Development, preservation and pedestrians: City consultants make progress on several area plans
Economic development, historic preservation, and pedestrian/cyclist access are the focal points of three plans currently being developed by consultants for Oxford.
It’s planning season in Oxford.
Since adopting a comprehensive plan in 2023, the city government has started numerous projects laid out in the document. Among those projects are three more topic-specific planning documents currently in progress — an economic development plan, a bicycle and pedestrian plan and a historic preservation plan.
The plans are in various stages of development, and the city recently asked for feedback on the draft of the economic development plan and the current conditions for cyclists and pedestrians.
Here’s where each plan stands, and what the city’s goals are.
Bicycle and pedestrian plan
Oxford partnered with the Butler County Regional Transit Authority (BCRTA) to apply for a $150,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration last year to develop a plan aimed at improving pedestrian and cyclist access to public transit. The city contracted with Cincinnati architecture firm KZF to complete the master plan, which is set to be complete around February 2026.
Right now, the city is asking Miami University students and Oxford residents to complete a survey on the project website to share their thoughts on existing connections for people who walk and bike. The survey will be open until May 31, and KZF is aiming to hold an open house for initial recommendations in September.
The project will focus on the whole city, Assistant City Manager Jessica Greene said. It will primarily focus on interior connections and include recommendations on how to improve access to bus stops for people who prefer to walk or bike rather than driving cars. Those recommendations could range from sidewalk improvements and widening to new protected bike lanes, Greene said.
The plan will tie in to Oxford’s existing efforts to improve the city for pedestrians and cyclists, Greene said. Right now, the city is moving forward with Phase Five of the Oxford Area Trail System, which will connect Talawanda High School and Talawanda Middle School. At a recent city council meeting, city officials also considered recommendations from students on how to make streets safer with different types of crosswalks and improved traffic patterns.
“The Comprehensive Plan does have an objective to treat cyclist and pedestrian mobility with the same deference as automobile transportation,” Greene said. “... All these things are happening at the same time, but it’s like a puzzle.”
Economic development strategic plan
The city recently published a draft of its new economic development strategic plan, a document prepared by Red Tiger Investments. The city awarded a $50,000 contract to the company to develop the plan last May.
The draft version of the plan sets a goal of creating 1,000 new jobs in Oxford over the next decade. Last November, voters overwhelmingly passed a 10-year levy to address the Oxford Fire Department’s budget shortfall, and economic development specialist Seth Cropenbaker explained that adding 1,000 jobs with an average pay of $55,000 would cover the cost of the levy through tax revenue when its time runs out.
Much of the plan centers on expanding economic activity at the Miami University Airport and working with emerging technologies like drones and advanced air mobility. Oxford’s economy is heavily reliant on the university, and Cropenbaker said another major goal is to become less dependent on it over time. Emerging technologies are especially important because state and federal grants are available for projects in those sectors, Cropenbaker said.
While it is a goal to become less dependent on the university, Cropenbaker said Oxford will always be fundamentally linked to Miami. Building on emerging industries could be a way to help keep Miami’s intellectual capital in town even as more learning moves online nationally.
“Oxford is a factory town,” Cropenbaker said. “Instead of making auto parts, we make undergrads … There’s more and more opportunity where you don’t have to be in the classroom, more and more opportunity where professors don’t have to be in town. That’s a significant threat to us.”
The city is accepting feedback on the draft plan, available online, until May 30. The plan will then be presented to the Oxford Community Improvement Corporation on June 6 and brought to City Council on June 17.
As written, the plan lays out five overarching goals to attract new businesses to diversify the local economy, encourage entrepreneurship and startups, support existing local businesses, attract visitors year round and sustain the fiscal health of the city.
Historic preservation plan
Last July, Oxford City Council awarded a $199,000 contract to consulting firm McKenna to develop both a historic preservation plan and a unified development code (UDC) for the city, as well as create historic preservation guidelines.
Since then, McKenna staff have taken feedback from residents online and in-person and met with the Historic and Architectural Preservation Commission (HAPC) to discuss the historic preservation plan. The goal of the plan is to balance economic development incentives with maintaining Oxford’s character. The historic preservation guidelines, meanwhile, “are a set of standards and recommendations used to manage changes and new construction within a designated historic district,” according to the project website.
The final public event in the planning process is Oxford Historic Preservation Day, set for May 28. Community Development Director Sam Perry said during the May 6 City Council meeting that the event, which runs from 6 to 8 p.m., will be held at the Oxford Community Arts Center, and local residents will be recognized for preservation work on their own properties.
McKenna set a 12-month timeframe for the project and held its first town hall last October. The historic preservation plan draft will be brought to the HAPC before going before City Council.
