CINCINNATI — After dozens of community meetings and over 100 surveys, Cincinnati's largest neighborhood has formed its newest plan to move the neighborhood forward.
The plan was unanimously approved by Cincinnati City Council on Wednesday.
The Westwood neighborhood plan centers on five priorities highlighted after speaking with community members throughout 2024:
- Business district development
- Community pride and connections
- Community and family resources
- Housing
- Transportation and circulation
Hear what city council members had to say about the plans in the video below:
Until now, the most recent plan created like this for Westwood was done in 2010. Since then, many major changes have happened in the neighborhood, including the opening of James A. Gamble Montessori High School, the extensive renovations to the Westwood Town Hall facilities and the opening of several new businesses.
Now, the neighborhood is taking a more critical look at uniting Westwood's business districts, creating more walkable areas throughout the neighborhood and increasing opportunities for housing and mixed-use development.
According to the presentation, there are five main goals for developing Westwood's business districts:
- Attract new businesses to the neighborhood's business districts, ensuring spaces are occupied to capacity and productively used.
- Increase residential and commercial density in the neighborhood business districts.
- Enhance the public right-of-way and public amenities in the neighborhood business districts to make them a destination for Westwood residents and visitors
- Preserve the historic assets in the business districts, particularly in the Westwood Town Center Historic District
- Support the future stability and potential redevelopment of regional commercial districts along Glenway Avenue, including Glenway Crossing and the Western Hills Plaza.
There are several sites in Westwood designated in the National Registrar of Historic Places. Those include Westwood Elementary School, the Westwood First Presbyterian Church, the Westwood Branch Library, Westwood United Methodist Church, the building that houses Madcap Puppets and the Madcap Education Center, the building that houses Nation Westwood and the Westwood Town Hall.
Still, that leaves plenty of space for future development opportunities in many areas between those spaces. Specifically, the presentation points to the potential for two mixed-use developments.
The first would be near Harrison Avenue and Urwiler Avenue, north of Nation Westwood.
The second is at the site of the former Bolton & Lunsford Funeral Home, next to West Side Brewing. In 2022, that site was given to the Westwood Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation by its previous owners, the Hamilton County Land Reutilization Corporation, according to county auditor records.
The owners of Ivory House announced in 2021 that they were planning to transform the former funeral home site into a dual restaurant development housing Italian restaurant Terrazza Trattoria and Mexican restaurant Paloma's. The proposals, called "Alfresco At Town Hall," sought to convert the 1920s-era building into the dining complex and open it in 2023. However, as of this publishing, it does not appear any renovation or construction efforts ever began on it.
Now, the presentation from community leaders says there is support for housing and mixed-use development at that site.
The presentation also says one longer-term action Westwood hopes to take is acquiring the retail center at Harrison and McHenry.
In that part of Westwood, the plan indicates it hopes to use Cincinnati Urban Promise as a community anchor, while developing space in the large complex across the street for infill retail, pop-up retail and a plaza for a farmer's market and food trucks.
That space is currently a large parking lot and a strip mall with a few businesses, including an AutoZone, Dollar General and a Dollar Tree.
The presentation also shows plans for development on Glencrossing way, near the current Metro transit center. That area shows space designated for retail, entertainment, office space and even hotel space. It also shows spaces for pop-up retail.
That space is designed to be similar in concept to Factory 52 in Norwood, the presenter told the committee.
The presentation also highlights five goals for increasing community pride and connections in Westwood:
- Promote a positive image of the neighborhood that celebrates its diversity, rich history and the assets of the community.
- Ensure Westwood residents and stakeholders are aware of community events and resources and feel welcome to fully participate.
- Activate all parts of the Westwood community through events that bring people together, create community connections and foster community pride.
- Establish a community-led Westwood arts center to highlight the neighborhood's diversity of talent and gather community members together.
- Celebrate and preserve Westwood's history by identifying properties of civic, community and other significance that may be worth preserving.
The presentation says some "small" immediate actions that can be taken include developing green space around the former Mercy Health site, completing streetscaping on Harrison Avenue between Urwiler and Stathem and planting trees along the Glenway Avenue business district, between Glenmore and Boudinot.
The Westwood Town Hall renovations have provided opportunity for community events, like the Westside Market and the Westwood Farmer's Market.
Westwood also opened its Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) in 2022. The DORA stretches along Harrison Avenue from Montclair Avenue to Montana Avenue and includes several businesses, as well as the Westwood Town Hall area.
The presentation highlights three goals to enhance community and family resources:
- Ensure there are abundant, quality indoor and outdoor recreation options throughout Westwood.
- Ensure all Westwood schools and families have what they need to be successful.
- Ensure Westwood has a network of strong organizations that can support the neighborhood's vulnerable households, including seniors and immigrant and refugee families.
The presentation mentions that $2 million is needed to fully fund a gym at Harrison and McHenry, and that another $2 million would be needed to support redevelopment of the Westwood Theater, which is located on Harrison Avenue, next to Emma's Soul Food.
According to a social media post by Westwood Works in April, it was awarded funding by the City of Cincinnati's Quick Strike Program to acquire the theater, though no further plans for it have been announced.
At Boudinot and Midway, the presentation shows pickleball courts or additional tennis courts added to Oskamp Playground, a new community and civic recreation center next to the park and new walking trails around the Oskamp park area.
There are four goals that fall under the initiative of enhancing housing in Westwood:
- Celebrate and build on Westwood's housing diversity through preservation and new construction.
- Ensure long-term and elderly homeowners in the neighborhood are protected and have the resources they need to stay in their existing homes for as long as they desire.
- Provide renters access to safe and sanitary units and local landlords with the resources they need to provide high quality housing.
- Create and sustain pathways to homeownership.
During the presentation to council, Sarah Beach, executive director of My Neighbor's Place, pointed to The Paramount on Harrison Avenue, near Town Hall, as an example of what the community doesn't want: an abandoned building owned by an out-of-state developer.
"It could be great housing for families and it's just waiting there, being neglected," said Beach. "So we want to see longtime Westwood residents to be able to stay in their neighborhood."
She said it's a priority for Westwood to provide support and incentive for locally-based landlords, while getting rid of blighted buildings to make more space for viable housing.
There are several new housing projects highlighted in the presentation. Some of the complexes are labeled as affordable housing, while some would be included in a mixed-use development.
One project in particular that's mentioned in the presentation is building more housing behind Cincinnati Urban Promise, off of McHenry.
That housing area would include a new neighborhood park with recreational space carved out, near a mixture of single family homes, townhomes, and courtyard multifamily housing.
Off of Glencrossing Way and Anderson Ferry Road, a map in the presentation shows several large-scale multi-family housing complexes.
A senior-specific housing area is also shown off Boudinot, next to where Metzcor sits now.
The neighborhood is looking to meet four goals to improving transportation:
- Develop a safe, efficient and accessible transportation network that reduces congestion, enhances safety for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists while promoting multimodal options for all residents.
- Improve pedestrian infrastructure to create a safer and more walkable neighborhood.
- Create a system of connected bike infrastructure in Westwood.
- Improve access to and use of public transit options.
Katie Frazier, from Westwood's transportation committee, said while Metro is a good service, it still isn't solid enough in Westwood to support fully traveling the neighborhood without a personal car.
Frazier and Michael Besl, with the Westwood Historical Society, also pointed to designating pedestrian and cyclist-friendly areas on less congested roadways as a possible solution for safety. They found routes (along blue lines in the map below) that travel along routes with more stop signs and slower speeds.
Long-term goals in the presentation also included improved pedestrian access to Mt. Airy Forest in Westwood, maintaining the existing trails in the park while developing new trails. Besl also highlighted better pedestrian and cycling routes could be incorporated at Westwood's southernmost spot, Dunham Recreational Center.
A map in the presentation highlights a spot for a possible future Metro BRT transit center near the Oskamp Playground, possible multi-use paths and possible safe routes for bike paths.
There are also several intersections shown as "priority intersections for pedestrian improvements."
Many of those intersections are along Werk Road, Harrison Avenue, Montana Avenue and Queen City Avenue.
Werk Road has the most priority intersections shown, with possible pedestrian improvements being eyed at Glenmore Avenue, Queen City Avenue, Boudinot Avenue, Ferguson Road near Gamble Montessori, Harrison Avenue and McHenry Avenue.
While many things in the presentation are not yet set in stone, the process is ongoing; some projects, like the Metro BRT station, do not yet have funding. Still, the plan was passed by Cincinnati City Council on Wednesday.
