Cincinnati Council's Equitable Growth and Housing Committee voted 5-to-4 Tuesday to delay a vote on zoning changes needed for a 240-unit housing development in Evanston over questions about financing.
Discussion of the requested changes took more than two hours and veered into debates about density, parking, historic preservation and race.
The development by Kingsley + Co. would include two four-story apartment buildings and 248 parking spaces along with a pool and other amenities. It would be priced to be affordable for people making between 75% and 100% of Area Median Income, or AMI — that's a household making about $80,000 a year.
Some residents in Evanston oppose the development due to its size, concerns about affordability and parking, and because it will require the demolition of the 102-year-old Hoffman School building.
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A number of residents came to the committee meeting or joined remotely to discuss the project. Most but not all opposed it.
"We are still in need of affordable and low-income housing, which is not a guarantee with this project," Nicole Perkins told Council after raising concerns about the elimination of greenspace and other issues.
Kingsley has reduced the size of the project from five stories with 300 units and increased parking in response to some neighborhood concerns.
Councilmembers who voted to hold the item say they want to know if the project will require city subsidy. Kingsley + Co. owner Chinedum Ndukwe told the committee he heard the city subsidy wasn't possible and that he was planning to privately finance the project and apply for state funding if necessary.
Equitable Growth and Housing Chair Jeff Cramerding expressed doubts the project could be funded without subsidy and suggested the 30-day pause, giving city administration time to assess whether the project is feasible without the city chipping in.
"We had another spirited debate about Schulte Mansion in Price Hill," he said. "The Schulte Mansion was torn down and there the parcel sits because there was not a plan. I do not want to repeat this. I want to work with this developer for a successful project. But I also want to listen to the neighborhood's concerns."
Councilmember Reggie Harris said pausing a request for planned development zoning — the designation that would allow Kingsley to build its proposed project — does not usually play out this way. He called the vote "uncomfortable."
"We're just ripping it apart," he says. "And we've passed so many planned developments that were not as far along as this."
Harris said the neighborhood's demands — for more affordability, more parking and less density — were at odds with each other.
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Other councilmembers questioned whether race factored into the hesitancy to pass the zoning changes. Ndukwe is Black, and he and some of his supporters have tied opposition to the project to racism.
"This is unprecedented," Councilmember Scotty Johnson said. "This developer has been treated differently. This city has shown unfortunately again that we only talk equity."
Cramerding and other councilmembers pushed back on that, saying they want to make sure the project is feasible and incorporates the wishes of Evanston residents who have concerns about it.