Independence city council voted Monday night to delete storage units and mini warehouses as conditional uses in the Community Commercial zones throughout the city.
Before the vote, John Huffman, a businessman who has been trying to buy the Cherokee Shopping center and establish more storage units on the property, brought his family and his attorney, Todd McMurtry, to help plead his case for council to wait on the second reading of the ordinance.
“He currently has a conditional use permit to put self storage on that property, that’s not going away,” Todd McMurtry said to councilmembers. “What he’s proposing is enhancement and improvement that will result in a lot of advancement in the area. We would like for you to give Mr Huff the opportunity to at least speak further, and then move to have the ordinance set on the table. This will help him have the chance to accomplish his goal.”
He said his colleague has a proposed development agreement between Patriot Self Storage and the city of independence that was submitted 36 days ago, which allows for development on the property. He pointed out that the recommendation from Kenton County Planning Commission was just that — a recommendation.
Huffman owns Patriot Self Storage, and he once again showed slides of his Crescent Springs location, and his Beechgrove location, which he described as very nice storage facilities, and then he showed pictures of the Cherokee location, which has gone downhill a lot since its heyday in the 1990s.
When the ordinance was first read, Huffman had presented a case for what he wanted to do with the Cherokee center. Some of the councilmembers wanted to return retail to the center, something that couldn’t happen if there were so many storage units, no matter how nice they were.
This time, Huffman told councilmembers he had a contract with Biggby’s coffee to establish a branch on the site with his units. He also had enough space for another business, and from his research, he thought a small sports bar would do well there.
He again stressed his high standard for his storage facilities, telling council that he had a wall built at one location that cost more than his first two houses. Huffman has proposed a 10 to 12 foot high wall that would shield the residents from the sight of the units.
He showed slides of the run down areas at the Cherokee center, and said he would take down the defective walls, and clean up the areas. Pictures showed how dimly lit the center is at night, and said he would have more lighting that is less intrusive.
Huffman agreed to install the Biggby coffee site on the northeast corner rather than the southeast corner. He said they pay payroll taxes and that has more impact than people would think.
“That place will never be what it was in the 90’s,” he told council. “This is a lifeline. I just need some type of assurance from you that I’m not fighting an uphill battle.”
Two residents came to speak against the project. Laura Mitchell said she doesn’t want more lights, and doesn’t want to see a huge wall. She said she didn’t know what people would put in the storage units, and indicated that there would probably be more litter and trash.
Karyl Shouse has lived on Cox road for over 25 years and said she doesn’t have a problem with storage units in her back yard, but she objected to having a small building taken down, so that if a storage unit was built in its place, it would be very close to her home. She said it would be different if a home was built back there. She also wanted to know if it lowered property values to have storage units there.
Huffman showed comments from about a dozen people all over the area, business owners and residents, who talked favorably about the project, and were happy that the storage units were going to improve the area.
There was a difference of opinion between Councilmember Carol Franzen and Huffman about whether there would be a tree buffer zone. Franzen said she knew that many developers had promised something and not kept their promise, and that made a difference to her about any development project.
“This is a project that can be accomplished, not a crazy mess where somebody gets to run wild,” countered Attorney McMurtry.
City attorney Jack Gatlin clarified that the ordinance is not necessarily an up or down vote on Huffman’s project, but passage of the ordinance could have an impact on his project.
Even though Councilmembers Chris Vogelpohl and Greg Waite were not present for the meeting, the city still had a quorum, and when it was time for the vote, four out of four councilmembers voted to take storage units out of the community commercial zones.
“I guess you like it looking bad,” Huffman said in parting, adding that he just wanted to make it nice.
Council also approved the employee pay and classifications for two positions, changing the full time position of Parks and Recreation Director to Programs Coordinator, and reducing it to part time. Anita Brake is retiring from that position, so the city decided to move it to part time. No one has been hired to fill that position yet.
At the same time, the Senior Center Director, who is Julie Callahan, will have her position go from part time to full time. Council also approved the appointment of Marissa Kidd to the Senior Board.
The second reading of an ordinance approving child care for no more than six children in all residential zones passed.
Council approved awarding the bid for this year’s street project to Paul Michels and Sons. The city only received one bid in response to their request for bids, and that was from Paul Michels and Sons. CAO Chris Moriconi said he recommends only accepting the base bid, part A, for the price of $857,058, well above the engineer’s estimate of $673,662. The part B of the project, which includes Falcon Ridge to Ky 536, will be accomplished by the city’s crew at a lower cost, helping to make up for the added cost of the street repair. The repair work is mostly concrete work.
“We’ll accomplish what we set out to do,” said Mayor Christopher Reinersman, adding that they realize the costs have been accelerating quickly, at least 10 to 20 percent per month.
CAO Moriconi also talked about the trash pickup, saying the current contract with Rumpke is set to run out June 30 of this year. This is the last of the contract extensions, so the city put the contract out to bid, but only received one bid, and that was from Rumpke. He is negotiatiing now with the company, hoping the initial contract can lock in for three years, and have several 2 year extensions.
Mayor Reinersman said the Easter Egg hunt, which is set for this Saturday, is not looking good because of the weather, so if the city cancels it for this Saturday, they will hold it on April 16th, the following Saturday. He said they have had 1600 people registered already for the event. News should be on the website and the sign outside the city building.
Mayor Reinersman also said that at the recent mayor’s meeting, Covington Mayor Joe Meyer asked if surrounding cities would commit some money to the Blink event, which will return on October 13 through 16. He thought the cities could use some of their ARPA money, and contribute $1 for every resident. Reinersman said he though it would be money well spent if the city contributed $29,000. The event will be in Covington and in Newport this year, and is usually very well attended. No final decision was made.
