By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CRESCENT SPRINGS - City officials are rethinking a proposal to make part of Grandview Drive one-way after several business people questioned the idea.

Police Chief Mike Jansing had recommended the city make traffic one-way northbound on Grandview from Buttermilk Pike to Buttermilk Crossing - the part of Grandview Drive within Crescent Springs.

Changing the traffic pattern would improve traffic flow and reduce wrecks at the busy Grandview Drive/Buttermilk Pike intersection, especially those involving left turns, he said.

"We're opposed to that,'' said Ameristop CEO Tony Parnigoni. "No one's shown us any proof that making a left-hand turn out of (the Ameristop Express Shell station at Buttermilk and Grandview) has caused any of the accidents.''

Parnigoni said Ameristop is monitoring how many of its customers turn left onto Grandview. The store plans to have a representative at Crescent Springs City Council's next meeting to say what that change could mean in lost revenue if Grandview is made one-way north.

At Monday's Crescent Springs Council meeting, some critics suggested the city work with Kentucky highway officials to install left-turn signals at Buttermilk's intersection with Grandview and Hazelwood Drives.

"Moving the traffic down to Buttermilk Crossing really doesn't solve a problem," said Anne Mitchell, spokeswoman for the Drees Co. on the Fort Mitchell section of Grandview Drive. "It just relocates it."

Crescent Springs City Council delayed making the change after hearing from critics, including more than 200 petitioners from Drees' Grandview Drive building.

Fort Mitchell Mayor Tom Holocher also was concerned about how the proposed change would affect his city.

Crescent Springs Mayor Claire Moriconi said an engineer with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will attend council's Feb. 23 caucus to help the city decide how to reduce traffic tie-ups and crashes.

"We're not trying to disrupt business,'' Moriconi said. "We're trying to make it safer to travel on Grandview Drive.''

From January 2000 to December 2003, Jansing said Crescent Springs police responded to 23 wrecks at the Grandview Drive/Buttermilk Pike intersection, and 15 from Grandview Drive to Buttermilk Crossing.

John Curtin, senior vice president of real estate and development for Paul Hemmer Cos., which owns several buildings on Grandview, said the decision to delay any changes until discussing them with state highway officials is "a good first step."

Company president Paul W. Hemmer Jr. has asked that Crescent Springs work with the state in solving traffic problems at the busy intersection.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com