Walnut Hills leaders describe formal developer vetting, track affordable housing goals

Walnut Hills community leaders on Tuesday described how developers are routed through a neighborhood working group, a planning and development committee and then the area council and business group before the council issues a letter of support for a project.

The three organizations that coordinate neighborhood responses — the Walnut Hills Area Council, the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation and the Walnut Hills Business Group — created the multi-step process to give residents "multiple opportunities of hearing about the project," Mona Jenkins, president of the Walnut Hills Area Council, said.

The process is designed to give earlier and repeated chances for questions and revisions so neighbors can make an informed decision. "We decided to how can we ensure that the community has multiple opportunities of hearing about the project, but also multiple opportunities of asking questions so that they could make a more informed decision," Jenkins said. Projects first come before the area council,…