James Noyes Named Interim Director!

James began his service with Hamilton County in 2011 as the Development Services Facilitator, which was absorbed into his current position, Assistant Director in 2013. James Noyes was named Interim Director at HCP+D on May 7th.

Solarize Cincy Workshops

Solarize Cincy is back with free workshops for residents to learn more about how to solarize their homes. Mark your calendar for the upcoming workshops organized by the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance and hosted at various different sites like the Cincinnati Zoo. The next two workshops are June 9th and June 26th.

What Is A Complete Street?

Rockport Massachusetts Complete Streets Program

The Community Planning Division had the opportunity to present to the Connecting Active Communities Coalition  on Complete Streets, a hot topic in planning efforts nationally. Complete Streets are streets designed for everyone, keeping all users in mind. The presentation for policies and guidelines can be found here. 

If you are looking for more information or examples, Smart Growth America highlights Complete Streets Case Studies.

With generous support of the Duke Energy Foundation and through a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation's Community Canopy Program, Taking Root worked with five targeted communities: Village of Arlington Heights, Village of Lincoln Heights, Village of Lockland, City of Reading, and Village of Woodlawn to distribute 250 trees. These 5-gallon trees (3 - 7' high) will eventually help residents lower energy costs, filter air and water, reduce stormwater runoff, slow climate change, and green our neighborhoods.  On the Arbor Day site, residents can use the online tool to determine the location in their yard to plant their free tree for maximum savings on their energy bill. This tool also estimates the annual savings that will result from the tree. In exchange for the free tree, residents were expected to plant them in the location provided by the online tool and provide ongoing care.

Taking Root partnered with 20 Amazon employees to plant 12 trees at Springfield Township's Stephanie Hummer Memorial Park on April 27th  as part of the Amazon.com Imaging Department's Amazon Cares Initiative . Three additional trees were donated to later be planted at Frost Park and Beech Grove Cemetery. This is the second planting event for the Amazon employees. In April 2017 Amazon employees organized by Cheryle Weber, raised funds among themselves and partnered with Clark Montessori students to plant 20 trees on the school's campus. This year, the Amazon employees raised over $1,700.00 to purchase the trees.  The tools used in the planting were supplied by the Cincinnati Community ToolBank , through the support of the Duke Energy Foundation. Springfield Township Trustee, Gwen McFarlin noted that, "We lost so many trees in our parks due to the Emerald Ash Borer. We are so grateful to the Amazon employees for the donation of trees to begin replacing what we lost."