Entries for November 2011

The City of Independence is asking its citizens to examine proposed zoning changes for part of the city at a meeting scheduled for November 14 from 7 to 9 PM at the Simon Kenton High School cafeteria.

“The steering committee and the city council want feedback on these proposed new requirements," said Martin Scribner, AICP, deputy director for current planning. "This meeting will be an open house format, so people can come for 15 minutes or stay for the whole two hours,” Committee members and NKAPC staff will be on hand to answer questions.

A committee of Independence business operators and residents developed the requirements as a response to a small area study that was adopted by the city in 2007. Independence resident John Richardson chaired the Zoning Update Steering Committee. Independence City Administrator Dan Groth said the 2007 small area study led to recommended changes to zoning regulations in 2009.

“An important part of this process is to solicit input from residents and property owners prior to changes being made in the city’s zoning code,” Groth and Richards wrote in a letter to property owners within the study area.

The affected area includes both sides of Madison Pike from Independence Station Road south to Locust Lane, and along both sides of McCullum Pike from Madison Pike to KY 17. Maps will be available the evening of the public meeting.

To review the draft regulations, visit the NKAPC website.

NKAPC GIS staff worked hard to assist government entities in Kenton County in obtaining $1.7 million in grants and return on investments (ROI) during fiscal year 2011 (July 2010 through June 2011). This amounts to an almost three-fold return on investment when considering what it costs to fund NKAPC’s GIS department.

“Over the past few months, staff has answered numerous questions from elected officials about the cost and value of GIS,” said Trisha Brush, GISP, deputy director for GIS administration. “We were able to show how GIS data used by agencies throughout the region returned $2.9 million in grants, awards, and cost savings to local communities. Well over half of that amount was awarded to Kenton County jurisdictions.”

These monetary and non-monetary benefits include data quality projects, emergency communications money, a landslide project due to heavy spring rains that resulted in a FEMA grant for Kenton County, savings from a pavement coordination program, and a brownfields grant.

The Kentucky Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) Emergency Telecommunications Board distributes funds collected from mobile phone usage to member agencies, said Ms. Brush, and county emergency dispatch units must submit a survey and GIS data, including centerlines from the LINK-GIS master street address guide, zip codes included in dispatch areas, and cell tower locations when submitting grant applications. Covington obtained $164,750 from CMRS; Kenton County $177,998 in CMRS funds; and Erlanger, $247,672 for those same services. GIS data is a required submittal in order for the local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) to receive CMRS funding. These data submittals are an annual occurrence for all three dispatch centers.

GIS data was leveraged as an in-kind support which aided in the Covington City Center Action Plan proposal. The city was awarded $359,300 in grant monies to examine how the Covington city center will evolve over the next 20 years, Ms. Brush said. Covington’s center is generally described as the area south of the Ohio River to 12th Street, east to the Licking River and west to I-75.

Another $18,000 was attributed to Envista program savings for the city of Covington; Envista’s GIS-based pavement coordination software facilitated the savings for the city and Northern Kentucky Water District, Ms. Brush said.

The availability and existing Kenton County brownfield GIS database assisted the Northern Kentucky Area Development District to obtain a $100,000 for brownfield redevelopment. The funds are to be used in Kenton County focusing on the Licking River Greenway and will lead to more detailed identification of areas once used for industrial purposes that can be reused for a variety of purposes once cleaned up, Ms. Brush said.

So far this fiscal year, GIS maps were and data were required in gaining a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Roads/Clean-Up Grant: $251,042 to Kenton County; $93,633 to Covington; $10,548 to Crescent Springs; and $1,000 to Bromley.

“We have every reason to believe that this fiscal year will produce an equal return on investment to Kenton County,” concluded Brush.

NKAPC staff earned two awards at the 2011 annual conference of the Kentucky Association of Mapping Professionals (KAMP). One award was for website design and one was for service to the mapping community.

Christy Powell, GISP, senior GIS specialist, won the annual award for best GIS website application.

“Christy exhibited the special search capabilities for individual properties that she programmed into the My Community section of the LINK-GIS website,” said Trisha Brush, GISP, deputy director for GIS administration.

“The search method shows city, political and planning and zoning information,” said Brush. “The website work Christy did will aid all Kenton County residents.

Powell, Brush, and others from LINK-GIS participated in the conference held in Frankfort in September.

LINK-GIS is a collaborative electronic mapping partnership managed by NKAPC for Kenton and Campbell County Fiscal Courts, the Kenton and Campbell County PVAs, the Northern Kentucky Water District, and Sanitation District 1.

Kenton County’s comprehensive plan is being rewritten completely for the first time since 1972. The project, expected to take up to two years to complete, is designed to provide guidance for the county’s growth over the next 20 years.

"Direction 2030: Your Voice, Your Choice" is a community planning initiative centered on public input – citizen ideas and citizen opinions. It will help create the new Kenton County comprehensive plan reflecting existing and anticipated trends in population, transportation, business, and education.

Kenton County citizens are urged to attend the ongoing series of public forums that will facilitate these discussions. Citizens are also encouraged to stay abreast of ongoing Direction 2030 progress by checking the project website: Direction2030.org.

“Since the county’s first comprehensive plan was completed in 1972, only updates have been made,” said Keith Logsdon, AICP, deputy director for long-range planning. “Over the past twenty years or so, new trends have developed in how people want to live and travel, how they want to spend their leisure time and make economic choices, and those trends make it important to take a new look at our community.”

Members of the Kenton County Planning Commission and NKAPC staff held the first of these public forums on October 26 at Dixie Heights High School. Approximately 60 citizens from across Kenton County attended and discussed how or if they believe these trends are having an impact on their lives.

The second of these initial meetings is set for November 17 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the Kenton County Agricultural Extension Office. The third meeting will take place on November 29 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Calvary Baptist Church in Latonia; and, the fourth is set for December 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at Piner Elementary School. The topic for these forums will be the same as for the first, giving citizens from across Kenton County an opportunity to express themselves.

The second round of four meetings will be held in January through March, 2012. The third round is projected from April through June; and, the fourth and final round in July and August. Each round will look at opinions and ideas expressed during earlier sessions and distill them to the point where public goals and objectives emerge.

“Strong public engagement will make the plan well-founded and prepare our community for the challenges of the next 20 years,” Logsdon said.

For a full description of each of the four rounds of meetings, check out the Direction 2030 website.

As for what the outcome of this process will be, Logsdon says, “I don’t know if that question can be answered yet because we are just beginning the public engagement process. Our current challenge is to encourage and attain sufficient public input.”