IN THE ZONE

 THROUGH PURPOSEFUL planning and effective enforcement, the City of Hamilton’s Planning Department works to support and encourage strong and safe neighborhoods.

Hamilton’s Planning Department has successfully been improving our outdated zoning and making strides on how to utilize our City’s riverfront while enhancing our neighborhoods. It’s been a gradual transformation as the team rezones certain districts that haven’t been changed since the 1920’s. Liz Hayden, director of planning, said they have rezoned an estimated 20 percent in the past five years. Hayden continued with, “Zoning has a quiet effect in our neighborhoods. If zoning is working, you won’t notice it…Our zoning should reflect our vision for our community and where we’re going.”

Some of the most impactful zoning changes have been in our neighborhoods. Prospect Hill, Dayton Lane, Lindenwald and Rossville to name a few. These neighborhoods were originally zoned as a general multi-family residential neighborhood. But as urban, walkable neighborhoods with a mixture of uses, they were rezoned to the new traditional zoning which better reflects the original fabric of these neighborhoods. “Hamilton’s older neighborhoods traditionally have a broader mix of housing types and nonresidential uses, as well as higher densities than the suburban neighborhoods. Lots of traditional neighborhoods are typically located along streets that make up a grid system, or a modified grid system, with a high level of connectivity within the neighborhood and to adjacent business areas. It is a goal of this plan to encourage the protection of these traditional neighborhoods including the wider array of uses located within them. The primary land use in traditional neighborhoods is, and should continue to be, single-family detached homes with a density of five to 10 units per acre,” according to Plan Hamilton’s website. The planning department continues to look at each of our 17 distinct neighborhoods to create better boundaries and set the tone for the future.

The Ohio Department of Health writes that “zoning promotes public health and safety, manages density, encourages a variety of housing, and attracts businesses and industries,” which is exactly what the Planning Department has been committed to doing. One way is by updating documents on their website to provide many answers to questions citizens might have. Their official zoning ordinance is 330 pages long and can easily be found online. It goes a great deal in depth in the hope to “create a standard of development in Hamilton that we can be proud of and that will not fall apart in five to 10 years,” explains Hayden. Having the correct zone or rules in place helps with guiding the day-to-day projects, for example adding a shed or a fence to your property. The zoning ordinances sets a starting guidance for how and where projects like these are appropriate. “If left to their own devices, sometimes people will build their own version of a shed, when it’s really not. I always say, when people live close to each other you have to have rules about what you can and can’t do on your property because those decisions unfortunately affect a lot of other people around you,” said Hayden. The lengthy zoning ordinance is extremely detailed, and is a great resource to find the correct size, design, location, siding material, etc. that would be allowed based on your project and where you live.

Another substantial step toward our City’s future through zoning is the River Master Plan, which was introduced in 2017. The plan focuses on the small area where Hamilton meets the Great Miami River. The main goal is to reconnect people to the river, which included rezoning the riverfront from industrial to entertainment and mixed-use. When SMART Papers (Champion Coated Paper Co.) closed in 2012, the site was originally zoned as industrial and many companies tried to take over that spot just to store equipment. But because City officials' vision for our City was larger than a storage unit alongside the river, they rezoned and waited to find the right fit. Fast forward to this year, Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill, the nation’s largest sports complex including a hotel and conference center is now open. It spans over 1,000,000 square feet and is expected to bring people from all over the United States to visit our town.

All of these zoning improvements are impactful to our City and the quality of our neighborhoods. These small changes, in the long run, will create a better “quality of life and livability in Hamilton” as quoted from the Plan Hamilton website. “It doesn’t hurt my feelings if people don't think about zoning, that means we’re doing it right,” says Hayden.