City of Springdale History On-Line

Springdale's rebirth occurred nearly thirty-seven years ago. As a measure of the changes in American society during that time, consider the following. In the spring of 1960 Springdale consumers paid ninety-nine cents a pound for T-bone steak. A new house could be purchased for the price of a 1990 automobile. Men still wore hats to the office. Reporters found the expressways then being constructed of novel interest because they were built without stop-lights. Fortunately for parents who were just adjusting to Elvis, the Beetles were still scruffy British lads who had yet to record their first hit. John F. Kennedy campaigned to be the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States. In Springdale, however, the election of local officials for the newly incorporated village momentarily diverted attention from the national campaign.

When Springdale voters approved a village form of government in November 1959 a new phase opened in the community's history. Residents who doubted the viability of village government cast their ballots in favor simply because they saw no alternative. The building mania threatened to overwhelm Springdale and residents felt as if they were losing a voice in their own destiny. Still, most in Springdale were opposed growth. Indeed, many in the village looked forward to mushrooming economic opportunities. But they hoped to minimize the costs of that expansion. At that time few could have anticipated the extent to which the face of their community would alter in the next three decades.

Electing village officers was the first order of business since from the time of incorporation until the election of officers in May Springdale had no government. The Civic League requested that the Hamilton County sheriff's office continue police protection, which Sheriff Dan Teehan agreed to do. Hamilton County continued to take care of building inspections though it was not empowered to issue any permits. Springfield Township, at the request of the League, continued with snow removal. The elections were eagerly awaited, and on May 3, 1960, candidates for mayor, six council seats, a clerk and a treasurer submitted themselves to voters. Those elected would serve only until December 31, 1961, although in the future, terms would be for a full three years.

The Springdale Presbyterian Church compiled a "Who's Who of the Candidates" which gave their background and qualifications. Each candidate gave his or her view of the biggest problem Springdale had to face. An interesting group, fifteen men and three women entered the race whose average was under forty. In general, concerns centered on zoning decisions. All the candidates supported growth. Some, however, demonstrated a greater concern than others that Springdale retain its "rural character."

Although the candidates ran on a non-partisan ballot, the voters favored those who had been most active in the incorporation process. Gustave Neuss, Jr., who had led the incorporation movement as president of the Springdale Civic League, won a decisive victory for mayor over opponents Ed Braun and Howard J. Metz. A general foreman in the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Department of General Electric, Nuess moved to Springdale in 1953. Although he had never held elective office, he was familiar with the intricacies of state and local government through his civic and job-related activities. In addition he was familiar with politics from the days his father held township office in New York.

Robert Seifert ran unopposed for the office of village clerk. Seifert was a former vice president of the Civic League who had helped organize accounting systems for other Hamilton County villages and sensed the momentous challenge the new government faced. In "Who's Who" he remarked, "In our haste to do what we think best for our struggling Village we must remember that what we do today we will live with for years to come, there will be no turning back."

Longtime Springdale resident Raymond Norrish ran for treasurer against a formidable opponent, newcomer Charles Pearson, a twenty-seven year old mathematics and computer whiz whose campaigned concentrated on the issue of planning. Norrish emphasized keeping taxes low and services at an affordable level. The electorate preferred Norrish, the known commodity, by a small margin.

Charles Lindner led the balloting for council. Lindner, who held an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University, was president of the Civic League at the time of the election. His professional experience gave him much needed expertise in matters involving sewers, public utilities, drainage, easements and construction.

Other members elected to Springdale's first council included Donn Martin, a counselor at Princeton High School with a master's degree in education and Horace Dimon, another Purdue graduate engineer and Civic League member. Dimond who recognized the community's tendency to divide over controversial issues, saw building and maintaining a consensus as the greatest challenge facing the village. Edna Underwood, the long-time teacher in the Springdale School, was the only woman to win election. Another member was Virgil Fath, an elder of the Springdale Presbyterian Church and member of the Fire Department. Finally, Bruce Smith, a research technician at General Electric and member of the fire department, was elected. Smith collected much of the information in support of incorporation which the Civic League submitted to Springdale residents.

The new council was a relatively young group and quite well-educated. Two members possessed advanced degrees, and all but one had attended college. At first glance the technical orientation of the candidates is striking until one remembers that part of the population boom in Springdale resulted from the influx of young technicians who worked in valley industries. Only Underwood and Martin, as educators, did not fit this profile.

Not a single member of Springdale's new governing body had ever spent one day in elective office. These were the bright, energetic, concerned and inexperienced people the voters entrusted with Springdale's future.

II

The government-elect toiled for weeks planning the structure of the new village. Meetings to write the building code, to establish the building department and to draft the zoning code lasted far into the night, sometimes as late as 3:00 a.m. Mayor Neuss's family reluctantly abandoned its recreation room to become a temporary command post.

On Tuesday evening, May 24, 1960 Judge Simon Leis of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas swore in the first government officials. Driven by the urgency of village business the new council met at its temporary quarters in the Springdale School only twenty-four hours after the inauguration ceremonies. Five major zoning petitions faced the officials and they had yet to appoint a planning commission or adopt a zoning or building code. On that first night, council created a five-member planning commission, approved Mayor Neuss's recommendations for its membership, and unanimously elected Charles Lindner to be its chairman. The commissioners were to serve staggered terms, Marie Burbank for two years, William Walsh for four, and Benn Beckham for six. Council also appointed David James building commissioner. The new Village of Springdale also employed Paul Weber, of Larue and Weber, as legal counsel. Weber, who had served the Civic League during incorporation and acted as counsel to other area municipalities, provided valuable knowledge of local government. Next, council appointed members to various committees. Mundane organizational matters such as providing for the purchase of forms and stationery occupied what was left of the evening. On June 8, council unanimously approved a budget of $25,550 for the remainder of the year. Village expenditures would have to be minimal.

Since most of the council members ran on a platform of planned development for the village, hiring a professional urban planner ranked high on council's agenda. Vice Mayor Charles Lindner was in charge of selecting prospective candidates for the post. Since most of the local planners had been, or were at the time, associated with developers who an interest in Springdale, Lindner felt the village could best be served by an out-of-town firm Through his professional activities he knew many of the prominent planners in Ohio either personally or by reputation. The council accepted his recommendation of Charles Hatch and Associates, a Toledo firm with few connections in southwestern Ohio. Representatives of the Hatch agency advised the planning commission and the council on rezoning issues and in Feb 1961, the planning commission approved the firm's master plan for future Springdale development.

At a special session held on July 6 the council passed Ordinance 6 that established zoning regulations. Retail, business, industrial and residential uses were given a specific location on the zoning map. While that type of zoning code is commonplace today, in 1960 it was hailed as innovative. Under the previous county-supervised rural zoning, development which involved "higher use" could occur on land zoned agricultural opening the door to mixed and spot zoning. The council hoped its new code would prevent mixed zoning and the encroachment of one type of use into an area set aside for another.

Opponents of the code included Lodge and Shipley, Inc., a Colerain Avenue machine tool firm which owned a forty-acre tract of land one-half mile north of the Tri-County Center, and who hoped to develop it as a retail center. L.C. Homes also owned land zoned industrial for which was planned residential development. In fact, L.C. Homes had six basements poured before the village government had an opportunity to write its zoning ordinances. Neuss obtained a restraining order on any further construction until the code came into effect. Springdale's village government was determined to preserve that particular area near the B&O Railroad and the expressway nexus for industrial use. Although these special interest groups regarded the code as too restrictive, George Harnish, executive director of the Regional Planning Commission, declared that this kind of planning was being adopted by many other communities.

Zoning issues continued to occupy council. On August 18 council zoned a parcel at Kemper Road and McClellan's Lane "F," light industrial, paving the way for the Kroger Company to build a warehouse and food processing facility. Both the planning commission and the village council spent two years wrestling with the future use of the prized intersection at Princeton Pike and Kemper Road, considered prime land for retail development since 1949 when Hamilton County established its first rural zoning map. Jeffrey Lazarus's decision in 1956 to build Tri-County on the northwest side greatly increased the desirability of the remaining three corners.

The interstate highway system opened its longest stretch on July 31, 1960. At exactly 5 p.m. the six-lane interstate running the 34 miles between Tri-County and Dayton officially opened. One hundred automobiles waited in line on the Circle Freeway [I-275] which served as the southern entrance to the Dayton road. The longest single strip of expressway in the southern part of the state, The Millcreek Valley News reported the fascinating detail that the new highway had only two stop lights, one at each end. An uninterrupted highway from Cincinnati to Dayton awaited only the completion of a 2.8 mile stretch from the Circle Freeway to the Millcreek Expressway at Glendale-Milford Road. In the meantime, Springdale residents experienced a preview of future traffic woes. Since the Circle Freeway extended only 2.5 miles between Rt. 4 and the newly opened expressway, Springfield Pike and Kemper Road traffic backed-up for a mile with motorists eager to experience driving on the new freeway. To get to the completed section, drivers had to go through the village.

Two months later, on Monday, September 26, Tri-County Shopping Center officially opened. Springdale officials, Jack Pearlstone, president of the center's Merchant Association, the developer, Joseph Meyerhoff and others looked on as Mayor Neuss solemnly cut the ribbon. Perhaps he had seen the special section in Sunday's Cincinnati Enquirer in which several articles referred to the location of the center as Princeton and Kemper Roads, "north of Glendale." The failure of Tri-County to include Springdale's name in its press releases and its advertising would continue to be a source of contention for several years.

Relations with Tri-County worsened. Within months of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, shopping center attorneys filed four lawsuits against Springdale. Each involved the center's efforts to stop further retail development at Princeton and Kemper.

Tri-County, Inc. viewed the new $5 million dollar center, developed by Robert L. Wigor and called Village Square Center for the southwest corner of Princeton and Kemper, its biggest potential competitor. Wigor held an option on land owned by the Glenmary Missioners of America, and his preliminary development plans included a one-hundred lane bowling alley, drive-in bank, junior department store, medical clinic and lab, swim club and recreation center, two chain restaurants, a drug and variety store, barber shop, dry cleaner, and a Frisch's restaurant. Wigor also expressed his intention to donate a site for a village municipal building. After receiving a nod from Harch & Associates, the planning commission gave its approval on August 2, 1960.

The attorney for Tri-County, Inc., former Hamilton County Commissioner Donald Rolf, and a stenographer attended every public hearing on the Wigor plans, and He broached numerous objections on each occasion. He finally threatened legal action to prevent the construction, which he claimed might turn Springdale into a shopping center "slum." Today, retailers often welcome adjacent centers which they hope will lure additional shoppers into the area.

Despite Rolf's objections, council unanimously rezoned the forty-acre site from residential to commercial on November 4.. On the following Monday, Rolf filed suit on behalf of Tri-County in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court against Mayor Neuss and the Springdale council, seeking an injunction against the zoning change on the grounds that it was "vague and indefinite."

The next day Rolf appeared at a planning commission meeting on the proposed Princeton Plaza shopping center, a twenty-three acre, four million dollar project directly across the street from Tri-County on Princeton Pike. Despite Rolf's heated opposition, the planning commission unanimously approved the plans. Owner Charlie Gilhart planned a restaurant, cocktail lounge, drive-in restaurant, grocery and self-serve department store. He intended to add office buildings and a recreation center at a later date. Gilhart maintained that his center, with its emphasis on office buildings, would not be as competitive to Tri-County as the proposed Village Square Center. Gilhart did not heed Rolf's dire warnings of impending bankruptcy if new centers were developed on the "four-corners." "We're going into this area because the growth here holds fabulous promise," said Gilhart.

At the public hearing on the Gilhart rezoning, Rolf continued his objections. A third center, he insisted, would create unimaginable traffic snarls. Springdale's experience with the recent opening of the Dayton-Cincinnati expressway made that a particularly potent argument. But council was unmoved. When it approved the Princeton Plaza rezoning, Rolf, as expected, immediately filed for an injunction. But Al Huge, Jr., Gilhart's attorney, evidently negotiated an agreement with Tri-County, Inc. because the later withdrew its suit in early July.

On Feb 22 at the request of nursery operator Peter Cassinelli, council rezoned thirty-five acres of land on the fourth corner of the intersection. Twenty-five acres of "B" residential were rezoned Restricted "E," shopping and ten acres to "F," light industrial. Other parts of the one-hundred acre site were already zoned "F." Cassinelli announced he had no immediate development plans. In an amendment to the zoning ordinance, council ensured the planning commission of consultation rights when such development was planned. Cassinelli's attorney argued that the rezoning was "for the benefit of Springdale," that it would create a " uniformity of the corner.... in line with the Bartholomew Report." He referred to an as yet unreleased master plan for Hamilton County. In fact, the Bartholomew Report, at least the preliminary report presented on May 23, 1961, indicated just the opposite:

When the zoning ordinance took effect on March 24, Donald H. Rolf filed suit for Tri-County, Inc., asking for an injunction against an amendment and a declaratory judgment that it was unconstitutional. The provision of the ordinance under fire stated, "the land shall not be developed or sub-divided as for retail business or industrial purposes unless the owner thereof shall have first consulted with the planning commission." That, according to the suit, deprived all other owners of equal protection under the law and established a contractual relationship between the village and Cassinelli. The rezoning of the four corners of Princeton and Kemper left Neuss and the council defending themselves against four legal actions.

Tri-County, Inc. mobilized most effectively against the proposal for the larger, more threatening, Village Square Center. Rolf organized a petition demanding that a referendum on the zoning ordinance be placed on the November 1961 ballot. Even if the popular vote upheld the ordinance the long delay would serve Tri-County's purposes by disrupting the project's financing as well as Wigor's ability to line up tenants. In fact, Wigor had originally hoped to break ground in November.

At this point council shocked everyone by declaring the original zoning ordinance invalid. Paul Weber, its legal counsel, announced that the village had inadvertently neglected to give the required written notice of the proposed changes to adjacent property owners. The council scheduled a new public hearing for January 4, where a new rezoning ordinance passed, this time as an emergency measure which meant the written notice was not required, thereby eliminating any future referendum.

Rolf secured a temporary injunction from Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Bell on January 14, 1961 to prevent Springdale from issuing building permits to Wigor until a hearing could be held on the validity of the emergency clause. Simultaneously, Common Pleas Court Judge Fred Bader delivered an opinion on the original injunction requested by Tri-County, Inc. against Village Square. Judge Bader decreed that while he had no power to intervene in the village's legislative process, he did feel that no building permits should be issued until a full hearing was held.

In his opinion on April 14, 1961, Judge Bell declared the January 4 ordinance nullified because it interfered with the rights of the citizens to a referendum vote. Two months latter Wigor presented a drastically revised plan that down-scaled Village Square from forty to nineteen acres, and eliminated the department store that had been the major thorn in the side of Tri-County, Inc. When no one voiced opposition to Wigor's new plan, council rezoned his nineteen acres from "B" residential to EE, shopping.

But Wigor returned with requests to rearrange several buildings in the Village Square plat. A heated discussion ensued. Al Huge, attorney for the Princeton Plaza Center, intimated that Wigor was trying to circumvent opposition by developing the land piecemeal. Some individuals expressed doubts that the project would ever be completed. Wigor pleaded that rejecting his request would place him in a financial bind. Then he appealed to the village's self-interest pointing out that if the land reverted to the Home Missionary Society and then was later declared tax-exempt land for seminary use only, the village would lose all tax revenues on the property. On November 8 Wigor presented still another revision in which only two buildings would be rearranged. When council learned that the new plan still included ground for a village municipal building, it approved the plan.

After all was said and done, the Village Square Shopping Center never materialized. As Tri-County, Inc. hoped, the long delays effected potential lessees and Wigor's financing. But the twists and turns, the revisions and the legal tangles that marked the first year of Springdale village government would continue.

By now many in Springdale opposed further retail expansion. Robert Vonderhaar, who owned a small farm southwest of East Crescentville and Chester roads, requested rezoning to develop a neighborhood center consisting of only a dozen or so stores. Opponents of Vonderhaar's plan obtained signatures on a petition from 78 percent of the residents of nearby Princeton Park subdivision. The organizers enlisted the sympathy and assistance of the giant Heritage Hill subdivision where 60 percent of the residents signed the petition "out of compassion for Princeton Park," according to Heritage Hill Civic Association President Charles McChesney. Such shows of neighborhood unity would be rare in Springdale. The opponents turned out in force for the public hearing on January 25, 1961, and the council unanimously denied the Vonderhaar zoning request.

The village's desire to attract higher quality of new homes on rapidly diminishing supply of "A" zoned land received a blow in Feb 1961 when the Kanter Corporation requested rezoning from "A" to "B-2" on eighty acres of its 130-acre Munafo farm tract bounded by Kenn Road, Rt. 4, and I-275. Joseph Kanter, the developer of neighboring Forest Park, later announced that seventy-three acres of the farm had been sold to a developer who planned to erect a two hundred unit subdivision. Kanter demonstrated a surprising lack of tact in dealing with the village. Citing poor finances, he refused council's request to donate land for a village park. He insisted that Springdale could never attract the better housing it desired. Then to drive his point home, he maintained that the planned $18,000 to $22,000 homes on the B-2 zoned land would still be "double in tax value" to the average Springdale home. In May, despite, or perhaps because of Kanter's peculiar form of persuasion, the zoning ordinance passed its third reading.

Springdale ordinarily supported industrial development with its promise of jobs and tax revenues. In May 1961, Lord Baltimore Press, a subsidiary of International Paper Company, announced its intentions to locate a $5 million box company in Springdale. Village officials had worked closely with Lodge and Shipley, the owners of the industrially zoned tract, and with C.G.&E. and the B&O railroad to secure the plant for Springdale. Indeed, Lodge and Shipley's fifty-three acres plus another 150 acres owned by L.C. Homes comprised an area village officials had zealously protected because its location near the railroad and proximity to industry in nearby Butler County made it extremely attractive for the type of light industrial development Springdale desired. In the past, Lodge and Shipley originally opposed Springdale's zoning code because it restricted its flexibility in disposing of the property. As recently as January council had denied L.C. Homes request to rezone its land from "F" light industry to "C" residence so it could develop 232 residential lots. But the proposed Lord Baltimore plant fully justified the village's unwavering stance.

More good news followed in March 1962. Continental Can Company announced its plans to build a plastic bottle plant at Crescentville Road and Progress Place, another section of the Lodge and Shipley site. Lindner, chairperson of the planning commission, indicated the night before the Continental Can announcement that two large industries were considering locating in Springdale but he gave no hint that an announcement would follow so quickly. Negotiations continued for four more months before an announcement could be made on the second project, but it was well worth the wait. On July 28, 1962 area papers headlined the news that Avon Products, Inc. had purchased a 54-acre site from L.C. Homes at Princeton and Progress Place on which to build an $8 to $9 million plant. Avon announced that its state-of-the-art plant would create a thousand new jobs.

Positive feelings about industrial development ended in November 1961 when Kroger requested rezoning for an additional thirteen acres to be used to build an ice cream plant and an entrance to their facility from Chesterdale Road. Residents of Heritage Hill organized to block the rezoning, arguing that a plant entrance on Chesterdale Road would create an unsightly appearance on the route into their subdivision, thus eroding their property values. Others expressed fears that odors from the ice cream plant would permeate the neighborhood. Thirty landowners and one hundred electors in Heritage Hill hired attorney Morris Niehaus to represent them. More than one hundred Heritage Hill residents crowded in to the November 22 public hearing to express their opposition. Kroger's representative attempted to allay fears, and assured them that the only odor they would smell from the ice cream plant would be vanilla. Kroger also promised to erect a greenbelt barrier of evergreens and oaks to shield the plant from view.

Opponents of the plant reminded council several times of campaign pledges made just weeks before. In the election campaign for the first full-term council, much of the rhetoric concerned promises to control Springdale's explosive growth. Some opponents pointed to the disappearance of "A" property. Still others accused the village of deviating from its own master plan. Mayor Neuss reminded the audience that a master plan was not set in stone, that it served only as a guide to zoning. Nevertheless, on December 13 the council responded to the opposition by voting unanimously to reject Kroger's proposal.

In the first seventeen months of its existence, the new village of Springdale evidenced certain enduring patterns. The village experienced rapid, even dizzying, growth, and demands for rezoning occupied excessive amounts of time and energy from the administrative and elective branches of government. The more Springdale grew and the more valuable land became, the greater the pressure placed on landowners to sell to developers. Zoning conflicts involved the city in almost constant litigation. In the first six months of village government, Weber billed it for more than a thousand hours. On many occasions the courts looked unfavorably on the position taken by the village. At the same time, zoning issues created a gulf between residents and their elected representatives. Residents cared about residential property values, traffic and overcrowding, and felt betrayed by a council that had promised one thing during the campaign and then ignored their concerns after the election. For their part, village officials failed to communicate effectively with constituents concerning the limitations inherent in zoning laws. Nor did they explain that the Hamilton County courts traditionally favored the right of the individual landowner to dispose of his property in the most profitable manner.

III

Springdale officials somehow found time to deal with the numerous other matters involved in establishing a new village government. At one of council's first meetings a member noted that July 4 was fast approaching, that parades were planned and that the circus would be in Springdale, all before the village organized a police force. Frantic at the thought of the village's liability if problems ensued, the council, at the suggestion of Mayor Neuss, appointed Fire Chief Frank Smith, Sr., and Max Sanks Jr. as part-time policemen. Thus was born the Springdale Police Department.

On July 27, after lengthy discussions, the council decided on a pay ordinance for the police department. The chief would receive $5,600 per year, policemen five thousand, and special part-time policemen $1.75 per hour. At that same session, council confirmed the appointment of Richard T. Blue, L. Dean Giacometti, Frank B. Rolfes, and A. E. Vonholle as part-time policemen. On August 16 Mayor Neuss named Robert E. Robinson and Emil R. Kleinwaechter as full-time patrolmen. Kleinwaechter declined his appointment, however, in order to take the examination for police chief scheduled for September 17.

A major need of the Springdale police was a police cruiser. Council accepted Stillpass Motor's low bid of $2,048 for a 1960 Mercury Comet. Bruce Smith, reporting for the police committee, suggested the addition of a three-way electronic siren and a two-beam, beacon-ray, roof-mounted red light, but council decided these "extras" could always be added later.

On September 28, 1960 Mayor Neuss announced the name of Springdale's first police chief. Donald Stemann, a thirty-four year old eight-year veteran of the St. Bernard Police force, had tied with another three out of the twenty applicants for the position. His excellent performance on the oral part of the examination broke the tie. Stemann's appointment completed Springdale's police force. In addition to Stemann and Robinson, full-time personnel included Douglas Renaker, a former Arlington Heights police chief. Max Sanks, Jr. and Frank Smith, Sr., served as part-time patrolmen, while three special deputies, Lawrence Clark, Oliver Hardin, and Clifford J. Potts, patrolled only the Tri-County Shopping Center. Finding proper facilities for the police force baffled officials until the volunteer fire department offered to share its already cramped quarters.

This solution could only be a temporary. The fire department already needed to enlarge its two-stall building to house a $27,000 fire truck that was on order. Space was also needed for the newly created life squad. All twenty-five members of the fire department and two village policemen had completed twenty-seven hours of life saving training. Vorhis Funeral Home donated a 1950 Chrysler ambulance which the department equipped. Life squad operations for the growing community began at 12:01 a.m., Sunday, April 1, 1962.

In the meantime negotiations began between fire department officials and council regarding an addition to the 1948 firehouse located on the northeast corner of Peach and Main. On June 25 the Fire Department Association voted to transfer the firehouse to the village of Springdale if the latter agreed to pay for improvements, which included adding two more stalls on the first floor, adding a second floor for municipal offices, offices for the fire and police chiefs, and council chambers.

The discussions continued until July 26 when the Springdale council and the volunteer fire department agreed to affiliate with the village on September 1, 1961. The department transferred its land, building and equipment to the village, and assets valued at $50,000. In turn, the village issued bonds to finance the estimated thirty thousand dollars to improve the firehouse. The construction contract, awarded to Schwietzer Brothers on November 8 came to $34,797.

Since the promise of improved utilities had been a major selling point for incorporation, council took immediate action on this front. Councilmember Horace Dimond, chairman of the Utilities Committee, negotiated favorable gas and electric rates with Cincinnati Gas & Electric. The new electric rate contract meant an annual savings of $7.80 per Springdale resident in the final two years of a five-year contract.

As an incorporated village, Springdale now had the authority to install the sewers so essential to its continued growth. In fact, a major stimulus to incorporation had been the county's snail-like pace in providing sewers to outlying areas. On June 28, 1961 council approved an ordinance to have plans, specifications and estimates drawn up for its first sewer project. On September 13 council authorized construction of another sewer to connect with the Hamilton County Trunk Sewer No. 1915 which would service 360 acres in Springdale's southeast section. An additional line to Cassinelli Square was to be assessed on owner Peter Cassinelli. Controversy over assessments on property owners led to the naming of an equalization board. When that board raised Cassinelli's assessment from $37,477 to $71,207, however, he took the village to court. Still, work on the southeast sewer continued with a projected two year completion period.

In the years that followed, council planned and executed other sewer projects for the southwest part of the village, south Springdale, north Princeton, and northwest Springdale. The impending start of construction on I-275 accelerated the timetable for three of these projects which were approved on February 9, 1966 at a single council session. Springdale became part of Sewer District No. 1 of the Metropolitan Sewer District in 1968. The county created the MSD after the State of Ohio threatened to ban new construction in Hamilton County until it met water pollution standards. The localities within that district signed an agreement with the county which gave it the responsibility of maintaining and supervising sewers.

In addition to providing the infrastructure for growth through its sewer and street rehabilitation program, council also planned parks and other recreation areas for the village. Council required residential developers to contribute one hundred dollars per lot for recreational areas. Some developers chose to donate land. Donn Martin, chairman of the Health and Welfare Committee, reported on July 27, 1960 that Brennan & Associates had offered to donate twenty-plus acres for a park in its Heritage Hill development. Martin indicated that Ross Construction, the developer of Springdale Terrace, planned to give the city 7.558 acres for another park. Martin urged the creation of a Park Commission to "plan for and administer recreation and park areas soon to be acquired by the village," which council acted upon. In December, members appointed to the newly created park board included Martin Cavanaugh to a three-year term, Anthony Salvato to a two-year term, and William E. Valentine to a one-year term. Valentine resigned shortly thereafter and Edmund Taylor assumed the post. In January the group named Taylor park commissioner and Salvato recreation commissioner. The initial function of the recreation commission was to subsidize the Springdale Youth Basketball League. Taylor's task was to investigate potential park and playground sites.

In September 1960 Ross donated the land for Hilma Ross Park. But Brennan rescinded his offer of the Heritage Hill land when his company suffered severe financial setbacks. Instead, he attempted to sell the land to the village for fifteen thousand dollars. After one of his company's creditors took possession, the price sank to eighty-five hundred dollars, but at that point, Springdale chose to sue and have the property appraised by the court. In August 1962, however, the village came to terms with the asking price for the nineteen-acre tract. Several years would pass before Springdale developed its park system.

On April 24, 1962 the Post and Times-Star reported the resignation of Mayor Neuss, the architect for much of Springdale's phenomenal change. General Electric, Neuss's employer, transferred him to Utica, New York to head that division's metalworking and manufacturing departments. Vice Mayor Charles Lindner as vice-mayor would complete his unexpired term. On May 12 Springdale honored its outgoing mayor at an open house held at the nearly completed firehouse and municipal building. At the conclusion of the final council meeting chaired by Neuss, a resolution expressing the community's appreciation for his many services was presented.

Neuss's departure brought an end to one of the most turbulent, exciting and significant periods in Springdale's long history. He had been a persistent negotiator, capable of holding his own against almost any opponent. Within a period of slightly more than two years, he served as midwife to the birth of the village, created the source of its sustenance and established the foundations for its development. Mayor Neuss left Springdale quite a legacy. Continuing to build on his achievements would be a challenge for Springdale.