The Kenton County Planning Commission unanimously recommended a rezoning request for land parcels in Independence where developer Madison Pike Partners wants to build a 110-unit condo complex at their meeting Thursday night.
This recommendation moves the final approval of the zoning to the Independence City Council.
“One thing I like is that everybody’s worked together,” said Maura Snyder, the Independence representative on the planning commission, expressing what many of the other commissioners shared about the long road back to the commission the development has taken.
Called The Haven at Liberty Grove, the development has been controversial from the get-go. The developers, who originally wanted zoning for 124 units, came before the planning commission in February. Several Independence residents spoke out in opposition to the development the first time, arguing it was too dense and would increase traffic. In a split vote, the commission affirmed the residents’ concerns and voted down the developers’ zoning request.
This escalated the request to the Independence City Council, but the developers decided to withdraw their request before a vote could take place. Still, residents and the developers attended the March meeting of the Independence City Council to discuss the matter, where Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman, who has a background in real estate appraisal, spoke about some compromises the developers had offered since the planning commission’s vote in February. These included reducing the number of proposed units from 124 to 110 and prohibiting renting in the condo complex’s home association covenant.
Reinersman did not attend the meeting on Thursday, but Independence City Administrator Chris Moriconi spoke at the meeting, where he argued that the development was good for the city overall, especially given the Northern Kentucky region’s housing shortage.
Understanding NKY’s housing shortage
A study of housing in Northern Kentucky has revealed troubling trends for housing in the region, with the largest need being for “workforce housing” for households earning between $15 and $25 per hour, with monthly housing costs between $500 and $1,500. The region needs about 3,000 more housing units to provide for people within that income range, according to the study. The demand for one- to two-bedroom rentals and owned properties consistently exceeds their supply, while supply for three and four-bedroom properties consistently exceeds demand. The study suggests that the region needs to build 6,650 housing units to support economic development in the next five years, which equates to 1,330 units per year. Read more here.
“At the end of the day, this development, I think, fills a need,” Moriconi said.
The complex would be located on the east side of Madison Pike, or KY-17, in Independence. The proposed development would have 110 condo units spread throughout 12 buildings. It would also feature 257 parking spaces: 72 driveways, 72 garage spaces, and 113 off-street parking spaces. The development would contain Fischer Homes and sport a density of 13.43 units per net acre. Representatives from both Madison Partners and Fischer Homes attended Thursday’s meeting.
Besides the reduction in units, the developers had also shaved off a chunk of the land on the west side of the development, reducing the number of entryway intersections to just one. They also moved a building in the eastern part of the development farther away from the Hartland neighborhood to the south, got rid of one of the retaining walls, and agreed to build a walking path from the development northward to the Kenton County Courthouse, where a yet-to-be-built farmer’s market will be.
The land parcels’ current zoning is split into three sections and allows for a total of 81 units of residential property throughout, most of which would not require a development plan. This means that if no change took place, there would be few barriers preventing a developer from building there as long as they conform to the established zoning rules.
The developers’ zoning request would consolidate the parcels into a single planned-unit development zone, allowing them to build the 110 condos they want.
In the time between the planning commission’s original vote in February and Thrusday’s meeting, the developers had also commissioned Mason, Ohio-based engineering firm SHA Engineering to perform a traffic study (read here), which measured the traffic counts for the intersection that would lead into the development as they occurred on Feb. 1, 2024, and projected them out by 10 years. The study estimated the total number of cars post-development to be 57 cars during peak morning traffic hours, from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., and 68 cars during peak evening hours, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
This wasn’t enough to warrant additional traffic mitigations, according to the study, besides a stop sign at the main access point.
“The analysis completed in the study indicate no improvements are required on Madison Pike to mitigate the impact of traffic generated by the proposed residential development,” the study reads.
Andy Videkovich, Kenton County Planning and Development Services’ planning manager, told LINK nky that analysis from professionals within the county planning and development office suggested the study’s analysis was accurate and that the projected traffic numbers were within acceptable levels. Furthermore, Laura Tenfelde, Kenton County Planning and Development Services’ director of infrastructure engineering, affirmed that the Kentucky Transportation Department vouched for the traffic study’s accuracy at the meeting itself.
However, there was still opposition among some residents.
Perry McCool, a resident who also spoke to the city council in March, asked the commission to consider the long-term consequences of this development and development broadly in Independence.
“I am concerned about the quality of life for the entire community,” McCool said, adding that she preferred living in Northern Kentucky to Cincinnati, where she grew up because it wasn’t as densely packed.
“I chose to leave a dense city and come here,” McCool said. “Please keep the quality of life here for myself, for my stepdaughter, my four grandchildren and all the other residents who have complained to you.”
In spite of the concerns of McCool and other residents, the commission seemed broadly supportive of both the development and the developers’ willingness to make changes following public feedback.
“I hope the residents realize that something’s going to go in there,” said Commissioner Jeff Bethell, who had voted against the first zoning request in February but for it on Thursday.
The next meeting of the Kenton County Planning Commission will take place on Thursday, May 2 at 6:15 p.m. at the Kenton County Government Center on Simon Kenton Way.