Bowdeya Tweh

btweh@enquirer.com

Silverton village leaders say a plan to add new housing and commercial space could help rejuvenate the small community dealing with a five-decade-long population decline.

Last week, Village Council members approved a plan to allow Miller-Valentine Group and Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate to develop more than 10.5 acres of village-owned land along Montgomery Road between Stoll Lane and Stewart Road. The companies want to invest nearly $30 million to develop 204 units of luxury apartments and townhomes and a 60,000-square-foot commercial development in Silverton.

Silverton Village Manager Tom Carroll commended the companies for choosing to invest in an "undervalued" opportunity.

"Mixed-use is important for inner-ring suburbs because we need new housing options," Carroll said. "It allows us to add population, add customers for existing and future businesses. The commercial and retail components are vital because those employees will provide a tax base for the village and become customers for those other businesses as well."

It has been eight years since the village determined it wanted to secure a mixed-use project on the former school site. The following year, Silverton did a land swap with Cincinnati Public Schools, which later helped a new Silverton Paideia School open in 2013. The deal brought about 5.8 acres of land to the village. After that time, the community added more land for development through the purchases of land and property demolitions.

The developers signed a memorandum of understanding Dec. 18 to work with the community after responding to a request for proposals to redevelop the site.

As a boom suburb after World War II, Silverton's population grew as people left Cincinnati to populate the Hamilton County bedroom community. Carroll said most of the village's housing stock was built in the 1940s and 1950s. It's also landlocked by other communities such as Cincinnati and Sycamore Township. Silverton became a city in 1961 and had 6,682 residents. Silverton, which is now declared a village with its population loss, had an estimated 4,764 residents, according to an estimate in the 2015 American Community Survey.

With little room to expand outward, Carroll said it was critically important for Silverton to look internally for development opportunities. He said with the success of Pleasant Ridge's business district and Sycamore Township's Kenwood retail corridor, there's an opportunity for the village to provide amenities as a central point between both places.

Carroll said the project has the potential to grow the village's tax base by 15 percent annually. Council also approved a 15-year tax exemption for 50 percent of the value of commercial improvements in the village.

Mayor John Smith said he hopes the development team can launch construction on the project in early 2017. He called the new development "historic" for Silverton.

"This is progress," he said. "This is the shot in the arm that we needed. This is a new adventure. This is going to do a lot for Silverton for years to come."

Smith said the village and development team have been doing outreach to community members and those activities will continue in the coming months.