The Independence City Council held a public discussion on a controversial land development off Madison Pike at their meeting Monday night. Council did not cast votes on the development, but the meeting served as a way for everyone involved to ask questions and give feedback.
Called The Haven at Liberty Grove, the development would be located on the east side of Madison Pike, or KY-17, in Independence. Placed near the Hartland neighborhood and just across the street from St. Cecilia School, early proposals had 124 condo units spread throughout 16 buildings. The developer is Madison Pike Partners, LLC, and the condos would be built by Fischer Homes.
A contingent of Independence residents have come forward to oppose the development, arguing it’s too dense and would increase traffic. They spoke against the development at the Kenton County Planning Commission meeting in February. In a split vote, the commission affirmed the residents’ concerns and voted down the developers’ zoning request.
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This moved the zoning approval to the city council.
Following the commission’s decision, residents opposing the development put up signs around their neighborhoods, encouraging people to come out to Monday’s meeting to speak, but the developers ended up dropping their zoning request application between the planning commission’s ruling and Monday’s council meeting.
Mayor Chris Reinersman, who works as a real estate appraiser, had been in multiple meetings with both the developers and residents over the past few months to try and address everyone’s concerns. Reinersman gave a presentation on what had changed with the development since the meetings began.
Residents crowded the council chambers to hear what the mayor had to say.
“I will start off by saying that if they never build another house in Independence, I would be perfectly fine with that,” Reinersman said.
But after considering the situation and learning as much as he could, Reinersman argued that the proposed development was about as ideal as one could hope for on the land, given the developers’ plans and the accommodations they’d agreed to.
“I took a harder look at it and have really come to the conclusion that this development is probably the best thing for the area,” Reinersman said.
The land parcels’ current zoning is split into three sections and allows for a total of 81 units of residential property throughout, most of which would not require a development plan. This means that unlike the zoning request the developers put before the planning commission to allow them to build 124 units, there would be few barriers preventing a developer from building there as long as they conformed to the established zoning rules.
A breakdown of the current zoning for the land on which the development would occur. Map provided | The City of Covington
Reinersman highlighted the changes that had come from the meetings. Firstly, the developers had agreed to drop the unit count from 124 to 110. They also proposed building a 15-foot retaining wall, which aimed to screen the lower floors of the condos from nearby residents’ views. Moreover, the developer offered to prohibit rentals in the condo complex’s homeowners association’s covenant — current zoning allows for multi-family dwellings in certain parts of the land, which Reinersman argued would likely end up as rental communities if left untouched.
Reinersman also argued that the traffic worries were misplaced, citing the preliminary findings from a traffic study the developers commissioned. The state hadn’t finalized or approved the study at the time of the meeting, but early findings suggested the development would add 57 additional cars during peak morning traffic hours and 68 additional cars during peak afternoon and evening hours.
These weren’t much, Reinersman contended: The units’ size and likely price ranges would cater to young professionals, retirees and newlywed couples who tended to drive fewer cars than other households.
Thus began a two-and-a-half-hour exchange between the elected officials and residents, many of whom cast doubt on the traffic study’s numbers. Others expressed worries about over-development and excessive traffic more generally.
“We need to look very, very, very long term because there’s a lot of land in Independence,” said resident Perry McCool, “and it would be very easy for it to become Florence.”
Reinersman and several council members, on the other hand, argued that there was little they could do to prevent property owners from developing land they owned. Moreover, even if this development ended up going nowhere, it was likely someone else would try to develop it later, at which point there was no guarantee the city would be able to do anything about it.
“We can turn it down, somebody else buys the property, and 80 apartment units go in there and it’s rentals,” said long-time Council Member Carol Franzen. “There’s no guarantee what’s going to happen if we leave it alone.”
The developer’s revised zoning request is expected to go before the Kenton County Planning Commission again at the meeting on April 4. Once the commission votes on it, it will return to the Independence City Council in subsequent months for a potential vote.
Council members encouraged the residents to attend the planning commission meeting to speak about the development if they truly wanted to stop or change it.
The next meeting of the Independence City Council will take place on Monday, April 1 at 7 p.m. at the Independence City Building on Madison Pike.
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