Less than six months after adoption, Kenton County’s brand new subdivision regulations are accomplishing one of their primary goals. Streets in Crestview Hills’ newest subdivision will be built on newly-placed subsoils that will provide necessary support for the long term. The city’s taxpayers are the true beneficiaries of the changes.

“One of staff’s original objectives (in working toward new construction standards) was to extend street life and preclude the taxpayers from having to pay for premature failures,” said Scott Hiles, CPC, Director of Infrastructure Engineering. “The new regulations require an evaluation of the subgrade soils’ suitability to determine whether they can provide the strength necessary to support the pavement.”

The types of soils that are problematic and contribute to street failure are common throughout Northern Kentucky.

The first development to be submitted after the new regulations took effort was a 42-lot development on 22 acres in Crestview Hills to be named Crown Point. It includes a single new street of slightly more than 2,300 feet. Not surprisingly, when the required soil evaluation was performed, its findings identified problematic subgrade soils that would not provide the required strengths to support the pavement.

“Staff was surprised that the very first development submitted under the new regulations was located on a site with the problem soils we wanted to keep an eye-out for,” said Hiles. “But, it allowed us to quickly recognize that the process we put in place worked. Had these new regulations not been in place, we wouldn’t have known about the soils until after the streets began to fail prematurely.”

“We were quite pleased that this first subdivision proved that the new regulations brought value to the community right out of the gate.”

Hiles said the developer plans to remove the problem subgrade soils from the site and replace them with soils that will provide the support necessary for the street. The developer plans to finish the earthwork and construct the street yet this year which should result in the availability of new building lots late in 2015 or early 2016.

Adoption of the new subdivision regulations completed a multi-year effort by the Kenton County Planning Commission and PDS staff. It was kicked off in 2011 with several identified goals, the most important being to create a set of regulations that provided enhanced material specifications and design controls to ensure that new streets would last a minimum of 20 years as designed. Extending the lives of these streets would reduce the cost borne by taxpayers to repair premature and costly failures.

Working with a committee of planning commission members, engineers, local mayors, and homebuilders, staff was successful in seeing that the requirement to evaluate the strength of a development’s subgrade soils was included in the adopted regulations.

“Based on the individual circumstances and test results, when poor subgrade soils are identified by the required evaluation, the regulations establish procedures to either increase subgrade soil strengths or the design of the pavement itself,” Hiles concluded.

Kenton County’s new Subdivision Regulations can be found online.

Developers have submitted three new preliminary subdivision plans over the last several months; each represents a significant addition to existing developments. Additionally, other developers have submitted plans for subdivisions that received approval in prior years.

“We’re seeing more residential development activity right now than we’ve seen in years,” said Scott Hiles, CPC, director of infrastructure engineering with PDS. “Based on what’s already been submitted and what we’re hearing is on the way, we’re planning for a very busy year.”

Much of this new activity is centered in the Cities of Taylor Mill and Independence. Taylor Creek Subdivision, whose entrance is along Pride Parkway in Taylor Mill, will gain 20 lots. This preliminary subdivision plan is the first submitted since Kenton County’s new subdivision regulations took effect last month. The approximate 400 feet of proposed new street will be the first built under the county’s new street construction standards.

The second new development—also in Taylor Mill—is a 60-lot addition to High Ridge Park. The entrance to High Ridge Park is along Wayman Branch Road very near to the point at which Wayman Branch intersects Pride Parkway. This development, which is just south of Taylor Creek Subdivision, will result in almost 2,500 feet of new public street.

The other of these newest new development plans is for land in the City of Independence; it will add 23 new lots to the Spring Meadows Subdivision. Its entrance is along Lakefield Drive just east of Taylor Mill Road. The infrastructure for this addition is already in place so this will include an addition of lots, not street.

In other recent submittals, Ashford Village, whose original preliminary subdivision approval dates back to 2002, will soon see the addition of approximately 350 feet of new public street and ten new lots. The entrance to Ashford Village is along Mills Road, opposite Mills Park. The entrance to Ashford Village is what prompted the city to make this new intersection a three-way stop controlled intersection.

Staff has also spoken with developers about two additional subdivisions in Independence that have yet to be submitted but are expected in the next couple of months.

Independence and Taylor Mill are not the only cities seeing new subdivision activity. Other previously approved subdivisions are moving forward in Covington and Erlanger, and most notably, Crestview Hills. Although a subdivision plan hasn’t been submitted yet formally, staff is aware of a new 43-lot subdivision that will include over 2,000 feet of new public street, all of which will be constructed to the new street standards.

Subdivision activity last year in Kenton County showed a marked increase over the last several years and the activity PDS is seeing early this year is a good indication that it’s likely to continue.

On March 10 the Kenton County Planning Commission voted unanimously to adopt new subdivision regulations for all Kenton County jurisdictions; those new provisions became effective at midnight that night. This is the first time a comprehensive rewrite of the regulations has been pursued since they were put into effect originally in 1978.

This vote completed a year-long effort by staff, the Kenton County Mayors’ Group, and a committee of the planning commission that began with four overriding goals: to produce a document that is efficient to use for developers and staff alike; to provide greater design flexibility for developers and ultimately the buying public; to promote better coordination with other governmental agencies that play a role in the subdivision review and approval process; and most importantly, to provide greater taxpayer protection. 

The public effort began when staff posted the initial rough draft of the document online for review in December 2010. Since that time staff and a committee of planning commissioners worked through hundreds of suggested revisions made by various stakeholder groups such as the Home Builders Association and Engineering Society.

“It was a primary concern of the planning commission committee to be open to all the comments that stakeholders wanted to present,” said Scott Hiles, CPC, PDS’ director of infrastructure engineering. “Members knew that the process would be grueling but they wanted all of the groups that participated to understand that they had a voice and that their suggestions were given proper consideration.”

As this process to reach consensus moved forward, the final draft began to take shape slowly, with the exception of the proposed standards for streets and the earthwork that supports them.

“There was a major disagreement between the groups with respect to street design,” said Hiles. “The rest of the document was coming together, but no one could agree on common ground when it came to streets and particularly the drainage improvements that were needed to make them last.”

Providing new and improved street design standards was the reason for one of staff’s original and arguably most important goals—greater taxpayer protection.

“When streets fail prematurely, it’s the taxpayers that ultimately pay to fix them,” said Hiles. “Creating a set of regulations that resulted in better streets to preclude premature street failures that must be borne by the taxpayer was one of the motivations for this whole project.” 

In response to the impasse on street design, Planning Commission Chair Paul Darpel challenged a group of engineers along with representatives of the Kenton County Mayor’s Group and the Home Builders Association to tackle the issue. The group, made up of Henry Fischer, Jim Viox, Ted Vogelpohl, Joe Kramer, and Mark Brueggemann, began work in the middle of 2013 and presented its final recommendations to staff in late 2014. Those standards were endorsed by both the Mayor’s Group and planning commission committee.

“The planning commission committee and all involved were impressed with their work,” said Darpel. “They did exactly what we asked them to do. To reach consensus on such a difficult topic was no easy task. The planning commission has a great deal of appreciation for their effort and the results they achieved.”

The consensus reached on street standards was the last piece of the puzzle staff needed to move the regulations on to a public hearing and adoption. The new regulations are now viewable online and staff is available to answer questions.

March 10 is finally the date. After years of work, scores of meetings, and more debates aimed at consensus than can be recalled by participants, Kenton County’s totally new subdivision regulations are set for a public hearing. Members of the Kenton County Planning Commission will listen to final comments on March 10 beginning at 6:15 p.m.

The draft document is available for public review online.

Since 2010 staff has worked with a committee of planning commission members and various groups such as the Kenton County Mayors’ Group, Home Builders Association of Northern Kentucky, and a committee of pavement engineers to complete a comprehensive rewrite of the Kenton County Subdivision Regulations. The resulting draft represents the first time the document has been updated comprehensively since it was written in 1978.

Staff’s goals for the update were to produce a document that is efficient to use, provided design flexibility, coordinated better with other governmental agencies, and—most importantly—provided greater taxpayer protection through better street designs.

“We’re confident we accomplished our goals, particularly as they relate to requiring subdivision streets that last longer,” said Scott Hiles, CPC, PDS’ director of infrastructure engineering. “When subdivision streets fail and need repair, it’s the taxpayers who foot the bill to fix them.”

“We hope the Commission votes to approve the new regulations—as written with no changes,” said Hiles. “That will put the contents into effect immediately.”

If changes made during the March 10 public hearing, it’s likely the effective date of the regulations will be delayed until April 1st. Either way, staff is looking forward to closing this chapter in the process and beginning the business of enforcing the new regulations, according to Hiles.

A document seven years in the making is about to be scheduled for public comment. The Subdivision Regulations Committee of the Kenton County Planning Commission will meet at 5:30 p.m. on February 3 to discuss the final draft document and vote on whether to send it forward to the full planning commission. Action to schedule it for public hearing could come as soon as the commission’s February 5 meeting.

The document may be found here. The meeting will take place in the Commission Chambers of the PDS Building in Fort Mitchell.

“It’s taken a while but in the end we’ve got a good product”, said Scott Hiles, CPC, PDS’ director of infrastructure engineering. “This is the first time the subdivision regulations have been updated comprehensively since they were adopted in the 1970s.”

PDS staff began rewriting the regulations in 2008 following a call by the Kenton County Mayors’ Group to update the document’s street construction standards. Mayors and public works officials claimed that subdivision streets were failing prematurely and cited the county’s subdivision regulations as the reason.

The first working draft of the document was released for public review in late 2010. Since that time staff and Planning Commission chair Paul Darpel have worked with various groups to develop consensus on the document’s contents. The commission’s subdivision regulations committee approved that draft a year ago excluding the street design standards and earthwork requirements.

Darpel invited a group of pavement and geotechnical engineers representing developers and the Mayors’ Group to work on those issues and present a recommendation to staff and the committee. After many months of work, that group presented the standards now included in the document. Members assert that streets built to these new standards will last a minimum of 20 years with proper maintenance.

“I recognize the work that the engineers put into providing us their street and earthwork recommendations,” said Darpel. “They did some great work and were able to find common ground on a contentious issue which provides us the last piece of the puzzle to get this project completed.”

“Our hope is that the subdivision regulations committee approves the draft with no changes,” said Hiles. “If that’s the case, the document will then be sent to the full commission for consideration and scheduling the final public hearing.”

The first new subdivision in Villa Hills in a decade was approved for construction in April 2012. Named Stillbrooke, the subdivision encompasses nine acres along the east side of Collins Road, approximately 1,700 feet north of Buttermilk Pike. Residents could be moving into their new homes there before Christmas.

The development includes 26 single-family lots and three small areas set aside for park space. Click here to view this preliminary plat.

Construction of the proposed infrastructure continued relatively steadily after subdivision approval throughout 2012 and 2013 and included just over 1,000 feet of new public street and associated public utilities such as water main, fire hydrants, and sanitary and storm sewers.

A unique feature of this subdivision involves sidewalks. In conjunction with support from the city, the developer proposed providing sidewalk along just one side of the new street. Normally sidewalk is required along both sides of all new streets. In exchange the proposal included the commitment to fill in a gap in the sidewalk network along Collins Road.

Subdivision regulations already required new sidewalk to be provided along the portion of the subdivision that fronted Collins Road, which totaled about 500 feet. But from that point, heading toward Buttermilk Pike, there was a gap in the sidewalk network for another 500 feet.

“It was important to the city that this gap in the sidewalk get completed”, said Scott Hiles, CPC, NKAPC’s director of infrastructure engineering. “So with the city’s support, the developer obtained a waiver from the Kenton County Planning Commission that allowed him to put sidewalks on one side of the new internal street in exchange for filling this sidewalk gap”.

When this gap is filled, residents will be able walk to nearby amenities such as the community park at the corner of Collins Road and Buttermilk Pike, and shopping and restaurant accommodations as well. Discussion with the developer has recently resolved that this sidewalk gap will be constructed sometime this year.

The recordable plat that will create the 26 lots is pending approval from staff. This approval is required before lots can be transferred to new owners. A few outstanding items have yet to be completed but it appears that the plat will be able to be approved soon. Staff understands that once that approval occurs, builders will be ready to obtain the necessary permits to break ground and begin construction.

The long process of developing new subdivision regulations for Kenton County is one step closer to completion as of last week. A draft containing roughly 75 percent of the new provisions is online now for public review and comment.

Click this link to find the “Draft- 2014 Kenton County Subdivision Regulations” on NKAPC.org.

This draft is being made available for review prior to a resolution of final street design and construction issues, according to Scott Hiles, CPC, NKAPC’s director of infrastructure engineering. It is to give all parties as much time as possible to review the text that has been finalized.

“The Kenton County Planning Commission is waiting on written specifications from a committee of local engineers that’s been working on street design and construction issues,” said Hiles. “Once those specifications have been completed and the planning commission’s committee has had a chance to review them, we’ll be able to finish the final 25 percent of the draft and set a date for the required public hearing.”

Hiles suggests the date for that public hearing will be late June or July.

Hiles tells prospective reviewers they can expect to see highlights and minor formatting issues in the online draft which will differ in the final version. Provisions relating to street design and construction standards are highlighted to inform readers that the selected text will probably change between now and the public hearing when the final draft is put before the community and planning commission.

That final version of the completed text will be uploaded to NKAPC’s website for review and comments prior to the late June/July public hearing.

If during your review you should you have any questions or comments about the current draft, please contact staff at 859.331.8980.