CINCINNATI -- In order to find a new Police District 5 headquarters, city planning officials are recommending a process similar to the one used when officials picked a new site for District 3 headquarters in 2013.
The 2013 process "had an overwhelmingly positive response" from residents, Interim Director of City Planning Katherine Keough-Jurs wrote in a memo to City Manager Harry Black. The city also won two awards for that plan and its implementation after the headquarters opened in 2015.
District 5 employees have complained about conditions at their Ludlow Avenue headquarters, saying the building had problems like bugs, mold and asbestos. Some officers have even said they believe the conditions are responsible for several employees who were diagnosed and died from cancer.
Officials have pledged to get District 5 employees out of that Clifton building. The police department leased a 13,000-square-foot office on Hamilton Avenue in College Hill this month to act as a temporary home for all District 5 personnel. They plan to have everyone moved in by the end of March.
District 5 is made up of Camp Washington, Clifton, College Hill, CUF, Heights, Mount Airy, Northside, Spring Grove Village, Winton Hills and parts of Carthage, Corryville, South Cumminsville and Westwood. Keough-Jurs recommended that officials visit all 13 neighborhood community councils next month and then hold three public meetings in March and April.
At the first two meetings, police and public services officials would explain what they need and describe the sites they've already researched, Keough-Jurs wrote. At the third meeting, officials would review the potential sites in detail and discuss potential public art to go along with the project. An internal team would then look at the criteria, public input and other considerations to recommend a final site to Black and Police Chief Eliot Isaac, Keough-Jurs wrote.
