A potential zone change ruling could determine whether the Richwood Country Estates subdivision residents will eventually see a gated community or pigs out their back window.
It was a packed house at the Boone County Fiscal Court chambers this week, as residents showed up in droves to voice their concerns regarding a prospective 55-and-older community off Richwood Road in Walton.
The Boone County Planning Commission heard a zone change request from Mark Jacobs, a Florida-based real estate developer, regarding a 34.87-acre plot of land located at the southeast corner of Richwood Road and Schmidt Lane at a regularly scheduled meeting on May 1. The property borders the Richwood Country Estates subdivision.
The property is owned by Jake’s Farm Real Estate Development Company – a limited liability company with ties to the Jacobs family, according to Boone County property records. The property was previously home to Mark’s father, the now-deceased Leslie “Jake” Jacobs, who lived on the farm for approximately 25 years. Named Cornerstone Farms, the property was primarily used to raise race and saddle-bred horses.
Thomas Breidenstein, an attorney representing Jake’s Farm, told the planning commission that Jacobs’ children own approximately 70% of the property. He explained that it was the elder Jacobs’ dream to develop the land.
“It was Jake’s dream to provide a quality development to the community,” Breidenstein said. “Ultimately, though, they really all just want to exercise their ability and the rights to develop the property as they see fit and appropriate, recognizing fully that their constitutional property rights must be balanced against the rights of their neighbors.”
Breidenstein said Jacobs was at a crossroads and needed a zone change to move forward. If not, he would use the land for agricultural purposes.
Specifically, Jacobs wants to change the property’s zoning designation from Agricultural Estate to Suburban Residential One/Planned Development. If the change is permitted, Jacobs would have the green light to develop the property into a suburban development.
In an April 13 email to the Richwood Country Estates Subdivision group, Jacobs stated that Jake’s Farm Real Estate Development Company has two options for what they plan to build on the property.
The first option is to build 147 residential units within 24 buildings, four detached single-family residential dwellings, 56 attached single-family residential dwellings within 14 buildings, and 87 multi-family residential dwellings within six buildings.
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.
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The community, dubbed Cornerstone Gardens, would be a private, gated retirement community for people aged 55 and older. Jacobs told the planning commission that this was his preferred option.
“We think that our proposal would result in a beautiful and quiet neighborhood that would raise all the surrounding property values,” Jacobs wrote in the email.
The second option is to utilize the property for a free-range pig farm. When landing on the jakes-farm.com homepage, visitors are met with a message saying the developer will either move forward with an approved residential development project or begin a free-range pig farming operation in 2024.
While presenting to the planning commission, Jacobs reiterated this plan. He stated that opening a pig farm wasn’t a threat but said he wouldn’t wait any longer.
“This is not a threat to anything or anybody, but it’s time now at the expense of the farm and the care and all the things that I have involved in this to try to go to the next step,” he said. “I do have some options on the farming side of the business which we had talked about the pig farms and this and that, and it’s not a threat that I’m going to do it or not do it.”
He went on to say that he has contracts with potential buyers who are interested in purchasing products from the potential pig farm. Furthermore, he praised the property’s proximity to the expressway and airport.
Jacobs conceded that a pig farm “wasn’t really what I want to do” and wondered aloud if his daughter would want to purchase a house next to the prospective livestock operation.
“I’m not sure my daughter would want to get a house next to some of the things that we’re planning,” Jacobs said.
In late 2022 and early 2023, Jacobs tried to get a zone change for a different iteration of the project. The previous plan called for the construction of 160 multi-family residential units within three buildings, 55 attached single-family residential units within nine buildings, five detached single-family residential dwellings, and community amenity areas.
Ultimately, the planning commission recommended denial of the zone change. In Boone County, all zone changes must be heard and voted on by the fiscal court. Jacobs withdrew the zone change application prior to fiscal court action.
Some residents who attended the planning commission meeting voiced concerns about Jacobs’ plan. Others emailed the planning commission voicing displeasure. Chief among them was the development’s potentially negative impact on local traffic.
Scott Draughn, a homeowner with property neighboring the farm, voiced his concerns regarding the development’s impact on traffic. He warned that nearby residents don’t yet know how local traffic will be impacted by two ongoing developments: the Provision Living retirement center and the future construction of the Richwood Road Publix.
“What are the consequences, because we hear the traffic studies we hear it’s not gonna be that many cars, but we’re the ones that have to live there,” Draughn said.
Another neighboring homeowner, Sarah Holland, worried that the development’s townhomes would infringe upon her backyard views since her house is in a low-lying area.
“We would potentially be looking out and under the shadow of a three-story wall of townhouses, which I do not think will increase our property value,” Holland said.
Adam Hand, a landowner with nearly 30 acres of property over a mile away from Jake’s Farm, told the commission he wishes that the nearby rural farmland would be preserved.
“I’d like to see that type of rural development preserved in the in the entire Ridgewood area as much as humanly possible,” Hand said.
