BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Because Cincinnati still lacks a plan for commercial development along the city's central riverfront, the land between the new Bengals stadium and Cinergy Field could be nothing but parking lots through 2002, City Manager John Shirey said Friday.
City Councilman Phil Heimlich, chairman of the council committee considering riverfront planning issues, said such a delay in transforming the city's riverfront underscores "the importance of getting the riverfront planning process moving quickly."
City council has had two riverfront development strategies on hold for months, with neither strategy getting support from a council majority. But Mr. Heimlich thinks council is "getting very close" to agreeing on a way to plan riverfront development.
"I think there's agreement on council that we need an outside advisory group to help us through this process," he said. "It's the front door of our city, and we want to get the best possible advice."
Mr. Shirey told the Cincinnati - Hamilton County Riverfront Steering Committee Friday that additional years of a riverfront filled with parking lots instead of park land is no cause for alarm.
"It's not the end of the world, because we don't have the money to build the park," he said after the group's meeting.
The proposed riverfront park could cost anywhere from $30 million to $50 million, Cincinnati Park Board Director Jack Wilson said.
Still, Cincinnati and Hamilton County officials acknowledged it's hard to plot the transformation of the city's riverfront while they're missing such a big piece of the puzzle - the commercial development plan.
"I am concerned about it," said Hamilton County Administrator David Krings. "But a plan is not a rigid document. It gives you a framework for that thinking."
If city officials could identify the riverfront's future commercial development in the next couple of months, county officials could have some new riverfront garages built before the Bengals' new Paul Brown Stadium is finished in August 2000, Mr. Shirey said.
But there's no way to complete such a plan that quickly, he said. Mr. Heimlich said he expects a riverfront development strategy could be worked through by the middle of next year.
In addition to clearing riverfront land for parks, the parking garages that county officials are planning would serve as a platform for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the city's commercial development.
That means any restaurants or shops the city locates on the riverfront would sit atop the garages, which would lift the businesses out of the flood plain.
But building the garages before the developments are identified would increase the garages' price tag, because the needs of the businesses couldn't be accommodated in the plans, Mr. Shirey said
. The city-county group reached consensus on the need for a two-level Second Street to be built as part of the city's Fort Washington Way reconstruction project.
Having a two-level Second Street just south of the highway would accommodate a riverfront transit center.
The proposed $18 million Intermodal Transit Center would allow for cars and, potentially, light-rail trains to run on the top level, while buses and possibly diesel passenger trains could run below.
City and county officials endorsed the idea and will hear more details next month. City officials hope to know by then whether the state will contribute money to help build the center.
Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce President John Williams said the fact that the city-county group reached consensus on Second Street bodes well for riverfront planning.
"I think that is a very positive sign," said Mr. Williams, who has criticized the city and county for their inability to work together. "This is a time when they're entitled to some praise."
The city-county group also will have to address: how city streets are built on the riverfront, how parking garages are laid out and how much space gets devoted to park land and to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
To some degree, all the projects are competing for space.
"There is a solution," said Hamilton County Commission President Tom Neyer Jr. "Unless all those needs are met, they will all fail."
Tanya Albert contributed to this report.
