City Planning and Engagement Menu

Proposed Residential Parking Program in OTR

Background

In response to increased demand for parking following critical population growth in the area, the City Council requested the City Administration review the North Over-the-Rhine area for a residential parking program.

Residential parking programs, such as the one currently in use in OTR, allow us to control demand for parking in an area and ensure various stakeholders’ parking needs are met, especially prioritizing residents and local businesses. We want to do our best to secure access to parking, first and foremost, for those who live in and frequent the area.

[Current parking in North OTR; seen above, the large amount of free, unrestricted parking led to a critical demand issue for residents and local businesses]

Research has long shown that creating an effective parking plan is crucial for ameliorating demand issues in a growing city such as Cincinnati. Urban planner Donald Shoup outlines why this is: “If the price is too low and no on-street spaces are vacant, drivers searching for a place to park will congest traffic, waste fuel, and pollute the air… If the price is too high and many on-street spaces are vacant, adjacent businesses will lose customers, employees will lose their jobs, and cities will lose tax revenue.” [Read More]. For this reason, the City of Cincinnati is treating the process for the North OTR plan with the utmost care – we want to get this right.

Proposed Map & Engagement 

The Administration first conducted a curb inventory of existing space usage. Drawing on expert study, best practices, and feasibility identification from various departments, staff drafted a residential parking map for stakeholder feedback. Immediately following, they engaged with stakeholders, seeking, and receiving robust feedback on the draft map.

The engagement with these stakeholders included but was not limited to the following meetings:

  • Findlay Market on August 1st, 2023

  • OTR Chamber on August 16th, 2023

  • OTR Community Council on August 14th and 28th, 2023

[Proposed map; see above, the addition of residential permitting and paid parking, which allows us to better prioritize residents and local businesses]

The area impacted is “OTR North,” generally bounded by north of Liberty, east of Central Parkway and west of McMicken.

Past Public Meetings
Contact

Eunique Avery, Community Engagement Specialist
eunique.avery@cincinnati-oh.gov | (513) 352 - 4891