Below is a an article by Steve Kemme which appeared on the front
page of today's Cincinnati Enquirer. The articled headline is "Amberley
Village residents tangle over land: Park or luxury homes?"
AMBERLEY VILLAGE - With its rolling hills and tall trees, the 133-acre
tract at Ridge and Galbraith roads presents a scene of pastoral beauty
and tranquility.
But for the past two years, the former Crest Hills Country Club has been
a battleground.
It's a bloodless but fierce war involving one of the few large tracts
of developable land left in central Hamilton County.
Some Amberley officials and residents want the property to reopen as a
golf course or to become a public park. Others think the best use for the
property would be high-priced housing that would infuse badly needed tax
revenue into the village.
For a village that prides itself on providing a rural environment in the
middle of a metropolitan area, this is a major issue. Last year, Amberley
Village Council rejected a zoning change request that would have allowed
Hal Homes Inc. of Blue Ash to buy the Crest Hills property from the Ridge
Club and build 38 houses on one-acre lots or larger and 52 houses on lots
a half-acre or larger. The homes would have cost from $500,000 to $1.5
million.
The Ridge Club sued Amberley after Hal Homes withdrew its purchase offer
following the zoning-change denial. That dispute is still in the courts.
More recently, Hills Communities of Blue Ash has offered to buy the Crest
Hills property for $6.25 million and build 91 homes on one-acre lots. To
do that, Hills Communities needs Amberley to agree to change the zoning
of the property from park to residential. So far, the company hasn't filed
a zoning-change request.
But the surfacing of another development proposal at the former golf course
has spurred a citizens group that aggressively fought the Hal Homes proposal
to make more "Keep Crest Hills Zoned Park" signs, which are visible
in many front yards.
"We haven't changed our minds," said Susan Glazer, a member
of the Save Amberley Village Committee. "It doesn't matter who the
developer is. We don't want to see the land developed. It's going to ruin
the village."
Glazer and other development foes say building on Crest Hills would harm
the rural ambience of Amberley, create traffic problems and strain the
village's services and budget. Development supporters dispute those opinions
and say the additional property and earnings-tax revenue from the homes
would more than compensate for the greater demand for village services.
Two Amberley Village Council members, Robert Stewart and Mel Shear, voted
in favor of Hal Homes' zoning-change request because they thought the village
would benefit financially by allowing an upscale residential development
at Crest Hills. Public hearings on the issue have drawn hundreds of Amberley
residents, some for development and some against it.
Dr. Richard S. Kerstine, a former Amberley mayor and a member of the Ridge
Club, said developing Crest Hills would be an aesthetic as well as a financial
boost to the village.
"It would be an attractive entrance into the village on Galbraith
Road," Kerstine said.
Amberley, a bedroom community with 3,342 residents and few businesses,
has been using reserve funds to cover budget shortfalls since Gibson Greetings,
its largest business employer, closed its card plant about four years ago.
Council might place a charter amendment on the May ballot asking voters
to give council the ability to raise property taxes by as much as about
10 percent. Supporters of development said tax revenue from a residential
development at Crest Hills could reduce the size of a property tax increase.
Hills Communities and the Ridge Club have declined to comment. Mayor Charles
Kamine, who opposed Hal Homes' proposed development, said he's remaining
neutral for now on Hills Communities' proposal because he doesn't want
to prejudge any plans or zoning request change the company might submit.
But he readily acknowledges the importance of Crest Hills to Amberley.
"Traditionally, it has been the mark of an upscale neighborhood to
have a golf course," Kamine said. "The country estate atmosphere
is a part of what is the character of Amberley. The golf course has added
to that image."
He said developing Crest Hills could affect Amberley's image.
"Whether that's good or bad is certainly up for debate," Kamine
said.
Crest Hills clearly is a highly coveted piece of property.
Its proximity to the Ronald Reagan Highway gives it great access to Interstates
75 and 71. Even more important, it's in an affluent community, where $1
million homes are common and the median household income - about $82,000
- is double Hamilton County's.
One of Amberley's most notable visitors was President Clinton, the recipient
of several high-end political fund-raisers at the home of attorney Stanley
Chesley during Clinton's two terms in office.
"Being in an area as desirable as Amberley makes the Crest Hills
property even more rare," said Todd Kinskey, senior planner with the
Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission. "There are some other
large tracts available for development in the county, but a lot of them
have topographical constraints and aren't in desirable areas."
People have been swatting golf balls on the Crest Hills property since
the 1930s. The Ridgewood Golf Co. owned the golf course then.
The Crest Hills Country Club, which operated a nine-hole golf course on
Seymour Avenue at Reading Road, bought the Ridgewood golf course in 1966.
Crest Hills Country Club and what had been the Losantiville Country Club
in nearby Pleasant Ridge merged about three years ago and became the Ridge
Club. For financial reasons, the new owner closed Crest Hills and kept
the old Losantiville course open under the Ridge Club name. The future
use of Crest Hills has been heatedly debated ever since.
The Ridge Club is dealing with an economic dilemma that many golf course
owners throughout the country are facing. Nationally, the number of rounds
of golf have been declining in recent years, while the number of golf courses
has been increasing, according to the National Golf Foundation, the golfing
industry's research organization.
As a result, the pressure for converting golf courses to residential or
business developments has grown.
"Every golf course is getting less activity," said Ron Stepanek,
executive director of the Southern Ohio PGA, a section of the Professional
Golfers Association of America. "Golf course owners are going to have
to make decisions about what is the best use of their assets."
In recent years, developers have offered proposals to develop the Kingswood
Golf Course in Deerfield Township and Deer Run Country Club in Hamilton
County's Miami Township.
The success in transforming the old Rollman farm on Galbraith Road in
the past two decades into a posh residential area causes some to believe
the development of Crest Hills is inevitable.
The old Rollman farm has two subdivisions, the 105-home Rollman Estates,
which was built in the early 1990s, and the 58-lot Rollman Reserve. Most
of the homes in both subdivisions are in the $1 million range.
"Sooner or later, Crest Hills will be all houses," said Guy
Bloomfield, a retired Amberley police lieutenant who lives in neighboring
Silverton. "There's just too much darn money there. There will be
people moving in there as soon as the cement is dry on the first house."
The Crest Hills issue has created bitter divisions in Amberley.
Dr. Ron and Valentina Cheek have lived in the Rollman Estates for four
years. They prefer to see Crest Hills reopen as a country club. But Cheek
said he could accept a development of single-family homes at Crest Hills
if they were on lots of one acre or larger.
"A lot of people here spent $1 million for their homes," he
said. "They don't want anything that will depreciate the value."
E-mail skemme@enquirer.com
