By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The riverfront Banks project Thursday cleared a major hurdle in securing $10.4 million for proposed parking garages, with the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments voting to approve the money in its transportation improvement plan.

OKI would use federal clean air and congestion mitigation funds for the grant, which would be funneled through the Ohio Department of Transportation.

ODOT still needs to approve the updated plan, with the Banks project added, but the agency has never changed any updates to previous requests.

"This would give us leverage on roughly $400 million more," said Tim Sharp, president of the Greater Cincinnati Port Development Authority, which is overseeing the proposed $600 million Banks project that includes a total of $68 million worth of parking garages.

Sharp said that once the garages are built, there could be up to another $300 million in private development money, and that could spark Hamilton County to move more quickly on providing funding.

In March 2002, the Hamilton County Commission voted to appropriate $20.8 million for garages on two blocks, using money from the half-cent sales tax increase county voters approved for the downtown stadiums in 1996. That money will become available only if other items - such as utility installation and street grids - are paid for by the city of Cincinnati.

If matching funds are not secured, the federal clean-air money would expire in 2007, said OKI officials.

"I'm glad for the money, but I'm not happy about the way this came about," Hamilton County Commissioner John Dowlin said. "It ain't their money they're talking about here for the entire project."

The approval was unanimous, but not before Clermont County Commissioner Mary Walker argued that OKI members should receive priority for such money. The Port Authority is not an OKI member, but is eligible to apply for the federal funds in question.

"This is like a cattle drive here, in that they all vote yes no matter what," said Walker, who abstained from the voice vote. "We're doing this for an organization that pays no dues when we've got more pressing needs on our highways and out in the community, especially when there are dark and vacant office buildings downtown."

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com