By Reid Forgrave
The Cincinnati Enquirer

GREEN TOWNSHIP - Township leaders have helped pave the way for more commercial development along Harrison Avenue near Interstate 74.

Some residents who are worried about the traffic and congestion voiced their concerns Monday evening, but the township board voted to support Hamilton County in handing building rights for a strip of commercial land to developers.

The decision will allow more commercial development near the parking lot of the new Kohl's and Meijer stores there on a quarter-mile-long strip of land that had been part of the county right of way.

While some residents - and township Trustee Stephen Grote - said they feared snarled traffic in the future, Hamilton County Engineer William Brayshaw said the county, even after giving up the easement to developers, still had enough right of way on Harrison Avenue to turn the five-lane arterial into seven lanes if traffic were to increase dramatically.

The right of way request, if approved by the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners next week, would allow building of smaller businesses.The new Meijer supercenter, 6550 Harrison Avenue, opened last week.

"I know, you want to be where the traffic is," Grote said to Mike Rickey of developer Anchor Associates. "But our risk is dealing with communities that are livable." The trustee also chided engineers for catering to developers.

"This is not done as a payback to the developer," said Ted Hubbard, chief deputy county engineer. "These vacations of right of way are done all over the county."

Other Green Township officials agreed with Hubbard and Brayshaw, saying the township and county didn't need to keep the land for future additions to Harrison Avenue.

"On one hand, you could say it's giving away the land to developers," said township administrator Kevin Celarek. "But (the county) doesn't need this right of way. It's just playing the normal game you do all the time with developers."

E-mail rforgrave@enquirer.com