By Marie McCain
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MILFORD - Members of the Valley View Foundation, a resident group working to preserve the largest tract of undeveloped land in this Clermont County city from development, will hold a fund-raiser this weekend to benefit their cause.

Called "Music for Milford," the event will feature four hours of tunes - mainly rock and folk - from artists such as Maery Lanahan, Ashley Peacock, and Quanah Parker.

The concert will be Sunday from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in Finley Ray Park, along Milford Parkway, in Milford. Admission is $5 and donations will be accepted, officials said.

The Valley View Foundation was started in an effort to keep 151 acres of green space from being developed, said Andy Dickerson, a foundation board member.

"This concert is about raising public awareness (of the Valley View cause) and money," Dickerson said Wednesday.

The foundation wants to purchase the land from the city of Milford to conserve it and make the area, which was once a soybean field, a passive recreation site.

The land sits along the city's southern border near the Little Miami River, adjacent to Terrace Park Country Club. The foundation is leasing the property and has an exclusive option to purchase it for $2.5 million.

So far the foundation has raised about $250,000 toward the purchase price, Dickerson said, adding that there have been setbacks.

In June, the foundation learned it would have to reapply next year for a share of a multi-million-dollar grant that it had hoped to win to help with its fund-raising efforts.

Valley View was one of 10 projects competing in a district that includes Butler, Warren, Clermont and Clinton counties for a share of $2.2 million. The money is a portion of the Clean Ohio Fund, a $400 million program created to preserve green space.

Valley View will have its application ready by the April deadline, Dickerson said, and is working to increase community awareness and support of the foundation.

The property was once the site of a proposed high-density development that sought to bring 300 new houses to the area. But after the plan fell through, the city purchased the land and has since allowed a new elementary school to be built on one section of the land.

Valley View has offered to buy the remaining acreage in the hopes of stopping any additional development and create Valley View Park, complete with hiking trails, woods and wetlands and other prairie restoration efforts.

"We've got a way to bring people into Milford," Dickerson said. "This park can become our crown jewel in Clermont County."

Sunday's concert will go on even if there is rain, he added.

For more information about the organization or the concert, call 576-1023.

E-mail mmccain@enquirer.com