Forest Park is the site of a former amusement park and, later, shopping plaza in Dayton, Ohio’s north end. Now mostly vacant and without investment for generations, CountyCorp, Montgomery County, Harrison Township, and the property owners have come together to craft a strategy for development. The process engaged hundreds of stakeholders and evaluated four development scenarios before determining to move ahead with the preferred approach. The strategy is anchored by the relocating

of the Township administration to a new Town Hall on the threshold of an expanded Five Rivers MetroParks system that will get expanded into the site. 

Other project impacts consist of road dieting all of the area streets to prioritize pedestrians and bikes; recruiting a new community center; and a mixed-use village that includes over four hundred units of new housing and retail. The strategy also includes building out a site-specific development organization, activating the site even before the

plan is done through new community events and a recurring monthly Open Streets initiative along Riverside Drive.