning Commission
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"We have been thinking regionally for some time. That's our mission," said Bob Craig, director of the Warren County Regional Planning Committee.
Mr. Craig, a former resident of Irving, Texas, which lies between Dallas and Fort Wright, agreed with Mr. Gallis' comparison to the Dallas - Fort Worth growth pattern.
"The megalopolis here will resemble it," he predicted.
Bill Miller, regional planning manager for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Government (OKI), said residents throughout the Tristate will be affected by the growth elsewhere in the corridor -- such as in Warren County.
"We should all care about that growth because it can build the economy of the region and it can increase our competitiveness with other regions," he said.
John Williams, president of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, agreed, saying the developing corridor is crucial to establishing an economically collective future.
"In the competitive market, it's regions that are competing with one another. Only if we act as a region will we have a reasonable chance of success," he said.
The developing Southwest Ohio megalopolis will stretch farther north than most may have realized initially, experts say.
Springfield, in Clark County northeast of Dayton, will play the role as end station for Southwest Ohio's megalopolis.
"Springfield is kind of the end of the urbanized area to the north and northeast," Mr. Craig said.
Springfield, about 25 miles northeast of Dayton, is often overlooked as a northern tier of the corridor. But development officials there say that will soon change.
According to Larry Krukewitt, president of the Springfield - Clark County Chamber of Commerce, 34 manufacturing firms have relocated to Clark County -- many around the stretch of highway from Dayton's I-675 outer belt along I-70 east.
"There's an alley way running up from Cincinnati. It's an area that has enjoyed some of the best manufacturing growth in all of Ohio," he said.
