- Silverman & Company is seeking to rezone 33 acres near Old Union Road and U.S. 42 to build a 340-unit luxury apartment community
- Union Mayor Larry Solomon and dozens of residents argued the development would worsen traffic on Bowman Way and U.S. 42
- The proposal now heads to the Boone County Planning Commission’s Zone Change Subcommittee for further review
Dozens of residents filled the chambers of the Boone County Administration Building Wednesday evening to voice their opposition to a proposed luxury apartment complex near the Union-Florence border.
The proposal has proven to be polarizing, with many Boone County residents and Union city officials vehemently opposing it, while some Florence city officials support the project.
The Boone County Planning Commission held a public hearing on Aug. 8 for the project. Blue Ash-based Silverman & Company, the developer, shared its proposal before the commissioners and a captive audience of residents. Ryan Silverman, the company’s vice president, delivered the presentation.
“In short, our goal is to provide our residents with the very finest apartment living experience available in the suburban Northern Kentucky market,” Silverman said.
Silverman & Co. is seeking to amend the zoning designation for roughly 33 acres of land near Old Union Road and U.S. 42 to make way for the development of a 340-unit luxury apartment complex. The property in question is actually two separate parcels of land that are bundled together in the proposal. The land is locally referred to as the “Witt and Streutke property.”
Currently, the site’s zoning designation is a mixture of three zoning classifications: Rural, Suburban and Rural Suburban Estates. To proceed, Silverman & Co. needs the parcel’s zoning designation changed to Urban Residential One/Planned Development.
Silverman & Co. is an experienced regional real estate developer, having completed several luxury apartment complexes in Mason, Ohio. In Northern Kentucky, Silverman & Co. recently commenced development on 269 market-rate apartments at the Covington Central Riverfront site.
Silverman explained that the 340 apartment units will be distributed across a combination of three- and four-story buildings marketed toward working professionals and empty-nesters seeking to downsize.
Regarding amenities, Silverman & Co.’s plans indicate that residents would have access to an 8,000-square-foot clubhouse and a range of resort-style amenities, including a swimming pool, a pickleball court, a dog park, outdoor workspaces, fire pits, and other gathering areas.
Another point of contention is the property’s jurisdictional status. Currently, the property lies within unincorporated Boone County, meaning it is outside the city limits of both Florence and Union. However, as part of Silverman & Co.’s proposal, the land would be annexed to the city of Florence if approved. This would place the land under Florence’s legal jurisdiction.
If this occurs, the project would likely move forward, as Florence officials reportedly back the development. This would presumably frustrate Union officials, who have openly opposed the project.
After the presentation concluded, local officials and residents began to push back. Union Mayor Larry Solomon disputed several of Silverman’s claims, telling the commission that Silverman & Co. had originally sought to annex the land into Union. The city commission ultimately rejected the plan, believing Old Union Road could not accommodate the additional traffic.
A major sticking point for Solomon and much of the public is the development’s potential impact on local traffic. The current proposal would route all resident vehicle traffic through Bowman Way, which connects to U.S. 42 at a busy intersection. Solomon and others argued that this would place too much pressure on Bowman Way because residents, visitors, delivery vehicles and service vehicles would share the same entrance and exit.
Over the past ten years, traffic along U.S. 42 in Union has grown increasingly congested due to a substantial rise in commercial and residential development along the corridor.
“Our conclusion has to be that the current infrastructure cannot support this project’s incremental traffic, and the City of Union’s position on this thing is unanimous – we voted five zero, that we had to show our position on it,” Solomon said.
Silverman, however, said that they hired Bayer Becker, a civil engineering firm based in Northern Kentucky, to prepare a traffic study that was initially approved by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The agency suggested enhancements like extending Bowman Way into the development and incorporating dedicated left, right and through- turn lanes to accommodate the project.
Following Solomon, other residents, including homeowner Chuck Whitlock, shared their concerns. Whitlock urged the planning commission to exercise “extreme care” in reviewing the application. He accused Silverman & Co. of “shopping” the proposal among different cities in order to get it approved.
“I believe this is a unique project,” Whitlock said. “It’s at the confluence of Boone County unincorporated properties, Florence properties, and the City of Union. I believe the testimony that was heard tonight there was some shopping for approval. I think you should exercise extreme care because of that unique aspect of this project.”
The next step for Silverman & Co.’s proposal is to have it reviewed by the planning commission’s Zone Change subcommittee, which will next meet on Wednesday, August 19, at 5 p.m.
After that, the planning commission can either recommend approval or denial of the proposal at the following business meeting. Planning Commission Chairman Charlie Rolfsen noted that the City of Florence has final authority over the project and has the ability to potentially override the commission’s recommendation.
