SOUTH FAIRMOUNT — Changes could be coming to South Fairmount with the goal of revitalization.
City officials said the completion of the Lick Run Greenway sparked calls from the South Fairmount Community Council for a zoning study.
"Their feeling is that the park may attract future development and they wanted to make sure that it was the kind of development that they wanted as a community," said Katherine Keough-Jurs, director of Cincinnati Planning and Engagement.
South Fairmount resident Janine Niyibigira agrees that the park has made a positive impact on the neighborhood.
"This park actually makes me want to come out of the house," she said.
Now, she's hoping other changes will follow and things appear to be moving in the right direction.
A senior city planner on Tuesday shared proposed zoning changes with a council committee. These are changes he said the South Fairmount Community Council has already voted for.
"They wanted to bring people back to their neighborhood, so this is the whole reasoning behind that," city planner Jesse Urbancsik.
One zoning change the city is considering involves an area currently zoned for manufacturing-focused buildings and businesses. If approved, things like day cares, restaurants, hotels and retail businesses would be allowed to open up there.
Other proposed zoning changes are more pedestrian-focused, allowing for businesses built closer to the sidewalk, without a parking lot in front.
While council members on the Equitable Growth and Housing committee agreed the changes could be positive for South Fairmount, the idea comes with concerns too.
"What I still think we need to solve for, not in your department, is the traffic, especially coming off the Western Hills Viaduct and especially the new Western Hills Viaduct with more lanes," council member Mark Jeffreys told Urbancsik during the meeting.
Jeffreys said he wants to make sure this, combined with pedestrian-friendly zoning, doesn't create more challenges.
Another concern that was brought up was people being displaced because of new development.
"I hope that there's no plan of displacing residents that have been there, or the displacement of any residents through this development," council member Scotty Johnson said.
The City Planning and Engagement department said there isn't currently any development planned.
Nayibigira said she hopes the changes are passed and that new businesses do start to pop up.
"I feel like with that coming, other stuff would just start to develop around it and it would just be such a brand new neighborhood," she said.
The proposed changes now go to the full council for a final vote.
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