SUBURBAN LIFE
Your Community Press newspaper serving Columbia Township, Deer Park, Dillonvale, Kenwood, Madeira, Rossmoyne, Sycamore Township
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013
75¢ BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS
Columbia Twp. to extend roadway By Jeanne Houck jhouck@communitypress.com
Councilmembers Rob Steier, Mike Steur and Melisa Adrien listen to residents voice their opinion about which restaurant proposal should be chosen as the next tenant for the former train depot building, which is owned by the city. LEAH FIGHTMASTER/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
Madeira selects root beer, ice cream shop
By Leah Fightmaster lfightmaster@communitypress.com
MADEIRA — Radio and TV personality Bill Cunningham’s newest restaurant will soon be pulling into Madeira’s former train depot building on Miami Avenue. City Council members recently voted 5-to-2 for Cunningham’s Root Beer Junction idea as the winning proposal for the future tenant at the former train depot building, which is owned by the city. Although council members Rob Steier and Kenneth Born preferred Michele Vollman’s Frenchie’s idea, the rest of council decided Cunnigham’s idea was the best fit. The building’s previous tenant was Choo Choo’s restaurant, but following a May 8 fire in the restaurant’s kitchen the city decided to look at other options for the site that wouldn’t include the same type of kitchen setup. The grease fire was determined to be the fault of the kitchen staff and restaurant owner Mike Wessel’s operation had previously failed inspection for several issues, including excessive grease buildup in his friers. The city then sought proposal packages from interested business owners who would want to lease the former railroad depot building and potentially repurpose it. Out of eight proposals, three were recently chosen as finalists for the former railroad depot building on Miami Avenue. Council members said that residents’ requests for a community gathering
Bill Cunningham is congratulated after Madeira City Council approved his proposed Root Beer Junction restaurant for the former train depot building on Miami Avenue in Madeira. LEAH FIGHTMASTER/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
place that appealed to a broad number of people tipped the favor in Cunningham’s direction. Although Vollman’s idea would likely bring many of her loyal patrons into Madeira, having a place for the people who live in Madeira ranked as a higher priority. Third finalist Peachy Seiden’s idea of a health-conscious restaurant was appealing to some, but several council members said that her limited hours of
FOOD
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operation wouldn’t generate enough earnings or be available to residents who aren’t in Madeira during the morning and early afternoon. Councilman Mike Steur said that the train station needs to be a place where community members can gather, which was the purpose of Centennial Plaza in the first place. “There’s nothing more small town than an ice cream cone and root beer at the train station,” he said. Councilman Richard Staubach agreed, saying that the plaza was built to be somewhere that everyone can come together, and he felt Frenchie’s changed the plaza too much for his liking. Several residents who spoke seemed to agree as well. Madeira High School student Jake Schweppe told council that he thought Root Beer Junction was the best for all ages, and collected dozens of signatures from high school and middle school students that supported his position. Schweppe added that some expressed that he wasn’t informing students about what they were signing, that they don’t pay taxes and aren’t voting age. He said that the teens have clearly stated that they want Root Beer Junction to go in the depot. “This isn’t about voting, it’s about simply voicing your opinion,” he said. “... And I’ve always been told to voice my opinion to the community.” However, resident Claudia Harrod said that while Cunningham’s proposal was popular with high school students See DEPOT, Page A2
COLUMBIA TWP — . Plans for two medical office buildings that will generate some 100 jobs are now also indirectly responsible for helping plump the township’s budget for road projects by $250,000. The Ohio Department of Transportation likes the project so much that it has agreed to award $250,000 to extend Lucille Drive to vacant property where UC Health plans to build first a 40,000square-foot building and then a 30,000square-foot building. “The township wanted to land this project and was willing to spend $250,000 to extend Lucille Drive to do Kubicki so,” Columbia Township Administrator Mike Lemon said. “Without the commitment the project would have gone elsewhere. “Although the township committed $250,000 of its own Lemon funds, it also applied for the grant and received it - thus preserving the $250,000 it would have spent on the extension for another township road improvement,” Lemon said. Columbia Township trustees earlier this year agreed to issue up to $1.5 million in revenue bonds to finance public infrastructure around the medical office buildings. Trustees also signed off on a tax incentive agreement in which owners of the Lucille Drive project sites will for up to 30 years pay the township “annual service payments” in a negotiated amount in lieu of property taxes that would otherwise been collected for improvements made on the land. Columbia Township will use the service payments to pay off the bonds issued for the project. Ground has been broken for the first medical office building, Trustee David Kubicki said. Township officials have said the extension of Lucille Drive also will serve an area that will be donated for a woodland preserve and park. For more about your community, visit www.Cincinnati.com/ColumbiaTownship.
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