Published: November 18, 2008 01:58 pm      

Clarksville officials OK Clark’s Landing

Colgate plant, surrounding properties rezoned for mixed use

Redevelopment of the land surrounding the famed Colgate-Palmolive Co. plant is still no closer to reality than an artist’s rendering.

But action taken by the Clarksville Town Council on Monday makes the envisioned mixed-use district legally feasible.

A measure giving final approval for changing the zoning of properties in the redevelopment area from heavy industrial to a mix of commercial and residential uses was unanimously approved by the town council.

“It gives us control over what goes into that section of town,” said Council President Paul Kraft.

That control includes the type of architecture and building materials that would be used, he noted.

The permitted uses and zoning requirements for the area encompassing the former Colgate-Palmolive plant — which once employed 1,500 — and several other properties west of the Clark Memorial Bridge are spelled out in a 17-page guideline distributed to the public at Monday’s meeting. Artist renderings showing the Colgate clock at the end of a storefront-lined boulevard were released last month.

Condominiums, an amphitheater, a museum, a hotel and convention center with a two-story parking garage, open space, restaurants and shops are all depicted in the conceptual plans for the area, which is being dubbed Clark’s Landing.

Sex-oriented businesses, pawn shops and dog kennels are among the uses not permitted under the new zoning.

Officials have acknowledged that the plan itself is probably more than a decade from being fully realized, but the zoning change sets the groundwork for developers interested in bringing to life the city within a city that town officials envision.

A deal reportedly is in the works for the former plant, but details about the interested party or financials have not been made public.

The Colgate-Palmolive site is one with considerable historic value that town officials would like to see preserved. The building was built in the late 19th century as a prison and was used to make soap from the early 1920s up until the time it was closed in December.

In addition to the former soap plant, a map of the so-called Clark’s Landing Mixed Use Zoning District area lining the Ohio River identifies the Marathon-Ashland, Hoehn and P.Q. properties. South Clark Boulevard, Woerner Avenue, Center Street and Missouri Avenue all run through the district.

In June, the council voted 6-0 to expand the existing tax-increment-financing, or TIF, district by nearly 20 percent to include the shuttered plant and areas along the waterfront. A TIF district enables a municipality to use taxes collected in the district to fund infrastructure improvements.



In other business

• The council approved the renewal of contracts for attorneys Christopher Sturgeon at $125 per hour and Rebecca Lockard at $125 per hour, planner Sharon Wilson at an annual salary of $80,855 and Geographic Information Systems technician Phyllis Pooler at an annual salary of $36,750.



So you know

• The Colgate-Palmolive site is one with considerable historic value that town officials would like to see preserved. The building was built in the late 19th century as a prison and was used to make soap from the early 1920s up until the time it was closed in December. It once employed about 1,500.

Artist renderings for the proposed Clark’s Landing show the Colgate clock at the end of a storefront-lined boulevard. Condominiums, an amphitheater, a museum, a hotel and convention center with a two-story parking garage, open space, restaurants and shops are all depicted in the conceptual plans for the area.

Sex-oriented businesses, pawn shops and dog kennels are among the uses not permitted under the new zoning.