There are plans for a new drive-thru restaurant at the eastern end of Dudley Road where it meets Madison Pike (KY 17) in Edgewood.
A zoning map amendment is required first.
Local former attorney Eric Deters is planning to launch what he is calling Liberty BBQ on a site currently occupied by an office building where an insurance firm operated previously.
Deters also said that he plans to relocate his namesake law firm and media company to the Edgewood site as well.
Existing structures on the site will be razed, he said, and new construction would replace them.
The Kenton County Planning Commission offered its approval to the map amendment in October, changing 990, 996, and 998 Dudley Rd. from professional office zoning to highway commercial. The vote was 10-4 to approve.
Now, the City of Edgewood has to consider the change since the planning commission is merely a recommending body.
“I have always wanted to start a concept, fresh and clean,” Deters said at the October planning commission meeting. “In other words, a restaurant concept that nobody else has done before.”
He described Liberty BBQ as “high quality barbecue that is fast food.”
There will only be drive-thru service, he said.
Deters said that restaurant operators learned during COVID pandemic restrictions that scaling down a business model to include carryout and delivery only, rather than including sit-down options, could be profitable. There will be a drive-thru lane reserved solely for delivery services, he said.
He hopes to model the business’s efficiency after Chick-fil-A, Deters said.
Meanwhile, last week, Edgewood city council discussed the map amendment at length.
There are concerns over the impact to traffic in this highly traveled section of the region, both at the city level and argued at the planning commission meeting in October. A traffic study is expected.
Councilman Jeff Schreiver wants to see the traffic study before the next city council meeting on December 20.
City Attorney Frank Wichmann and City Administrator Brian Dehner noted that the traffic study was not presented to the planning commission.
The city has decided to host a public hearing on the zone change, Monday, December 20 at 6:30 p.m. It will be what Wichmann described as an “argumentative hearing”, meaning that no new evidence can be introduced, and will based on what was presented at the planning commission.
The public hearing will precede the regular council meeting.
The city must make its decision by January 12.
Meanwhile, the city and Deters are concerned about what the Commonwealth of Kentucky may do with this section of Dudley Road.
Deters, who has a contract to purchase the property from its current owners, said that he is willing to move forward and will work with the state on any possible realignment of Dudley, which could impact access to the business.
Edgewood city council last week adopted a resolution opposing the possible realignment, which is not yet finalized in design or budget at the state level.
-Patricia A. Scheyer and Michael A. Monks
