Bowdeya Tweh

btweh@enquirer.com

It has taken more than a year for the city to study the challenges with new development, parking and other issues in the neighborhoods around the University of Cincinnati.

And despite the Friday presentation of the study at a City Planning Commission meeting, residents, city officials and representatives of businesses and institutions said much more work is needed to reach consensus to address complex issues.

The University Impact Area Solutions Study places a spotlight on the 3.5 square miles around UC's main campus in the neighborhoods of CUF (Clifton Heights-University Heights-Fairview), Clifton, Corryville, and Mount Auburn. More than 33,500 people lived in those neighborhoods as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The Uptown neighborhoods including Avondale make the area the region's second largest employment corridor, featuring more than 55,000 workers, according to the Uptown Consortium.

Since Sept. 15, 2015, more than 30 public meetings have been held to study zoning and new development, housing, quality of life, connectivity and parking. The study outlines 36 recommendations such as creating an exclusive residential inspection and parking permit programs, a new overlay district to regulate zoning issues in the neighborhoods, increasing penalties for repeat violators of code enforcement rules and encouraging UC to develop a public information program about off-campus housing.

"This is going to take some more discussion," said Charles Graves, the city's planning director. "We know that. But we have to put this on the table that this is what the community says is important."

The Planning Commission approved the study Friday. City Council has to approve the study to confirm it as an official planning document.

Residents say it's important to have discussions about the impacts from the growth of University of Cincinnati's student population and off-campus development within the last decade.

“I support it because it has many suggestions that will improve longstanding issues in the neighborhood,” Corryville resident Kay Weaks said. “I’m eager to see quality of life suggestions implemented. I would like to see parking and building and code enforcement suggestions here.”

Yet speakers during Friday's discussion raised concerns about a rental inspection program. More than 80 percent of the housing in the study area is rental and has been an area of concern since the fire death of a UC student in 2013. Ten people lived in the building where the student died. State and city building codes say that when six or more non-related adults live in a house, it must have two ways out of a third-floor living area. The house where the fatality occurred only had only one.

City officials said the mandatory rental inspection program could be funded by property owners. But building owners met that plan with a chilly reception, concerned they would be treated different compared to rental owners in other city neighborhoods.

"There's a lot of issues that are being discussed, but there are no real solutions to it yet," said Benjamin Novak, owner of 140 apartment units near UC. "Every little issue is its own can of worms."

Mary Beth McGrew, UC's senior associate vice president of planning, design and construction, said although the process has taken a long time, getting input from a wide range of people has been important.

“We are a big university that reaches all around the world for people to come," McGrew said. "But we are of the city, our interest in the surrounding neighborhood is not to own it or control it but to make it great for the faculty, staff and students and (residents). I think the study addresses all the parts and pieces and we’re doing our best to be good neighbors."

The Planning Commission also denied a six-month extension of interim development controls in CUF. The overlay district had been in place since April 22, 2015. The overlay district temporarily required those seeking to complete new construction, demolition or alteration of existing structures to gain approval for plans in a public forum.