Plans to bring a Smoothie King location to Ft. Wright will be considered at next week’s meeting of the Kenton County Planning Commission.
However, the project received an unfavorable recommendation by staff at Planning & Development Services of Kenton County (PDS), which will present the proposal to the commission next Thursday.
According to documents submitted to PDS and created by staff there, Texas Roadhouse Holdings, LLC is requesting approval to move forward on a 1,600-sq. ft. Smoothie King location that would include a drive-thru.
The site is on Viewpoint Drive near the new Planet Fitness in a commercial part of the city that also includes a Walmart.
The unfavorable recommendation by PDS staff notes that the proposed location lacks adequate off-street parking, with plans indicating only eight off-street parking spaces, well below the more than 25 suggested by planning guidelines.
Ft. Wright’s zoning ordinance allows for parking to be shared among adjacent businesses, as long as the parking lot is within 500 feet walking distance from the entrance.
Smoothie King’s entrance would be roughly 850 feet from the nearby Planet Fitness, and and while a nearby restaurant is close, too, its parking lot is separated from the proposed Smoothie King site by a 15 to 20-ft. retaining wall.
“Even with a shared off-street parking agreement with either of these locations, staff does not find that the shared parking facility is within the required distance nor is appropriate for this location,” PDS staff wrote.
The planning commission will consider Smoothie King’s stage one development plan, and if approved by the commission and then Ft. Wright city council, PDS staff wrote that more information, particularly about materials to be used, would need to be submitted for consideration as part of a stage two development plan.
-Michael Monks, editor & publisher