- The Kenton County Planning Commission signed off on zoning and early development plans for a land annexation that would enable the expansion of an industrial park in Independence.
- The expansion would serve as a continuation of Park 536, which currently has two buildings occupied.
- The city has been seeking to develop the land for years, and the Independence City Council will to vote to finalized the annexation in the coming months.
On Monday evening, the Kenton County Planning Commission signed off on the annexation of about 96 acres in the unincorporated county into the City of Independence. It’s a move that may eventually enable the expansion of Park 536, a cluster of industrial buildings along KY-536.
“This is intended to be a continuation of the neighboring development,” said Kenton County Senior Planner Patrick Denbow.
Park 536 currently consists of two occupied buildings and spaces for two more buildings. The expansion would enable the construction of three more, bringing the total number of buildings in the complex to seven.
Ryan Lidke, a representative from developer Van Trust Real Estate, which is developing both the existing park and the expansion, informed the planning commission that Van Trust had not yet identified tenants for the yet-to-be-constructed buildings. The two existing buildings are occupied by Thermo Fisher, a private clinical research firm, and logistics firm DB Schenker, which was recently purchased by Danish transport conglomerate DSV.
Van Trust hopes to break ground on a third building sometime this summer.
Annexation refers to the process by which a property in an unincorporated area is absorbed into the boundaries of a city, thereby giving it access to city services. Annexations, including this one, are often consensual, but the planning commission offers recommendations on how an annexation conforms to broader county comprehensive planning and if the property ought to be rezoned.
In this case, the commission approved annexation as fitting into the county’s comprehensive plan and recommended rezoning the land from its current residential zone to a general industrial zone. The city council will have to vote to finalize the zoning in the future.
The owners of the land, the Enid Mair Mason Revocable Trust, had sought an annexation agreement with the city on Feb. 11, according to documents submitted to the county. Purchase of the land has not been finalized yet, but Lidke told LINK nky the plan was to have the land purchase finalized by the end of the year.
The Independence City Council performed a first reading of an ordinance that would enable the annexation on March 2. City Attorney Jake Gatlin said at that meeting that it was “going to be two months, most likely, before this comes back to us for a second reading, maybe even potentially three months.”
The land itself is located on the south side of Mount Zion Road between Robert Spegal Road and Sigmon Lane. It’s mostly vacant, but the surrounding areas have both industrial and residential development. There are two ponds on the land, the larger of which the developers plan to keep and incorporate into the site’s water detention infrastructure.
Access onto the site, according to Van Trust’s development plan, would be from Robert Spegal Road to the east, which already serves as the primary access point for the existing Park 536 buildings. The largest building on the expansion site (labeled “Building 5” in the development plan) would span about 500,000 square feet. The other two buildings would span 306,000 square feet.
The complex would contain 1,004 normal parking spaces, 24 handicap spaces and 277 spaces for semi trucks.
The plan presented to the commission on Monday was an early phase, and the developers will need to seek permits for various aspects of the work before they can begin building in earnest.
The initial rumblings of the Park 536 development date back to 2021. City elected officials have been interested in developing the land for years, said Mayor Chris Reinersman, but the owners weren’t interested for a long time.
“When the Mason farm became available, and (the owners) went into talks with (the developers), we started talking to Van Trust again, and came to an agreement,” Reinersman told the commissioners. “This is the next logical extension of the park. So, we’re very excited at this opportunity for citizens of Independence.”
The property’s trustee, Elizabeth Mason-Hill, spoke briefly, saying the trust had “no objections to the property development or the zoning changes.” No members of the community spoke either in favor or against the proposal.
One Commissioner, Elsmere Rep. Doug Armbruster, abstained from voting. The rest of the commission voted in favor.