City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. strongly disagrees with the assertion that the City and 3CDC are diminishing the legal rights of the citizens of Cincinnati.

Dohoney's report to City Council is in response to a letter from Michael Morgan of the Over-the-Rhine Foundation that claims that an agreement between the City of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) contains vague language about the transfer of CPS-owned land at the site of the former Washington Park School and the current School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) to the Cincinnati Park Board for public use.

In 2003, the City entered into an agreement with CPS to sell them 4.6 acres of land within (BIRD'S EYE) in the East End for the construction of the Riverview East Academy.

In exchange, the Park Board would receive from CPS 13.8 acres of property, or, if the land offered was not satisfactory, payment for the value of the acreage.

Either the land or the payment is due by 2013.

The agreement, which states that CPS will "use [its] best efforts to investigate the possibility of transferring surplus school properties in Over-the-Rhine to the City to be controlled by the Park Board for greenspace," is viewed by many as unenforceable.

Dohoney takes issue with the claim that the agreement was "poorly drafted".

"The agreement...provided the park system and the City with significant benefits, including replacement of parkland sold at a rate of three new acres of land for every acre sold," he writes. "It was a result of extensive discussions with the community and the School Board, and was crafted in such a way that the Turkey Ridge site and the park system received significant benefits."

Morgan claims that the City and 3CDC aren't doing enough to enforce the agreement, and believes that the City is putting the interests of a developer above those of the community.

Dohoney says that 3CDC has no role in the property transfers.

"The Park Board and the City remain committed to enforcement of the 2003 agreement with CPS and discussions with CPS are in process," he writes.

In his prior communication, Morgan also cited a March 7 Cincinnati Enquirer article that stated that CPS would only grant a long-term lease for the former site of the Washington Park School if the district could retain the right to take back the land at any time for educational purposes.

No reverter provision is present in the 2003 agreement.

Dohoney says that funding of a new Music Hall parking garage could help finance the planned Washington Park expansion.

"This has the advantage of providing the parking needed for the area without having to build a new building at grade within this historic neighborhood, while encouraging garage patrons to walk through the park and experience the neighborhood when going to Music Hall, Memorial Hall, or any of the area businesses or institutions," he writes.

So far, CPS has been opposed to the idea, which could effectively kill it.

The CPS school board has yet to address formally the current SCPA property, or any of the other properties it owns throughout the City.

Previous reading on BC:
Morgan says City, 3CDC 'diminishing rights of citizens' (3/31/08)
City reports on Washington Park greenspace (11/19/07)
OTR Foundation asks City to look into CPS contract (10/19/07)