Bernie Kunkel expressed his concern over a proposed Ridgefield subdivision at the Boone County Fiscal court meeting last week. Part of the subdivision, about 22 houses, would be built next to his parents’ farm with just a fence as a buffer.
“This development is right next to my mother and father’s farm,” Kunkel said, “and even though we have the Right to Farm ordinance which was passed in 1996, I can see a development like this putting pressure to get rid of the farm, to get rid of the smells from the hogs and the animals.”
The court discussed a proposal for a zoning map amendment to allow for the development. Two different options for the 184.77 acres would lead to either 551 homes or 505 homes.
The request was unanimously approved with 12 conditions, one of which was the preservation or documentation of the Blackenbeker-Riley farmhouse. Other conditions involved site design, internal improvements, and project phasing. The school board requested a gradual integration of the subdivision so it wouldn’t have an immediate adverse impact on school capacity and enrollment.
Boone County staff created a 13th condition, asking developer Fischer Homes to integrate traffic calming initiatives within the subdivision. County Administrator Jeff Earlywine said it would be necessary to be proactive with traffic and not reactive on the front end. Fischer Homes agreed to this condition.
When finished, the development will connect Longbranch down to Hathaway, Judge/Executive Gary Moore said. Since it will go down to Ballyshannon, an existing school, the area will support a lot of walkers and golf carts, so the traffic calming measures — like speed humps, bump-out curbs, traffic-island medians, landscaping and signage — will be necessary.
But Kunkel doesn’t think that’s enough.
“I don’t believe the infrastructure is there for this development,” he said. “I think this should be stopped before you vote it in.
Kunkel brought up a proposed development several years ago in Richwood, which the court turned down after hundreds of residents came to protest it.
“How much development do you want?” he said.
Resident Teresa Moffett doesn’t like the idea of the development either. She said several subdivisions created in recent years — Clarkston, Ballyshannon, Orleans and Ridgefield — have led to about 3,000 homes.
“Do we need that much housing?” Moffett asked the court. “We actually happen to have a lower pollution rate than the Greater Cincinnati area because we happen to be up wind. Well I think that when you add 550 lawnmowers every Saturday, that will add to the pollution.”
She also pointed to traffic, storm runoff problems due to the increase in concrete, and removal of trees, which help hold the topsoil, as reasons not to approve the development.
“I would like you to reconsider,” Moffett said. “Is it actually in our interest, or is it just in the builders’ interest?”
Moore responded that the development will not go up overnight; it will take 10-25 years to complete.
In response to Moffett and Kunkel, Commissioner Cathy Flaig said she “doesn’t like it either, but it’s coming.”
Flaig approved the zoning map ammendment, and Moore seconded the motion. It passed 4-0.
