Northern Kentucky’s chapter of the Kentucky Association of Professional Surveyors (KAPS) has elected Steven Lilly, PLS, as its chairman for 2013. Lilly works with local surveyors through his role as Land Surveying Analyst at NKAPC. He has been a professional land surveyor since 2002 and has worked in NKAPC’s infrastructure engineering department since 2004.

KAPS was founded in 1968 and has grown to nearly 400 public- and private-sector members in multiple states. Its purpose is to maintain and perpetuate an organization for members having common professional problems and interest; to provide effective forums for discussion and united action on the part of its members for the enhancement and betterment of professional recognition, status and conditions of employment; and, for other matters which will contribute to the welfare of its members and the government and the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

A proposed statement of goals and objectives for Kenton County’s first all-new comprehensive plan since 1972 is complete and nearly ready for legislative review. Final action will begin with a public hearing before the Kenton County Planning Commission and conclude with votes before each of Kenton County’s 20 local governments.

In its current form, the statement includes three guiding principles—public participation, economic considerations, and the necessary interrelationship between them. Each was a topic brought up frequently during the 70-meeting public input process that contributed greatly to the proposed statement. The guiding principles are intended to be considered in conjunction with each goal during the decision making process.

The goals and related objectives are organized in seven categories—mobility, the economy, healthy communities, natural systems, health, community identity, and governance. As with the guiding principles, these categories came directly from comments received at public meetings, small group meetings, city meetings, and subsequent discussions with the Direction 2030 task force.

“We took our time to speak and meet with any resident, organization, or legislative body that expressed an interest in the process,” said Sharmili Reddy, AICP, NKAPC’s planning manager. “We also sought out groups that are traditionally not involved in the planning process to get a well-rounded view on issues affecting our residents.”

When adopted by each of Kenton County’s 20 legislative bodies, the statement of goals and objectives will offer an integrated planning vision that recognizes the different planning needs of each of those elected bodies.

More information on Direction 2030—including the most current draft—can be found on the project website.

Members of the area planning council—the 20-member board representing each of Kenton County’s local governments—met last week for their annual organization meeting. In addition to ongoing business, the group elected officers for 2013 and selected three individuals to serve on the area planning commission.

Those elected to serve as officers through next January’s organizational meeting are Fort Mitchell Mayor Chris Wiest as president, Edgewood Mayor John Link as vice-president, and Elsmere Mayor Marty Lenhof as secretary.
 
Covington Mayor Sherry Carran, former Park Hills councilman Dick Spoor, and former Fort Wright Mayor Gene Weaver, were selected to serve two-year terms on the area planning commission. These three will serve alongside former Fort Wright mayor Tom Litzler, Crestview Hills Mayor Paul Meier, former Fort Mitchell Mayor Bill Goetz, and Edgewood Councilwoman Nancy Atkinson through 2013.

The area planning council and area planning commission are responsible for the administrative affairs of land use planning in Kenton County. The council is made up of one elected official from each of the county’s 20 local jurisdictions. Among its responsibilities are review and approval of the annual budget, selection of seven individuals to oversee the staff, and selection of an independent auditor to review the organization’s books annually.

Despite assumptions to the contrary, the area planning commission holds oversight responsibilities for the staff. It does not make land use decisions as those duties are pursued according to state law by the Kenton County Planning Commission.

The area planning council and commission have served Kenton County since 1961. More information is available on nkapc.org.

Last year at this time, LINK-GIS partners were anxiously waiting for good weather so that planes equipped with special cameras could capture images for their GIS programs. The resulting images are now about to be uploaded to the LINK-GIS website next month for use by the public.

In addition to the benefits provided by the updated photography, LINK-GIS partners saved approximately $90,000 through a collaborative effort with the Commonwealth of Kentucky. By flying Kenton and Campbell counties together, the partnerships were able to save an estimated 15 percent of the projected cost.

It is important to note that each county pays only for data collected within its own territory.

Between the March 2012 aerial flight and now, the LINK-GIS team conducted quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) review of the 1,693 individual images that provide a seamless view of Kenton and Campbell Counties. Every team member reviewed each product for image stretching, blurring, and precision standards that meet standards of the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. LINK-GIS data has met these standards since the first aerial acquisition in 1999.

Each of the two LINK-GIS partnerships consists of the county fiscal court and PVA along with SD1 and the Northern Kentucky Water District with NKAPC as managing partner.

The last time the LINK-GIS partnerships acquired these same imagery products was in 2007; five years ago. More information on LINK-GIS can be found on its website or nkapc.org.

Kenton County Planning Commission’s Subdivision Regulation Committee has completed its review of more than 600 suggested revisions to its draft subdivision regulations for Kenton County. That review resulted in a consensus between competing interest groups in most cases. The single issue that prompted the most discussion was street design and subsurface drainage.

“Since the Kenton County Planning Commission adopted its first subdivision regulations in the late 1970’s, the provisions haven’t included any requirement for subsurface drainage except in limited locations,” said Scott Hiles, NKAPC’s director of infrastructure engineering. “Staff was directed this time to change that and add new requirements that would achieve better performing streets that have fewer pavement failures over time.”

The draft regulations developed by staff included those provisions.

After months of review and comments from four main interest groups—the Northern Kentucky Homebuilders Association, the Northern Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers, Henry Fischer of Fischer Homes, and the Kenton County Mayor’s Group—the committee directed staff to revise the draft to:
•  limit concrete to crushed limestone aggregate to reduce D-cracking and surface deterioration;
•  increase pavement and subgrade cross-slopes for better pavement drainage;
•  increase the quality of expansion material at all expansion joints to increase their effectiveness and longevity;
•  increase amounts of expansion material at driveways, on the outside of street curves, and the terminus of the street to reduce the effects of street creep;
•  require edge drains under the curb where 51% of the adjoining lot drains toward the street and also in sag locations for increased subsurface drainage; and
•  require a detailed pavement analysis performed by a geotechnical engineer for each project to determine any other pavement and drainage enhancements that should be utilized.

The noted requirement for edge drains is similar to the design proposal made by the engineers’ group. While committee members did not direct staff to require a full drainage blanket under all pavements as the Mayor’s Group recommended, they attempted to address the issue by requiring a detailed pavement analysis on every project.

“The committee agreed that a drainage blanket is needed in certain situations,” said Hiles. “But it also believed that requiring them everywhere as a minimum standard was overkill. In the end they determined that a geotechnical engineer should decide precisely where they were needed following the required pavement analysis. The geotechnical engineer could also require other improvements such as more edge drains or longitudinal drains.”

Staff is currently in the process of crafting the new street design standards established by the committee. When complete, the committee will distribute the new standards to the four interest groups in preparation for a roundtable meeting tentatively scheduled for February 28th. The goal will be to give these four groups the opportunity to discuss the design proposal and to provide the committee with additional feedback. After this meeting, the committee will give staff a final directive on what design proposals should be included in the draft regulations.

The final step will be to schedule the resulting draft to a public hearing before the full county planning commission membership. The plan is to hold that hearing and adopt the new regulations this spring.