By Patricia Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
INDEPENDENCE
The long-awaited splash pad destined for the Independence park has taken another step to reality.
Council member Carol Franzen gave a presentation on the good and the bad of owning a splash pad, and — when asked — other council members did not object to the city’s plan of installing one in their park. Apparently the money is already earmarked in the budget for a splash pad, and the city is in the process of also applying for a grant for the feature.

Franzen consulted the city of Wilder, which has had a splash pad for a number of years, and listed the plus-and-minus features on a slide presentation at the regular council meeting Monday night. She recommended a smaller size splash pad instead of a larger one and told council she did like a rock wall or something to sit on. She also highly recommended a fence surrounding the splash pad so they could close the area if they needed to for safety or sanitary purposes. She thought a recycled water splash pad would be the most efficient for Independence. More discussion was held on engineering and location for the splash pad.
Bob and Fran Hasekoester, who live on Independence Station Road, came to the meeting to again ask for permission to have a fence in their front yard. Under the current zoning, fences are not permitted in the front yard, but at their location neighbors have front yard fencing. The couple have spoken to council before. Mayor Christopher Reinersman said he didn’t like the unintended consequences of spot zoning, but it was true that their property is not in a subdivision, and there were a couple of other circumstances that council wanted to look into. Attorney Jack Gatlin said they would bring the issue up next month after investigation to see if there was anything the city could do to help the couple.
A resolution passed which provided a catalog of all the roads within the city.
ERLANGER
PDS Executive Director Sharmili Reddy attended the regular Erlanger council meeting on the first year anniversary of PDS taking over the city’s code enforcement and building inspection affairs.

Reddy said that the numbers of incidents are always a little higher at first, and she expects the numbers to settle down in the next year, and stay on a certain level.
Mayor Jessica Fette said she appreciated that PDS melded so well with Erlanger’s philosophy of not being punitive and trying to help in any way with situations under code enforcements.
Larry Keitz, who lives on Center Street, came to ask about a tree in the right-of-way by his house that rains debris and nuts down on him and his property. He wanted to know if it could be cut down. He was told someone would get back with him to discuss the matter.
Lucy Riffle came to ask about the painting of the railroad bridge, and how much it cost the city. Mayor Fette said she thought it was $130,000 to $140,000 to Baynum Painting and $30,000 to $40,000 to the railroad. Everyone agreed that it looked great, and with the additional murals that were added in the last few years, the entire area appears fresh and new.
Councilmember Jennifer Jasper-Lucas said she had several people ask how to book a Touch a Truck event that was personalized to a neighborhood, and Mayor Fette explained that it was part of a citywide outreach to be part of the community. Jasper-Lucas asked if any overtime was involved in the event, and ultimately the answer was no, that only comp time was used.
There will be a workshop on July 30 from 6-to-8 p.m. for the Cherry Hill neighbors to discuss the new Erlanger road park. The location has not yet been decided.