City Council will vote tonight on a resolution awarding a contract in the process to renovate the main pool, tennis courts, and pickle-ball courts at the Blue Ash Recreation Center. The construction plan calls for demolition begin at the and of the 2025 season with the project set to open in June 2026. See more about the project plans here.
The developers proposing to build a mixed-use stadium project on private land next to Summit Park have submitted their formal proposal to the city. It will be (that’s a link to the agenda) considered at the Thursday, April 3 meeting in Council Chambers at the Municipal & Safety Center. The meeting will begin at 6:30 PM.
Note: The Planning Commission meetings are not a public hearing. Everyone is welcome to attend but there will not be an opportunity for residents to make statements. One reason that I will be attending is to see the full presentation by the developer and hear the questions asked by commissioners.
The Commission can recommend Council approve or deny the proposed plan. They can also table it or ask for modifications. Once the Commission sends its recommendation to Council, it will be considered at two City Council meetings. There will be a public hearing before at the second meeting where anyone who would like to will be invited to share their thoughts with Council.
This year Niche.com has ranked the City of Blue Ash as the #1 Best Place to Live in Ohio! Using criteria like crime, public schools, cost of living, job opportunities, and local amenities, Niche ranked 732 places to live in our state and based on their formula, Blue Ash came out on top.
As the best place to live in the state, we are naturally the best suburb to live in and we also were judged the #4th Best Place to Raise a Family in Ohio. Wonder how we rank nationally? Niche says we are the #17 Best Suburb to live in America and the #31 Best Place to Live in America. Pretty awesome.
The City Council meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 27 and the Planning Commission meeting scheduled for March 6 have been cancelled do to a lack of agenda items. The Council is scheduled to meet next on March 13 at 7:00. You can watch here for an agenda that is usually posted on Tuesday. The Planning Commission is next scheduled to meet April 3.
The developers who own the private land near the corner of Reed-Hartman Highway and Pfeiffer Road, adjacent to Summit Park have refreshed their plan from a couple of years ago. They still propose a stadium with a nice hotel and multifamily housing and an office building but they have reduced the number of apartments, added a parking garage for events, and added plans for an indoor fieldhouse surrounded by a second hotel designed to host basketball and volleyball tournaments as well as dance and cheer competitions. They have also realized that a stadium built for one private school can’t anchor the development and so they have expanded its uses and are looking for a professional tenant.
The developer has indicated that they are almost ready to file a formal proposal for rezoning consideration. They just announced an open house on March 11 from 5:30-7pm in the Council Chambers at the Blue Ash Municipal building. Read more to see how we got to this point, the strengths and weaknesses of their proposal, and what may happen next.
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Council Member Brian Gath, who represents Ward 2 in Blue Ash, is announcing his intention to run for reelection for the same seat in this fall’s general election.
“I’ve enjoyed serving my community in this role and I feel like I’ve made a positive difference for my constituents and all of Blue Ash,” Gath said.
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