West End votes against FC Cincinnati stadium amid theories that deal isn't dead

Even though FC Cincinnati said it was done in the West End, the neighborhood's community council voted Tuesday on whether it would welcome a soccer stadium.

The answer was a resounding "no."

About 100 people attended the meeting, 65 of whom cast votes. Fifty voted against a Major League Soccer stadium coming to the West End, 10 voted in favor of it and five abstained. FC Cincinnati is trying to line up a stadium site in hopes that MLS will select Cincinnati for an expansion team.

The crowd cheered when the vote failed.

They voted against the recommendations of the board of the community council. The 10-member board voted five votes to four, with one abstention, in favor of bringing the soccer team to the West End.

More: FC Cincinnati shuts down West End stadium plans, moving to Oakley or Newport

More: Take the news with you. Download the Cincinnati.com app.

According to the community council, there are 192 members in good standing and able to vote. The council allowed people who paid their council dues Tuesday to vote.

Some members asked why they were being asked to vote after FC Cincinnati said it wasn't coming to the neighborhood because it couldn't reach a needed agreement with Cincinnati Public Schools.

"What I can tell you is that it’s not dead yet," Community Council President Keith Blake said. "The final nail in the coffin will be the CPS vote."

With the schools controlling the land and Cincinnati City Council having the final say on zoning and tax incentives, some in the crowd wondered if their vote even mattered.

"They're listening to you," said Alexis Kidd, education committee chair of the council.

Cincinnati's neighborhood community councils are called upon to make recommendations to City Hall. No vote by the West End council could, by itself, stop a development.

The West End Community Council also took precautions Tuesday to protect the neighborhood in case FC Cincinnati should decide to build there after all.

Those gathered passed a motion to be a part of any community benefits agreement with the soccer club. Blake said other groups have been releasing proposed ideas for such an agreement but that the community council should "be in the driver's seat."

The school board meets at 11 a.m. Wednesday and could potentially vote on the land swap deal that FC Cincinnati was seeking, though it has held its ground on the team paying its "fair share" of taxes. The board's unmoving stance prompted FC Cincinnati to issue a statement Friday: "FC Cincinnati regrets that it will be unable to construct a stadium in the West End community and have moved our focus to Oakley and Newport."

But not everyone is buying it. School board member Ryan Messer is among them.

He said after everything he's heard since Friday, "I don’t believe West End was ever out of play in the minds of FCC."

However, Messer said his position hasn't changed.

"I think we have made a pretty clear line in the sand,” he said. “It’s about fiscal responsibility, accountability and ensuring the tax burden is equally shared between working families and developers.”

The school board said it wants FC Cincinnati to pay rates consistent with a 1999 tax abatement agreement, a rate the board estimated at $2 million a year. The club offered to pay $750,000 each year.