What Kenton County is calling its site readiness initiative is proving unpopular among residents of the southern end of the county.
A joint venture of the Kenton County Fiscal Court, Northern Kentucky Port Authority and Kenton County Planning and Development Services, the site readiness initiative aims to catalog available land in the county ideal for industrial development.
The initiative is in a very early phase; Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann was loathe to even call it a plan at a public meeting at Piner Elementary School Tuesday evening, where he and others associated with the initiative set out to describe the initiative and assuage the concerns of residents.
“I want to acknowledge the anxiety that many have felt over the past couple of weeks as this discussion has occurred,” Knochelmann told the packed cafeteria. “And really, if anybody has lost sleep over it, I would just kind of rest your mind and say, No. 1, I apologize if that’s giving you any unease. That’s not our desire.”
The county’s planning around how to track industrial space and potential development space dates back to the 1990s, but the beginnings of what would become the site readiness initiative date back to the 2014 update of the county’s comprehensive plan and the formation of the South Kenton County Citizens Group. More changes were made in the county’s 2020 comprehensive plan, which updated the recommended land use throughout the county.
Kenton County Planning and Development Services Community Manager Josh Wice presented the site readiness plan to the Kenton County Fiscal Court in mid-October.
Wice’s presentation explained that Kenton County was running out of developable land – past development trends show that much of the county’s land is either already urbanized or undergoing suburbanization. Wice’s presentation suggested the county would run out of land suitable for industrial use in the coming decades if nothing changed.
Why is this important in the county’s view?
Both Knochelmann and Wice argued that industrial land would bring better, more highly paid jobs to the county. Moreover, they argued that warehousing and distribution were already gobbling up much of the available land, potentially crowding out better jobs.
The initiative located two areas of focus in the southwest end of the county, which are relatively flat and undeveloped. They also have access to multimodal freight infrastructure due to their proximity to I-71/75, CSX railway and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Focus Area 1 is located in the southwest of Kenton County, close to the Boone County border, US-25, KY-536 and a CSX railway. The area has a total acreage of 2,180 with a potential building coverage of approximately 22.38% of the land.
In order to unlock full development potential, Wice said expanding direct road access to I-71/75 and building out infrastructure for electric, gas, water and wastewater systems are crucial to future site development. The potential road expansion would become a sticking point among many residents later.
Focus Area 2 is located in west central Kenton County along the Boone and Grant County borders. It has direct access to US-25. Wice said that the southern portion of the identified land provides the best opportunity for long-term industrial development.
In October, Knochelmann emphasized that the initiative would be “multigenerational” and could take decades to fully realize. He noted that the county had been working for over a year alongside consultants to scope out the initiative. The fiscal court endorsed the site readiness plan later in October.
Knochelmann, after an overview of the initiative, tried to assuage what he characterized as misconceptions and worries the residents had expressed. Firstly, he said that the county had zero plans of employing eminent domain, although he admitted that he could not speak for state agencies like the transportation cabinet. He also said that rezoning was not part of the initiative and that there were still large chunks of the focus areas that couldn’t be developed for manufacturing and other industries.
He projected two maps of the focus areas onto a screen at the front of the room, which showed some of the area’s current zoning as well as areas most likely to see industrial development in the future.
Attendees were then split into groups and asked to share their feedback. County workers took notes as people spoke. One refrain, which invariably evoked applause from the attendees, was that nothing should change.
Many people wanted to keep the county’s rural character. Some had been living on farmland they’d owned for generations, and even if no forcible re-zoning took place, the expansion of industry into the south end of the county had some worried about the future.
“We’ve got like 40 acres [on our property] with three houses,” Nelson Schadler, a county resident, told LINK nky. “It’s all family land we’ve had over 100 years in the family. We don’t want to lose it.”
Another resident, Rhonda McCardle, said much of her family lives in the land marked for likely industrial development in focus area 2.
“In 2012, we lost 100% of everything we had to a tornado, and we just rebuilt,” McCardle said. Her fear was that any industrial development might muscle out the existing farms, a fear that several attendees expressed.
“Nobody wants that kind of change,” McCardle said.
Others were concerned about the development’s environmental impact, especially as it related to the Mullins Wildlife Management Area, a nature preserve managed by the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources.
Still others continued to express worry about the use of eminent domain and the effect that expanding either I-75 or U.S. Route 25 might have on the area. Some also said they’d not been receiving letters and surveys the county had been sending out to residents; one group recommended that everyone living in the two focus areas receive a feedback survey.
The effect industrial development might have on land prices, property values as well as the timing of potential development were also common concerns.
Kentucky Rep. Mark Hart, a Republican whose district includes much of south Kenton County, attended the meeting as well. He admitted that he didn’t know much more about the project than anyone else and had come to the meeting to learn more.
“I think the community, at least in this group, it seems like they’re all on the same page,” Hart said, “and that’s what they want to do, protect it.”
He said that there wasn’t much the General Assembly could do about the issue without changing laws.
“This is an issue that is starting to face a lot of state, not just here, because as we grow and progress and industrialize, we’re losing farmland,” Hart said. “And so unfortunately, it’s becoming an issue… My position is, I would like to see every effort made to protect every farm out there, as long as the farms are being utilized to farm like they should be.”
Knochelmann encouraged county residents to contact either him or the other elected commissioners to share their concerns (you can find commissioners’ contact information here).
Residents will also have two additional opportunities to share their thoughts and hear details about the plan. The first will be at the meeting of the Kenton County Planning Commission on Thursday at the Kenton County Government Center in Covington. The meeting begins at 6:15 p.m., and Knochelmann will be giving a presentation similar to the one he gave at Tuesday’s meeting.
The county will also hold a larger meeting like the one at Piner on Monday, Feb. 10 at Simon Kenton High School beginning at 6 p.m. County residents who could not attend Tuesday’s meeting are encouraged to attend as the seating capacity at Simon Kenton is considerably larger than Piner Elementary.
Click here to watch the judge/executive’s complete presentation.
Kenton Hornbeck contributed reporting to this article.