St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

St. Bernard, Ohio

Neighborhood Analysis PLAN 1012 Madison DeMay Atheer Al Farsi

This zine is the final product of the Neighborhood Analysis of St. Bernard, OH. This project has been the assignment of Urban Planning freshman at the University of Cincinnati, spring semester. The class was divided by groups of two and assigned two of them to a neighborhood along the Mill Creek Valley. In this project we got to know St. Bernard’s history and who they are today, by gathering data and looking at the challenges and opportunities for change within this neighborhood.

Table of Contents Getting to know St. Bernard Introduction ...............................................................................................6 Impressions .................................................................................................7 Identity .......................................................................................................8 Imageability ..............................................................................................10 Analyzing St. Bernard History ......................................................................................................14 Data ..........................................................................................................18 Urban Design Analysis ..............................................................................20 Issues .........................................................................................................24 Opportunities ............................................................................................24 Vision for St. Bernard Site Projects ...............................................................................................30 Summary ...................................................................................................34 Credits .......................................................................................................35

Getting to know St. Bernard Introduction Impressions Identity Imageability

Welcome to St. Bernard

There is more than meets the eye to St. Bernard, Ohio. A part of Hamilton County, but not the city of Cincinnati; close to 1-75 and Vine and only 10-20-minute car ride away from Downtown. St. Bernard thrived because of its industrial background with companies such as A. Erkenbrecher's St. Bernhard Starch Works and the Ivory soap of Procter and Gamble, though both big companies have less to do with the industrial part of the Village today. St. Bernard still supports many different industrial companies in the northern part of the village, though most people who work there do not also live in St. Bernard today.

St. Bernard is a tight-knit community, where many people have lived in the same place for many years. Though still connected to its industrial background, it is not what makes St. Bernard what it is today. The most important part of the village is its community. The people of St. Bernard are welcoming of those who come to explore the small businesses and those who work in and around Ivorydale. When walking into a small business it seems that most people that walk in are on a first name basis with those who work there, you can feel the small-town atmosphere. St. Bernard is its own place independent of Cincinnati and that is how residents would like it to stay. I believe that St. Bernard is an attractive place to live for young people, and those trying to start a family who want to live close to the rest of Cincinnati, but not live within it.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Our first impressions of St. Bernard was that it seemed to be split in two, industrial and residential.

We found that though the land uses were split by the highway, both sides were accessible by following Vine Street. The major landmarks in the north was the historic P&G Ivorydale campus, though today P&G’s presence is seen in St. Bernard, much more of it is now office jobs rather than industrial. The campus is now divided amongst many companies, the most present from the street is the St. Bernard Soap Company and Crisco, owned by Smuckers.

The landmarks in the southern half of St. Bernard are Roger Bacon high school, it can be seen right once you enter the village. Further up Vine Street the most notable landmark is the St. Clement church. Further off of Vine Street landmarks include the St. Mary Catholic Cemetery and Ludlow Park. The area is comprised mostly of neighborhoods of single or multi-family housing and a few apartments scattered about. The south of St. Bernard is utilized by the village’s population more than the north because the majority of those who work in St. Bernard commute from other areas.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Mill Creek

First Impressions

St. Bernard

Identity While speaking to a few locals, we asked them to describe the people of St. Bernard; they came up with, close-knit, thrifty, hard-working, and careful. With that in mind walking around St. Bernard you can see what they mean, St. Bernard appreciates small businesses over big box stores. The shops are less about entertainment and more on the side of essential and practical shopping, or repair. The wide sidewalks along Vine Street and within the residential area showcase the importance of walkability within the southern half of St. Bernard. The St. Clement church and schools are especially highlighted as well, they are buildings of pride for the village and their values. On the northern half of St. Bernard the most prominent landmark is the Ivorydale campus, where some of its buildings have stood since 1880’s. P&G and the St. Bernard Soap Company helped shape the northern half of St. Bernard into what it is today. We took pictures of what we believed to be the two most prominent buildings in St. Bernard, The St. Clement Church and the St. Bernard Soap Company building, to represent St. Bernard.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Identity

When thinking of what words best describe St. Bernard, we thought of the prominent places within the neighborhood, as well as the character of the people who live there.

The icon of the village is a St. Bernard dog breed; in-front of many public places there sits a St. Bernard statue, they can be seen throughout the area, mainly along Vine Street.

The very obvious physical characteristics of St. Bernard is a large amount of train tracks that pass through the northern half of St. Bernard, this is best showcased in the parking lot of P&G’s June Street office location, but is also seen on either side of the road when passing through the industrial end of St. Bernard.

The last two significant areas are the local greenspaces, Ludlow Park, the biggest multipurpose park in St. Bernard; the other is the St. Mary Catholic Cemetery. The reason this was added is because the sheer amount of space this graveyard takes within the residential area.

Other than that, there is the obvious and present barrier of 1-75 that split St. Bernard into two. Something showcased in St. Bernard is the history of the Miami Erie Canal, and how the town was built up around it.

We also added the names of a few of the prominent local businesses; Shurfine, the grocery store, as well as Chili Time, the chili place of St. Bernard, though recently there has been the addition of a new Skyline Chili.

The overall impression of St. Bernard is that it is a place that many people have called home for years, they are a mainly white collar and middle class, familyoriented area, that is the suburb away from Cincinnati.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Combined Imageability Map

Imageability Creating an imageability map for any place is for the purpose of trying to find the key pieces of an area, by breaking a place down into landmarks, nodes, districts, major/minor edges, major/minor paths. This follows the method and elements from Kevin Lynch’s, Image of a City. After creating our own imageability maps of St. Bernard, we then made a final map that joined both of our perspectives.

Elements of an imageability map: Landmark: points of reference, these are buildings, signs, stores, public art Node: focus of the city, neighborhood, district, etc.

Pathway: channels in which people travel Edge: boundaries, can be real or perceived District: sections of a city that characterize the area

Madison’s Imageability Map

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Atheer’s Imageability Map

Final elements of St. Bernard: Landmarks- Chili Time, St. Bernard Soap Company, St. Clement Church, St. Mary Cemetery, the fire house, Roger Bacon high school, City Offices, and Scherpies Produce & Deli Nodes- Ross Park & St. Bernard Skatepark, W Ross Ave. & Andrew St., Ivorydale, Church St. & Vine St., Washington Ave. & Vine St. Major Pathways- Vine St., 1-75, E Mitchell Ave., Murray Rd., and Spring Grove Ave. Minor Pathways- all other local roads Green Space- Ross Park, Ludlow Park, St. Mary Cemetery, St. John Cemetery Major Edges- The Mill Creek Minor Edges- The southern border, any land off the roads in the industrial half of St. Bernard, the northern edge of St. Bernard

Sensory Maps Sensory maps are meant to showcase detailed information about the sensory aspects and qualities of the neighborhood, we thought that it was important to focus on the two halves of St. Bernard, to show the difference in what the land is used for. St. Bernard is both known for their Ivorydale campus and manufacturing or industrial history, as well as for their school Roger Bacon and the educational attainment level of the area.

Madison focused on the visibility of rail, when first traveling in the St. Bernard there is a noticeable amount of rail but none in the southern half. The reason it seems like there is a large rail presence in the north is because there is rail off the main road, Vine St., that takes you in and out of St. Bernard. While some rail is hidden, most is in plain sight. This map showcases the large industrial and manufacturing presence in St. Bernard.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Atheer felt that there was a large cluster of schools in St. Bernard, so she decided to map them out. Atheer found that there is a private elementary and high school, as well as two public elementary schools and a public high school. The takeaway from this map is that residents can make a choice of what kind of schooling they want their child to receive when living in St. Bernard.

Analyzing St. Bernard History Data Urban Design Analysis Issues Opportunities

St. Bernard Throughout Time

1859

1794

The first factory to locate to St. Bernard was the Starch Works, run by A. E, Erkenbrecker

After the Bloody Indian Massacre the nearby creek was renamed Bloody Run Creek

1794

Originally Ludlow Grove, settled by John Ludlow, building a house and mills along Mill Creek

1827

The Miami Erie Canal connected St. Bernard with the national commercial transportation network in Cincinnati

1906

St. Bernard added street car services, worked in tandum with the fire department

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Original St. Clement school built

1873

The German Catholic Cemetery, St. Mary’s was built

1928

1912

St. Bernard built their first bank, it was then the Citizens Bank, it is now a Fifth Third bank

1899

1877

St. Clement School was erected, today the Sisters teach, orginally it was the Brothers of St. Francis of Oldenburg

St. Bernard was incorporated as a city

1909

St. Bernard adds their first paid fire department

1913

A major Millcreek flood caused St. Bernard to flood

1878

1886

Saint Bernard add a police department and marshal

1878

The area now had 300 residents and was designated a village

1885

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

One of the first cars was built in Saint Bernard

2012

EPA potentially dangerous materials under some residents’ yards, where their homes were built there was previously a landfill

A major Ohio River Flood reached St. Bernard through the Mill Creek Valley

Roger Bacon High School was established, it is a Catholic, Franciscan, and now co-educational school

Town Hall built

1890

Ground was broken for Ivorydale

1937 1928

1890

St. Bernard Soap Company was established

1957

I-75 was built, from a map it cut St. Bernard in half, but you can still access either side through Vine Street

2016

A 100 year storm resulted significant damage in St. Bernard

St. Clement Church Temporary Frame Church, 1850

The Franciscan Fathers agreed to undertake the formation of a parish in St. Bernard. On August 16, 1850 the deed to the property was drawn up and signed by Joseph and Agnes Kline and John Bernard and Catherine Schroder.

St. Clement Church, Erected in 1851

The Third Church 1871

This church was only temporary as the agreement specified a brick church. Unfortunately, $800 would not begin to defray the cost of building a church and the Franciscans began a fundraising campaign.

The original brick church became inadequate by 1870. A temporary wood building was constructed to use as a church and building began.

St. Clement School, Erected in 1923.

In 1936, funds to run the school were difficult to obtain and the school was incorporated into the St, Bernard school system. Eventually the school was placed back under the control of the parish and was, once again, known as St. Clement School.

Railroads of St. Bernard Railroads still in use in St. Bernard:

Abandoned Railroad in St. Bernard:

Baltimore & Ohio/Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton - CSX, Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision

- Former Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton/Baltimore & Ohio to Lima

- 1846 to 1917

- Mostly abandoned south of Ivorydale, in active use north of

N&W - Norfolk & Western, Cincinnati Connecting Belt Railroad, formerly the Cincinnati, Portsmouth & Virginia/Norfolk & Western from Idlewild to Ivorydale

- 1870 to 1982

New York Central/Big Four to Columbus - Norfolk Southern, Dayton District, Central Division

- Former CCC & St. L

- Opened in 1872

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

B&O/CH&D - Baltimore & Ohio/Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton - CSX, Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision, formerly Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton/Baltimore & Ohio to Lima

- 1828 to 1987

Ivorydale Ivorydale was constructed after a fire destroyed an earlier P&G plant on Central Avenue. Chicago architect Solon Spencer Beman designed the more than 20 buildings on the 55-acre site 7 miles north of Downtown just as demand for Ivory soap was exploding.

William Procter and James Gamble turned over to their sons a greatly expanded business. It had grown to such proportions in the eighties that it seemed advisable to again seek a new location, for the city had grown up about their factory and limited its development there. A tract of about 11 acres, situated along the Millcreek and adjacent to the Big Four and B. & O. railroads was purchased. This tract had been dairy and farm land. At that time Spring Grove avenue was the dividing line of the newly-formed village of St. Bernard and the greater part of this tract was outside the village. It was therefore named Ivorydale.

In 1885, ground was broken for the new plant and the erection of buildings begun. They were not the ordinary type of factory buildings of that day, but a new departure in factory construction.

Ivorydale Plant of The Procter and Gamble Co.

Schools of St. Bernard

Ross Avenue School was built in 1888. It was built with only four rooms, when it became crowded the new Tower Avenue school was built in 1900 .

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Tower Avenue School was built in 1900. It was there that the first kindergarten, manual training and domestic science classes were instituted.

Roger Bacon High School was built in 1928. When the sister school, Our Lady of Angels closed, the school became co-ed in 1984.

The newest St. Bernard Elementary School was built in 1975, the original being Ludlow Place and Ross Avenue in 1888.

St. Bernard High School was built in 1976. The previous building saw the merge with Elmwood Place in 1968.

St. Bernard, A Place you Want to Be

Ethnicity

Looking to move to St. Bernard , OH? We’ve got everything you want to know about the key factors that could make this the best place for you.

Population Age

79.1% of the population is White, there is only about 15.7% who are Black or African American, which makes them the largest minority in St. Bernard.

Education Attainment

One fourth of the population is under the age of 19; and a little over half of the population is under the typical age of retirement, 65. The range of those 25-34 years old is the largest population in St. Bernard.

Modes of Transportation

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

The majority of the population, more than 75% of the population in St. Bernard at least have a high school diploma, and a little under half have some college education.

Historic Population Estimated Median Household Income 2017

The Median Household Income has increased by around $13,000 dollars from the year 2000 compared to the year 2017. The Median Household Income of St. Bernard in 2017 is $50,000 which is $4,000 dollars behind that of Cincinnati’s Median Household Income.

Population peaked in St. Bernard in 1930, due to industry, people started coming to St. Bernard in 1880 for jobs and it climbed until the point of 1930 and then slowly declined until 1970.

Time Travel From St. Bernard to Other Neighborhoods

Inflow/ Outflow Job Counts in 2002

Inflow/ Outflow Job Counts in 2017

Many people travelled from outside of St Bernard to go to work in St Bernard in the year 2002, 13,568 people came into the village everyday. However, in the year 2017, the amount dropped by less than half of the people that come in from outside of St. Bernard.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Urban Design Analysis Figure Ground Map of St. Bernard

Figure Ground Map: The figure ground of St Bernard shows the division between the northern and southern parts of the village. The northern part which consists of mainly large businesses and industries have much larger structures scattered around. As for the southern part which is mostly residential and mixed use, the structures (buildings) are much smaller in size and aligned closely together.

Land Use Map: We can see that that the top half of the village is all industrial (in purple). The bottom half of St Bernard is mainly public spaces and residential. In red we can see that the commercial spaces in St Bernard are mainly along Vine, however, there aren’t many.

Linkages Map: In the linkages map we chose three distinct areas for the walk shed. One near the schools to show how walkable it is, the other near the residential area which is still very walkable but not as much, and the third one in the industrial side to show how it is not walkable. The circles over the map shown in different shades and sizes represent the density of that intersection. As shown in the figure, there are only 5 major areas with the highest density represented by the biggest and darkest circle.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Land Use Map of St. Bernard

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Linkages Map of St. Bernard

High Density Resedential The location chosen for the high-density residential typology was in an area that consisted of rows and columns of houses aligned in a symmetrical form. Since it is a residential community, the walkability in this area is relatively easy and fast.

The elevation figure of the high-density residential area shows that it is a flat area with no hills which makes it more walkable.

1”=20’

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

1”=200’

Low Density Resedential The low-density residential typology is located near the cemetery and 175, therefore not many people would want to live there. As shown from the figure ground of the low-density, we can see that there is so much empty space in the middle where it is filled with trees and green space. Like the high-density residential area, the elevation figure also shows the uniqueness of each house and how flat the area is.

1”=20’

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

1”=200’

Issues and Opportunities in St. Bernard

No Accessibility to Health Resources

No Mill Creek Access

Accessibility to Health Resources

No Mill Creek Access St Bernard does not take advantage of the Mill Creek that boarders the village. There is no access to the Mill Creek from St Bernard, both from the industrial and residential sides.

Many of the areas in St Bernard that boarder the Creek is clustered with industrial buildings that creates some sort of a wall that blocks people from the Creek.

The people of St Bernard have to leave the village to get to a clinic or a pharmacy since there are none in St Bernard. It is a necessity for each neighborhood to have a pharmacy or a clinic in case of emergencies. Having to leave the village in case of health issues is very inconvenient and can make people feel unsafe.

The people of St Bernard have to leave the village to get to a clinic or a pharmacy since there are none in St Bernard. It is a necessity for each neigborhood to have a pharmacy or a clinic incase of emergancies. Having to leave the village incase of health issues is very inconvenient and can make people feel unsafe.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Priority Given to Vehicles

St Bernard does not take advantage of the Mill Creek that boarders the village. There is no access to the Mill Creek from St Bernard, both from the industrial and residential sides. Many of the areas in St Bernard that boarder the Creek is clustered with industrial buildings that creates some sort of a wall that blocks people from the Creek.

Overall, pedestrian experience is poor is St Bernard. There are no bike lanes in any part of the village. The Industrial half of St Bernard is completely not walkable. Besides Vine St, many of the side walks are tight and some areas does not have side walks. Crosswalks are not enough, making it dangerous and inconvenient for the citizens.

Health Comes First

Unite by the Creek

Bring in a pharmacy and a clinic in St Bernard by Vine St, in front of The Plaza. This would be a good accessible location since it is near the new Plaza and grocery store. It is also in the heart of St Bernard which is an easy access to both the industrial and resedential sides. This clinic and pharmacy will provide a convenient access to high quality care which is essential for maintaining good health.

Create a Green Bridge from Ludlow Park that goes over 175 into Ross Run bordering Spring Grove Avenue.

This Green Bridge will connect the industrial side to the resedential side of St. Bernard. This project will have multiple different uses: a playground, somewhere to talk along the creek, benches will create a place to sit, tables will create a picnic area, and an open field to play sports.

Vine St. Lacking Business

Priority Given to Vehicles

Old Plaza

Priority Given to Vehicles

Vine St. Lacking Business

Old Plaza

Overall, pedestrian experience is poor is St Bernard. There are no bike lanes in any part of the village.

The Industrial half of St Bernard is completely not walkable. Besides Vine St, many of the side walks are tight and some areas does not have side walks. Crosswalks are not enough, making it dangerous and inconvenient for the citizens.

The village of St Bernard is considered to be a community of mainly elderly. Having a younger generation in the village means having more young, full of energy and educated rational people. They come in with a fresh energy which can lead to performing better and ensuring the growth of the village. Vine St is not used to its potential, it can be a street that attracts many if used properly.

The Dollar stores have a damaging effect on economic wellbeing. They displace independent grocery and retail options, draining communities of their local character, history, and opportunity. The Plaza is a very old and poor quality place with very minimum options to make you go there. It is extremely unattractive and poorly built. It is not family friendly, no green space, and no shopping options.

The village of St Bernard is considered to be a community of mainly elderly. Having a younger generation in the village means having more young, full of energy and educated rational people. They come in with a fresh energy which can lead to performing better and ensuring the growth of the village. Vine St is not used to its potential, it can be a street that attracts many if used properly.

Pedestrian Friendly Prioritize pedestrians and cyclists, encouraging people to walk or cycle rather than driving. The goal is to create bike lanes throughout the village, widen side walks, add cross walks and side walks. Trees and flowers will be planted along the side walks to attract and encourage people to walk more. This will create a healthier lifestyle for St Bernard.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

The Dollar stores have a damaging effect on economic wellbeing. They displace independent grocery and retail options, draining communities of their local character, history, and opportunity. The Plaza is a very old and poor quality place with very minimum options to make you go there. It is extremely unattractive and poorly built. It is not family freindly, no green space, and no shopping options.

Attracting a New Generation Vine St in the resedential side of St Bernard becomes an attraction for youngsters to visit and move in. There will be new apartments, condos, parks, a gym, restuaurants and bars.

This street will have trees and flowers along each end and will have wide side walks. There will be a bike lane and a bike stop to park the bicycles. Benches will be placed along the street for people to connect and sit.

New Look Remove the dollar stores and convert it into a big grocery store with everything you need at good quality.

Break down the old Plaza and parking lot to create a new attractive plaza with a green parking lot at the roof. The empty parking space on ground floor will be turned into a mini park with benches also accessible to the houses near the Plaza. New local coffee shops will be in the Plaza and many new shops.

SWOT of St. Bernard

A swot analysis breaks down the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the area you are planning for. This ensures that a proposal addresses all pieces of the puzzle when thinking of a new plan for a community.

Just because something is seen as a weakness or a threat, does not make that thing inherently bad, but it may be a hindrance to growth or expansion. Such as half of St. Bernard being land for industrial or manufacturing purposes, that does bring in money and jobs, but it makes it difficult for residents to utilize that land.

This is a combined map of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of St. Bernard, This showcases everything as a whole, but is harder to break down when looking at it all together, especially if some areas might be multiple things in a SWOT analysis.

Strip Mall

Ludlow Park St. Mary Catholic Cemetery

Mill Creek/ Ivorydale

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Strengths of St. Bernard: Overall St. Bernard is a nice place to travel through, or to live. The village is a tight knit community but welcomes outsiders. People like living in St. Bernard, and that is shown from the limited vacancy in housing, and the amount of single and multi-family housing the area has. The neighborhood promotes walkability in the southern half of St. Bernard with sidewalks and public parking lots. The area has access to 1-75 and major roads such as Vine Street that leads through the rest of Hamilton and Butler County.

Weaknesses of St. Bernard: Two major weaknesses of St. Bernard are the large cemeteries, and that half of the land in St. Bernard being for industrial and manufacturing use only. Current land use has made it so that the village will need to get creative when thinking about additions to the area. There is also a lack of a shopping district, lack of bus stops, and lack of apartments. There is also a lack of walkability in the northern half of the village so people cannot walk or bike to work. The last weakness are the few dilapidated shopping strips, if those were re-imagined, people would be coming to St. Bernard more often. St. Bernard has a strong small business connection and lack of big box stores, adding small businesses to these strips could bring more tourism into the area.

Opportunities of St. Bernard: The greatest opportunities St. Bernard has is new development available in some parcels along Vine Street and the Mill Creek, as well as redevelopment along Vine Street. Another opportunity for the area is that some people want to be closer to Cincinnati than living in Butler County, but not necessarily live in the city. St. Bernard provides a different type of area to live that feels more suburban, but at a high density.

Threats of St. Bernard: The biggest threat to St. Bernard is that they are landlocked, so most areas would have to be rezoned or development to provide something new, but there are still a few parcels of undeveloped land. Another issue or threat is that some houses are too close to the sound barrier of 1-75, for safety it might be a good idea to either raise the sound barrier some more, or as people move out of those areas rezone them for commercial purposes rather than residential.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Vision for St. Bernard Site Projects Summary Credits

Site Projects: The Mill Creek Park

Ludlow Park

New Ross Run Park

Create a Green Bridge from Ludlow Park that goes over 175 into Ross Run bordering Spring Grove Avenue. This Green Bridge will connect the industrial side to the resedential side of St. Bernard. This project will have multiple different uses: a playground, somewhere to talk along the creek, benches will create a place to sit, tables will create a picnic area, and an open field to play sports.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

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Creating a green bridge that connects Ludlow park to our new park Ross Run Park, by the Mill Creek. This bridge would go over 175 and the trail- starting from the resedential half of St Bernard to the Industrial side.

The aim of creating this bridge is to create a green enviornment that brings all the people of St Bernard together to enjoy their time in the new Ross Run Park and the newly renovated Ludlow Park while enjoying a view of the Mill Creek

The new Ross Run Park will have a playground for kids to play, fencing to protect people from the trail and the steep Mill Creek area. There will be trees alongside the fencing by the trail to create some sort of barrier.

The timeline of St Bernard boards will be placed by the Creek for a nice view while you sit or stand to read through it. There will benches placed for people wishing to sit. This timeline will attract people to come and learn more about the history of St Bernard while enjoying their time at the park.

St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Colorful murals and interesting art will attract people to visit the park, take pictures, and spend time with family and friends. The tables and chairs will be placed right in front of this wall so that people can sit and either face the wall or the playground field.

A new parking lot will be placed by the corner of the new Ross Run Park behind the trail to prevent cars from getting too close and making it a pedestrian friendly area. There will be a wooden bridge that connects the lot to the park for pedestrians to walk through.

Site Projects: The New Plaza Remove the dollar stores and convert it into a big grocery store with everything you need at good quality. Break down the old Plaza and parking lot to create a new attractive plaza with a green parking lot at the roof. The empty parking space on ground floor will be turned into a mini park with benches also accessible to the houses near the Plaza. New local coffee shops will be at the Plaza and many new shops.

Park & Apartment Building

Pharmacy & Grocery Store

New Businesses replacing the Old Strip Mall

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Bus Stop

Replacing the old strip mall will be a new set of buildings that are built to look more like those further on Vine Street. The building would be moved closer to the road to increase walkability. It is completed with a green roof parking lot.

The offices will be replaced by two new four story apartment or condo buildinngs. Below the complex there would be an underground parking garage, and above on the top of the buildings there would be a shard patio and garden space.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

In the middle of the building there is the optionn for outdoor seating for restaurants, and casual bench seating. This area also is used to lead the park behind the buildings.

On the top of the businesses there will be a parking deck. Once parked the lot will utilize an elevator that leads pedestrians behind the open area between the buildings.

St. Bernard lacks health services withing its neigborhood. In place of the abandoned Long John Silvers it would be nice to replace the building with a pharmacy and a Little Clinic, so that people do not need to travel outside the neighborhood for a check up or for prescriptions.

Since the dollar stores will not be in St. Bernard for much longer, a better use of the space would to be to expand the existing grocery store. Bigger grocery stores can offer a greater variety of options to customers.

Summary

Through this project we have learned the importance of breaking down a neighborhood into many pieces so that you can see the full picture. Without all the different parts of this assignment, researching the history of St. Bernard, walking around the village many times, going into the shops on Vine Street, learning about the walkability and accessibility, learning where different land uses are located, what individuals would like to see in their neighborhood, etc.; we would have not known the village any better than someone who drives through their occasionally. It is easy to drive around a place every day and think you have seen it all, but it takes getting out of your car to explore down side streets and interacting with the community to understand the place you are creating for. Our views of St. Bernard have changed at different stages of this project, through each assignment we completed we understood St. Bernard a little more on a deeper level. We have analyzed St. Bernard and planned what we think will be best for this community as student planners. We believe that St. Bernard will continue to change and adapt throughout time as all places do, but they will stick to their core values and remember their roots as change progresses. St. Bernard is a tight knit community that is small business oriented and hard-working, they may live close to downtown but they stand on their own apart from the 52 neighborhoods within the city of Cincinnati.

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis

Credits

Thank you to Marjorie Niesen, President of the St. Bernard-Ludlow Grove Historical Society and the Mayor of St. Bernard, Jonathan Stuchell for sitting down to talk with our group to talk about the past, present, and the future of St. Bernard!

Thank you to Nick Heaton and Lauren Dahlager for being a great group to work with this semester!

Thank you to Shilpa Mehta and Megan Karalambo for guidance throughout our first year projects!

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St. Bernard Neighborhood Analysis