By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
PARK HILLS
Park Hills city council passed the second reading of an ordinance which changes the zoning of an area from Residential Urban to Residential Mixed. Another ordinance changed the minimum lot area and width, maximum density and off street parking within the RM zone.
Mayor Kathy Zembrodt said the state is being late with their tax assessment numbers so the city will not have a second reading on tax rates at this meeting.
Amy Finke was appointed to the Board of Adjustments.
Mayor Zembrodt gave an update that she received from representatives of St. Charles Community, a sponsored ministry for senior services, on the new development on the grounds of Notre Dame. The new development will have cottages with one and two bedroom units modeled after those on their Covington campus. In addition, they will have a community center with a resource center, cafe, activity spaces and meeting rooms. This project is totally separate from the Notre Dame School campus.
LAKESIDE PARK
Lakeside Park city council passed the second reading of an ordinance amending a text relating to garages and existing free standing garages, but they voted to amend the ordinance before they passed it. Council member Tom Bernheimer asked to change the reference to ‘prior to 1994’, and for some language considered not the best to be changed to referring to the free standing buildings needing to conform to the ‘style and construction of the house.’
A resident came to talk about his problem with a free standing shed in his yard. He has had a lien placed on his property because the shed is not permitted to be built in his yard in the city. He argued that he does not have a garage, and something is necessary to store his lawnmower and tools to keep his yard looking good, plus to store children’s bikes and his bike. He said other people have a shed in his neighborhood around Holaday Lane, but he is getting letters every month, and fines every month, for a 56 square foot shed where he stores equipment to keep the yard nice. He will have to pay about $3500 to get the lien removed from his house, which is paid off. He said he has a basement, but they would like to finish it off, and not have it smelling like gas from the lawn mower. Besides, there are 12 steps that he would have to carry equipment up and down the steps.
“All I am asking for is 56 square feet to be able to cut my own grass and take pride in my property,” he said.
Under new business, council talked a little bit about the problem of sheds, and though the zoning regulations specifically prohibit sheds, council members thought they could look into the problem to see if there was any way around the situation to help the resident. Some thought they might have new council members next year and they might have thoughts on the situation.
Mayor Paul Markgraf talked about the ebikes and scooters, saying he provided an article to council members which said the injuries from accidents on these vehicles are very serious, some being traumatic brain injuries. He said if the children operating these vehicles are acting in an unsafe manner, police will now be allowed to escort the child home to talk to the parents, and their bike or scooter could be confiscated. Markgraf also reminded people that the city has a curfew, which is 10 pm on a school night and 11 pm on weekends, for children under 18. Parents can be cited for these offenses.
An ordinance had a first reading which made changes to parking on certain streets including Cahill Court, Della Way, Evergreen Court, Gilmore Court, and Hudson Avenue.
Another first reading of an ordinance added to an existing ordinance about garbage collection.
A third ordinance had a first reading that sets the tax rate for the city. The ad valorem tax rate for real estate will be $.24 per $100 of assessed value, the personal tax rate is set at $1.481 per $100 of assessed value, and motor vehicles will be taxed at the rate of $27.69 per $100 of assessed value.
KENTON COUNTY
Director of PDS Josh Wice came to the Fiscal Court meeting this week to tell the court about the proposed development in Park Hills on the old Szechuan restaurant property for town homes. With this project as the base, the city had applied to Kenton County for community funds for the project of re-aligning the intersection between North Arlington and South Arlington. Kenton County has made funds available to cities for smaller, more difficult projects such as these with only a 10 percent match, but the city project has to be associated with another development project in the city, so the development at the Szechuan property qualified as the additional development. The estimated price for the road re-alignment alone is $1.4 million so the city applied for $1.4 million and will get approximately $1.25 million, since they will be contributing 10 percent. Greg Berling will be the developer for the Szechuan project, but there is no developer yet for the re-alignment project. The re-alignment will allow the city and the state to do away with one of the traffic lights at the intersection.
Nick Bednar came to the meeting to catch commissioners up on the progress of the golf course. He said the course now supports about 80,000 rounds of golf whereas before 2020 there were only 55,000 rounds being played at the course. This is the seventh season for him and he said the course is now the most popular, with the best public golf value in the area. He said people can play for just over $30, and less with passes and a card. Judge Executive Kris Knochelmann mentioned that the upcoming clubhouse renovation will help everyone, because the current clubhouse can only accommodate about 120 people, so the renovation will increase that capacity. Commissioner Jon Draud praised Bednar for the fact that when he took over the course was losing about $100,000 a year and now they are making about $190,000 a year.
An executive order passed which mandates the reorganization of the Emergency Communications Department. Another order passed which deals with the reorganization of the Animal Shelter.
BOONE COUNTY
The 224 dwelling unit development on 37 acres in Boone County on the west side of North Bend road between Overlook Drive and Barbara Drive had a first reading on the zone change from Suburban Residential 2 to Suburban Residential 3 at the Boone County Fiscal Court meeting this week. This will allow a density of up to 8 dwellings per acre, although developers say they only want 6 dwellings per acre.
But Commissioner Chet Hand had questions that he would like to have answered before the ordinance is read for a second time.
A traffic study was done, and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet was satisfied with a deceleration lane and an extended left turn lane going north into the proposed subdivision, but they did not okay expanding the entrance/exit for the subdivision at Overlook Drive. They did say if it proved to be a problem they would evaluate the intersection at a future date. They also said that potentially northbound motorists could turn right out of Overlook, go down to the light at Barbara Drive and make a U turn to go back and access the expressway.
If the residents of the new subdivision work in Cincinnati, as Hand conjectured that a chunk of them probably would, they would have to turn left out of the subdivision to access the expressway, and without a traffic light, that would back up traffic. KYTC said they didn’t want to widen the opening of Overlook because they felt that motorists would be jockeying for position to be able to see traffic. Hand wanted to know if KYTC supposed that most of the people would be turning right, which would not cause a backup, since that was the only exit from the subdivision. He was told that KYTC puts information into a formula after looking at the statistics, and they were comfortable with their findings of how many people would turn left. Hand said the project itself didn’t seem to be a problem, but the traffic at the only entrance/exit definitely looked like it would be a problem.
Matt Mains, from Drees Homes, talked about his conversations with KYTC, and they told him they didn’t think that the intersection warranted a restriction on left hand turns out of Overlook, based on the information they considered. Hand asked if KYTC could be contacted to explain their assumptions of how many people would turn left to go north, and asked if their information would be changed to 75 percent of the residents who would want to turn left, would that change their opinions about the safety of the intersection.
Tom Logan, who took the place of Rob Franxman when he retired, said he could contact KYTC and try to get answers to Commissioner Hand’s queries.
A resolution passed which accepts a Memorandum of Understanding for a donation of almost 10 acres of land at the intersection of Graves road and Ky 237 behind the Public Library. The donation was made by Art (now deceased) and Donna Schneider, and Donna specified that the land should be part of a park with passive recreation, and they will have their name on the land in thanks for such a generous gift.
Larry Brown, Chair of the Boone County TID district board, came to the meeting to give an update on the TID. He said they have made a lot of progress and are working with the OKI organization to try and be considered for projects. He said in October OKI is set to change their bylaws to include all TID districts.
TAYLOR MILL
Taylor Mill Mayor Daniel Bell started the August commission meeting by welcoming the new City Administrator, Devon Golden, who came from the city of Georgetown and officially started on August 10. Attorney Jack Gatlin read a Municipal Order officially appointing her to the position and it passed unanimously.
Dave Scott, a resident, asked if commissioners could look at putting some kind of traffic calming measures around Keeney Court to stop people who are exceeding the speed limit. Mayor Bell said that the commissioners would discuss the situation.
A resolution passed which added High Ridge Court to the list of city streets that are provided to the Kentucky Transportation District.
Commissioners agreed to rent a wood chipper to help residents who bring the tree storm debris to the curb in front of their house. This is limited to the storm debris and the public works people will not go on the property; they will only take care of the branches that are at the curb. The chipper will only be rented for a week, at a cost of $1200.
Commissioners also approved buying 12 new rifles for the police department to replace the ones they have, which are about 18-19 years old. The cost would be covered by the money the city held aside for Flock cameras, and the old ones can be sold to make up the difference.
Commissioners discussed the purchase of a generator with the fire chief.
Commissioner Mark Kreimborg congratulated former commissioner Ed Kuehne for his appointment to be president of the TANK board.
COVINGTON
In a short legislative meeting of the board of Commissioners this week it was reported that the city had a command center set up for reports of damage from the bad weather since there had been many reports of down trees. Mayor Ron Washington said they will be closely monitoring the situation and trying to help with the damage. He said there have not been reports of injuries.
Commissioners made a motion to approve having Mayor Washington sign an agreement called a landlord estoppel certificate which is a signed, legally binding statement where a tenant verifies current facts of the agreement. This agreement is between the Municipal Properties Corporation and the Embassy Suites at River Center.
In the consent agenda, permission was given to tear down the structures at 1414 Wheeler Street, 1133 Garrard Street, and 2211 Madison Avenue in Covington.