A new Goodwill store is likely coming to Independence at the intersection of KY-17 and McCullum Pike.
The new store will replace the current store off KY-16 (Taylor Mill Road) when Goodwill’s lease expires in October. The new store is set to open early next year, according Ohio Valley Goodwill CEO Mark Hiemstra, hopefully in January or February, depending on when they can finalize the purchase of the land.
“Think of a more purpose-built facility,” Hiemstra said of the new building before the Independence City Council Monday night.
The store is set to go into a site of 2.4 acres of vacant land at the aforementioned intersection. Zoning for the area had been approved back in the early 2010s, so the company’s development plan had to get the green light from the city council but not from the county planning commission. Two Council Members, Greg Steffen and Greg Waite, voted against approving the plan. The rest of the council voted in favor of it.
City documents show attempts to meaningfully develop the land date back to 2011 and 2012, when a steering committee of community members met 19 times and held two public meetings over a roughly 18-month period to collect public feedback on what ought to go there. The results of the process were presented to the city council at the time, which later enacted the creation of a special zone called a GMU. The land itself, as well as several surrounding areas, was rezoned as GMU by the end of 2012.
The city revised its zoning regulations in 2022. The land was re-zoned to a new planned unit development, or PUD, zone, but development conditions set forth in the previous GMU zone were kept. Several senior, multi-family housing developments are standing on adjacent lots, and comments at Monday’s meeting suggested the plans developed in 2011 and 2012 had deteriorated over time; what was left resembles any other mixed-used development.
“It just sort of strikes me that this was a bad idea a long time ago, and we’re just left to deal with the remnants of it,” Steffen said.
Mayor Chris Reinersman said a previous council had “deviated from that plan.”
“It’s not the end of the world,” Reinersman said. “It’s just it’s not what we initially envisioned there.”
The new store’s development plan calls for 17,855 square feet and would contain a retail area, loading bay and a stockroom. Existing detention basins on the site will be landscaped. Although the store will feature a drive up donation drop area, people will not be able to drop off donations after hours. Kenton County planning professionals, who had reviewed the plan, recommended adding a sidewalk along KY-17.
Some of the council members expressed worries about the building’s appearance. Waite and Council Member Carol Franzen both commented that the renderings made the building look like a warehouse. Reinersman said the windows, which will be facing KY-17, on the building were meant to offset that appearance.
“Our intention is to look like the rest of the community,” Heimstra said.
After some more discussion, the council cast its 4 to 2 vote in favor.
Read and download the full development plan and building renderings as presented to the Independence City Council below.
Goodwill was founded in 1916. The company operates around 4,200 store locations in 14 countries. Earlier this month, the organization opened its 22nd store in the Ohio Valley region.