Hamilton County Planning + Development is currently working with North College Hill (NCH) on a number of community planning projects. Sheryl Long, City Administrator of NCH, applied for a competitive grant to update the City's nearly 10 year old Comprehensive Master Plan. While the City was not awarded with a financial grant, they were selected by HCP+D to receive in-kind services to update the Plan.

Through this process a couple of projects have boiled to the surface thanks to hard work and good timing. The Comprehensive Plan Update is taking shape and a public engagement process is soon to begin. The HCP+D staff are also preparing a short Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) "Strategic Plan" to develop consensus in the CIC and to show potential businesses the vision.

Additionally, a group of five Miami University students have joined HCP+D to develop and implement a community improvement project/event that will take place in early May. Also, through the Green Umbrella partnership we are working on a rain garden in a highly visible location on school grounds. This project was generously funded by a Duke Energy grant. Staff is also helping a local community volunteer to organize and implement a community garden to be built in April.

We look forward to seeing the fruits of these planning seeds.