Reassurances and information from both Kenton County Fiscal Court members and county professionals did little to quell the suspicions of south Kenton County residents who packed the fiscal court chambers in Covington this week.
“Let’s be honest, this initiative isn’t about readiness,” said resident Rhonda Shank. “It’s about paving over farmland. Land that feeds us, sustains local families, protects our water and preserves our identity and history. It’s about creating revenue for the county.”
The residents were specifically expressing opposition to potential industrial development presaged by the county’s Site Readiness Initiative, a joint venture of the Kenton County Fiscal Court, Northern Kentucky Port Authority and Kenton County Planning and Development Services.
The initiative aims to catalog available land in the county ideal for industrial development. The initiative is in a very early phase; it does not necessarily represent a set-in-stone plan of action. Rather, it establishes guideposts for county officials to assess the amount of developable industrial space in south Kenton County.
The initiative located two areas of focus in the southwest end of the county, which are relatively flat and undeveloped. They also have access to multimodal freight infrastructure due to their proximity to I-71/75, CSX railway and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Focus Area 1 is located in the southwest of Kenton County, close to the Boone County border, US-25, KY-536 and a CSX railway. The area has a total acreage of 2,180, with a potential building coverage of approximately 22.38% of the land.
Focus Area 2 is located in west central Kenton County along the Boone and Grant County borders. It has direct access to US-25. The southern portion of the identified land provides the best area for long-term industrial development.
Although the initiative itself dates back years, it proved to be unpopular among some of the county’s residents immediately after the county began holding public meetings about it this year. Tuesday was not the first time people have spoken out: Residents expressed opposition in March in front of the fiscal court, in February before the Kenton County Planning Commission and at two public meetings, also in February, at schools in the county.
Following pushback from residents, the county sent out a letter in March informing them that focus area 2 was being put on pause and that focus area 1 was being reduced in size.
Even so, Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann states in the March letter that doing nothing, a desire expressed by residents at the meetings, was “not an option… Roads are congested; infrastructure is inadequate; warehouses are being built. We cannot ignore these facts. Change of some sort is organically coming to Southwest Kenton County and, if we do nothing, the problems associated with it will only get worse with resulting bad outcomes.”
This did little to assuage the initiative’s critics. People also spoke out against the initiative in May, and then at the end of June, people met to discuss ways they could possibly head off new development through the use of county-wide petitions and legal conservation mechanisms, such as easements and the establishment of agricultural districts. An online petition opposing the site readiness initiative has also circulated and had garnered nearly 3,000 signatures as of Tuesday night.
Knochelmann opened the section of the meeting where he reaffirmed several points he’d made in earlier meetings, namely that the county had no intention of employing eminent domain to bolster industrial development, the public input process the county had undertaken to ensure it accounted for the desires of county residents and the need for improved infrastructure. He also discussed details of the two focus areas.
“We have an option to sit back and let things happen to us,” Knochelmann said, “or we can plan ahead.”
The meeting saw presentations from three people: Lee Crume, the CEO of BE NKY, Sharmili Reddy, the executive director of Kenton County Planning and Development Services, who was recently named the new city manager to Covington, and Spencer Stork, the Kenton County Engineer.
Crume touted the site readiness initiative as a means of increasing economic development and workforce attraction. He discussed a variety of companies that have located in Kenton County and why it was attractive to manufacturing.
“We do this so that as a community, if we do this right, Northern Kentucky will make good, informed decisions to ideally maintain and elevate our current levels of prosperity,” Crume said.
Reddy discussed several things: the difference between land use and zoning, the history of the site readiness initiative’s development and the process by which companies can legally set up shop in the county. Crume and Reddy both tried to dispel misconceptions around modern manufacturing facilities.
“That was always the picture in people’s mind is that of smoke stacks,” Reddy said. “And, to be honest, I was just asking our staff today, ‘In the last 15 years, have you seen a proposal for a smoke stack in any of our industrial zones?’ And the answer is ‘no.'”
Stork discussed how the infrastructure and utilities in focus area 1 is currently inadequate for industrial development. Additionally, Stork formerly worked for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and said the cabinet tends only to use eminent domain as a “last resort.”
As the meeting approached the 90-minute mark, and the public comments began, it was clear the attendees didn’t find the presenters convincing. One speaker characterized the entire presentations as a “performance.” Another characterized organizations like BE NKY as “pet nonprofits.” Yet another speaker even pointed out payments the county had made to BE NKY and the Northern Kentucky Port Authority, for $100,000 and $6,000, respectively, in the fiscal court’s most recent claims list.
The payment to BE NKY was the fourth annual payment in a five-year contract with the company for various economic development initiatives, including “activating the Port Authority,” as BE NKY’s invoice puts it. The other payment is a monthly retainer to the Catalytic Fund to advise on how best to employ the county’s site development grant funding for Site Readiness Initiative. The funding is disbursed through the Port Authority.
Speakers also expressed frustration that the meeting wasn’t formatted as a true Q & A; people spoke at the dias, but the commissioners did not respond to their statements per the conventions of public comments at government meetings. Moreover, several speakers cast doubt on Crume’s position that manufacturing would bring more jobs to the county.
“Amazon now employs as many robots as people,” said resident Dan Barnes. “So, nobody can say for sure how many jobs AI will replace in this manufacturing and warehousing future.”
“I am confident not a single person who came here tonight in opposition of the SRI project was swayed the tiniest bit by the song and dance given by unelected officials whose career objectives are to sell out rural Kenton County to developers,” said Heather Grothaus.
The county commissioners took some time to respond to the comments before adjourning the meeting.
“I would bet almost anything that it would be an eight to 10-year period before anything happened with this,” said Commissioner Jon Draud. Draud later added that he would “take an oath of office” that he would never vote to use eminent domain.
Commissioner Beth Sewell encouraged the attendees and county residents to contact the commissioners with their concerns.
“It all comes down to balance,” Knochelmann said. “It comes down to us doing our homework to be ready for the future, to make sure that we can do the best thing possible. We’re always open for a phone call. We’re open for a meeting. We’ve got lots of them coming forward.”