At the beginning of the year, the city of Fort Thomas launched an extensive discussion and potential update of its zoning ordinances. A follow up to the city’s Comprehensive Plan update completed in 2018, the aim is to bring the city’s zoning laws more in line with the goals of the city plan.
As discussion at city Planning and Zoning meetings has deepened, so has interest, with a dozen community members in attendance at the April meeting. With high interest and questions from both planners and residents, the meeting lasted 2 1/2 hours.
The process is expected to take about a year. The city is working with CT consultants to take the ordinance in sections through a series of phases. The first phase, in January and February, presented a diagnostic overview of the current zoning ordinance and a broad discussion on goals for the project.
A meaty discussion
In addition to bringing the ordinances more in line to support implementation of the city plan, the effort has been aimed at modernizing and incorporating new developments in zoning and land use practice, as well as addressing weaknesses and omissions, and making the ordinance language and organization more user friendly.
In March, the city began phase two of the project, opening a meatier discussion on approaches to zoning and a deeper look at the city’s business and residential districts. Planners explored the ideas behind traditional zoning with an emphasis on uses and formed-based code that emphasizes physical characteristics of buildings and their relationship to the streets and each other.
City planners made no official decisions at that meeting but consensus was in favor of keeping a traditional zoning approach in residential areas and looking toward applying some form-based solutions in and around business districts.
Updates and new zoning districts
The April Planning and Zoning meeting continued the phase two discussion. CT Consultants representative Alisa Duffey Rogers presented a plan to update some zones, consolidate others and introduce some new zones. With each, she presented tables containing permitted and conditional uses, and in some cases added “restricted” uses.
Restricted uses are those that may be permitted if the project meets a defined set of restrictions. For example, she said, some uses might require a larger lot width or more stringent signage standards. While many of these restrictions are noted in the current zoning ordinance, codifying them as “restricted use” will streamline the process and cut down on confusion, she noted.
Each table included a section titled “Use Specific Regulations.” This section, she explained, would be filled out at a later stage and would identify additional regulations and show interested parties exactly where to find them.
Following descriptions and uses within the zone, Duffey Rogers also proposed design standards for each. These she based on previous discussions with city officials, and often she had questions for the planners about their intent. Many of these questions were left unanswered and are to be fleshed out in the third phase of the project.
The consultant presented details on seven conventional zoning district types, although the last was not discussed due to time constraints for the meeting. The proposed districts are: River Preservation and Conservation, Single-Family and Two-Family Residential, Alexandria Pike Residential, Residential Cluster Development Overlay, Multi-family Residential, Alexandria Pike Mixed Use and Neighborhood Commercial/Office.
The full presentation is available on the city’s website under “Official Zoning Ordinance Update.” Below are a few highlights of the six discussed at the Planning and Zoning meeting.
River preservation and conservation
The River Preservation District runs along Route 8. The city has one Conservation district, which is located near the reservoir near Taylor and Waterworks.
Discussion included the potential for additional protections from development through conservation easements within other districts. Duffey Rogers explained the easements could be added in certain districts where desired instead of creating whole new conservation districts.
Other questions concerned the fate of Route 8, rights of way available and access points along the route, as well as how the river district would fit in with similar districts in other river cities.
The consultant noted that in this district they broadened uses to make them more flexible and generic. She added development standards concerning minimum off-street parking setbacks as well as setting the maximum height for any accessory buildings. Planners noted that flood plain restrictions might apply to some of the height requirements.
Single-family and two-family residential
Duffey Rogers noted that in residential districts, a new Kentucky state law requires residential care facilities as a permitted use. She said a residential facility would be subject to standards within the district, but she added this as a permitted use in all the residential districts.
Some residential zone districts do not permit two-family homes. These include R-1AA, R-1A and R-1D. However, she noted, the consultants added two-families as conditional uses in R-1B and R-1C zones to bring some existing dwellings into compliance going forward. Two-families are permitted in the R-1 CBD (Central Business District) and R-2 districts.
Minimum lot sizes and setbacks remained unchanged except for those within the R-1 CBD district. A smaller minimum lot area of 3,400 square feet, a minimum lot width of 45 square feet and a 3-foot minimum side setback will accommodate already existing homes with smaller lots along Hagedorn Lane, Lumley Ave., N. Shaw Lane and Miller Lane.
The consultant added a minimum gross floor area requirement added over concerns about what is known as “tiny houses,” homes usually under 300 square feet. The consultant said city planners said they did not want tiny homes in the residential districts and setting a minimum would prevent that.
The consultant also listed out several design standards concerning garages including orientation and door location of the garage in relation to the home and the street, as well as required architectural elements such as windows, overhangs and decorative elements.
Planners said the design standards as outlined by the consultant would make many existing garages non conforming. They agreed the goal is to avoid large blank garage walls along the street, but said the architectural details might be too much. The consultant agreed to rework the requirements for further discussion.
Alexandria Pike residential
The Alexandria Pike Residential is a new district designed for homes situated along Alexandria Pike only. The consultant said the goal of the district is to preserve existing single family homes, while encouraging two-family, multi-family and townhomes along the route. These use options have been added as permitted uses in the district.
Development standards outlined minimum lot areas and widths. Duffey Rogers noted that consultants included a maximum lot width for multi-family to prevent overly long multifamily developments. The number of attached units in townhouses would also be set to prevent long stretches of buildings.
For parking standards, she noted, Alexandria Pike presents a challenge. Lot depth is extremely varied for existing buildings. She suggested putting in requirements for parking lots to be placed on the side of buildings for new projects but to add a waiver to allow for some flexibility.
Residential cluster development overlay
The Residential Cluster Development Overlay was not discussed indepth at the meeting. The intent of the zoning district is to provide a means for allowing construction of clusters of attached and detached single-family units in the R-1 residential zones.
According to the consultant document, a development plan would allow flexibility in the design, location and siting of buildings to provide for the preservation of hillside areas and other natural geographic and topographic features, and to provide for more usable and suitable recreation facilities and open space than would otherwise be provided for under conventional R-1 residential land development.
The Residential Cluster Development Overlay would not be permitted on less than five acres of land. At least 15 percent of the total acreage of a proposed RCD would be common open space and accessible to all residents of the RCD. Other specific requirements and standards would be outlined for approval in the Development Plan stage.
Multi-family residential
The consultant noted that not much was changed in the Multi-family Residential district. She said the language in the development standards has been clarified.
A change she noted was a decrease in the side setback for two-family dwellings to match that of single-family residential. She also added height restrictions for any accessory buildings.
Alexandria Pike mixed use
The first step for the Alexandria Pike area was to consolidate the zones along US 27. These include Highway Commercial, General Commercial, Industrial Park and Professional Office zones.
Duffey Rogers said, “You have a stretch of road that has four zoning districts that are all non residential. The community plan talks about creating a mixed-use district to bring some order to that so that is what this is. The permitted uses, are very much standard for mixed use districts, but I do point out that we’ve added dwelling units above non residential, which is a change.”
The consultants expanded on the list of potential uses, especially to accommodate some of the new and different types of retail available today. “Experiential retail,” for example, can encompass businesses that provide experiences such as those that allow patrons to do a craft or paint a picture while enjoying wine and snacks.
Also included on the list were artists studios, brewpubs (restricted use), personal services, artisan industrial (small makers and crafters), research and development facilities and light manufacturing.
The parking dilemma
The issue of setbacks and parking lot locations was a concern. The consultant suggested a minimum setback of 20 feet and a maximum of 30 feet. This would mean parking lots could not be built at the front of buildings. The idea behind this, she said, was to provide for walkable streetscapes.
Planners raised issues and concerns based on the vast differences of structures along Alexandria Pike. They noted that what might seem reasonable for the north end of town might not work for the south end. They asked if parameters could be different depending on where the buildings would be located.
The issue of placement of parking and setbacks remain a concern. Some noted that several viable developments exist along Alexandria Pike with parking at the front of the building. Duffey Rogers suggested an alternative would be to require front parking lots to have more landscaping and green space screening along the street.
Another planner noted that other river cities are working to make a walkable corridor. Newport, for example, has been moving forward with a road diet and other plans to reduce the impact of traffic along the route.
The consultant agreed to take another look at the proposal for this district and to return with an alternative plan that would allow for larger setbacks and possible parking with landscaping requirements. She said she could include ideas for treating the north and south ends of the district with two different sets of design standards.
She warned, however, that creating a walkable corridor is part of the city’s plan for the future. It was agreed to return to this discussion at the next meeting.
Moving ahead
The group ran out of time to discuss the Neighborhood Commercial/Office district. The consultant said further discussion would continue at the next meeting. The plan is to move into the phase three stage, a developmental review, starting at that meeting.
The Planning and Zoning Commission meetings are listed on the city calendar. Unless otherwise noted, the commission meets the third Wednesday of the month starting with a business meeting at 6:30 p.m. Public hearings start at 7 p.m. For now, the meetings are held in the Fort Thomas Community Center/Mess Hall in Tower Park (801 Cochran Ave.) The next Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is on May 18.
