CINCINNATI — There are 12 Victorian houses in the Madison-Stewart Historic District, each boasting over a century of rich heritage.
But Scott Kaylor worries that historic charm will be compromised when a new multi-story parking garage breaks ground next month.
Kaylor and his husband have lived in their Stewart Avenue home for two decades. Built in 1876, Kaylor said he saw the staircase and immediately fell in love.
"A family built most of these houses, they were all related. The two houses side by side — mine and my next-door neighbor's — were built by brothers. The house across the street was a wedding gift to one of their daughters," he said.
He said there's a lot of diversity too, which was a large draw when they moved and what keeps them in the area.
"We just love it," Kaylor said "Our neighbors are fantastic. We just love everybody."
The couple is among several dozen who live within 400 feet of the Medpace parking lot located along Stewart and Covington avenues. Medpace is a clinical research company headquartered in Madisonville. It's the neighborhood's largest employer.
The surface lot, which accommodates hundreds of employee vehicles, will be replaced with a six-story parking garage with an added access point direct to the third level from Covington Avenue.
For months, Kaylor and his neighbors have voiced concerns, imploring Medpace and city leaders to consider an alternative placement for the garage.
"They've got plenty of other areas where they can redesign and build and be more friendly with the neighbors," he said. "They can work with us a little bit rather than take away from the charm that we've designed here."
Kaylor joined a group of his neighbors in early May to discuss the impending construction project. Before that meeting, WCPO 9 spoke with the organizer about her concerns.
Ann Boland said she and her neighbors were upset — not because of Medpace, which they love for bringing in "lots of jobs to the city" — but because of the increased traffic.
"On a random Thursday from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m., we counted 150 cars exit from Medpace onto Stewart Avenue," Boland said. "We are now seeing semi trucks coming through. Two of my handicapped neighbors have walked out to their cars being totaled. At least three neighbors have been injured in car accidents on Stewart."
Congestion during afternoon rush hour is so bad on the street, cars waiting to turn left at the intersection of Stewart and Madison Road back up to the other end of Stewart, Kaylor said.
"But if you add 1,800 more cars — and they try and say they're going to go out the Red Bank exit, that's not going to happen. We walk our dogs every afternoon and, and there's lines of cars trying to get out of Medpace," he said.
Earlier this month, the Medpace facilities department told WCPO 9 that most of their employees do not leave the property by way of Stewart, but they did reach an agreement with the city to install a traffic light at the corner of Medpace Way and Red Bank Road to provide employees another direct access point to the highway.
Both Boland and Kaylor said their complaints have fallen on mostly deaf ears. In an effort to make louder noise, Kaylor and his husband penned a letter to the city's senior planner. To amplify its impact, they went door-to-door and got 30 of their neighbors to add their signatures.
"We just felt like we weren't getting any traction with Medpace or the city," he said. "We've contacted city council, we've contacted the mayor but nobody's responding so we thought if we wrote a letter we might get some traction and get somebody to help us maintain our neighborhood."
Kaylor emailed the signed letter to Senior City Planner Maria Deinger. She responded Thursday telling him she will review it and include it in her department's public correspondence section of their report.
In recent weeks, councilmember Anna Albi received criticism from area neighbors who claimed that she, despite being a Madisonville native, showed no interest in their concerns nor offered any solutions. WCPO 9 reached out to Albi on Thursday and received a response.
"As a Madisonville resident, it’s been really amazing to see the growth of Medpace over the past few years. Not only are they bringing good paying, skilled jobs to our community, but it’s clear Medpace is invested in being a good neighbor. While serving as an officer of the Madisonville Community Council (MCC), I got to see firsthand how Medpace engages with the community and how they’re thinking long-term about being a value-add to Madisonville," she said in an email. "Medpace has prioritized recruiting talent from the nearby community and really invested in making Madison Square more than just an office complex. For example, personally, I absolutely love having Element Eatery and the new Alara restaurant in my neighborhood."
Albi added that during her time on the Madisonville Community Council board, Medpace approached both the board and the general body to present plans for their expansion.
"Members of the community council approved of the plans, and have been overwhelmingly supportive of Medpace, overall," she said.
James Diesel is among those who signed their name on Kaylor's letter. He said he did so because he felt he had to, for the sake of safety on the street.
"Nothing's been done and they've been complaining about that a long time," he said.
Neighbors have called for traffic-calming measures in the past, requesting things like speed humps and street curbs. None have come.
"We know traffic in Madisonville, specifically, along Madison Road has been a growing concern for residents which is why the City of Cincinnati completed a traffic study," Albi said. "I look forward to working with DOTE and MCC to address how we can continue to prioritize traffic safety across all of Madisonville."
The traffic study was conducted on three separate days between March and April 2023. Though one traffic count focused on the intersection of Madison and Stewart, no count was focused solely on Stewart.
The city planning board is holding a virtual public staff conference for the proposed final development plan of the garage on March 28 at 4 p.m. Kaylor said he and his husband will dial into the meeting.
"Anything is possible. It just takes the right people to make it happen. So hopefully we're the catalyst that makes that happen," he said. "Hopefully the city will back us (and) convince Medpace to work with the neighborhood to design this differently. Don't put the monstrosity in our backyard. Work with us. Not against us."
