By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - While some residents wonder if the proposed recreation-community center will ever be built, township leaders took steps this week to meet a spring deadline to decide whether the project is a go.

The deadline has now been pushed back from January to spring. That's so consultants helping the township plan for the proposed $20 million to $30 million center have plenty of time to do a feasibility study on the project.

Public forums with residents also will be held to gather comments on what they want in their community center.

Trustees voted late Tuesday to pay the consultants $315,000.

"It is very expensive to run these facilities," Trustee Jose Alvarez said late Tuesday as trustees discussed the issue. "They can run. It is not impossible. (But) everybody just wants to make sure it runs right."

If it's determined the center can fund its own operating costs and it's built, it likely will go on 211/2 acres at the southeast corner of Union Centre Boulevard and West Chester Road across from Lakota West High School.

Jenine Zieverink, who has four children, is glad the project is proceeding. She hopes to see it built soon - but correctly - so that residents get the most for their money.

"It would be nice if everybody is included so everyone is happy, the seniors, the soccer moms, the dads who don't have enough ball fields," said Zieverink, 42. "I want everyone to be happy. If they have to wait a year or two, I don't care. Let's do it right."

The township plans to use tax increment financing (property taxes from business development) in TIF districts already established in the Union Centre Boulevard/Ohio 747 areas to build the center.

Operating costs likely would come from a yet-to-be determined user fee.

In other township business Tuesday, residents continued urging trustees to fix flooding problems - fast.

Homeowners in older subdivisions on the eastern side of West Chester increasingly are complaining about devastating flooding over the last few years.

These older areas haven't previously flooded as often and as much as they are lately, residents say.

Township officials and county engineers are looking into why the yards are flooding and how widespread the problem is.

"We have standing water all around my yard," resident Shannon Toles, 34, told trustees.

Some residents blame new development for their flooding woes and are calling for more urban zoning standards.

West Chester's flooding, officials stress, isn't unique to the township - it's a countywide problem.

A special storm-water tax district could be set up eventually to fund repairs.

"There is no flooding fairy that is going to come down and pay for this," Trustee Catherine Stoker said. "Nobody has the money that needs to be spent to make improvements or to correct failing systems. We are trying to find a fair way to accomplish this."

If you live in West Chester and have flooding problems, West Chester township officials say they want to hear from you. Call Mark Fitzgerald at 759-7300.

Some West Chester residents experiencing flooding also say they want to speak to neighbors with the same problem. Call Rudy and David Hull at (513) 777-1573.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.