- Zoning changes enabling a development of 10 business and 336 apartments in Independence was OKed by the Kenton County Planning Commission on Thursday.
- The development is the brainchild of Bellevue development company Brandicorp.
- A long discussion about walk-ability, facade orientation and the role such a development would play in the community preceded the vote.
The Independence Planning Commission approved zoning changes last week for a proposed development off Ky. 17 that would include 10 businesses and 336 apartment units.
The measure passed on a split vote after a lengthy discussion. Commissioners debated walkability and the project’s potential role in the community.
The roughly 40-acre tract of land is located on the east side of KY-17, south of McCullum Pike and north of Centennial Boulevard. The Independence Publix is just to the south. The land itself houses an old family farm and is mostly open space, except for a single building and a pond. It’s currently zoned for residential rural estates. Brandicorp, a Bellevue-based real estate developer, had submitted the zoning requests on behalf of the land’s owners, Mark Smock, Angela Smock and John P. Hanrahan.
The plan is to divide the land into two new parcels: one spanning about 17 acres, which will be designated a community commercial zone, and another spanning about 23 acres, which will be designated a planned unit development (PUD) zone. The commercial zone is designated to include 10 businesses, and the PUD zone is planned for apartments.
“Even though it’s actually going to be zoned in two different ways…, we will treat it all as one,” said Kate Brandy, leasing and development specialist with Brandicorp.
Documents submitted to the planning commission before Thursday’s meeting listed out the kinds of businesses slated to go into the commercial area of the development, although Brandy admitted they had not secured specific tenants or buyers:
- An oil change business
- A car wash
- Five restaurants with drive-thrus
- One sit-down restaurant
- A convenience store with a gas station
- A bank with a drive-thru.
The apartments, on the other hand, will be spread throughout 14 three-story buildings. The plan calls for 84 one-bedroom units, 240 two-bedroom units, and 12 three-bedroom units. Rents are expected to range between $1,400 and $1,800 per month, depending on the unit’s size. The concept plan had room for 669 parking spaces within the PUD zone.
One big selling point Brandicorp touted during its statement was a large open space with a public park in the southwest corner of the development. The proposal lists overlooks, grilling and fire pit areas, outdoor kitchens and seating areas, as well as numerous walking paths as amenities of the park, which ideally would take advantage of the city’s rural landscape. Additionally, the development would have room for a leasing office, a pool and fitness center.
Brandy had identified renters as an underserved market in Independence and cited the 2023 Northern Kentucky Area Development District Housing Study, which identified a deficit in the majority of the unit sizes Brandicorp hoped to build.
A study of housing in Northern Kentucky has revealed troubling trends for housing in the region, with the largest need being for “workforce housing” for households earning between $15 and $25 per hour, with monthly housing costs between $500 and $1,500. The region needs about 3,000 more housing units to provide for people within that income range, according to the study. The demand for one- to two-bedroom rentals and owned properties consistently exceeds their supply, while supply for three and four-bedroom properties consistently exceeds demand. The study suggests that the region needs to build 6,650 housing units to support economic development in the next five years, which equates to 1,330 units per year. Read more here.
Understanding NKY’s housing shortage
Two residents spoke against the development, arguing the area was growing too quickly, and there were even quandaries about the orientation of the development from the engineers who had developed the plan. The concept plan had the businesses facing away from KY-17, and the landscape architect with the engineering firm behind the design, Viox & Viox, at one point even asked the planning commissioners what orientation they thought was better.
A long discussion ensued in which several topics came up. For one thing, even though Brandicorp had touted the development as a new, walkable community, some of the planning commissioners noted that most of the proposed businesses, many of which had drive-thrus, were aimed at vehicular traffic, rather than pedestrian traffic.
Bromley Commissioner Gailen Bridges thought the whole development was uninspired, a rehash of the kinds of businesses—car washes, restaurants, oil change shops—that were in the area already.
“It just seems like Northern Kentucky has a failure of imagination,” Bridges said.
“The land use plan does not call for that commercial to continue to the northeast,” said Ryland Heights Planning Commissioner Quin Wichmann.
Independence Planning Commissioner Maura Snyder didn’t think the concerns about walkability were well-founded.
“I live in Independence,” Snyder said. “I live right next to the Kroger Marketplace in the Town Center, and I kind of disagree about walking because I’ve got my dogs, and I’m walking up there all the time. I walk to the Tire Discounters, I take my car up there, and I’ll get my oil changed, my tires done, and I walk the dogs around a mile all the way around.”
Snyder eventually made the motion to approve the zoning changes. Wichmann and Bridges were the only planning commissioners to vote against them.
The changes will now return to the Independence City Council for final approval.
