The City of Erlanger held a public workshop Tuesday night, where it presented early plans for a massive park and road improvement project in and around the city’s Cherry Hill neighborhood.
Although this was not the first time the city had discussed the project in a public setting, it was the first major showcase to locals who would be most affected by it. The event had a high turnout and served as a public forum for people to learn about the project in detail and ask questions.
“We truly believe that this park has the power to increase the quality of life for everybody in the Cherry Hill subdivision and even all over Northern Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati area,” said Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette, who presented the project to the neighborhood residents.
The project aims to create a large park that will serve as a hub for recreation and other community activities. The designs are based heavily on feedback from residents of Cherry Hill. It will be built in the wooded areas surrounding the neighborhood and will incorporate the area’s natural streams and waterways.
The city currently has $900,000 set aside this fiscal year to finance the early parts of the project. The money comes from the property tax-funded city parks fund. Longer-term financing is uncertain, but Fette and city officials said they are in the process of securing financing via partnerships with private investors as well as grant funding. Timelines for the final completion of the project are also uncertain at this time, being largely dependent on how quickly the city can secure funding.
The early parts of the project feature several roadway improvements, many of which are aimed at reducing semi-truck traffic to Cherry Hill, a problem the residents have struggled with since at least 2021.
GPS navigation systems sometimes direct truck drivers who are not familiar with the area into the neighborhood, leading to toppled utility poles, damaged cars and other property damage. This has occurred in spite of the presence of signs and other countermeasures warning truckers not to enter. Residents at Tuesday’s event even stated the area had lost power the night before due to damage caused by a truck.
First, a section of Sycamore Tree Lane will be designated as a one-way exit onto Houston North Road. Other sections of the road will remain two-way, but the city hopes this will curtail semi-trucks from entering the neighborhood but allow them to leave if they manage get in at another entry point. Additionally, the proposal touted a new 4,900 foot multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists from Houston Road northward to Turfway Road.
As far as the park itself goes, the early parts of the project include a dog park at the intersection of Houston North and Old Erlanger Road. The city also hopes to create a network of mountain biking and walking trails throughout the park with trailhead access at Turfway Road.
The city plans on collaborating with the Cincinnati Off Road Alliance, which manages several other park trail networks in the region, in planning and building the trail network. The hope is to have 22 miles of both biking and walking trails by the time the project finishes.
Although the long-term plans for the project were discussed, the early phases will focus mostly on the dog park, the road corrections and about 10 miles of trail infrastructure.
Audience members had numerous questions about funding for the project, its environmental impacts, and how it would affect EMS and public works access and security. Several residents also wanted to know about the possibility of noise reduction measures, given the area’s proximity to the freeway.
Tom Echlin, who’s lived in the neighborhood since the 80s, had concerns about vehicle access and security. He was relieved that the entirety of Sycamore Tree wasn’t going to be turned into a one-way, but his house abuts the area where parking is slated to go, and he was worried about people parking at odd hours and wandering down towards the creeks. He said he’s actually observed this happen in the past.
“I know walkways and mountain bikes, and I know it can draw good and evil,” Echlin said. “So that’s all I ask–keep lighting, keep cameras, have somebody monitor it. That would be great.”
Another resident, Barbara Race, was also relieved to hear the one-way conversion would only be partial and was otherwise optimistic.
“I think it’ll take some time before it actually all takes place, but we got to start somewhere,” Race said. “I think it’s a good plan.”
You can view and download slides from Tuesday’s presentation, which includes maps and visual renderings of the project, below.