The road would veer west, south of Armco Park and cross Ohio 63 before turning back onto the existing route heading into Mason.
The reroute would span about two miles around the Otterbein campus and the downtown of Union Village, a 1,400- acre community including as many as 4,500 homes planned on land surrounding the existing campus.
“It wouldn’t happen until Union Village is largely built out,” said Matt Obringer, a planner from Warren County.
Other than new paint advertising 'Union Village' on the water tower on the Otterbein property, there is little sign of the development initially approved more than two years ago by Warren County.
Plans by the Warren County Convention & Visitors Bureau for a sports complex on some of the land off Greentree Road stalled in January due to questions about ownership and the collection of additional lodgings tax to pay for it.
This could be about to change.
“We are in the final stages of the agreement with Turtlecreek Township - merely finalizing details regarding responsibility for road, common area and sewer maintenance,” Gary Horning, vice president of marketing and communications for Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices, said in an email last week.
“Agreements are already in place with Warren County, Lebanon Schools and the Convention & Visitors Bureau - just awaiting the township agreement to sign. With the holidays and scheduled township sessions, the timeline suggests all in place by the end of January. If so, first construction for the infrastructure for the sports complex and the first phase of Union Village could start in the spring,” Horning added.
Last week, yellow street signs advocating caution around crosswalks from the retirement campus across Ohio 741 hinted at a future in which this section of Ohio 741 would be a limited-access road marked by rotaries and other traffic-calming devices enabling pedestrians to walk across to Union Village’s downtown commercial district.
Otterbein supports plans for the bypass around Union Village, only one aspect of what is now known as the Turtlecreek Crossroads Plan.
The area underlying the vision also includes two state prisons, more than 2,000 undeveloped acres of state land expected to go on the market, as well as the Miami Valley Gaming racino and land where the Cincinnati Zoo is planning to breed cheetahs and already manages a wetlands, beekeeping and organic garden and farming.
Another road project would leave Ohio 63 a limited-access road and construct a frontage road on the north side from the Ohio 741 bypass to the racino.
And McClure Road would be closed at Ohio 63, outside Lebanon, and rerouted west to the state route, using Hamilton Road.
In addition, the proposed plan calls for a “commercial node” on farm land east of the Union Village area on Ohio 63 and commercial and industrial development on other undeveloped land in the planning area also bordering Monroe.
Landscaping and signs would mark the area.
A group of citizens and staff from the Warren County Regional Planning Commission has been working for months on the plan.
In addition to land use, the group is working on branding and placemaking efforts for Turtlecreek Twp., the unincorporated area contemplated in the plan. This is reflected in the new name of what was the Union Village Crossroads Plan.
“This is a much bigger area than Union Village,” Obringer said.“We’re still trying to develop a brand for the township.”
The committee next meets on Dec. 8. An open house is scheduled for Feb. 11 to collect final public input.
The plan could be presented to the planning commission in March or April and the county commissioners for final approval in May.
Turtlecreek Crossroads Planning Meetings
Citizens Advisory Committee
Dec. 8, 9:30 a.m.
Room: 128A,
Warren County Administration Building
406 Justice Dr. Lebanon
Open House, Feb. 11, 9:30 a.m,
Warren County Administration Building
406 Justice Dr. Lebanon
For more information, call 513-695-1223 or visit http://crossroadsplan.weebly.com/.
Turtlecreek Crossroads Planning Meetings
Citizens Advisory Committee
Dec. 8, 9:30 a.m.
Room: 128A,
Warren County Administration Building
406 Justice Dr. Lebanon
Open House, Feb. 11, 9:30 a.m,
Warren County Administration Building
406 Justice Dr. Lebanon
For more information, call 513-695-1223 or visit http://crossroadsplan.weebly.com/.
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