Mount Adams neighborhood plan ready for city review

The Mount Adams Strategic Neighborhood Plan steering committee has released its final findings and recommendations, and the document should be ready for consideration by Cincinnati's City Planning Commission this spring.

The 100-page plan provides a common vision for the future of the neighborhood, and is meant to inform policy direction for city officials.

The Mount Adams Civic Association launched the planning initiative in September 2007 as a way to address the neighborhood's growing pains, putting the neighborhood in a proactive – rather than a reactive – position.

Beginning with community meetings last June and continuing through open houses held in January, the steering committee also solicited public input through direct mail, flyers, e-mail, surveys, conversations, and the project website.

Through all of this work, steering committee member David Brecount says that they've come as close as possible to developing a neighborhood consensus.

"There have been no surprises from all the feedback and it's amazing how consistent the views are on what we need to address as a neighborhood," he says.  "The feedback was encouraging and it helped us re-prioritize what we had come up with as a steering committee.  Some things were more or less important than what we thought."

The plan's recommendations are organized into seven groups: community life, development and preservation, views and hillsides, business district, parking, clean and safe, and infrastructure and utilities.

To Brecount, the top three priorities are keeping Mount Adams clean, safe, and attractive; revitalizing the business district; and establishing real estate and preservation guidelines.

"Mt. Adams is a regional attraction because of the unique views, architecture, and quant community feel," he says.  "It doesn't exist anywhere else in the region and we need to give people more reasons to come visit."

Writer: Kevin LeMaster
Source: David Brecount, strategic planning team, Mount Adams Neighborhood Strategic Plan Steering Committee