Preliminary plans on an event center
By Brett Milam
Editor
The Milford City Council met on Jan. 7 to discuss a new sound ordinance, swear-in new members, and much more.
– Ted Haskins and Sandy Russell, incumbents, and Kyle Mitchell and Benjamin Redman, newly-elected council members, were sworn-in. All four were re-elected and elected during the Nov. 5, 2019 General Election. Mitchell had already been serving since September 2019 after being appointed to council when Fred Albrecht and Ed Brady stepped down.
– Amy Vilardo, mayor, and Lisa Evans, vice mayor, were re-elected to those positions by council.
“This job is very important to me; it’s my favorite job to do, hands-down my favorite job,” Vilardo said. “So I do appreciate all of your support. I’m looking forward to working with all of you.”
– Evans read the Administrative Services Committee meeting report. The committee met on Dec. 30, 2019.
Michael Doss, city manager, presented to the committee about a sound ordinance for the River District. That pertains to an ongoing discussion with the Little Miami Brewing Company.
Since January 2019, residents have come to council with complaints about how loud the company is when they have bands play.
The company, which is located at 208 Mill Street, is about 1,000 feet from a number of homes on Park Road across the Little Miami River.
In response to the feedback from residents, Dan Lynch, co-founder and CEO, said the company would build a brick and window enclosed first floor to mitigate the noise concerns.
“We listened to the community (we heard them loud & clear!) and their feedback and we went back to the drawing board to design a first floor with windows and large garage door that keeps the open air feel and preserves our gorgeous river views,” he said. “This ‘true brick and window addition’ design gives us the flexibility to have private parties, music, and fundraiser events.”
One of the conditions placed on that construction by the Planning Commission was compliance with a sound ordinance. The ordinance would apply just to the River District, Doss explained.
The ordinance establishes the day and times for when music should stop at the relevant establishments: Sunday through Thursday, music must end at 10 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday, music must end at 11 p.m. To get an exception to those days and times, the interested business would have to apply for a permit 15 days prior to the event in question.
Those dates and times could “evolve,” Evans said, given that a distillery, March First Brewing’s Sycamore Whiskey brand, is coming into the city, and, as the Downtown District “becomes more of an entertainment district.”
Council passed the sound ordinance, with Redman abstaining.
Redman said he thought 11 p.m. was too early for a Friday or Saturday.
Evans said the Brewing Company said that most of the band acts end at 11 p.m.
In other news from the committee report, Evans talked about two bids awarded. First, to Adleta Construction for the US 50 Urban Paving Concrete and Catch Basin Project in the amount of $216,498.50. Second, to Compass Minerals for 700 tons of road salt in the amount of $60,000.
Brandstetter Carroll Inc. was selected to do the analysis and preliminary engineering report on the water tower replacement project. Part of the project also consists of reviewing the existing distribution system.
Doss has said previously there’s no financial commitment to getting that report.
– Doss, in his city report, said the city has received preliminary site plans for a 10,000-square-foot event center that would be located behind the Little Miami Brewing Company along the banks of the Little Miami River.
“This is something that we feel as a city are excited about this project internally because it’s really going to put Milford, we think, on the map on the east side of Cincinnati, and having an event center and a banquet center, if you will, to compete with other neighboring neighborhoods and communities,” he said.