PRESS RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
September 28, 2000 

COMMUNITIES MEET TO BEGIN WORKING TOGETHER
More can get done if we work together

CINCINNATI- The Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission convened the first meeting of the Planning Partnership yesterday at a luncheon at the Drake Center in Hartwell. Representatives from eighteen jurisdictions in Hamilton County came together to discuss ways working together can help promote more effective and efficient planning, increase overall competitiveness in global markets, while leveraging the diversity that makes each community unique.

The Planning Partnership is an effort that has evolved in part from the Work of Michael Gallis. Gallis, a consultant for the Metropolitan Growth Alliance, produced a report that noted without cooperation the Greater Cincinnati Area would lose its edge against growing regions such as Indianapolis and Columbus.

Hamilton County is one of the most fractionalized Counties in the region,” said Ron Miller, Executive Director of the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission. “We hope to prove Michael Gallis wrong when he speaks of the Cincinnati Region as the remnants of a once great city. By working together, we can use resources more efficiently, and increase the quality of life for all Hamilton County residents.”

Jay Buchert, past president of the National Association of Homebuilders agrees. “I think that when communities come together to work on common issues, only good things can happen. Sometimes it just takes talking face to face to see how certain issues ignore jurisdictional boundaries.”

The HCRPC also introduced a new initiative that the Planning Partnership will be spearheading. The initiative is called Community COMPASS. Community COMPASS is a comprehensive master plan and strategies for Hamilton County. Community COMPASS will use citizen participation to identify ways Hamilton County and its jurisdictions can leverage their diversity, promote effective and efficient planning, and achieve more by working together.

The first step in Community COMPASS is completion of a citizen survey. This survey which will be mailed to 4,500 Hamilton County households in October will help identify issues for Community COMPASS.

The Sierra Club today released "Smart Choices or Sprawling 
Growth: A 50-State Survey of Development," singling out two proposed 
mall projects in the Deerfield/Mason area of Warren County as examples 
of irresponsible development in Ohio, while praising a smart growth 
development project in Cleveland. 

The report cites two new malls planned at the intersection of 
Mason-Montgomery Road and Irwin Simpson Rd., presently a horse farms 
in rolling fields, near one of the most congested intersections in the 
Tri-State region. In recent years, the Mason/Deerfield area has seen 
an explosion of suburban sprawl.

"Cincinnati doesn't have to settle for sprawl," said Glen Brand, of 
the Sierra Club. "The 50 smart growth examples in the report 
demonstrate that we can use simple solutions to manage in suburban 
sprawl. Smart growth development can help rejuvenate downtowns and 
main streets, create transportation alternatives, build walkable 
communities, protect open space, better balance jobs, shops and 
housing."

"The question now is whether we have the courage and vision to follow 
through," added Brand.

"We feel that the proposed mall development will turn an already bad 
traffic situation into a catastrophic problem," said Faye Smith, of 
the Deerfield Township Residents for Controlled Growth. "We want to 
see the kind of responsible development that maintains our current 
quality of life for the families in this township." 

Tracy Molitors, spokesperson for BALANCE, a Warren county citizens' 
group, added: "We question the wisdom of placing a mall where streets 
are already gridlocked, companies already compete for a shortage of 
workers, and the residents already have access to many retail options. 
I would love to have a Nordstrom's ten minutes away, but the bottom 
line is the cost is not worth the benefit. " 

Tim King, a teacher at Mason High School, commented: "Having lived in 
Deerfield Township and Mason for 18 years and have watched haphazard 
retail sprawl engulf the area, I am against the proposed malls because 
there are already more than enough stores in the area and I have seen 
the increased traffic, pollution, and ugly residual build-up that 
comes with such projects."

Representatives from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 
the Surface Transportation Policy Project, the American Planning 
Association, and the Congress for New Urbanism screened the report 
sites, using five criteria: Proximity to an existing community and/or 
transportation system; Open space protection tools used; Mixed land 
uses so that people can live, play, and work in the same neighborhood; 
Multiple transportation choices available for residents/workers; and 
Revitalization of an existing community.

This report is available on the Sierra Club's Web site at: 
http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl

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HAMILTON COUNTY REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION :: 2003