Connected Communities
"Connected Communities" is the name given to a package of zoning and land-use policy reforms put forward by Mayor Aftab Pureval and Councilmembers Reggie Harris and Jeff Cramerding in partnership with the Department of City Planning and Engagement. The policies were approved by City Council on June 5, 2024, and went into effect on July 1, 2024.
The goal of Connected Communities is to help Cincinnati grow into a more accessible, people-focused, diverse, healthy, and connected community for all. The changes are targeted around public transportation lines and neighborhood business districts to support our community assets and increase population where it makes the most sense.
The Connected Communities policies are in line with a growing, research-backed philosophy in the field of Urban Planning to increase walkability and foster diverse, mixed-use neighborhoods to better support sustainable growth. A number of communities throughout the U.S. are implementing similar reforms and seeing the results. The changes implemented through Connected Communities included permitting "Missing Middle Housing" in a number of target areas throughout the City, eliminating density restrictions and providing a height bonus in many of those same areas, reducing or eliminating minimum parking requirements in certain areas, expanding by-right zoning permissions to incentivize affordable housing development citywide, and implementing a number of new regulations to create more human-scale development in our city.
As part of the public engagement process for Connected Communities, a separate website was created dedicated solely to the project. This website goes into detail about each policy proposal, the history and "why" for these changes to be proposed, and all the supporting research. Click the link below to be taken to the Connected Communities homepage!