Portion of Silver Street now officially Wildcat Way, Public hearing held for rezoning of property

A public hearing was held before council met Monday evening for the potential rezoning of over 50 acres east of Jones Rd and north of the county engineers office. The property would go from a residential R1 designation to an M2 for heavy manufacturing. Roger Crowe expressed an opinion that the property would not be conducive to residential development but it was later revealed in the hearing that no effort has been put forth to market that property at its already designated zoning. Hardin County Chamber and Business Alliance Director of Economic Development Holly Underwood stated she can’t explain why action wasn’t taken on the property in the past but it was her suggestion to use for business development as it is easier to find smaller parcels for residential versus bigger pieces of land such as this one for manufacturing. It is the belief of economic development and county commissioners that changing said property to an M2 designation could bring hundreds of jobs to the city.

The Spearman family who owns an adjoining property voiced their displeasure with the potential rezoning. Tim Spearman asked why this particular property when other’s are available in areas already zoned for manufacturing and also shared a concern for a potential change in traffic. Traffic was also a small concern voiced by Joel Althauser speaking on behalf of Ag Credit.

Mark Kaufman would add it is his belief that rezoning this area would restrict Kenton to only growing to the north. This concern was later addressed by Holly Underwood who stated if she was approached by somebody looking to develop housing at the location she would urge the commissioners to approach council to request another change in zoning.

Jones Road was acknowledged as a potential hurdle for this project as it might need improvements but Mayor Lynn Webb shared that it is on a list to potentially be widened.

During the 15th regular session of city council it was shared that the downtown project is currently about a month behind and the ongoing traffic study will end at the end of October. Ordinance 24-014 would be passed with a vote of 6-0 after its third read making a portion of Silver St officially Wildcat Way to illustrate school pride.

Kenton city council will meet again August 26th at 7PM.