The Kenton County Planning Commission voted to approve a waiver of subdivision regulations for a large, 24-acre tract of heavily wooded land in Erlanger on Wednesday.
The issue had come before the commission in June, when the land’s owner Nathan Arnold (who is not a professional developer) had originally requested similar waivers in the face of what he characterized as the steep cost of meeting the county’s established standards.
The land abuts Erlanger’s Sherbourne neighborhood. Arnold has owned the land since 2013. A tenant-occupied house that can only be accessed through a private easement is located along Pleasure Isle Drive near part of the land’s lowest elevation point, close to a nearby railroad. The easement dates back to 1967.
Arnold originally hoped to split the area where the house is located off into its own parcel and waive the requirement mandating a new lot be connected to a public road. Arnold hopes in time to develop the land into three large estate-style properties, in addition to the house that’s already there.
His desire to divide the land parcels would have created three so-called flag lots. Flag lots get their names due to their resemblance to a flag on a pole in that they have a “long, slender strip of land extending from the street back to the main part of the parcel, which opens up to meet the minimum lot width requirements per the local zoning code,” according to documents from Kenton County Planning and Development services. Having more than two flag lots next to each other is not permitted under Kenton County Subdivision regulations, except on land zoned for agriculture.
In June, Planning and Development Services Director of Infrastructure Engineering Laura Tenfelde pointed out that the closest public right of way for the land is on Rising Ridge Drive in the Sherbourne neighborhood.
The road terminates into a dead end rather than a cul-de-sac, which usually signals that the land beyond may eventually be developed. Tenfelde said that one way the land could be developed without the waivers would be to build a cul-de-sac at the end of Rising Ridge. Although she admitted that such a measure would likely cost more money for Arnold, in planning services’ opinion, the fact that that portion of land was developable coupled with the current land’s lack of public access made the waivers unwarranted.
At the time, Arnold argued that building a cul-de-sac was overly costly and could have disrupted the land’s heavily wooded, pastoral character. Most of the commissioners, however, agreed with Tenfelde’s assessment. Some also made the case that waiving the requirement could create a safety risk, as it potentially impeded access to emergency vehicles. Rather than deny the request outright, the commission voted to table the matter to give Arnold time to come up with an alternative.
Arnold did just that on Wednesday. He brought renderings of a T-type turnaround that would go onto the end of Rising Ridge. Arnold would then bequeath the turnaround to the city, thereby creating a new public right of way. The professional staff at Planning and Development Services found this proposal more amenable and recommended approving the proposal.
“The applicant [Arnold] has done a considerable amount of work over the past month to take the commission’s comments from last meeting and coming up with this new reapplication,” said Kenton County Planning and Development Services Planning Manager Andy Videkovich.
There was some concern among the commissioners that the plan might impede development on the 80 acres of land adjacent to Arnold’s.
Arnold spoke before the commission, discussing what he had done in the time between Wednesday’s meeting and the previous month. He said he had spoken to numerous people about the new alternative, including the adjoining property owners.
Arnold said that Fischer Homes wasn’t interested in developing the land as it would require an onerous amount of infrastructure investment. He said he also spoke with Sanitation District 1 about water infrastructure, and he reported that they said it would be difficult for them to provide new water lines for a large development of the sort that Fischer and Drees tended to make; they could manage the three lots Arnold planned to make, however.
Representatives from Fischer and SD1 did not attend Wednesday’s meeting.
After some more discussion, the commission seemed to agree with Arnold’s alternative, especially given that the land didn’t seem to have much potential for large-scale development.
“I’m comfortable with it now,” said Commission Chair Brian Dunham.
The commission then unanimously voted to approve Arnold’s request.
Arnold spoke with LINK nky after the meeting, and he admitted that the extra engineering and design work had added cost to his plans. He said that altogether the engineering and improvement work would likely cost him in the six figures, but he still believed he’d likely turn a profit when he eventually sold the land off. What’s more, he believed he could do so while maintaining the natural landscape of the parcels, which was always his goal.
“I think it kind of works out for everybody,” Arnold said.
In this case, the planning commission’s decision is final, so the matter will not go before the Erlanger City Council.
The next meeting of the Kenton County Planning Commission will take place on Thursday, Aug. 1 beginning at 6:15 p.m. at the Kenton County Government Center on Simon Kenton Way in Covington.