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Residents urge Hamilton County to preserve Enterprise South Nature Park and pause road design
Summary
Public commenters asked the commission to halt design work on a proposed Hilltop Drive extension and to preserve deed-restricted park land, saying swapping protections sets a harmful precedent.
Several public commenters told the Hamilton County Commission on Nov. 19 that deed restrictions placed on Enterprise South Nature Park should not be lifted to accommodate a road extension or industrial development.
A cofounder of Enterprise South Nature Park told commissioners that the park’s land was given to the county and city through the National Park Service Lands to Parks program with deed restrictions intended to protect the 2,800-acre site "in perpetuity." The commenter said removing protections for one parcel to protect another (McDonald Farm) would set a legal precedent that protections can be lifted and moved at will.
Kelly Sullivan, who provided her address for the record, urged the commission to halt the Hilltop Drive extension design work until the public is fully informed and given time to comment. She said an earlier resolution (8 24 7) authorized over $1.5 million for design of a Hilltop Drive extension and asked commissioners to raise hands if they were unaware the design could cut through park land; the chair declined back-and-forth in public comment but did not take the roll-call show of hands requested.
Other speakers asked whether environmental or impact studies exist and how members of the public could review them; staff directed requestors to contact their commissioners for those documents. Commissioners did not vote to stop design work during the meeting.
Quotes: "Not a single acre at ESNP should be used outside of its intended use as recreation or conservation in perpetuity," a public commenter said. Kelly Sullivan asked the commission to "temporarily halt work on the road extension design and properly inform the public."
What’s next: Citizens asked for transparency and a formal vote if the county intends to remove deed protections; commissioners and staff indicated they would follow up with documents and suggested contacting individual commissioners for further information.
