Wilder residents and its city council heard an updated development proposal by Fischer Homes for its portion of the Sunrock development.
Fischer Homes has already begun developing 238 units of condominiums near Bentwood Hills Drive in Wilder but has reapproached the city for a total of 611 units, including paired patio homes, townhomes, apartments and single-family homes.
The development would continue the 575 units approved for Sunrock in Southgate last month. The point of the presentation was to give residents and the council an idea of what changes were made from the denied plans previously brought before the council in 2022.
A study of housing in Northern Kentucky has revealed troubling trends for housing in the region, with the largest need being for “workforce housing” for households earning between $15 and $25 per hour, with monthly housing costs between $500 and $1,500. The region needs about 3,000 more housing units to provide for people within that income range, according to the study. The demand for one- to two-bedroom rentals and owned properties consistently exceeds their supply, while supply for three and four-bedroom properties consistently exceeds demand. The study suggests that the region needs to build 6,650 housing units to support economic development in the next five years, which equates to 1,330 units per year. Read more here.
Understanding NKY’s housing shortage
No vote was taken at the meeting as it was for informational purposes only. The Wilder Planning and Zoning Commission must approve the design concept before the city council votes.
In addition to the extra units included in the plan, Fischer also plans to ask Wilder for a 40-year, $500,000 Industrial Revenue Bond with 100% of the revenue going to the city, retaining $31,304,000 over those 40 years. Fischer Homes Chairman Greg Fischer said they plan to use the $500,000 for a water line installation in year three of development.
Kentucky allows cities to provide IRB financing as an economic development tool to increase the tax base.
The IRB was a concern for many residents and council members who spoke at the meeting.
“I, like many of my counterparts here, are not in favor of an IRB,” Wilder City Council Member Bob Blankenship said. “I don’t think we need to pay it. You’ve got the property you need. You know how to build homes and make a profit.”
During the meeting, Wilder City Manager Terry Vance clarified that the $500,000 would be written into the city budget (in the third year of development) to pay for the water line—the money would not go to Fischer Homes.
Vance said it is a similar ask to what the city did in 1989 with Sentinel Point, but with a sewer line.
“We don’t write Greg (Fischer) a check and say here, do what you want with it,” Vance said. “The IRB is really for the other taxing entities (such as the school district), not Wilder, but they have to be issued by Wilder.”
Wilder resident Tom Asher questioned why Fischer Homes would purchase property for a development if they didn’t already anticipate making money.
“I understand this is a difficult property to build on, but they already own the property and why did they buy the property before they knew they were going to get this incentive?” Asher said. “Which makes me think that it must be profitable to build it without the incentive; these guys aren’t stupid.”
Wilder Council Member Jim Profitt said though he is not usually for IRBs and doesn’t see the $500,000 making or breaking the project, he said the city needs to consider development for tax revenue purposes.
“The $500,000 that they’re asking for infrastructure is something we normally do for a lot of businesses,” Wilder Council Member Jim Profitt said. “Whether we give it to him or not, it really doesn’t have any effect on the council at this point. The other thing is, with the steel plant being closed, our fire department being low staffed, our police department being low staffed, our maintenance being low staffed, at some point, we’re either going to have to raise taxes, or we’re going to have to have development in our city.”
Wilder Mayor Valerie Jones said that without new development, the burden of financial resiliency would fall to the council and its decision on tax rates.
“A city cannot stay stagnant; it’s simply not sustainable,” Jones said. “If you want to maintain reasonable tax rates, cities must see revenue growth at a minimum, consistent with inflation, to cover costs to operate, remain fully staffed with talented individuals and deliver the services that are expected.”
The estimated time for the complete development build is 13 years.
Fischer said the site would consist of upscale homes across 85 acres. Amenities include pocket parks, a pool and a clubhouse.
Most of the site is proposed to stay natural or be re-naturalized. Fischer said they plan to reduce stormwater going down to Bentwood Hills by redirecting it to a detention pond.
“The stormwater that’s coming from our project of the peak flows will be reduced by 20%,” Fischer said.
Another concern that residents spoke of during the meeting was traffic.
One issue addressed by Fischer was that Bentwood Hills Drive would see a 20% decrease in traffic due to a new exit being added at Three Mile Road for Bentwood Hills and Sunrock residents.
“We’re going to be adding a new entrance at Three Mile Road to go up to NKU and the intersection at 275,” Fischer said. “So, about 40% of the total traffic is expected to exit towards I-275, and 10% of the traffic from this development will go to Bentwood. I will also say that I’d imagine residents of Bentwood will utilize this as a way to get up to 275. So, that will reduce the total amount of traffic by north of 20% on Bentwood Hills Drive.”
Some residents did not agree that traffic would be alleviated.
“It was brought up on the presentation that this is a traffic improvement, I disagree,” Wilder resident Garrett Scotty said. “There’s going to be hundreds of more cars. The fact that this is a better way. I think, Greg, this is a better way for you to make money. It’s not necessarily a better way for us to live nicely in our community.”
The Bentwood Hills Condominiums neighbor the Sunrock development, and its residents also stated concerns about traffic. Darlene Spicer said she already waits at the Bentwood entrance for cars passing by on Moock Road, and that is without the developments added vehicles.
“We like our little two-lane road and our country living, and three mile likes theirs,” Spicer said.
Greg Fischer sits on the Managing Board of LINK nky, which oversees the business operations of LINK but has no say in editorial matters.
