Elsmere is seeking to change a handful of unrelated building and zoning regulations.
The city sought a recommendation from the Kenton County Planning Commission this week. The regulations address pools and other backyard accessory structures; changes to driveway setbacks; fencing regulations in the city’s neighborhood commercial districts; storage regulations for large vehicles in non-residential zones; and regulations on storing commercial dual-wheel pickup trucks in residential zones.
The city updated its zoning regulations in 2021.
“During that time, zoning administrators at the city have identified several things that they would like to change in order to aid in administration and also to make things a little bit more clear,” said Kenton County Director of Planning Andy Videkovich.
County planning professionals and code enforcement staff presented these recommendations to the Elsmere City Council in April. The council then agreed to seek a recommendation from the planning commission.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of each proposed change:
- Accessory structures, including swimming pools, would now be allowed to extend into the setbacks of backyards. Current backyard setbacks are 25 feet from the rear property line. Under the new regulations, accessory structures would have to maintain a 10-foot setback. Accessory structures would still not be allowed in front yards.
- Driveways would now need to be setback at least 2 feet from the property line they run parallel to.
- Wood fences with less than a 50% gap between posts would now be allowed in the side and rear yards of properties in neighborhood commercial zones. Solid masonry walls and close-post wooden fencing is already allowed in the side and rear yards of properties in neighborhood commercial zones under the current regulations.
- Campers, boats, trailers, other recreational vehicles and similar equipment would no longer need to be parked and stored away from public view in the city’s non-residential zones. Such vehicles would still need to be parked on surfaces of pavement, compacted gravel or crushed stone. Regulations of the parking and storage of personal vehicles on private property would not change.
- A single commercial pickup truck with dual rear wheels, also known as a dually truck, could now be parked on residential property. These trucks are federally classified as Class 5 vehicles; other types of Class 5 vehicles will still be prohibited.
The fourth proposal about storing vehicles away from public view would dovetail with regulations in neighboring Erlanger and was aimed specifically at businesses along the Dixie Highway corridor, according to Elsmere Code Enforcement Officer Rich Aliff.
“[If] you have a small building there, [the current regulation] says everything needs to be behind the building,” said Aliff. “But you can’t get them all behind the building.”
“This will allow for consistent style of development across area jurisdictions and hold similar businesses along the corridor to the same standards,” Videkovich said.
As it related to the dually trucks, Aliff said, “Vehicles are changing constantly. People have bigger trucks. Rather than trying to regulate to keep them out… you can drive your truck home. You can have one of them. You can’t have 12 of them, but you can have one of them.”
County planning professionals gave a favorable recommendation for the changes, and although some of the commissioners had some small recommendations about the proposals’ language, they eventually voted to recommend the changes as well.
The proposals will now return to the Elsmere City Council for final approval.
