The Kenton County Mayors Group discussed — and expressed some trepidation — about Kentucky House Bill 102 at their monthly meeting in Fort Mitchell.
The bill, sponsored by Kentucky Rep. Steven Doan (R-Erlanger), aims to enact various reforms to local zoning law to increase affordable housing stock. However, many of the local officials at the meeting were worried that such a law might needlessly restrict the power of local governments to determine their own zoning policy.
Dan Bell, the mayor of Taylor Mill, brought the issue to the floor at the meeting last weekend, citing a Jan. 16 article from Louisville Public Media, which explored the bill and quoted Doan’s reasoning for proposing it. The article also showed that the Kentucky League of Cities, or KLC, opposed the bill, pulling statements from the organization’s CEO J.D. Chaney.
In the article, Chaney describes the bill as “one of the most extreme bills he’s seen in his two decades of working in Frankfort, ‘in terms of completely stripping any kind of local decision making, land use law.’”
“I thought it would be important for us as Kenton County to know that Rep. Doan is supporting eliminating regulatory barriers to address shortages and shortage costs,” Bell said.
There were questions among the attendees, some of whom had not heard of the bill, about just how the bill would address the housing shortage and the cost of housing. Most of the officials who were aware of the bill did not favor it.
Covington’s Mayor Joe Meyer said that most cities work hard to cater their zoning ordinances to their communities’ wishes and “to have somebody from outside–whatever sort of government it is–come in and say, ‘Hey, we get to ignore your zoning,’ is very offensive to me.”
The bill has several key parts. Firstly, it would mandate that local zones for single-family homes also allow duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes. Smaller, secondary housing units on people’s lots would also be allowable in such zones. Aesthetic limitations and other architectural constraints unrelated to safety and public health would be eased, except in established historic districts, which often have strict building requirements. Finally, the bill also aims to pare down excessive permitting and approval fees, among other measures.
Doan did not attend the meeting but corresponded with LINK nky later in the week, defending the bill and its rationale.
“The housing crisis is not limited to red or blue states,” Doan wrote. “It is a national crisis. The crisis is threefold: burdensome regulation, government interference in interest rates and lack of supply.”
Similar reasoning for reducing permitting fees and zoning has come from professional groups in the region, such as the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky. Brian Miller, the association’s executive vice president, once described the regulations around home building as “death by a thousand cuts.”
Doan stated that he had crafted the legislation based on his own observations of the market and with help from the Institute of Justice, a libertarian think-tank. Similar legislation has appeared in other states, such as California, Montana, Maine and Oregon.
Housing shortages of smaller one to two-bedroom starter homes and apartments in the region are well documented. Doan himself cited the now oft-cited housing study from the Northern Kentucky Area Development District that showed the depth of the problem.
“The Northern Kentucky Area Development District has indicated we need roughly 6,650 new housing units to satisfy current need,” Doan said. “… The solution is not more $350,000 houses. The solution is in more attainable units.”
By Doan’s logic, increasing the supply of cheaper homes would pull down prices overall, making it easier for people to get housing.
“The mechanics of this approach typically involve relaxing zoning restrictions, streamlining the permitting process, and encouraging the construction of housing units that cater to a broader range of income levels,” Doan said. “By doing so, the hope is to increase overall housing supply, which could potentially lead to more attainable options for a larger segment of the population.”
Most attendees at Saturday’s meeting had no illusions about the region’s housing situation, but most agreed that, as local leaders, they were responsible for their own communities.
“I get where Rep. Doan is coming from, and I have a lot of respect for Rep. Doan,” Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman said, adding he planned to talk with him more about this issue. “… But I’m very concerned that flat out the state says, ‘You guys can’t figure this stuff out on your own; we’re going to tell you how to do it.'”
As such, Bell wondered if the bill was even necessary.
“There’s nothing in this bill that we can’t do already,” Bell said.
Additionally, some cities in the county, such as Covington, have already enacted more permissive zoning ordinances, similar to the ones proposed in the bill.
Pat Crowley, the vice president of governmental affairs for the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Apartment Association, discussed regulations in Cincinnati and other nearby Ohio cities that were enacted to increase housing density and apartment supply.
“Cincinnati’s getting ready to roll out a very similar program to this in the spring,” Crowley said. He added that the association would like to see more affordable apartments that working people, making $20 per hour or so, could afford to live in.
“Every week, it seems like, there’s another skyscraper being converted into apartments,” Crowley went on to say. “It costs a lot to do, and the rents are high.”
Discussion continued, and many at the meeting stated they planned on reaching out to Doan to continue the conversation.
House Bill 102 is currently assigned to the House Committee on Local Government. Read the full text of the bill here.
The next meeting of the Kenton County Mayors Group will take place on Feb. 17 at the Independence Senior and Community Center on Jackwoods Parkway.