The Cincinnati Planning Commission voted 4-2 Friday to approve a land swap between the city and Hamilton County, almost assuring the jail's demise.

Cincinnati and Hamilton County have reached an agreement that would give the city ownership of the Mill Creek Psychiatric Center for Children - the county's proposed site for a juvenile jail. In exchange, the city would give up $300,000 and three parcels, including Drake Hospital, the Hillcrest School site in Springfield Township and the B&B Parking lot at the corner of Reading Road and Eggleston Avenue.

The deal will now go before the finance committee for review on Monday and a final vote of City Council on Wednesday. If the planning commission had rejected the deal, it would have taken a 6-3 vote of council to override the decision.

The planning commission held up the deal two weeks ago out of concern about trading away the parking lot. The commission was concerned about whether the county would use the property for expansion of the adjacent Hamilton County Justice Center.

There were also concerns about how giving away the property would affect future downtown development. The parking lot is next to 30 acres of undeveloped land, better known as the proposed Broadway Commons site.

Councilman Jim Tarbell, who sits on the planning commission, had been the most outspoken critic of the deal. But on Friday, he gave it his support. Commission members Caleb Faux and Donald Mooney Jr. cast the only dissenting votes.

"The last thing anyone wants to do is hold them hostage," Tarbell said referring to residents in Bond Hill, Roselawn and Paddock Hills who've fought the jail for 10 years."

Faux said he would have felt better about the deal if Hamilton County had given some written assurance that they would not build on the parking lot - particularly a jail - for a specified period of time.

Hamilton County Administrator David Krings said he would not recommend such an action to county commissioners.

The deal at a glance

The city gets:

• Paddock Park/Millcreek Psychiatric Center for Children. Hamilton County bought this site from the state for $1.5 million with the intention of building a 60-bed juvenile-detention facility.

•  The Ohio National Guard Armory property at Drake Hospital.

• Assurances from the county that it would make its best efforts to locate future detention facilities - other than those in the Central Business District - outside city limits.

The county gets:

• $300,000 in cash.

• Drake Hospital.

• Hillcrest School. This 85-acre site in Springfield Township is a county-operated juvenile detention facility. The county agrees to give the city 50 percent of profits made from the sale of any undeveloped land at this site.

• B&B parking lot at Eggleston and Reading roads. The county must reserve a portion of this property for possible improvements by the city to Central Parkway. The county also must provide landscaping for the parking lot.

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