By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Reports on Fort Wright and Erlanger council meetings this week.
Fort Wright
Property issues in the city
Ft Wright City Council went into an executive session after their regular council meeting last week to discuss property issues.
Three properties in the city are of concern, 310 Hazelwood, 420 General Drive, and 426 Morris, and have several liens against them, mostly property owners issues, consisting of lack of property maintenance, and debris problems.
“We have been dealing with these properties for several years,” said CAO Jill Cain Bailey. “Generally, the property owners pay the liens or try to resolve the liens.”
But then, she said, in many cases the property can change hands, which has happened in all three cases.
When that happens, the process has to begin all over again. Council members met to decide if they should start the process all over again, and they agreed that they should do that.
A presentation was given during the meeting which gave and update on the repairs on Ft Henry. The project had been divided into two phases due to the length of the road. The repairs for the first phase have been completed, and the final cost, after the reimbursement from SD-1, came to approximately $989,000, which is slightly under budget.
Phase two should go out to bid in February, and the bid awarded around April so that the work can be done in 2024. The estimated cost, again after reimbursement from SD-1, is expected to be around $650,000.
Erlanger
Preview of Erlanger Road Park Master Plan
Chris Manning, from design company Human Nature Inc., a company came to the Erlanger council meeting to present the plan he created for the city of Erlanger. Manning created the Erlanger Road Park Master Plan, said Mayor Jessica Fette. The property runs between Houston north heading into the Showcase Cinema property all the way to Turfway Road.
Manning showed several slides depicting the site and gave shout outs to Hub and Weber architects, Bayer and Becker engineers, and Brownstone Design companies who were part of the multi-disciplinary team that came up with the drawings.
“I’ve been designing parks for 30 years,” Manning said, “and I’ve never seen a site quite like this. It’s kind of like one of those forgotten areas that run between things, but when you get down there, its like, wow, this is really special, and how do we take advantage of that, and turn it into something really amazing.”
He said it is being looked at as a destination for the city of Erlanger, and for Northern Kentucky.
The shape of the land is unusual, with a chunk of land along one side branching off into two peninsulas of land extending from that main part. It is about 40 acres, behind the Cherry Hill subdivision, extending from Houston Road north to Turfway Road.
“In a series of maps, we have documented the site, It is sort of wedged in between a lot of different land uses, which makes it very dynamic in its own right,” Manning explained. “But it is also a deep valley. It’s part of a much bigger watershed that feeds water down to the Ohio river. We have a lot of different watersheds in Northern Kentucky, but this one is more directly connected to the Ohio River, pretty broadly. Nice little waterfalls up and down the corridor. We’re upstream from the Dry Creek wastewater treatment plant.”
Manning said the dry creek runs all the way to where the Anderson Ferry goes across the Ohio River. It also extends north across the I-275 corridor into some of the eastern neighborhoods.
He told council that it is largely a steep area, but there are places that are flat enough to build things, such as a multipurpose event center, that can be used as a classroom or a rental or family gatherings, with up to 75 people, called the Crown Pavilion. There will be a canopy walk connecting to the pavilion, that is also an overlook to the creek. A tower called the Tulip Poplar tower will be close to the pavilion and serve as a beacon icon for the park. There will be different bridges crossing the creek bed.
Manning explained that the tulip poplar is the Kentucky state tree and that served as inspiration for the depictions, as well as the sweetgum tree and the lobelia wildflower.
There are two access points, one off of Houston road north, and the other off Turfway. Most of the park will be designated for pedestrians only, but there is a multi-use spine trail that runs over the bulk of the land and down one peninsula that will be 10 to 12 feet wide, and could accomodate emergency vehicles if ever a need arose. It will connect with smaller trails that are all connective.
Across Houston they plan to put a dog park. Some shelters in the park will have restrooms and some will not.
There are trail projects going on in the region, such as the planned loop around CVG airport, and he said they have identified a way to create a loop around Erlanger that would go through this proposed park. There is also a loop around Circleport that is already touting the possibility of this Dry Creek park, promoting connectivity in the region.
A noted trail creator for mountain bike trails in Colorado is interested in incorporating the area for designing a mountain bike trail which would travel all the way to the river. CORA, Cincinnati Off-Road Alliance, has already been involved, commissioning a trail design from the Colorado designer.
Mayor Fette said the next steps would be reaching out to potential stakeholders, and she said she has already started that to some extent with Corporex and SD-1.
“Chris has provided us with a phased approach where everything is broken down very easily,” Fette explained. “So that we can start taking little bite-sized chunks out of it, and who are the stakeholders, who are the partners that are going to sit at the table with us and make this happen. I view this as a huge public and private partnership very similar to Summit Park. . .This is a huge region-changing initiative. So, bite-sized chunks and awesome stakeholders at the table.”
Manning recommended that the city formally adopt the plan, as a commitment for the future, and he looked forward to the plan growing, and being implemented over time.
“The goal is to have a public/private partnership,” said Mayor Fette. “We could pick 5 things out of the plan and give them numbers, but it matters what the stakeholders are interested in, and that would change the numbers. It would be nice if someone would donate the whole amount for the entire project, but that’s not reality.”
A small steering committee is now busy looking at different opportunities, such as grants, or anything else to move the project forward.
She said a lot of this is preliminary, but they are trying to spread the word.
“I’m really jazzed about this,” Fette said. “I see a huge potential here, with workforce development, and housing development. It is in the backyard of Cherry Hill. The opportunity is exciting.”