- Boone County Planning Commission committee voted to deny a zone change for the proposed Union Landing development.
- The plan called for 382 homes, including townhomes and patio homes, on Hathaway Road outside Union.
- Commissioners cited concerns about density, infrastructure, and the project’s fit with surrounding low-density neighborhoods.
A key Boone County Planning Commission committee has recommended against a proposed zone change that would have allowed nearly 400 housing units just outside Union.
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, the Boone County Planning Commission’s zone change committee voted to recommend denial of a zone change request that, if approved, would have allowed a developer to build 382 dwelling units outside of Union. The project is titled Union Landing.
Charter Commercial, a developer based in Crestview Hills, shared its concept development plan with the full Boone County Planning Commission at a public hearing on Sept. 3. The firm previously presented the development plans to the Union City Commission on Aug. 18.
Charter’s proposal sought to change the 39.5-acre site at 2063 Hathaway Road from Suburban Residential-1 Planned Development to Suburban Residential-2 Planned Development.
Charter Commercial’s plans call for building 88 paired patio homes and 294 townhome units, which works out to an average of 9.7 units per acre. Overall, Union Landing will have 20 condo buildings, each with 14 units, plus two buildings with seven units each.
The property is known as the Robert Reeves Estate, according to Boone County property records. The site has unique property boundaries, showing that 0.3 acres of the parcel are within the City of Union, while the rest is in unincorporated Boone County.
According to a 2024 LINK nky story, a development consortium called Great Places LLC, which includes local contractors Dave Noll, Matt Tobler, Dave Neff, and Larry Ruehl, intended to build a subdivision on the site. However, the development never moved forward, and the site remains unchanged to this day.
Regarding the zone change, commissioners voiced concerns about how the development might affect density, infrastructure, and the rural nature of the land.
Committee member Rick Lunnemann stated that he believed the density outlined in Charter’s development proposal would be too intense for the more rural Hathaway Road.
“I think a development of this caliber and this type of product–town homes and patio home, condo-type thing–is extremely appropriate for the Union Town area, but this is kind of the perimeter of it, and it’s along Hathaway, which really doesn’t have any of this kind of development product,” he said.
Lunnemann noted that the concept plan’s density per acre is much higher than what is permitted for that area. Furthermore, he said that the surrounding areas are low-density single-family developments, with no SR-2 zones nearby. He said he would, in theory, support the development if it were proposed within a more centralized location in the Union Town area.
Committee member Janet Kegley recentered the conversation around whether the zone change is appropriate or not.
“What we’re talking about is the zone change, because if we think that we don’t like the areas for open space, we can discuss that, if we think that SR-2 is appropriate, but if we don’t think SR-2 is appropriate, then it doesn’t really matter what they put in there,” she said.
Like Lunnemann, she expressed doubts about whether the development was appropriate for Hathaway Road. She specifically expressed concerns about the current roadway infrastructure and whether it could support increased traffic.
“This is, you know, we’re really just opening up Hathaway Road, and it kind of sets a precedent for a lot of high density on a road that really isn’t probably ready for that yet,” she said.
Ultimately, the committee recommended denying the zone change, citing the aforementioned concerns. Next, the zone change legislation will be heard by the full planning commission at a meeting on October 1.