KENTON COUNTY, Ky. — Kenton County’s land that is available for industrial development is expected to decrease in the coming years.
“Kenton County industrial land is on a trajectory to be depleted in approximately 10 to 20 years based on current rates and market trends,” Kenton County Planning and Development Services Community Manager Josh Wice said during a Kenton County Fiscal Court meeting on Oct. 15.
This trend has prompted county leaders to consider a new course of action; one that prioritizes the development of land in the southwestern portion of the county for manufacturing facilities rather than speculative warehousing and logistics developments.
Developable land is already a finite resource in Kenton County. Much of the county’s land in the north and central portions is either already urbanized or undergoing suburbanization. As such, Kenton County is aiming to create an inventory of readily available sites for purchase and development in order to reduce uncertainty for manufacturing prospects.
In turn, this could increase the chances of attracting them to the county. Kenton County Planning and Development Services has labeled this plan as the ‘Kenton County Site Readiness Initiative.’
“The actions the county takes now will influence how the county looks in 10 years, what type of development takes place in this area of the county, what kind of jobs and wages are available to Kenton County residents, and then also what is going to the impact on existing residential and agriculture areas,” Wice said.
Kenton County Planning and Development Services partnered with BE NKY Growth Partnership, Northern Kentucky’s primary economic development company; Northern Kentucky Port Authority, The Catalytic Fund, design firm Gresham Smith and Hemmer Construction to craft the initiative.
Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann, along with Wice, noted that the initiative would be multigenerational and could take up to 20 years.
Regarding speculative developments, Wice said that they generally host companies with inconsistent leases and inconsistent employment numbers. However, he recognized that warehousing and logistics play a vital role in Kenton County’s economy.
“We need warehousing and logistics – it has an important place in the county and in the region’s economy, obviously, but you want the type of warehousing and logistics that supports manufacturing in our county, and not some of the speculative large buildings you see sometimes,” Wice said.
Wice presented data from BE NKY showing that manufacturing jobs boasted 68% higher wages than warehousing and logistics jobs. Moreover, warehousing facilities are nearly double the size of manufacturing facilities despite employing fewer people.
“You’re dealing with, on the warehousing side, a larger building footprint, lower job numbers,” Wice said. “Manufacturing; lower footprint, higher job numbers.”
The Kenton County Site Readiness Initiative team identified two areas of focus in southwestern Kenton County. These areas are relatively flat and undeveloped but do have access to multimodal freight infrastructure due to their proximity to I-71/75, CSX railway, and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Wice said the county must install the proper utilities to prepare the land for development, including improving access to electricity, water, sewer, and gas.
“Let me say that when we talk about those physical boundaries, additional development beyond these focus areas would actually be discouraged if we identify these existing boundaries, so we get back to that goal of really not wanting to impact future existing residential and other commercial development throughout the county,” Wice said.
Focus Area 1 is located in the southwest of Kenton County, close to the Boone County border, US-25, KY-536, and a CSX railway. The area has a total acreage of 2,180 with a potential building coverage of approximately 22.38% of the land.
In order to unlock full development potential, Wice said expanding direct road access to the I-71/75, improving and expanding access to electric, gas, water and wastewater systems are crucial to future site development.
Focus Area 2 is located in west central Kenton County along the Boone and Grant County borders. It has direct access to US-25. Wice said that the southern portion of the identified land provides the best opportunity for long-term industrial development.
The area’s southern portion includes a nature preserve which Wice said the county wants to protect.
Similar to Focus Area 1, this land requires access to I-75 to prepare it for industrial development. It also requires expanded access to electric, gas, water, and wastewater systems.
Looking ahead, Wice identified five priorities for the initiative:
- Positive and constructive engagement with landowners.
- Updated zoning.
- Improved infrastructure.
- Stream mitigation.
- Project financing.
“These would be very public processes as these were designed so residents and the general public would have input into these road designs,” Wice said.
Knochelmann said he, along with Commissioner Beth Sewell, had met with around 25 to 30 property owners in the past to solicit their input on the county’s plan. In addition, he said they’ve also met with stakeholders in the Kenton County business community regarding the initiative.
“We met with property owners in Kenton County to say, ‘what do you want to see us do?’ Because they’ve got the most skin in the game when their property would be developed,” Knochelmann said.
He followed that comment by saying Kenton County would be moving into the “action phase” of the initiative.
“I think where we are today, to those watching and on the records of this meeting, we’re trying now to say, this is the fiscal court saying, this is the direction we’re gonna go,” Knochelmann said. “Not to say we can get it all done, but we’ve got to put a stake in the ground and say this is the direction — that we’re not just gonna sit on a report. We’re past the report phase, we’re basically in action phase to do this.”
Wice reiterated that the initiative’s focus is to contain industrial development to the identified focus areas to mitigate the potential impact on nearby property owners and the environment.
“To keep industrial development around that I-75, US-25 corridor, but then also to know that development is imminent to the west, so do we want to have some control of that,” Wice said.
Commissioner Sewell said she was thankful the county is inviting landowners to participate in the process.
“We went back out and spoke to some of the larger landowners; I think we’ll run into some that’ll be surprised and that’s natural, but I think many of them have been anticipating this,” she said.
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