Save the Date for this year's Planning Partnership meeting on Friday, March 20, 2020 from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at the Cooper Creek Event Center,  4040 Cooper Road,  Blue Ash, OH 45241.  The meeting will consist of networking, updates on Partnership work in 2019, and the Frank Ferris Awards. Lunch is provided. Register here.

Don't forget the Frank Ferris Award submission deadline is Friday, February 21st!

Hamilton County Planning + Development, Division of Building + Inspection's primary role is to process permit applications, plan review and inspect buildings per the applicable state and local building codes for all unincorporated areas of Hamilton County, plus ten contractual municipal jurisdictions. The Division includes three units: Customer Support Service, Plans Examination, and Building Inspections.

Our newest contracted residential municipal jurisdiction will be Terrace Park, Ohio effective Sunday, March 15, 2020. We currently contract for their commercial work and now we will be providing services for both commercial and residential construction projects.

Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) is seeking input for the " OKI 2050 Metropolitan Transportation Plan." This plan will guide regional transportation improvements through the year 2050 and define policies, programs and projects that will be implemented over the next 30 years. Find the survey here.

We know that Census 2020 is safe (your individual information is kept locked away for 72 years), easy (it can be completed online for the first time ever!) and important (it determines who gets federal $$$, but it could also have a big impact on individual communities. Will Silverton and St. Bernard become cities again? Are Deer Park and Mt. Healthy in danger of slipping under 5,000 in population and becoming "villages." What Hamilton County Township will have the largest population- Green or Colerain? Will Forest Park catch Norwood to be the city with the largest population outside of the City of Cincinnati? The census matters! Find more information about Greater Cincinnati Counts here.

Census Timeline 

• April-December 2019: Complete Count Committee formation and educational outreach
• January-March 2020: Complete Count Committee awareness outreach
• Mid-March 2020: Census invitation sent via mail
• March 23, 2020: Census opens (mail, online, phone)
• April 1, 2020: Census Day
• Mid-May-September 2020: non-response follow-up by Census workers

Hamilton County Future Fair Task Force  is seeking input on ways to reinvigorate the Hamilton County Fair and Fairgrounds. As part of our process, we are gathering input from the community to expand our ideas and to include additional perspectives. The survey is available until Monday, February 17th. Find the survey here.

Did you know you can become a member of the Hamilton County Agriculture Society?  The Society is in charge of putting on the Hamilton County Fair.  Memberships are $25/year and include free parking at the Fair, exhibitors ticket, and an all week Fair pass! Members also get to vote for Agriculture Society board members. Call the Fair office at 513-761-4224 or email for more information.

Taking Root is hosting its 7th Annual Great Tree Summit at Boys Scouts of America Dan Beard Council Camp Friedlander, 581 Ibold Road, Loveland, OH 45140 on Saturday, February 29th from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm. 

The Keynote speaker will be Bill M. Fountain, Professor of Arboriculture/ Extension Appointment at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Bill will be speaking on the Preservation of Existing Trees.  Andrew Mertz, Distribution System Forester with Duke Energy, will be speaking on Tree Management under Utility Wires.  There will also be short presentations on local tree and forest initiatives.  

Hope Taft, Former Ohio First Lady, will speak on an upcoming tree-seedling sale in celebration of the first Ohio Native Plant Month.  Other reports will include updates on Ohio Valley Forestry Fellowship Projects, Little Duck Creek Task Force, Madeira High School's Good Natured Project, Friends of the Little Miami State Park and Taking Root's own Make A Difference Day Team.  There will also be a silent auction fundraiser, a post-summit tour of Camp Friedlander, and demonstration tree planting.  

This year's 2020 Neighborhood Summit is themed " My Neighborhood Counts. Everybody Counts," to recognize the 2020 Census year and expand upon the importance that all neighborhoods and all people's voices count. This year's summit is  Saturday, March 14, 2020 at the Cintas Center at Xavier University.  Find more information here .

Save the Date for the " Connecting the Dots: A Summit for Hamilton County's Suburbs" on Wednesday, April 8, 2020  at the Cintas Center, Xavier University. This is a free, all-day event bringing civic leaders together to learn from each other, make meaningful connections, and converse on how to address the challenges facing suburbs in Hamilton County. The meeting is open to local government officials, developers, housing professionals, workforce development experts, finance professionals, human and social service agency leaders, academics, students, shared services experts, and more. Stay tuned for more detailed information, in the mean time you can read more about why this event is important here.

The 2020 David J. Allor Planning and Zoning Workshop is an annual conference, sponsored by the Cincinnati Section of the Ohio Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). This year's workshop will be Friday, March 6, 2020 from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm at Anderson Center in Anderson Township.

The theme for this year's Workshop will be "Cincinnati on the Rise". Presentations will be forward-looking in the areas of sustainability, transportation, tourism, equity, and technology. Find more information here.

If you know a student pursuing a career in Public Service, the Ohio Conference of Community Development Foundation is accepting scholarship applications until Monday, April 13, 2020. There are 4 scholarships available at $2,000 each that will be awarded at the Summer Annual Meeting in Columbus this year. Find more information on the scholarship here.