A proposed 87-home subdivision in southern Campbell County advanced Tuesday despite residents’ concerns about housing density and preserving the area’s rural character.
The Campbell County Planning and Zoning Commission voted Oct. 13 to recommend approval of the Camelot Ridge subdivision on approximately 23 acres along Alexandria Pike, just south of Campbell County High School. Commissioners also approved the project’s Stage I development plan, with conditions requiring additional landscaping between the development and neighboring properties.
The zoning change still requires approval from the Campbell County Fiscal Court.
Grand Communities LLC is seeking to rezone the property from Rural Residential Estate to Residential One-D with a residential cluster development overlay. The change would allow 87 detached single-family homes on lots generally 50 feet wide, averaging 4.37 homes per acre.
Many nearby property owners attended the meeting wearing red and carrying “vote no” signs to express their opposition.
“Cluster and country don’t really go together,” said nearby resident Mike Howard.
The property, owned by Plum Creek Partners LLC, is currently zoned for approximately one home per acre.
Campbell County Planning and Zoning Director Cindy Minter said the proposal aligns with the county’s comprehensive plan, which identifies the corridor for higher-density residential development.
Minter also pointed to the 2023 Northern Kentucky Area Development District regional housing study identifying a shortage of housing options for working households.
“We do have an issue with that missing middle housing,” Minter said.
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
The proposed homes would range from approximately 1,400 to 3,000 square feet, with two-car garages. Construction is tentatively expected to begin with grading in fall 2027, followed by infrastructure work and home construction in spring 2028.
Grand Communities Planning and Entitlements Manager Amanda Webb said the development would preserve approximately 20% of the property as open space, including wooded areas and two stormwater detention basins.
“Most of these lots will have either very deep backyards or they’ll be backing to some type of an open space area,” Webb said. “We’re really happy with the way that this has turned out.”
However, residents questioned whether the proposed open space adequately offsets the development’s density.
Tim Stevenson, who owns two properties adjacent to the proposed development, said he understands that development is inevitable but believes the proposed density is inappropriate for the surrounding neighborhood.
“I moved to Campbell County for a rural environment,” Stevenson said. “It was estate zoned, and now it’s going to be a cluster right next to me.”
Other residents raised concerns about stormwater runoff, school capacity, traffic congestion and the lack of landscaping separating the proposed homes from existing properties.
“You’re tearing up Southern Campbell County by doing this, and I don’t appreciate it,” said neighboring property owner Jeffery Tom.
Local attorney Steve Megerle, representing several residents, conducted approximately 25 minutes of cross-examination during the meeting and argued that the proposal was inconsistent with the surrounding properties.
“All they’re asking you to do is to listen to them, or to postpone this, and order them (developer) to come have a conversation and be neighborly to their neighbors,” Megerle said.
During deliberations, the commission discussed whether the development’s density was appropriate along a major transportation corridor.
Campbell County Planning and Zoning Commissioner Justin Verst argued that concentrating housing near existing infrastructure could help preserve agricultural land elsewhere in Campbell County.
“One way that you preserve rural agricultural lands is by increasing density in areas where the infrastructure is there, the sewers are there, the water lines are there, the roadways there,” Verst said.
Still, commissioners acknowledged the concerns of neighboring property owners and negotiated an additional condition with the developer.
The commission unanimously recommended the zoning change with a requirement for a 20-foot vegetated buffer along the property’s western and southern boundaries. The buffer must be preserved or planted after grading and protected through a conservation easement recorded on the final plat.
The Stage I plan was also unanimously approved, with the buffer to be incorporated into the Stage II plans using noninvasive plants, preferably native species.
Grand Communities agreed to the conditions.
Verst said the project was consistent with the comprehensive plan, even though nearby residents would experience significant changes.
“Unfortunately, for the folks that live in that area, this is an area that’s going to, over time, transition,” he said.
The Campbell County Fiscal Court will consider the zoning recommendation at a future meeting. No date for that vote was announced.
