5 sites proposed for new CPD District 3 HQ, but input still needed

Cincinnati City staff has identified five possible locations for a new $24 million Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) District 3 police headquarters, but it's still accepting public recommendations about additional locations.

At a public meeting on Feb. 6 at Elder High School's Schaeper Center, representatives from various City departments presented their ideas on where to relocate the headquarters, currently located at 3201 Warsaw Avenue in a building constructed in 1908.
CPD is looking to relocate because the building is structurally and technologically obsolete. It also lacks sufficient parking, community space and storage, and is not ADA-compliant.

Built to accommodate 40 officers, the 10,602-square-foot building now houses 161 officers, plus staff.

As part of the site study, City staff looked at properties that could accommodate a building of up to 40,000 square feet, is available and construction-ready, has no major slopes or restrictive easements, is properly zoned, is large enough for a parking lot of more than 200 vehicles, has access to utilities and other infrastructure, has good sight lines, is easily secured, and is compatible with Plan Cincinnati.

Eleven preliminary sites were considered: 1046-1048 Considine Avenue, 1945 Dunham Way, 809 Evans Street, 2300 Ferguson Road, 3406 Glenway Avenue, Hawthorne Avenue (south of the current headquarters), 3158 McHenry Avenue, Midway School, Quebec Road and Glenway Avenue, 1920 and 1950 Radcliff Drive, and Sunset Lane.

District 3 serves more than 95,000 residents and encompasses approximately 20 square miles and includes the neighborhoods of East Price Hill, East Westwood, English Woods, Lower Price Hill, Millvale, North Fairmount, Riverside, Sayler Park, Sedamsville, South Cumminsville, South Fairmount, the Villages at Roll Hill, West Price Hill, and Westwood.

The Considine, Dunham, Ferguson, Hawthorne, and Midway School sites best met the criteria – not surprising, because the neighborhoods of East Price Hill, West Price Hill and Westwood include 85 percent of the district's customers and between 82 and 92 percent of the district's service demand.

By this spring, Police Chief James Craig is expected to make his recommendation to City Manager Milton Dohoney. Property acquisition and design and permitting would be completed by this summer, with a groundbreaking this fall.

The new facility would be open by spring 2015.

The new headquarters will be the Cincinnati Police Department's first since the construction of District 4's facility in Paddock Hills in 1971.

Potential uses of the current facility, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, are also being considered.

Previous reading on BC:
Public hearing on new District 3 HQ Feb. 6 (1/29/13)
January report on new District Three station to address East Price Hill concerns (12/14/12)
West Price Hill property offered to City for new District 3 police station (1/27/09)
EPHIA to City: Buy Whittier site ASAP (6/18/08)
City will not help purchase Whittier site (11/21/07)