MIAMI TOWNSHIP — Township trustees will consider adopting a land use plan for Ohio 28 that would dramatically change how residents live, work, shop and play in this Clermont County community's central business district.

        The plan was unveiled Tuesday night at a special meeting of the board that was attended by more than 100 citizens. The trustees indicated they would likely vote to adopt the plan at their regular May 21 meeting.

        Larry Fronk, township community development director, and representatives from KZF Design, Walnut Hills, presented the plan.

        “It's visionary and it's going to be challenging,” said Mr. Fronk. “It's going to take a real commitment to realize this vision.”

        The plan involves completely revitalizing Route 28 — the commercial heart of the township — and some of the streets around it. It is an ambitious plan, by all accounts, that could take close to two decades to realize. There is no cost estimate.

        Officials will first approach the Ohio Department of Transportation to ask that it relinquish the street to either the county or township, and make it a local road.

        The plan would entail a complete makeover of about 1.5 miles of Route 28, from the Interstate 275 interchange to Wolfpen Pleasant Hill Road. It would widen the route and add sidewalks, angled parking and a grassy median of varying widths to give the street a boulevard look.

        The plan would be a departure from the commercial corridor look of so many township business districts in Greater Cincinnati. Route 28, with its curb cuts, center turn lane, business set-backs and a sea of asphalt parking lots, resembles a smaller version of Colerain Avenue in Colerain Township, Beechmont Avenue in Anderson Township and Winton Road in Springfield Township.

        With this plan, Miami officials hope to give a more urban or village feel to this section of street. They even refer to it as an “urban village plan,” town center, or downtown Miami Township.

        The area would have commercial, residential and recreational uses.

        “How many of you have walked along Route 28?” Ron Edgerton, KZF project manager, asked the Tuesday meeting crowd. Only a handful of hands went up.

        “I don't blame you,” Mr. Edgerton continued. “It's not a pedestrian-friendly area.”

        The impetus behind the plan, which was begun about nine months ago with a 14-member study group, was the loss of business on Route 28 — especially the cinemas on Montclair Boulevard and Thriftway — and the fact that residents were heading outside of the township to shop.

        “The discretionary income of the people of Miami Township is astounding,” said Mr. Fronk. “But they're going elsewhere.”

        “This is a chance for you to reinvent yourself in creative ways,” said Mr. Edgerton.

        The plan also involves “hiding” the parking behind businesses, and developing new storefronts abutting the sidewalks.

        The reaction among those attending was positive.

        Candice Paolino, who has lived in the township for more than three years, said, “It's very innovative, very creative.”

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