Since its start, the Direction 2030 project has continuously emphasized the importance of public input and interaction with the key persons who deal with issues addressed in the Comprehensive Plan.

Opportunities for such dialogues include public meetings held in different areas of the county, small group meetings with groups traditionally not represented in the public meetings, meetings with a Technical Task Force, and a Planning Task Force. The Kenton County Planning Commission which includes one representative appointed by each legislative body has the final authority to adopt the Comprehensive Plan.

While over 200 people attended the first round of four public meetings, the small group sessions allow a more in-depth conversation with different groups in the community. One such meeting was held after an initial public meeting at Piner Elementary School.

“These small group meetings have allowed us to hear the specific issues that residents of southern Kenton County have mentioned. The needs of the residents are somewhat different from the rest of the county and we are working in collaboration with theDirection 2030 effort to bring those issues to the forefront,” said Kenton County Commissioner Beth Sewell.

A small group meeting was also held in Elsmere with the African American community, who represent 4.6 percent of Kenton County’s population according to the 2010 U.S Census.
 
“We appreciate the opportunity to bring our thoughts and ideas to the table as part of theDirection 2030 effort,” said Jerome Bowles, President of the Northern Kentucky branch of the NAACP and Technical Task Force member.

A continued effort will be made to keep all the groups involved in the planning process as the plan moves into the second round of public input meetings. The input received at these meetings will be presented to the Planning Task Force for their consideration, and then the preparation of goals and objectives will begin.

“The Comprehensive Plan is the foundation for planning efforts, including zoning and subdivision regulations, in Kenton County. We strongly encourage residents of Kenton County to get involved in the planning process so you can have a say in the adopted policies,” said Paul Darpel, Chairman of the Kenton County Planning Commission.

Cutting the tax revenue that has subsidized them, One Stop Shop Program fees for new permits, new phases of existing projects, and reinspections will increase an average of ten percent effective Monday, July 2, according to NKAPC executive director Dennis Gordon, FAICP.

“Although Kentucky statutes authorize charging what it costs to provide fee-based services, we’ve held off increasing these fees for a while in deference to local builders whose businesses have been decimated by this recession,” he said. “Unfortunately, this response has had a very negative impact on the tax revenue we receive.”

Gordon says local elected officials want to see a reversal to the trend of public funds subsidizing fee-driven services. “They don’t believe that’s an appropriate use of tax dollars.”

Open permits for which fees have been paid and on which reinspections are not required will not be assessed any additional costs, according to Gordon.

One Stop Shop Program components include: building, electric, HVAC, and zoning permits; building, electric, and HVAC inspections; hearings before local boards of adjustment; and, local code enforcement board fines.

NKAPC has handled these responsibilities for numerous Northern Kentucky local governments since 2005. The new fee schedule is available online at the One Stop Shop program website.

The LINK-GIS partnership signed contracts recently with Pictometry International Corp. to update aerial images of Campbell and Kenton Counties. When uploaded into its system, these new digital images will provide jurisdictions in both counties with two ways to view their territories—the traditional bird’s-eye view and now a 3-D view.

Pictometry captures high-resolution images obliquely—or from an angle—allowing users such as emergency services personnel, property assessors, and zoning officials to see land features and structures clearly and in their entirety.

“Pictometry gives me five ways to view a parcel, compared to the traditional one top-down shot. These new images will be really helpful for firefighters and police responding to calls,” said Ben Campbell, Campbell County Property Valuation Administration’s, Chief Deputy in charge of mapping. “Pictometry is a new angle on an old product.”

Pictometry’s interactive measuring tool will also be helpful for zoning and property valuation staff. They can measure buildings from the ground up, see how many stories a house has, and measure the perimeter around a structure, for example. Traditional bird’s-eye view images don’t provide this ability.

This 3-D ability to see properties from their desk will help assessors save time and money by cutting field costs. It will also allow them to see restricted properties, verify records, and resolve claim disputes. This technology will not be available on the website due to licensing costs that are expensive to maintain.

An added benefit that was realized this March was that Pictometry International Corp. will re-fly the two counties without charge in the event of a natural disaster and provide the resulting photos quickly. Due to the tornado that hit the Piner area in Kenton County and the National Weather Service declaring it an F4, we receive updated aerials of the affected area in as little as two weeks after the event. This aided in faster cleanup efforts and insurance claim processing.

“The ability to give the citizens of Kenton County immediate assistance after the tornado was a huge benefit that we gained from the photos provided by Pictometry,” stated Mark Vogt, Kenton County Property Valuation Administrator.

The 3-D aerial images were shot in March and delivered to the LINK-GIS partnership in May for immediate review and utility. By joining the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s efforts to fly imagery for the entire state, the partnership was able to save $21,000 on oblique imagery and an additional 15 percent by flying the two counties together.

The LINK-GIS partnership is a multi-jurisdictional relationship made up of the Fiscal Courts of Kenton and Campbell Counties, the PVAs of Kenton and Campbell Counties, the Northern Kentucky Water District, SD1, and the Area Planning Commission. NKAPC is the managing partner and provides centralized support services to the others as well as assistance to the public.

At its busiest, the number of public hearings on any given Kenton County Planning Commission agenda might have been in double digits. But over the last several years, those numbers have waned, even to the point of cancelling a handful of meetings due to lack of any agenda items at all.

However, the KCPC is seeing a new resurgence of business as more hearings are scheduled.

“In all of 2011 there were approximately 35 items heard by the Kenton County Planning Commission,” said Andy Videkovich, Senior Planner for NKAPC. “It’s hard at this point to determine if this is part of a larger trend or just an anomaly.”

June’s KCPC agenda was lengthy due to the intricate nature of the requests, and what July’s agenda lacks in intricacy, is gained in sheer volume. The majority of these requests are zoning code text amendments and a few zoning map amendments.

With the downturn in the economy and lack of development activity, came a major decrease in the number of zoning amendments.

“Because only one of these requests came from a property owner, it is likely that the cities of Kenton County are doing one of two things; either using the lull in activity to prepare their ordinances for future development that some experts have said is imminent or making compromises that might help make those predictions a reality,” said Martin Scribner, Deputy Director for Planning and Zoning Administration.

Paul Darpel, Kenton County Planning Commission Chair, said, “I’m hopeful that this is indicative of a trend that the cities are getting ready for a much needed upturn in development.”

Other major items are also on the horizon for the KCPC, such as the adoption of the updated Kenton County Subdivision Regulations and the adoption of the Kenton County Comprehensive Plan, known as Direction 2030.

After three inches of rain fell recently over a few days in Bellevue, there was a hillside behind a row of condominiums that slid into the homes. This is just one of a growing number of landslide sites Matt Crawford from Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) has visited in Northern Kentucky.

“I got involved in this slowly at first by compiling a landslide inventory of sites all around Kentucky with data from a variety of sources,” Crawford says. “I started visiting the sites to check the information I was putting into the database.”

Northern Kentucky has become a frequent destination for his visits, because of the high number of landslides in the region. “Our job is to communicate what we know about geology, steep slopes, soils, and about activities that destabilize slopes,” stated Crawford.

Field studies also help to verify landslide locations using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data provided to KGS by the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission on behalf of the LINK-GIS partnership. Crawford explains LiDAR data is taken from an aircraft and uses pulses of light or lasers to collect very accurate terrain information. “It allows the creation of high-resolution digital elevation models,” he says, “and there are features in this data that can indicate landslide activity not easily noted by simply looking at the terrain.”

The data helped identify susceptible areas that may not have been a problem—yet. “It may have been a creeping slope that after a large rain will be more susceptible to material sliding off.”

LiDAR may not detect some landslide-related features because of development and other changes to a landscape. But field visits have confirmed landslides at many of the 234 locations indicated by LiDAR data to be a possible risk in Northern Kentucky.

Due to the geology of the Northern Kentucky area and the LiDAR data available this made the study by KGS a perfect match. Though local government and regional planning agencies have been considering whether to enact regulations relating to landslide susceptibility, Crawford says he limits his scope to geologic work.

After the storms of March 2, efforts to facilitate the rebuilding of homes in that area of Kenton County began immediately. NKAPC staff began a comprehensive review of the area and of the Kenton County Zoning Ordinance to ensure that property owners would be able to rebuild their homes and barns with a minimum of red tape.

It was quickly discovered that many properties in this area had homes or barns that fall under a category known in the zoning code as a “nonconforming” structure. This means that these structures were most likely built prior to the adoption of the current zoning code and, as a result, do not meet one or more of the zoning regulations for that zone. It also means that these structures would have to go through an extra step in the process of rebuilding, with the possibility that they may not be allowed to be rebuilt as they were.

NKAPC staff quickly brought this situation to the attention of the Kenton County Fiscal Court and advised that there were options that might make this process less cumbersome for the property owners and could ultimately permit some reconstruction that would not have otherwise been allowed. The fiscal court instructed staff to work pre-emptively with the Kenton County Board of Adjustment to resolve the situation with the least amount of hassle to the affected property owners. The fiscal court also passed resolutions to support this effort and to instruct staff to halt all code enforcement activities in this area to allow property owners to get debris cleaned up without the risk of incurring code violations.

Planning staff used information gathered by NKAPC building inspectors to inventory damaged “nonconforming” buildings. Most of these were either too close to a property line or had more structures on the property than were allowed. This inventory was then presented to the Kenton County Board of Adjustment, who had the option of either discontinuing those nonconforming uses or allowing them to be rebuilt.

The Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to allow all structures on the inventory list to be rebuilt the way they were prior to the storms, provided that they would attain the appropriate permits and did not expand the nonconformity of the structure. The board also provided an 18 month window for attaining building permits. If a property owner seeks a building permit to rebuild a nonconforming structure after that 18 month period, then that request must be resubmitted to the Kenton County Board of Adjustment for further review.

It should be noted that any property owner who chooses to rebuild a structure but changes the specifications to meet the current zoning code will not be subject to the above review.

To date, 42 storm-related building permits have been issued by NKAPC in this area, 27 of which were nonconforming structures that were allowed to be rebuilt because of this process, initiated by NKAPC staff. All permit fees were also waived for these permits to help minimize the headaches involved in getting residents back to their lives.

Since January of this year, the Kenton County Planning Commission has been hosting all of the major stakeholders in the community that will be affected by the proposed changes to the Kenton County Subdivision Regulations. These face-to-face meetings have taken place so commissioners can hear each group’s comments and concerns. A total of six groups have made presentations to the planning commission, the last of which occurred at the end of April.

It appears that most of the expressed concerns can be addressed. However, there is one main issue that remains unresolved; the issue of how streets should be designed.

“It seems most everyone agrees that some streets are failing before their expected design life,” said Scott Hiles, Deputy Director for Infrastructure Engineering. “But little consensus between the groups has been reached as to the cause of this premature failure, or what should be done about it.”

Staff heard from the majority of local officials that they were spending taxpayer dollars to repair streets long before they should. The early consensus from staff was that water infiltrating under the streets from behind the curb line was one likely culprit. “Most front yards are graded to drain toward the street,” said Hiles. “During much of the year water from sump pumps, gutters, overwatering of irrigation systems and just rainfall can flow to the street, get behind the curb and ultimately under the street causing some of these failures that local officials are seeing.”

Staff addressed this issue by proposing an underdrain under the entirety of the curb line for all streets. From that point forward, the Northern Kentucky Homebuilder’s Association Land Development Council (LDC), Northern Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers (NKYSPE) and the Kenton County Mayors’ Group have all weighed in with different proposals.

The LDC’s position has been that the current standards for street design seem to be sufficient, but that individual situations may warrant a design upgrade. The LDC is in support of keeping the street standards as they are, but letting a geotechnical investigation determine if and where an upgrade to the standards should be provided.

“The Northern Kentucky Homebuilder’s Association Land Development Council recognizes that the current pavement regulations are performing well in other municipalities in Northern Kentucky, and that the key to reaching the design life of any pavement is proper well timed care and maintenance during the pavement’s lifecycle,” said Joe Kramer, an engineer representing the LDC. “The proposal to install underdrains and granular drainage blankets under all pavements will not add a significant benefit to the performance and lifecycle costs of the pavement.”

NKSPE did recommend requiring an underdrain under the curb, but only in street sag locations and fronting lots where 95% of the lot drained toward the street. NKSPE also recommended a change to the aggregate used in the concrete for concrete streets.

“Through our research the NKSPE Pavement review committee found that the majority of current pavement failures are the result of inconsistent materials, and therefore most of our recommendations focused on the need for better specifications and monitoring of the materials used,” said Michelle Bollman, President of the NKSPE. “We also identified the need for some subsurface drainage improvements and a better maintenance plan in our recommendations.”

The Mayors’ Group took staff’s proposal one step further. They are recommending that in addition to the underdrain under the curb, a drainage blanket under the pavement also be required to capture any additional water that may be either present in the subgrade soils or infiltrate through the pavement itself. “As local officials, our goal was to propose a street design that will stand the test of time so that city and county taxpayers aren’t required to pay to fix streets that fail prematurely,” said Crestview Hills Mayor Paul Meier, Chairman of the Kenton County Mayors’ Group. “We’re confident that our proposal accomplishes this goal.”

The planning commission recently requested that each group provide cost information for the proposals and are expecting to receive that information soon. “Cost will ultimately be one of the primary factors the planning commission has to consider when they choose which proposal to adopt,” said Paul Darpel, Chairman of the Kenton County Planning Commission.

But rather than just basing their decision on what the cost increase would be for an upgraded street standard, they’ll have the difficult job of weighing the increased cost against the benefit the overall community would receive. That decision will be made by the planning commission later this year at a special public hearing which has yet to be scheduled.

Direction 2030 is quickly moving into the second phase of public input as planners prepare for two roundtable meetings. The first meeting will be held on June 14th at Ludlow High School and the second will be held in mid-July, details of which will be announced soon. Based on guidance from the Direction 2030 Planning Task Force, the focus of these two roundtables will be to seek expert feedback on issues expressed by residents from the first round of meetings.

As planners work toward recommending policies, input from many diverse communities within Kenton County is critical in appropriately shaping the vision for the entire county. The input gathered from the four public meetings, five targeted meetings with groups not represented at the public meetings, as well as from Direction2030’s Technical Task Force and Planning Task Force is important to articulate the main policy issues.

The Planning Task Force includes members of the Kenton County Planning Commission, Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission and the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Council. The Technical Task Force is comprised of representatives from key public agencies and those with expertise in areas that the comprehensive plan is required to address.

The two roundtable discussions will include a presentation by Dinn Force Marketing, describing market metrics that need to be considered and how those metrics align with input gathered during the first round of meetings.

“These upcoming meetings are important for elected officials, planning commission members and the general public to attend. These meetings are a good opportunity for us as a community to educate ourselves on opportunities and constraints in implementing policy issues raised by people in Kenton County. Most importantly, these meetings will provide the critical information to begin preparing countywide goals and objectives and provide direction for policy,” said Kenton County Planning Commission chair Paul Darpel.

Following the second round of sessions, a capstone meeting will be held to gather feedback from the community on the draft Goals and Objectives element for the comprehensive plan. Public input is important to ensure that the county is prepared to overcome current obstacles, particularly as it relates to market conditions, and is positioned to successfully provide a healthy community for current and future residents.

Citizens in Kenton and Campbell Counties will reap the benefits of lower costs for aerial photography and mapping, thanks to NKAPC / LINK-GIS participation with a new state program. The commonwealth of Kentucky has a new effort to collect aerial imagery for the entire state over a three year period. LINK-GIS coordinated with the state plan and saved approximately $90,000 in local funds. Additionally, by flying the two counties together, the partnership was able to save an estimated 15 percent. It is important to note that each county pays only for data collected for their individual counties.

The data that the partnership will acquire include: oblique photography which is taken from an airplane with the camera directed horizontally or diagonally downward, orthophotography, updated planimetric mapping, infrared,  and LiDAR which uses pulses of light or lasers to create accurate terrain information. The infrared is a new product that we have not received in the past. It is particularly useful in agricultural and vegetation classifications. The oblique products which are helpful to local law enforcement are provided by Pictometry, Inc., and will be available to the public by mid-summer. All other data products will be provided from Photoscience, Inc.

The LINK-GIS partnership: Kenton County Fiscal Court, Campbell County Fiscal Court, SD1, Northern Kentucky Water District, Kenton County PVA, Campbell County PVA and NKAPC, have come together to make the new imagery acquisition a reality. LINK-GIS already has the first delivery of the obliques from Pictometry; and due to the more involved quality control and quality assurance process, the remainder of the products will be received by the end of the year.

The last time the LINK-GIS partnership acquired these same imagery products was in 2007; five years ago. Pictometry is a two year contract and was last flown in 2010.

Ludlow City Council and the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission entered into an agreement effective March 15th that puts NKAPC in charge of the city’s building, electric, property maintenance, and zoning codes administration. Ludlow is the 14th Northern Kentucky jurisdiction to enter into NKAPC’s One Stop Shop program.

The program also provides staff support for Ludlow’s board of adjustment and code enforcement board. The program is built on NKAPC’s “critical mass” of professionals, providing economies of scale that are impossible for local jurisdictions to match and levels of service the local jurisdictions can’t afford.

“We’re pleased to welcome Ludlow to this program,” said Dennis Gordon, NKAPC’s executive director. “Mayor Wynn and City Administrator Brian Richmond have given us marching orders regarding the city’s priorities; we understand code enforcement is Job 1.”

Filing code enforcement complaints, seeking information about building or electric inspections, and searching for a property’s zoning classification is now one phone call away. NKAPC can be reached at 331-8980 between 8 and 5 Monday through Friday. Considerable information in this regard is also available at www.nkapc.org.

“The One Stop Shop program has helped a number of cities to increase service levels for their citizens and to reduce costs. We’re looking forward to providing those benefits to Ludlow and its citizens,” concluded Gordon.