The Kenton County Planning Commission has approved concept plans for an addition to the Walmart Supercenter on Valleyplaza Parkway in Fort Wright, which will enable expanded pick-up and delivery services.
Specifically, Walmart plans to add approximately 4,973 square feet to the building’s southeast corner, creating an area where customers who have placed online orders can wait to pick them up. The area will also have expanded space for delivery trucks to congregate and park.
The store has a bit of a tumultuous history. The planning commission recommended accepting an initial development plan for the land on which the store would eventually appear back in 2000, but the city council at the time voted the proposal down. In response, Walmart sued the city. Two years later, the city and Walmart settled out of court, with the council agreeing to approve the development plan with certain conditions.
The expansion approved this week conforms to the agreement the city and company made, but county staff members pointed out that final development plans will have to include detailed plans for lighting, soil and grading, landscaping and signage when they come before the commission again.
Although the total square footage will increase, the total number of parking spaces for the store will decrease to accommodate the pickup spots. The new overall total will be 804 spots once the work is complete, which, county staff members pointed out, is still a lot of parking. Relevant repainting and striping were included as part of the development plan.
Although the concept plan eventually garnered a unanimous approval from the commissioners, one member, Taylor Mill Rep. Matthew Martin, expressed some trepidation about the growing traffic from delivery services in the region. Martin had made comments about this phenomenon in the past, saying that it would continue to grow “bigger and bigger” and questioning whether traffic studies could adequately account for delivery traffic.
“Amazon will be in my neighborhood when I go home tonight,” Martin said. “It’s all day, every day, and it’s not just Amazon. It’s Walmart, it’s Door Dash, it’s Uber Eats.”
Fort Wright Rep. Tod Berling agreed with Martin that delivery traffic had likely increased, but he told LINK nky after the meeting that overall “the development has proven to be very beneficial to the community. Expanding it to meet the times based on the current pickup and delivery requirements that are so prevalent – so many people ordering online and then just picking up, not going into stores -is a good opportunity.”
Traffic studies for development sites are usually performed by third-party contractors.
“If it’s a big project, even if it’s not required, and [developers] know traffic’s going to be an issue – and they’ve got the time and the budget – they will definitely go get one just to head that off,” Commission Chair Brain Dunham told LINK nky. “A lot of good projects get derailed because of traffic.”
However, Dunham said that county staff members, commissioners and developers themselves have gotten much better at critically assessing traffic conditions in the region and whether or not traffic studies are warranted or valid.
“They’re getting better at fleshing that out, so they’re more valuable now,” Dunham said.
“The gestation point [for the traffic] is a large box store,” Berling said. “They’re picking up there, and then they’re going out into the communities. But I don’t think what they’re doing in Walmart impacts that. It’s just kind of the sign of the times.”
The planning commission’s decision will become binding in 21 days from the date of the meeting, which was Thursday, if no one appeals their decision. If appealed, the plan will go before the Fort Wright City Council for final approval.
See diagrams submitted with the concept plan of the expansion below.