Ludlow has begun the process of getting certified local government status from the Kentucky Heritage Council, which will open up more resources for the city to carry out historical preservation projects.
“We want to be a [certified local government], so we have the opportunity for grants that Covington has [and] Newport has,” said Andy Corn, a resident who’s acting as a liaison between the heritage council and the city. “We just want to get in the race.”
Getting the local government certification will make the city eligible for certain matching grants to help bankroll preservation projects. It will also give the city access to expert consultations from both the Kentucky State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service.
Finally, it will give the city a formal role in National Register of Historic Places nomination review processes, enable its input in establishing regional and state historic preservation objectives and create partnerships with various national historic organizations.
Yet, the city has hit a snag.
To get the certification, the city will need to amend its regulations for establishing historic landmarks. Before it can do that, it has to get a recommendation from the Kenton County Planning Commission.
The amendment recommendation has been tabled twice, first last month when Corn presented the idea to the planning commissioners. It was tabled again this week when it came before the planning commissioners a second time.
Attempts to take a more active approach to historical preservation in the city date back to the late 2010s. The city established a board to review preservation projects, created a historical preservation overlay zone and adopted various ordinances laying out historical preservation guidelines in 2025. These measures carried over when Ludlow updated its city zoning ordinance last year.
In August, some of the planning commissioners were concerned about some of the language in the proposed regulation amendment.
“I didn’t see anything that said you have to have the owner’s approval,” said Planning Commission Vice Chair Paul Darpel in August.
As a result, the commission voted to table a recommendation allowing the city to clean up the language. The text amendment came back before the planning commission on Thursday, this time presented by two of the city’s attorneys. They requested to table it again to allow more time to get the ordinance right.
“We want some additional time to review it and make any changes that are needed, just to make sure it is in the correct format,” said Michelle Eviston, one of the attorneys.
“Exactly,” said the other attorney, Zach S. Smith. “Just making sure that when we’re here, we get it done the next time.”
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