Environmental task force warns Connected Communities could worsen stormwater, slopes and heat without safeguards

The Healthy Neighborhoods Committee on Wednesday received an extensive report from the Connected Communities Environmental Task Force that identifies environmental risks and solutions as Cincinnati implements its Connected Communities zoning approach.

Task force co‑chairs Larry Falcon and Susan Bills told the committee they developed 11 clusters of concern and a menu of policy responses to ensure that increased housing density does not produce avoidable environmental liabilities.

The group framed the most urgent issues as stormwater and sewer backups, tree canopy and urban heat islands, hillside stability, climate protection and environmental equity. Falcon told the committee that Cincinnati is already under a “multibillion‑dollar, multidecade consent decree with the federal government” to address combined‑sewer overflows, and that intensifying storms are increasing the problem: “In an average year, approximately 5,000 buildings suffer damage from infiltration of water,” he said, citing Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) statistics.

To reduce risk, the environmental team proposed requiring or incentivizing stormwater best management practices (BMPs) — pervious driveways and parking, cisterns, bioswales and on‑site retention — and requiring a development‑level analysis of how a proposal will affect downstream stormwater and sewer infrastructure. The task force recommended exploring an impervious surface fee for MSD to create incentives to hold water on site.

On trees and heat, the group recommended tree protections and replacements when development removes canopy, creation of a tree bank to fund planting near where trees were removed, and special protection for heritage trees; the presenters emphasized that Cincinnati has about “more than 40%” tree canopy but that it is unevenly distributed across neighborhoods.

Hillside protection was a major concern. The task force urged remapping Hillside Overlay District (HOD) boundaries using LiDAR to identify slopes greater than 20 percent and recommended limiting variances in sensitive areas, splitting review responsibilities across planning, zoning, engineering and geotechnical staff, requiring developers to post financial assurance to cover future slope failures caused by development, and updating detention basin standards to reflect more frequent “100‑year” storm events.

Climate and building electrification also figured in recommendations. The task force endorsed the Green Cincinnati Plan goals — electrify new construction, incentivize rooftop solar, and prioritize energy efficiency — and suggested placing “exclamation points” behind already adopted city goals by codifying them in local standards where appropriate.

The report linked environmental inequities to public health, citing higher childhood asthma admission rates in neighborhoods along interstates and industrial areas and urging programs to improve indoor air filtration, mold and lead abatement, and pest control in multifamily housing.

The task force also recommended measures on transit and the “last mile” to support higher transit ridership, EV charging infrastructure in new parking, protections for community gardens in densifying neighborhoods, increased enforcement against illegal dumping, and design standards to limit noise and light pollution.

Council members thanked the group and emphasized that density alone is not the problem but that policy choices will determine whether growth improves or harms neighborhoods. The environmental report and two other task force documents were filed for the public record without objection; committee leaders asked legal staff to review the recommendations and return with draft ordinance language.