Site Last Updated: 2/2/2004

2740 Erie Avenue Zoning Board of Appeals Hearing - February 9, 2004

The Hyde Park Neighborhood Council (HPNC) has received a Notice for Appeal of the EQ-UD Examiner's Decision for the proposed new building at the northeast corner of Michigan & Erie Avenues. This site at 2740 Erie Avenue is the former location of a Shell gas station that has now been closed for over one year.

The developer has proposed a six story, 55,000+ square foot mixed use building called "Michigan Terrace". It will be used for underground parking, retail sales, offices and residential condominiums. If built as proposed, Michigan Terrace will be the highest and one of the most visible buildings on Hyde Park Square. It will also be the most significant new construction on the Square in over 80 years.

In order to be built as proposed, the developer has applied for and was granted a Variance for rear yard setback at an EQ-UD Hearing last fall. The EQ-UD Examiner also approved the Applicant's Development Plan including building mass, height, location on lot, exterior appearance, materials, windows, signage, lighting and landscaping. An adjacent property owner is appealing the EQ-UD decision. The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) will hear the Appeal on Monday, February 9, 2004, 9:00AM, Committee Room B, Third Floor, City Hall. The City's Notice may be viewed below.

At a Public Meeting on October 26, 2003, the Zoning Committee of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council (HPNC) recommended that the proposed building be set back approximately 25 feet from the Erie Avenue property line, in-line with the façade of the adjacent Medical Arts building. The Zoning Committee also recommended reducing the height to be no greater than the Columbia building across Michigan Avenue. After hearing from the Public, the Board of the HPNC passed a motion supporting the Variance if the developer would increase the setback and reduce the height as recommended. The Applicant/developer has made neither change.

You may be interested in attending the Appeal Hearing and voicing your opinion on the proposed development. According to the City's Notice, the Appeal decision will be based on the Appeal presentation and testimony presented at the Appeal Hearing. This implies that prior testimony, letters and documentation will not be considered in the decision unless presented at the Appeal Hearing. Therefore your opinion will not be considered unless you attend the hearing and make a statement or have some one present your position. We urge you to attend and be heard.

See the City Hearing Notice here (250k, right click, save as to create local copy).

EQ-UD-4-006-03 Application for 2740 Erie Avenue "Michigan Terrace"

The Hyde Park Neighborhood Council held a meeting at Knox Church on October 27, 2003, to share with the public the plans submitted by Lantrust Real Estate/Al Neyer Inc. (Applicant) for their proposed building at 2740 Erie Avenue. Since then, several meetings and some changes have occurred.

The applicant met with Michael Moore, the city's staff reviewing authority, other interested parties, and members of the Hyde Park Square Environmental Review Committee. A summary of those meetings and of the Zoning/EQ hearing on November 5 was presented in the EQ report that was submitted at the regular Hyde Park Neighborhood Council board meeting on November 11, 2003.

A copy of some of the plans submitted at the Nov 5 hearing are available for you to view. Please click here to open this document (329kb). If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, just click the image to your right and download the free viewer for your platform.

The October 27, 2003 HPNC Zoning Committee Report on this project can be viewed here.

The HPNC letter to the City Staff Review Authority on this project can be viewed here.

An update on the EQ-UD-4-006-03 Application for 2740 Erie Avenue "Michigan Terrace" prepared by Norm Lewis, Chair of the Hyde Park Zoning Committee is available here (96kb).

Important Information Regarding the Proposed Zoning of Your Property

The City Council adopted the revised Zoning Code at its regular meeting on January 14, 2004. The revised Code will modify some of the allowable uses and development regulations. We are attempting to get a copy new Code as adopted, the date it goes into effect, and the details on a companion ordinance that will affect some properties. Additional information will be provided on this site as it becomes available.

Zoning Code Overview

The Zoning Code regulates use and development of all private property in the City and is part of the Cincinnati Municipal Code. It attempts to increase property value and quality of life by placing compatible uses in the same districts and avoiding adjacent incompatible uses.

At the direction of City Council, the Community Development and Planning Department has finished a multi-year project that rezoned every property in the City. The rezoning modified the permitted, conditional, accessory and limited uses as well as modified the development regulations for ALL property in the City. In some cases, district boundaries were moved. Depending on the particular property and assigned district, the new uses and development regulations are more or less restrictive than present.

Zoning Code consists of a text and a map. The map assigns each property to a zoning district. The text regulates the use and the development of property. Each district has different use and development regulations. Careful attention should be paid to both the use AND development regulations. We have discovered many cases where the use regulations have become MORE restrictive and some or all development regulations have become LESS restrictive. In other cases both the use and the development regulations have become LESS restrictive.

The proposed zoning for your property can be viewed here.

The proposed zoning code (August 2003 version) can be viewed here.