- A Boone County Planning Commission committee voted 3-2 to recommend approval of a 340-unit apartment development near the Florence-Union border.
- Committee members raised concerns about traffic on U.S. 42, limited access and potential cut-through traffic near Union Promenade.
- The proposal now heads to the full Boone County Planning Commission on Sept. 2 for consideration.
A polarizing luxury development proposal to build a 340-unit apartment complex at the border of Florence and Union narrowly advanced through a key committee.
In a 3-2 vote, the Boone County Planning Commission’s Zone Change subcommittee recommended approval of a zone change request that would pave the way for the development.
The proposal has proven to be controversial among many Boone County residents and Union City officials. During a public hearing on Aug. 5, dozens of people packed the chambers of the Boone County Administration Building to protest the proposal, with several speakers raising concerns that the development could negatively affect local traffic.
The firm behind the proposal is Silverman & Co., a Blue Ash-based regional real estate developer that has completed commercial and residential projects in the Cincinnati suburbs and Northern Kentucky.
Specifically, Silverman & Co. has requested a zoning change for nearly 33 acres of land near Old Union Road and U.S. 42. The property in question is actually two separate parcels of land that are bundled together in the proposal.
The land, locally referred to as the “Witt and Streutke property,” is currently zoned as a mix of rural, suburban, and rural suburban estates. To move forward, the firm needs the zoning designation changed to urban residential one/planned development.
Our region, according to a housing strategies report released in 2025, lacks sufficient housing for young adults forming their first household; for essential workers like nurses, teachers and first responders; and for older adults. A teacher with a median annual income of $43,740, for example, can afford only 26% of the rental and 16% of the for-sale housing in the region, according to the report. For a restaurant server, only 1% of the region’s rental housing is affordable.
An older person relying on Social Security can also afford only 1% of rental housing in the region, according to the report.
The report, called Home for All: Northern Kentucky Housing Strategies, came to be thanks to more than 90 leaders and experts from across NKY who spent hours studying the region and its urgent housing challenge. Their goal was to close the housing gap across income levels and provide a place for everyone.
Click here to learn more about the shortage and how NKY leaders and community members are stepping in to find solutions.
Understanding NKY’s housing shortage
Ryan Silverman, the firm’s vice president, said the apartment units would be spread across several three- and four-story buildings, marketed to working professionals and empty-nesters seeking to downsize.
In addition, the development would feature amenities such as 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.
Although the committee voted to advance the proposal, they still raised several concerns about certain elements of the project.
Committee Chairwoman Corrin Gulick worried the development’s limited access could prompt residents to cut through a neighboring shopping center. She indicated that the project would be more feasible if the planned Long Branch Road connector project were moving forward.
“My concern is, I’m living here, and I want to go to the Union Promenade, which I think a substantial number of your residents will, especially given the demographic that you’re targeting – I’m not going to go to the signal, and I question whether or not the signal is actually going to work with that right-turn overlap,” Gulick said. “That’s also a significant concern of mine, given the queuing and how that would need to operate to protect the level of service that thing is going to happen here.”
Another concern raised by committee members was whether the project’s traffic study adequately accounted for growth around prominent developments such as the Union Promenade, a 68-acre, $170 million mixed-use development off U.S. 42.
Over the past decade, U.S. 42 has become a major corridor in Boone County due to an influx of commercial and residential development. This growth has heightened local concerns about traffic congestion.
In addition, projects like the Boone County School District’s new early childhood education center in the former Kroger building at 8825 U.S. 42 have raised concerns about increased congestion on U.S. 42. The development site and the forthcoming education center are less than a quarter mile apart.
Etta Reed, a traffic engineer at Bayer Becker, a consulting firm in Fort Mitchell, sought to address worries about possible traffic overlaps.
“The only time that the school traffic and our traffic would overlap is truly in the morning,” Reed said. “We’re all leaving the area to go to work. They’re coming into the area to go to school, so there’s no conflict there per se between the two traffic, and so the impact of the early childhood center on this corridor, compared to what the Kroger’s would have been, is not much of an impact at all.”
The committee also reviewed several conditions and zoning deviations, ultimately supported requirements for Florence’s multifamily design and setback standards, buffering, street construction, signage and a right-of-way for a prospective Long Branch Road extension.
The committee’s favorable recommendation will be heard before the Boone County Planning Commission on Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 7 p.m.
