The acreage has been divided into five districts, from the Atrium District to the north at Middletown’s doorstep to the Garden District in Turtlecreek Twp. where the Cincinnati Zoo owns 650 acres and plans to relocate its cheetah breeding operation from Clermont County.
Turtlecreek Twp. and the city of Monroe have been at the epicenter of recent developments with the $175 million Miami Valley Gaming & Racing racino that opened last December in the township and the Cincinnati Premium Outlet mall that welcomed shoppers to Monroe in 2009.
Martin Russell, Warren County’s economic development director and port authority chief, said the “I-75 Plan” was a means to bring a coalition of people together so cooperative agreements — like the Joint Economic Development District under development between Turtlecreek Twp. and Monroe for the racino — and a cohesive rather than random future development plan could be drawn.
“It’s really about how can we create a vision that can help us step things out,” Russell said. “Not that it’ll go exactly 100 percent to plan, but at least it gives a guiding document that helps us step things out, so it’s not haphazard.”
The area is also the future home of a “new urbanism” village on 1,400 acres at the Otterbein retirement campus on Ohio 741 and Ohio 63. The plans for as many as 4,500 homes — including condos, apartments, duplexes and single family — have been continued while Warren County commissioners’ conditions are studied. It will be a multi-generational, walkable community with restaurants, shops, a school, an arts center and more to be built over 40 years.
The “I-75 Plan” will be unveiled at the Warren County Administration Building, Room 128, 406 Justice Drive, Lebanon.
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