Camp Washington could see more housing in its future thanks to a change made by the Cincinnati Planning Commission Friday.
When many of Camp Washington's houses and apartment buildings were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Cincinnati didn't have a zoning code. When the first codes were drawn up in 1924, much of the neighborhood was zone industrial — a recognition of its status as the heart of the city's manufacturing, meat packing and other industrial muscle.
Later, other parts of the neighborhood were zoned to be car-friendly, prioritizing gas stations, parking lots and the like.
Today, that has Camp Washington's residential areas in a kind of limbo — if a house burns down or becomes abandoned, or if someone wants to build more housing on vacant land, those zoning designations can make it difficult to build or rebuild. Groups like the neighborhood's community council, community development corporation and business association have all been trying to fix that going back to the 1980s.
Those efforts got a big boost Friday when the planning commission approved zoning changes to four sections of the neighborhood, accounting for 277 properties. Two around Colerain Avenue are zoned Commercial Community-Auto Oriented. Two others further away from the neighborhood's business district are zoned General Manufacturing. In addition to other restrictions, the former designation doesn't allow for housing on the first floors of buildings. The latter doesn't allow for housing at all.
Camp Washington Urban Revitalization Corporation (CWURC) Executive Director Sidney Prigge told the commission neither zoning type is conducive to the type of walkable, housing-dense neighborhood local leaders would like to see.
"We have to increase density in Camp Washington," she said. "This zoning proposal allows for that. We need more people to support the artists and the businesses. Otherwise, or neighborhood is going to go down."
The commission approved changing those areas to designations like Urban Mix-Middle Housing and others that make it easier to build and maintain housing. Those designations also forbid uses like towing lots and gas stations. CWURC says it counted 18 tow lots in the small neighborhood.
The changes don't require property owners to change what they're doing now; a property owner would have to take action to change the use of the land before the new zoning restrictions take effect.
There have been concerns.
Northside Meats owner Adam Nixon told planning commission he's grateful the building containing his business won't be rezoned. However, a parking lot across the street is in one of the zoning change areas. He worried it wouldn't be able to remain a parking lot in the future.
"They've been parking lots for at least 30 years, maybe longer," he said. "They are not cut out of the zone change. I'm here to ask if they could be, so that in the future my employees have a place to park."
Planning staff assured him the permitted uses of the property wouldn't change unless it ceases to be a parking lot and steps are taken by the owner to make it something else.
Others were concerned about the potential elimination of greenspace on Meeker Street. That's part of a small residential area in Camp Washington just north of Hopple Street that would change from Manufacturing-General zoning to Urban Mix-Middle Housing. Some in that area want the two vacant lots on the street to stay how they are and fear the rezoning could endanger them. CWURC has put out a call for RFPs to develop those, potentially into housing or a park.
Cincinnati Council member Meeka Owens, who will resign soon to become a Hamilton County commissioner, introduced the zoning change proposal. She says it's a vital step for Camp Washington and something the city should consider for other neighborhoods.
"It supports a walkable main street on Colerain Avenue, it brings homes into conformity where residential use isn't permitted under current manufacturing zoning, and it ends the permission for new tow lots and other high-impact uses near homes," she said.
You can read more about the zoning changes in the neighborhood approved by the planning commission here.
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