Levi Strauss gets zoning ok to move ahead on largest building ever in Boone County — 1.26 million sq. ft.

By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter

The Levi Strauss company had a zoning map amendment approved by the Boone County Fiscal Court on November 15, paving the way for the company to build the largest building in Boone County on approximately 137 acres of land at the south east quadrant of the Graves Road Interchange.

The applicant is Al Neyer, who represents several families who own property in that area. The zone change is from Graves Road Commercial and Graves Road Business Park to Graves Road Business Park Planned Development, which is an overlay.County Administrator Jeffrey Earlywine said that the overlay gives the developer “a broader flexibility and latitude in designing a project that may not be in strict compliance with the current zoning.”

The building promises to be 1.26 million square feet, and will be 95 feet in height, with 66 bays, and 450 parking spaces for tractor trailers, as well as 500 parking spaces for regular vehicles. It will have a 49 acre green space in addition to the required buffer zone, which could be considered for soccer fields and other passive recreation. The building, as well as the Litton Lane extension that they are required to complete, will be built 38 to 48 feet lower than the traditional floor level, to minimize noise. The project has been praised as a ‘crown jewel’ for the company and the county. The final recommendation vote of the planning and zoning commission was 7 to 4 in favor of the project.

Not everyone agreed with the recommendation, and the public hearing had several residents who were not in favor of the project. Some also attended the fiscal court meetings.

“This building is 450,000 square feet larger than the Amazon hub building — it is 35 feet taller than the ordinance for signage allows, ” said Amy Stauffer, a resident who lives in the area, at the Fiscal Court meeting, and she is opposed to the project. “This is setting a precedent for all buildings going forward for Boone County. If Boone County is going to be even more over-industrialized than it already is, it is going to create another ghost warehouse.”

Pat Moore, vice president of architects within the Al Neyer network, the petitioner for the amendment, had a different opinion.

“We feel that this project is consistent with the goal of the Graves Road Interchange study,” he said at the second reading of the ordinance on November 15. “If you read through the goal it talks about a single user, it talks about a large user, it talks about a crown jewel. This is a signature building. It is not — it is not a build to suit with an unknown tenant. It is a signature building with an iconic American brand. It’s a world class facility. It’s a crown jewel with a class A office component.”

He went on to say Levi Strauss is a local company with a proven record of being a good neighbor for years. Sixty to sixty-five percent of the work force in this company are Boone County residents, and the usual work span for workers is 10 to 15 years.

Chet Hand, the newly elected Boone County Commissioner, who will replace Commissioner Charles Kenner, could not be at the first meeting but had plenty to say after he read all the reports and attended the November meeting.

“It is personally very disappointing that we’re even considering a building of this size,” he said. “We are setting the wrong precedent for future Boone County development.”

Hand continued, relating how, as he read the 122-page report by the planning commission, he concluded that the majority of Boone County planning and zoning commissioners were against the project until they found out who the owner was, and then they flipped their vote. This, he maintains, shows that the county is approving the owner, not the development.

The project was initially studied in a planning committee, and that committee voted against recommending for the amendment.

“The Graves Road study project has limitations on the size and scope of the buildings that are developed, and this project is five times that size,” Hand stated. “I don’t know why we put limits on these things if we’re not going to adhere to them. It used to be for the community that the eyesore in Boone County was Amazon. That was what people would refer to as being the behemoth in our area. Now it’s going to be this Levi building.”

Brian Dunham, of Dunham Law, and the attorney for the Levi Strauss project, projected an idea of what the company could build if they hadn’t modified their plans at significant expense to the developer.

“We could build 4 to 5 spec buildings that collectively have more square footage of operations than what we are proposing, resulting in four times the number of dock doors, three times the truck traffic, docks facing the neighboring subdivision and significantly less of a set back along the Liberty Crossing subdivision property line,” he said. “So when you compare what can happen today under current zoning to what we are proposing you can understand why the planning commission found that the current zoning is inappropriate and that our zoning is appropriate and we believe it should be adopted today by this fiscal court.”

Chet Hand thought that this statement amounted to a threat.

“When you say, well we could do three buildings that look like X, Y, or Z, to me that’s a threat, because the planning commission and the county still have the same obligations with three buildings than they do with one building to make sure that it fits with the surrounding area,” he stated. “One of the comments was that Levi (Strauss) put in a significant effort to try to meet all of our requirements, our requests, and what I took away from that was we’re giving out gold stars for effort. It still doesn’t meet the requirements of the Graves Road study, it is still has a significant negative impact on the local community and it sets a precedent for the future that that size and that type of building is acceptable in our county. I think that’s the wrong direction.”

Hand said he learned before the meeting that the 8 homes that have been sold in that area have been sold to buyers who are leasing the homes to transient workers for Amazon.

“So we’re really changing the dynamic of the people in our county when we start to bring in these transient work forces that are replacing the long-term Boone County residents who have been here before,” he said.

Architect Pat Moore contended he didn’t feel that any votes in the planning commission were flipped just because of the revelation of the owner of the property, but because they made significant changes to the design and the result was more acceptable to the commissioners.

After the people for and against the project had their say, the commissioners spoke. Commissioner Kenner said that he liked the changes the company made. He said the road that connected Mall Road and Hopeful Church road was built on a lower grade to shield the surrounding subdivisions from the noise of the road, and it worked very well, so the plan to construct the building 38 to 48 feet below floor level, as well as the Litton Lane extension road should work well also, in his opinion.

Commissioner Cathy Flaig said she lives behind Levi Strauss now, in Hebron, and they have always been good neighbors. Although she said she doesn’t like big box buildings, she feels that there will be better paying jobs.

Commissioner Jesse Brewer recused himself because of business dealings with the same people who are involved with the project, so he did not vote or comment.

“I think it is a good project,” Judge Executive Gary Moore summed up. “The building is exceptional. It’s the best we can hope for on the property.”

With that the vote was 3 to 0, and the zoning map amendment was approved.

Director of Zoning Services Michael Schwartz said that the next move is for Levi Strauss to submit a major site plan.