By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter
The Covington Central Riverfront site is getting another new development. At their regular legislative meeting at City Hall, Commissioners approved a recommendation for a $67.2 million mixed-use project on more than 1.3 acres on blocks M and N, with 257 market-rate apartments, 194 parking spaces, 7,700 square-feet of retail space and a public alley.
The developers are CCR-MN Investment Partners, LLC, which includes Silverman and Company, Messer and KZF Design.
The land purchase will be $2.6 million, according to the city’s Economic Development Director Tom West. He also said the deal will not need any other incentives from the city, and return on investment will be 5.1 percent annualized. That translates to $228,000 in new annual revenue, with new parking spaces and retail/restaurant spaces.
West noted how the company made a point to listen to city officials to determine what the best proposal could be.
Apartments will be everything from studios to two-bedrooms. Construction should begin within 120 days of closing, and completed in 18 months, according to the plan.
“Thank you for investing in our city, we appreciate it,” said Commissioner Ron Washington.
“On behalf of the city government, we do truly appreciate the effort that you put in and we’re very excited to have your development and the commitment you’ve you brought to the table,” said Mayor Joseph U. Meyer. “We want to see you’ll be very successful, so welcome to Covington.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting:
New Budget first reading
Commissioners heard the first reading of the fiscal year 2025 budget proposal Tuesday night.
General fund revenues and expenditures are anticipated at $70,404,823 million. City officials say they expect an increase in payroll tax from Fidelity as people return to work. Major projects include: Continued development of the IRS site, the new City Hall and longtime legacy pension contributions.
After a second reading, the budget will get an official vote for approval.
Budget Amendment
Commissioners also approved an amendment to the fiscal 2024 budget, adding $1,164,000 to the fire department personnel budget, offset by the same amount in payroll tax revenues, and adding $700,149 in housing choice voucher expense, offset by $863,149 in federal food revenues.
Short-term Rental 2nd Reading and Vote
Commissioners approved an ordinance amending the Covington neighborhood development code, changing non-host occupied short-term rentals from a conditional use to a limited use for six districts.
Medical Cannabis Presentation
Commissioners heard a presentation on the actions that need to be taken in order for Covington to regulate the sale and/or manufacturing of medical cannabis under recently enacted statutes.
Sharmili Reddy, Executive Director for Planning and Development Services of Kenton County, presented to the Board Tuesday night.
“As you all know, in 2023 the state legislature legalized medical cannabis within the state of Kentucky,” she said. “There was a state statute that was established that basically laid out certain stipulations for the use, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2025.”
However, she said, the state realized that in order to have product available by that date, they needed to issue licenses now. The businesses will be “extremely regulated” at the state level. Commissioners must decide if they want the businesses within their city limits.
Simply, Reddy said, city officials must decide:
• If they want to permit the sales, put the issue on the ballot, or prohibit them (if approved) the time, place and manner for sales
• The local fee
• And employee policies
Ordinances regarding the businesses:
• Cannot be less restrictive that the state statute or administrative regulations
• Regulate time, place and manner
• Cannot impose undue burden or make the operations unreasonable or impractical
Applications for dispensaries must be turned in between July 1 and Aug. 31, while licenses can then be issued, but the businesses cannot open until Jan. 1, 2025.
“If they get more applications than the number of licenses they plan to issue, then there will be a lottery,” Reddy said. “Essentially you have until Jan. 1 of 2025 to institute zoning regulations or anything that you might think is appropriate to allow these users, should you choose to do that.”
Covington is in a region slated to get four dispensaries, she said.
She then ended the presentation with some tough questions for the Commission.
“The things for you to think about is,” she said, “Do you want to permit the use? Do you want to put it on the ballot and have your voters decide? Do you want to prohibit the use? What kind of time, place, and manner regulations you want to institute, should you choose to allow it? Is there a local fee that you want to assess if you’re going to allow these businesses? And then, just to start thinking about employee policy and if your employees are going to have access to medical cannabis, do you want to accommodate that within your drug policy?”
HUD Public Hearing Presentation
Commissioners also heard their annual public hearing presentation on the CDBG/HOME Annual Action Plan. As an entitlement community, Covington gets direct allocation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). There are two primary programs:
• Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)
• HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME)
The Annual Plan identifies 10 Goals to be met:
• Expand Homeownership Opportunities
• Increase Affordable Homeownership Units
• Increase Affordable Rental Units
• Improve Existing Owner-Occupied Housing
• Improve Streets, Sidewalks and Public Facilities
• Improve Parks and Recreational Facilities
• Reduce and Prevent Crime
• Provide Recreation and Education Opportunities
• Increase Jobs through Economic Development
• Reduce Blighted Conditions
Anticipated funds available include:
CDBG – $1,461,212
HOME – $702,434
Public comments will be accepted until June 21. The full proposed plan may be reviewed during normal business hours and is also available on the City of Covington’s website. Input can also be sent to: Jeremy Wallace, Federal Grants Manager 20 W. Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011. Phone: 859-292-2147. Email: jwallace@covingtonky.gov
After the presentation, Mayor Meyer took the mic.
“If you all don’t mind, I’d like to take a few minutes to address the whole issue of the general affordability of housing in Covington and talk about Covington’s efforts to deal with housing affordability,” he said. “This is an issue that’s comes up regularly and it is undoubtedly a problem in certain parts of our town.”
Meyer went on to describe the efforts the city has taken to combat the problem, including the housing choice voucher program ($8 million in rent subsidy money), the downpayment assistance program (helped 426 families become homeowners) and the overall commitment to subsidized housing (13.1 percent in the city).
“Finally, here’s my plea: Affordable housing advocates, please talk to the counties, talk to the other cities, talk to the regional advocates, and just ask them to do their share,” he said. “We’re doing our share; we can’t do it all for all of Northern Kentucky. They’ve got to do their share too.
“It pains us when people — sometimes our own residents — come and tell us we’re not doing enough when we’re doing so much more than anybody else, and we need help. This is a regional problem. It’s not a Covington problem. … I hope this gives some perspective, so that when we talk about affordable housing in the future, we have this context about what Covington your city government really does.”
Resignations, Promotions and New Hires
Commissioners approved the resignation, promotion and new hire for:
Resignation – Sharon Snowden, Payroll Specialist, Finance Department
Promotion – Firefighter Grade IV to Engineer, Fire Department
New Hire – Adam Lipps, Police Officer, Police Department
Next Meeting
The next regularly scheduled Covington Commission meeting will be a caucus meeting held at 6 p.m., June 18, at the City Building at 20 W. Pike St. in Covington. The meeting can be followed live on Fioptics channel 815, Spectrum channel 203, the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky (TBNK) website, the TBNK Facebook page @TBNKonline, and the TBNK Roku channels.