A crowd of local residents attended the Wilder City Council meeting on Monday, where the Council discussed and voted on three resolutions relating to economic development.
The city building’s small chambers struggled to contain the attendees. Most chairs were occupied, and several people had no choice but to stand at the back of the room, even after council members and Police Chief Chad Martin brought in additional folding chairs to accommodate everyone.
Occurring against the backdrop of the upcoming mid-term elections, much of the meeting’s tension focused on two resolutions related to development projects at Frederick’s Landing. Located next to the city building and constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1965, Frederick’s Landing features a small park, a playground, and hiking trails as well as a boat landing to the Licking River, which is open year-round.
Wilder resident Jeff Moles took the podium toward the beginning of the meeting and stated his desire, seemingly shared by many in the audience, for the council to be transparent about the development.
“I’m asking for your help to educate me and the other residents so we can be 100% behind you and behind any project you are considering,” he said. He then asked for more time to consider the development projects, concluding with a request to “please defer the vote.”
One resolution would have allowed the mayor to enter into discussions with Beaumont Building Group to begin planning for the construction of an amphitheater at Frederick’s Landing.
The proposed amphitheater is a culmination of the city’s comprehensive plan for economic development. Taken up in 2017, the hope for the plan is to build out Wilder’s city center in an effort to attract new residents and businesses. Dubbed “Growing Wilder,” a full text of the plan is available on the city’s website.
Mayor Robert Arnold presented a PowerPoint slide show, in which he laid out some of the possible expenses for the development projects. The presentation also claimed that several local community leaders, including Northern Kentucky University President and Wilder Resident Ashish Vaidya, had endorsed the comprehensive plan. Arnold then played a brief video, which described some of the development proposals in more detail.
Both audience members and council members were divided on the question of the amphitheater.
Julie Kirkpatrick, president and CEO of meetNKY, the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke in support of the project. She said that visitors to Kentucky come to visit “all of our great attractions: the Ark Encounter, the Creation Museum, the zoo, the Reds.” She added that “the more we can do to develop this region, the better it will be.”
The proposed investment in Frederick’s Landing would draw funding from a combination of a grant from the Kentucky Soil and Water Conservation Commission; funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, commonly referred to as ARPA, federal funds issued to cities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; and proceeds from the sale of two old city fire stations.
“So, the investment that the city would need to make would be $1.4 million,” Arnold estimated.
Councilman Robert Blankenship inquired about the proposed use of ARPA funds.
“It was my understanding that the ARPA money that we held aside was not to be used for capital expenditure,” Blankenship said.
Arnold responded by saying that the ARPA funds were once-in-a-lifetime funds.
“It’s been my position that we should take those funds and reinvest them into the city,” he said. “And the things that cities reinvest in are outdoor entertainment, infrastructure and things like that.”
Councilman Andy Williams expressed support for the proposed project.
“I always thought that Frederick’s Landing could and should be one of the premier parks in Northern Kentucky,” he said. “I think that this is a step in that direction, to draw more revenue to the city.”
Councilwoman Kelly Meiser meanwhile listed some concerns about the amphitheater.
“We don’t have a true cost-benefit analysis before us,” she said.
Specifically, she was concerned about traffic and the risk of flooding along the river. She also wondered aloud if an amphitheater was redundant, given that there are already several in nearby communities.
“Cold Springs just made one,” Meiser said. “Fort Thomas updated theirs. Taylor Mills added one. Newport has Ovations. So, do we need one?”
“I personally think we need to get our house—police and fire—in order first,” she concluded, saying that the money may be better invested in public services. “[We need to make sure] we understand what the citizens want. The election’s five weeks away. I feel like we can probably wait.”
Upon stating her comments, many audience members applauded.
Following the adoption of the city’s comprehensive plan, an online survey was sent out to Wilder residents fielding questions about how to improve the city. Responses were collected in June 2018 and published on the city’s website with the rest of the comprehensive plan. About 130 people responded to the survey, most of whom were Wilder residents. Council members had also collected input from citizens about how to use the ARPA money the city had received. Although both results indicated an interest in improving Frederick’s Landing as well as a desire for more opportunities for entertainment, there was doubt about how representative the data was of Wilder residents’ attitudes.
Councilwoman Valerie Jones expressed such doubts.
“I think it’s very irresponsible right now to try and enter into any agreement with an amphitheater that I truly don’t know if the citizens even want,” she said.
Following Jones’ comment, a man in the audience spoke up: “You’ve got 80 or 90 people in this room. Just take a poll. How many people are interested in an amphitheater?”
Jones then asked audience members to raise their hands if they were in favor of the construction. No one raised a hand.
The council voted then unanimously to table the resolution till the next meeting.
Following the vote, audience members shared other concerns related to the project.
One resident expressed worry about shrinking space for parking around the dock at Frederick’s Landing if development took place. Another resident asked about trash and litter polluting the river after concerts and other large events in an expanded city center.
Arnold admitted that trash collection had “not been part of the discussion.”
One resident, Jeff Nightardy, echoed concern about careful usage of federal ARPA funds.
“I see this all over the country, people using these [funds] for capital projects,” he said. “But they were sent to protect the cities for the lack of revenues that would be generated because people were out of work. So, my recommendation is that we take a strong look at our city, of what’s going to happen to the revenue stream and use these funds judiciously to take care of preventing increasing taxes all of us.”
Several audience members responded with applause to this comment.
Discussion then moved to the next resolution, which would have enabled the mayor’s office to enter into discussions with Broadus Capital Investments for the development of the lands surrounding Frederick’s Landing and the proposed amphitheater. This resolution provoked some skepticism as well — at least at first.
Jones brought up concerns about what to do with the land.
“I do worry about extra liability that the city might have to incur or might be exposed to,” she said.
Arnold responded by saying that “this resolution is really just to authorize the mayor to have those kinds of conversations.”
The resolution would not have locked the city into strict plans about how to develop the land.
“Anything we would do would come back to council,” he said.
He then reasserted his hopes for the development.
“We’ve got a developer here that, as I mentioned at the start, is interested in, you know, investing five to $10 million dollars,” Arnold said. An investment that “would also include a restaurant [and] outdoor dining area overlooking Frederick’s Landing and will also include the gardens area.”
“What is the cost of the city to enter conversations?” resident and audience member Tessy Krebs asked. “Is there any cost?”
“Just my time,” the mayor responded.
“How will we know what our city is capable of if we don’t investigate?” she posed to everyone. “I feel like we really need to empower Terry [the City Administrator] or the council to investigate and move us forward and grow.”
Another resident, Michael Ruscher, who formerly served as a council member of the Cold Spring City Council, lauded the council for what he saw as due diligence.
“This is how it should be done,” he said. “The mayor should come and ask for permission. There are cities out there that don’t.”
Still, there were some in the audience who wanted reassurance.
“There’s a difference between entering into negotiations and conversations,” one resident said. “And that’s what this audience is struggling with right now.”
The mayor responded by saying he does not have the authority to bind the city to an agreement.
“The only way I get that authority—which we’ve done time and time again, right here in this room—is that you guys,” he said, indicating the council, “have voted to authorize me to go to the next step.”
Finally, after nearly two hours of discussion, the council unanimously voted to adopt the resolution to enter discussions with Broadus Capital.
Additionally, the council also voted unanimously at the beginning of the meeting to issue industrial revenue bonds to Neyer Properties for the development of a vacant lot on Gloria Terrell Drive.
The resolution had come up for a vote during the previous council meeting on September 19, where the Council chose in the end to table the resolution to allow for more discussion. Representatives from Neyer attended the meeting and answered questions from council and audience members.
The next Wilder City Council meeting will take place on Oct. 17.
