1 Village of Woodlawn Master Plan Adopted September 2007 Prepared for: The Village of Woodlawn, Ohio Prepared By: 895 Central Avenue, Suite 800 Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 513.272.5533 www.jacobs.com 3 Acknowledgements Master Plan Steering Committee John Amneus Brian Poole Paul Bates Willie Norton Dave Brown Rick Mynatt Marjie Dogan Robert Mynatt Dolores Howard Bert Ranson Peter Knox Gwen Taylor Evonne Kovach Raymond Terrell Pamela Parrish Village of Woodlawn Council The Hon. Raymond Terrell, Mayor Willie J. Norton Brian Poole, Vice Mayor Bersetha Ranson Johnnie Rabb John M. Turner Paul Hogue Jacobs Edwards and Kelcey Project Staff Della G. Rucker, AICP Sarah L. Headlee Mark Kirby, ASLA Paul A. Culter, AICP i Contents Page List of Figures Page Figure 1: Regional Location....................................................................................7 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Figure 2: Existing Land Use ....................................................................................9 2. Existing Conditions.................................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 3: Existing Zoning ..................................................................................... 11 Figure 4: Environmental Constraints ....................................................................... 13 3. Concept Areas Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 5: Slope Analysis ...................................................................................... 15 5. Selected Public Feedback ..................................................................................................................... 51 Figure 6: Existing Sanitary Sewer ........................................................................... 17 6. The Master Plan Vision ............................................................................................................................ 63 Figure 7: Existing Water Lines............................................................................... 19 Figure 8: Regional Context................................................................................... 21 7. Plan Element #1: Vibrant Residential Communities ........................................................................ 65 Figure 9: Concept Areas...................................................................................... 35 8. Plan Element #2: Destination Springfield Pike ................................................................................. 81 Figure 10: Plan Element: Vibrant Residential Neighborhoods .......................................... 71 9. Plan Element #3: Successful Industry ............................................................................................... 107 Figure 11: Plan Element: Vibrant Residential Neighborhoods: Riddle Road .......................... 73 Figure 12: Plan Element: Vibrant Residential Neighborhoods – Towne Commons ................... 75 10. Plan Element #4: Welcome to Beautiful Woodlawn .................................................................... 115 Figure 13: Concept: Hadley Building Upgrades ........................................................... 93 11. The Implementation Matrix ............................................................................................................... 129 Figure 14: Concept: Site Redevelopment ................................................................. 99 Appendix A: Results of Public Participation Activities......................................................................... A Figure 15: Concept: Redevelopment – Park/Fire Department Site ...................................103 Figure 16: Plan Element: Successful Industry ............................................................113 Figure 17: Plan Element: Introducing Beautiful Woodlawn ............................................121 Figure 18: North Springfield Pike ..........................................................................123 Figure 19: South Springfield Pike ..........................................................................125 Figure 20: Glendale-Milford Road..........................................................................127 i 1 1. Introduction Planning Process The Village of Woodlawn Master Plan process began with the retention of Jacobs Edwards and Kelcey in early 2006 and the appointment of a Steering Committee that was designed to represent a broad The Village of Woodlawn Master Plan was commenced in 2006. The Master Plan was designed to cross-section of the community. The Plan process was guided through regular meetings between help the Village’s officials, administration, residents and business operators develop a shared JEK staff and the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee was responsible for reviewing the understanding of Woodlawn’s future needs and the best strategies for ensuring a successful future. community’s existing conditions, formulating the Plan Vision, and developing Plan elements that fit Like many older suburban communities, Woodlawn benefits from a number of assets, but it also the community’s needs. The Steering Committee met regularly for over a year and participated in faces a number of challenges, both today and into the future. The Village understood from the the development or review of every aspect of this Plan. beginning that their Master Plan must achieve several goals: The planning process involved several integral elements, which were based on professional best The Master Plan must be based on a clear-eyed, realistic evaluation of the Village, including practices and the specific needs of the Village. These included the following: its assets, its challenges, its regional context and the likely impacts of these issues over the coming 10 to 20 years. Regular working meetings with the Steering Committee. The Master Plan must draw on the meaningful, Compilation of existing conditions data and completion of a Market Analysis. active feedback of the Village’s stakeholders, including its residents, its business operators The solicitation of feedback from members of the larger community through one-on- and its own municipal staff. one interviews, focus groups and a Public Vision Open House in July 2006. The development of a Vision statement and a The Master Plan must develop a vivid statement of Goals that provide a clear policy statement of its Vision for its future – a foundation for the Plan’s recommendations statement that encapsulates the direction in which the Village intends to grow. The development of a number of recommendations organized around four thematic Plan Elements, which The Master Plan must design an ambitious but include housing, Springfield Pike revitalization, achievable program of improvements that will industrial sector maintenance and public image. give the Village the capacity and the methods Each of these Plan Elements is derived directly from for achieving that Vision. the Goals and earlier feedback, and is specifically designed to meet one or more of the Vision’s The Master Plan must lay the groundwork for its implementation by developing a specific statements. plan of action for making its recommendations become reality. The development of an Implementation Matrix that provides recommended priorities, timeframes, partners and funding opportunities for specific recommendations. This document reflects the best efforts of a large number of Woodlawn residents, officials, business The creation of a draft and final Master Plan document that presents the final versions operators and others to meet these high goals. of these elements, as reviewed and revised by the Steering Committee. 1 2 A Final Word A Master Plan is critical to a community’s success because it facilitates a coordinated effort to realize the community’s potential. However, a Master Plan document alone does not make success happen. A Master Plan is a tool – it helps the community organize its needs and decide on its actions, and it can lay the groundwork for making great things happen. But the Master Plan alone does not create a better community. Woodlawn residents knows this because Woodlawn has been the subject of other plans -– some grand, some modest. But across those plans, the only proposals that have been achieved have been the ones that people in the community chose to champion. Master Plans are successful if they give people a strategy and direction to make something happen, but the Master Plan is worth little more than paper if the community’s people do not carry it forward. Woodlawn will achieve its Vision if the full range of its stakeholders makes a consistent, long-term effort to make the Master Plan’s recommendations become reality. Reaching that Vision is seldom easy, and there will be multiple frustrations. This process, however, has demonstrated that Woodlawn’s residents and officials are willing to do the hard work necessary to achieve the Vision. Maintain that commitment, and the Vision will become reality. 2 3 2. Existing Conditions facilities such as the Wright Aircraft Factory, which later became General Electric Aviation, and the Winton Woods and Sharon Woods facilities that Procter & Gamble built in Springfield Township and the City of Sharonville. Beginning in the 1960s,