Montgomery Park Study presented to commission

The Montgomery Parks and Recreation Commission has received a copy of the Park Study, and the findings are generally positive.

The study was commissioned by the City of Montgomery in an effort to assess the current condition of its parks and to recommend future upgrades as part of a ten-year Parks Master Plan.

It found that the city's parks were generally in good condition, and well-financed, with $117 spent per resident compared to $216 for Sharonville, $46 for Loveland and $21 for Madeira.

It also found that every Montgomery citizen is within a five-minute drive or walk from a park, and that the system's trail network is "the envy of other communities".

Five recommendations emerged:

* Think regionally and work with neighboring communities
* Find opportunities to add park or recreation space in the downtown area
* Prioritize maintenance
* Add green technologies wherever possible
* Pursue alternative funding sources, including grants, partnerships or a parks foundation

Specific recommendations were also made for improvement projects at each of the city's parks, with an estimated total cost of $6.1 million.

An implementation subcommittee, which will consist of representatives of City Council, the Parks and Recreation Commission, and city staff, will soon be formed to review the study and to make long-term recommendations that the city can consider for adoption.

Leisure Services Management and Human Nature prepared the study, with the assistance of public input.

Read the Park Study (PDF)

Reds, CRC may build youth baseball complex at Oskamp Field

Site plan by GBBN Architects: Click to enlarge

The City is considering allowing the Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC) to enter into an agreement with the Reds Community Fund to build a youth baseball complex at Oskamp Field in Westwood.

An ordinance authorizing the agreement is currently in Council's Education, Health and Recreation Committee.

The complex would include four baseball fields, a "Miracle League" field, and a new restroom/concessions facility.

The Miracle League field is made of a synthetic rubber surface that increases safety and access for children with disabilites.

The $4 million project will be built in two phases. Part of the price tag will fund an endowment for the CRC, which will own and maintain the complex.

Construction is expected to begin in October and will be completed by June 30, 2007.

The Reds Community Fund has been holding a fundraising effort for the project since last year.

The project was designed by GBBN Architects.


Close-up of Miracle Field by GBBN Architects: Click to enlarge

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW
GOOGLE AERIAL MAP

Learn about Parks Master Plan tonight

A free lecture on the City's Centennial Parks Master Plan will be held tonight at 7 PM at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

The new plan's name comes from the recognition of the 100th anniversary of the City's first parks master plan, George Kessler's "Parks and Parkway Plan".

Speakers will include:

* Kurt Culbertson, a nationally-recognized landscape architect and an expert on Kessler

* Chris Manning, a local landscape architect and the lead consultant on the master plan

* Dan Hurley, a local historian and the host of Channel 12's Newsmakers

The master plan represents a vision of the City's parks and greenspace for the next 20 years.

It has already been approved by the Park Board and the City Planning Commission and is expected to be approved by City Council this month.

Visit the Centennial Parks Master Plan website

City parks off-limits to developers

Cincinnati City Council has approved unanimously a new zoning designation (PR) meant to protect the City's public parks and recreation areas.

Representatives from several community councils had worried that park and recreation land -- which was zoned residential and commercial -- could be sold off to developers with no public hearing.

The City's current zoning code, which went into effect in early 2004, zones park and recreation land relative to surrounding land uses. Many of the largest parks, such as Eden Park, are zoned SF-20, the largest-lot single-family residential designation on the books.

Since they would be code-compliant, developers would be able to construct homes in Eden Park (or any other park) if the City sold them the land.

Instead of completely rewriting the code to address these concerns, City Council voted to adopt the zoning code as submitted and to prepare a zoning study to be performed by the Department of Community Development and Planning and the City Planning Commission.


The study recommendations led to the establishment of a committee composed of members from the City Planning Commission, the Cincinnati Park Board, the Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC), and the City's Law Department.

A draft of the new zoning district was produced in early 2007. Soon after, the CRC and the Cincinnati Park Board both voted to support the new district.

The PR district will initially include only land owned and/or maintained by the Park Board or the CRC. This applies to 3,537 parcels.

The designation protects park spaces, but has no effect on the uses of individual parks.*

Any land obtained by the City for a future park would have to go through the zoning change process to acquire the new PR designation.

The zoning designation has no effect on parks created within PD (Planned Development) districts.

To see a full listing of the rezoned properties on Scribd, click here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/133761/Cincinnati-PD-zoning-district

* Incidentally, many park uses were technically not allowed under their former residential and commercial zoning.