- Florence unanimously passed Ordinance O-11-2026 to address vehicle queues spilling onto public streets from high-traffic businesses.
- Violations can result in fines up to $5,000, with enforcement handled through the city’s Code Enforcement Board.
- City officials say the ordinance is focused on public safety and is not targeted at any single business, including 7 Brew.
The City of Florence passed an ordinance to curb vehicle queues that spill onto public roadways, reducing potential safety hazards for drivers and emergency response vehicles.
Over the past few weeks, the Florence City Council has advanced ordinance O-11-2026, which establishes new regulations to prevent motor vehicle queues from commercial, industrial, and non-residential properties from spilling onto public streets and rights-of-way.
Typically, the businesses that generate the longest vehicle queues are those that generate high traffic, like fast food restaurants, drive-thru coffee chains and industrial delivery operations.
Last week, Florence unanimously passed the ordinance, although a lengthy discussion preceded the vote.
Earlier this week, LINK nky media partner WCPO reported that some Florence residents voiced concerns about traffic congestion caused by 7 Brew, a drive-thru coffee chain with two stores in Boone County: one off Turfway Road and the other on US-42 near the Interstate-75 ramp. The outlet reported that 7 Brew has gained a reputation for generating long vehicle queues at its Northern Kentucky stores.
Prior to the ordinance’s approval, Councilwoman Diane Whalen asked whether a line of multiple vehicles blocking a roadway would count as one violation or several.
“I’m having a really, really hard time with this one because there’s already legal reasons why they can’t impede the right-of-way and we’re now adding to that a civil violation on top of that, adding to the duties of code enforcement and who calls them and how all of that’s done in a timely fashion.”
For reference, the penalty for an infraction is a $1,000 fine on the first offense, a $2,500 fine for the second offense within a 12 month period, and $5,000 for each additional offense within the same 12-month period. Enforcement would be handled by Florence’s Code Enforcement Board.
Violations would adhere to the same schedule as other standard code enforcement violations within the city. Code enforcement officers would be required to photograph the violation, then send an official letter to the business informing them of the infraction.
Florence City Administrator Josh Hunt clarified that a line of vehicles would generally result in a single citation, rather than issuing a citation to each driver. In addition, Hunt said that police officers would be tasked with responding first to address the immediate safety hazard by directing traffic or requiring the business to temporarily close access points.
Hunt emphasized that the ordinance was not targeted at any single business and would be enforced on a “site-by-site, case-by-case” basis.
“I have dealt with stacking issues for years and they take years to resolve,” he said. “I could tell you, I’ve been personally successful at–and I don’t want to name businesses– but correcting these issues, and they take years to work through. This ordinance not only prevents life safety issues, but it gives us the ability to address these things head-on and require these businesses to address the issues immediately.”
Hunt reaffirmed that the main purpose of the ordinance is to enable law enforcement to assist in maintaining street safety.
“I’ll reiterate, the biggest thing is it allows the police officers and the first responders to immediately make our road safe, and I don’t know how people can’t get on board with that aspect of the ordinance,” he said.
Hunt stated that one of the next steps for the city in combating traffic queues is to update its zoning regulations to better address the issue in the future.
