West Chester has been in the news a lot lately with the opening of the new IKEA store in Union Centre, a new bus route planned from downtown Cincinnati to West Chester, and a potential move for GE to the area. As our region grows we have the opportunity to make things better through good planning. Michael Lewyn blogs for Planetizen, and identifies two kinds of sprawl: “where we grow” and “how we grow”.
With the availability of a lot of land in the region, and declining economic conditions in established neighborhoods, the Cincinnati region certainly needs to address “where we grow”. To create a common vision that can be achieved, local jurisdictions need to work together in the Cincinnati region and beyond. This is not an easy task, particularly with strong “local rule” in Ohio and a region that is extremely politically fragmented.
In many ways “how we grow” is easier to implement at the local level. Lewyn describes this variety of sprawl “as development oriented towards drivers as opposed to nondrivers”. The new urbanist inspired Union Centre has potential to be a lively mixed use development oriented towards people rather than cars. Future development does, too. A new bus route, intended to bring workers from downtown to the new low paying retail jobs, might be a step in the right direction, in that people can take transit to this destination. What is even better is if those who can choose to drive, choose instead to take transit, walk, or bike to and around Union Centre.
The potential move of GE to West Chester, consolidating two offices currently in Cincinnati and one in West Chester, would not actually be growth for the region, but a shifting of jobs from one place to the next. Therefore, it doesn’t seem to be a boon for the region. Moving jobs farther away from employees, as with busing downtown residents to West Chester, does not seem to be a good idea. While I’m an advocate for improved regional planning, and realize that this really needs to happen to make the entire region stronger, I encourage local entities to make the best use of the powers they have, to create developments that are well-planned. We should create desirable places that attract people and jobs, not attract people and jobs without understanding or caring about the places that get created.
