Complete Streets

Pedestrian shoulder Ridge Rd.

According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, "Providing safe places for people to walk is an essential responsiblility of government entities involved in constructing or regulating the construction of public rights-of-way." This seems so obvious, but Amberley has been wrestling with this issue for decades. By not moving forward with long-range planning to make Amberley more pedestrian friendly, housing and livablity trends are passing us by as the Millenial generation is seeking out living spaces that provide multiple options for transportation, which include more public transportion options as well as safe pathways.

It is time for Amberley Village officials to recognize that, although we do not have a central business district within our own community, a majority of our residents live within walking distance of business districts in either Pleasant Ridge, to the south, and Dillonvale, to the north. Safe access to these areas and to our own amentities within the Village will increase our property values thus benefitting the financial forcast for our community

In her presentation, "Designing Communities for All: The role of complete streets in improving accessibility and enhancing economic competitiveness," Kerstin Carr of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (morpc), indicates that "every one-point increase in the 100-point Walk Score scale is associated with an increase in home value of $500-$3,000." From a health standpoint, she cites another study that found that "43% of people with safe places to walk within 10 minutes of home met recommended activity levels. Among individuals without safe places to walk, just 27% were active enough." Amberley has great places to walk -- French Park, Amberley Green, the Amberley Walking Path, the JCC --  but we lack a safe way to get there on foot.

The Health, Education, & Welfare committee of Council held a meeting yesterday on the issue of pedestrian safety. The issue encompasses more than just providing a safe shoulder of the road upon which to walk. Our intersections can be made safer by installing crosswalks. Streets can be identified that are routinely used as cut-through thoroughfares and traffic calming measures can be examined. The city council of Westerville, Ohio, passed a Resolution last year expressing support of the Complete Streets Initiative. By so doing, they are expressing their committment to remember pedestrians when the time comes to budget for street maintenance and improvements.
Amberley should do the same. In fact, at Monday's council meeting, we supported the introduction of a Long Range Financial Plan, the partial mission of which includes this question: "What are (we) doing as... government officials to ensure that our community and ...property value is not only maintained but enhanced ten years from now and beyond?" (Emphasis mine).  An important question, and not one to be ignored when budgeting for the maintenance and future of our community.

Professional Services

One of the things you learn pretty quickly as a council person is that you can't be an expert at everything. Running a village takes many layers of expertise from management to maintenance to legal to surveying to engineering studies. In this post, I am going to write briefly about the role of our Village Engineering service, CDS Associates, Inc.

The Village has contracted for professional services with CDS for 27 years. Unlike contracts for capital improvements, professional services for the village are not competitively bid, but are based on expertise and the needs of the village. Just like you would hire the best attorney for the job, the same holds true for engineering services. CDS provides engineering services for many Cincinnati jurisdictions including the Cities of Blue Ash and Cincinnati, Villages of Glendale and Amelia, Deerfield Township and many more. Jurisdictions rely on the expertise of their engineer for  everything from preliminary feasibility studies to post-construction services. Amberley's infrastructure needs are as complicated and diverse as any size jurisdiction. Our roads and bridges are aging and council relies upon the recommendations of the engineer to advise us on whether these assets are in need of repair or replacement.

Because of  CDS Associates and our Village Engineer, John Eisenman's long association with Amberley, the knowledge they bring with regard to our infrastructure is invaluable. The relationship predates the acquisition of Amberley Green, for example, and they are able to advise council on the condition of the dam that is not up to ODNR standards and provide several options for bringing it up to code in a timely manner that will potentially save the village hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. CDS advises and provides planning for bridges, roads, traffic lights and systems, crosswalks -- essentially all of the things that keep our roads and operations running safely and smoothly.

CDS has not raised their consulting rates since 2009, and only just this month brought us a new rate sheet which detailed rate increases that on average are not more than 3.4%. Council, in light of  the history and knowledge that CDS brings to Amberley, as well as the expertise and high rating by the Ohio Dept. of Transportation, its reputation among the over 25 other jurisdictions it represents, its ease of accessibility to village staff, and satisfaction with prior service, voted at last night's council meeting to approve the rate increases.